On 8/30/2019 7:24 PM, John Ames via cctech wrote:
Ran into this at the electronics-surplus store just down the way from
my workplace and grabbed it on the cheap. I don't actually know what
it *is,* but the labels on the switches make it look a *hell* of a lot
like a 16-bit general-purpose computer of some kind. Despite the
claims of being "microprocessor-controlled," I looked at every board
inside the thing and couldn't spot anything that looked like a 16-bit
or even 8-bit CPU. Genuinely curious what this is, but I can't find
much on it online - the name pops up in a few archived documents, but
Bitsavers doesn't have anything for the company. Though the design is
attributed to Stanley Kubota and Edward Corby - looks like Mr. Kubota
still has an online presence at https://www.exsellsales.com/about-us/
so I'll have to drop them a line...
Anybody heard of or encountered one of these before?
http://www.commodorejohn.com/whatsit-front.jpg
http://www.commodorejohn.com/whatsit-back.jpg
It's a piece of test equipment that generates bit patterns. The
connectors on the back go to pods that
output different logic levels like TTL or ECL. I used one to generate
test patterns for testing parallel
loaded video DAC's.
It could be programmed to loop through sections of data loaded into it's
internal memory and
respond to input bits to change what it's outputting.
It's main use was for testing IEEE 488 interfaces, but could be used as
a general purpose data
and timing generator.
Bob
--
Vintage computers and electronics
www.dvq.com
www.tekmuseum.com
www.decmuseum.org
