[time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit
I got in my prototype extender cable boards from OSHPARK.COM today. OSHPARK only builds boards in multiples of 3 and I only ordered three boards so could only build one cable. It seems to work very well. I tested it with several different TM500 and TM5000 modules (using another set of cables I have with the dual and triple wide modules) and they all worked fine... including some real power hogs like a Ball Aerospace rubidium oscillator. I have a bunch of circuit boards of a different design on the way from a new (for me) Chinese vendor. If they look good I'll order a couple hundred of the extender boards (it takes two boards to make one cable). I have also pimped out the original extender board silkscreen and added an LED to the +11.5V supply. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
Re: [time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit
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Re: [time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit
that is one empty e-mail Robert LaJeunesse did not write anything into it 73 Alex KJ6UHN On 8/6/2014 5:17 PM, Robert LaJeunesse wrote: ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
Re: [time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit
No, you also need a GPIB extender cable for FULL function ... Regards, David Partridge -Original Message- From: time-nuts-boun...@febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-boun...@febo.com] On Behalf Of R.Phillips Sent: 04 August 2014 17:11 To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit Am I right in thinking that two of these connector/cables would give the full facilities on the 5000 series units. Roy ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
Re: [time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit
I knew about the GPIB but since I don't use it 99% of the time its not a challenge especially since the only reason I extend a module is to fix it. I did not know that there were 3 bay modules. Learn something every day. But don't own one. Regards Paul WB8TSL On Tue, Aug 5, 2014 at 5:37 AM, David C. Partridge david.partri...@perdrix.co.uk wrote: No, you also need a GPIB extender cable for FULL function ... Regards, David Partridge -Original Message- From: time-nuts-boun...@febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-boun...@febo.com] On Behalf Of R.Phillips Sent: 04 August 2014 17:11 To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit Am I right in thinking that two of these connector/cables would give the full facilities on the 5000 series units. Roy ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
Re: [time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit
Hi Mark, After all the effort you just put in, you'll be a touch annoyed that Jamma Boards have done a kit for TM500 extenders for ages ... OTOH you may know about them and have decided you could do better. http://www.jammaboards.com/store/tektronix-tm500-series-extender-kit-tm500- kit.html Regards, David Partridge -Original Message- From: time-nuts-boun...@febo.com [mailto:time-nuts-boun...@febo.com] On Behalf Of Mark Sims Sent: 04 August 2014 05:27 To: time-nuts@febo.com Subject: [time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit I just finished laying out a small circuit board for building an extender cable for the Tek TM500 series mainfames / modules. Prototypes are off being fab'd at OSHPARK. Should be here in a couple of weeks. It uses two 39/40 pin ribbon cables (all the power pins use two wires)... e.g. IDE/PATA disk drive cables. I know LOTs of us have and use these venerable old workhorse machines. They are well documented and easily maintained (particularly if you have extender cables). Is there any interest in purchasing a kit of all parts to build an extender cable. With a moderate amount of interest the price looks like it would be around $20 per kit plus shipping (probably around $6 for shipping in the US for as many that can be stuffed in a small priority mail flat rate box... most serious TM500 users will want 2 cables for the wide modules). Kit cables would be 18-19 long. TM500 extender cables have been selling on Ebay for $150-$350! ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
Re: [time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit
I believe I would be interested in two. John WA4WDL Mark Sims hol...@hotmail.com wrote: I just finished laying out a small circuit board for building an extender cable for the Tek TM500 series mainfames / modules. Prototypes are off being fab'd at OSHPARK. Should be here in a couple of weeks. It uses two 39/40 pin ribbon cables (all the power pins use two wires)... e.g. IDE/PATA disk drive cables. I know LOTs of us have and use these venerable old workhorse machines. They are well documented and easily maintained (particularly if you have extender cables). Is there any interest in purchasing a kit of all parts to build an extender cable. With a moderate amount of interest the price looks like it would be around $20 per kit plus shipping (probably around $6 for shipping in the US for as many that can be stuffed in a small priority mail flat rate box... most serious TM500 users will want 2 cables for the wide modules). Kit cables would be 18-19 long. TM500 extender cables have been selling on Ebay for $150-$350! ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
Re: [time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit
Mark; Could you describe your design a bit more? E.g., 1) There are connectors at both ends of those cables; what are your socket provisions for the module end? 2) Do you use 0.1 40-pin headers at both ends, or some other form of termination? BTW, I'd be interested in some, as well, depending on design. JimT Sent from *my* galaxy (Nexus). On Aug 3, 2014 11:28 PM, Mark Sims hol...@hotmail.com wrote: I just finished laying out a small circuit board for building an extender cable for the Tek TM500 series mainfames / modules. Prototypes are off being fab'd at OSHPARK. Should be here in a couple of weeks. It uses two 39/40 pin ribbon cables (all the power pins use two wires)... e.g. IDE/PATA disk drive cables. I know LOTs of us have and use these venerable old workhorse machines. They are well documented and easily maintained (particularly if you have extender cables). Is there any interest in purchasing a kit of all parts to build an extender cable. With a moderate amount of interest the price looks like it would be around $20 per kit plus shipping (probably around $6 for shipping in the US for as many that can be stuffed in a small priority mail flat rate box... most serious TM500 users will want 2 cables for the wide modules). Kit cables would be 18-19 long. TM500 extender cables have been selling on Ebay for $150-$350! ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
Re: [time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit
Several people on the TekScopes/Tekscopes2 forums went through this a while back. It turned out that ribbon cable appropriate for this application was either not available or too expensive. John Griessen made a set of PWBs and sold kits consisting of a PWB pair, a connector pair and a set of pre-cut and pre-stripped wires. I believe he sold all the kits. I built one of mine and it works well. I use it with a TM-501 as a stand-alone test setup for single-wide plug-ins. DaveD On 8/3/2014 11:54 PM, Mark Sims wrote: I think a cable made from ribbon cable edge connectors would be the easiest/cheapest way to extend the GPIB connector. Have you thought about making extensions for the smaller connector used to distribute GPIB in the 5000 series? ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
Re: [time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit
It turned out that ribbon cable appropriate for this application was either not available or too expensive. Are standard disk cables a reasonable length? (and a pinout you can use) I don't know the details, but there are two types of disk cables. The old style uses standard 40 pin ribbon cable with not-great grounding. The new/fancy style uses 80 pin cables but the same old connectors. I assume the extra wires are grounds with some magic in the connector to connect them all to the IDE ground pins. (so they won't work for arbitrary pin assignments) There is also twisted-pair ribbon cable. There are untwisted/flat sections every foot or so where you can install standard connectors. I'd expect it to work well if used with differential pairs. Digikey carries it. -- These are my opinions. I hate spam. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
Re: [time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit
Am I right in thinking that two of these connector/cables would give the full facilities on the 5000 series units. Roy -Original Message- From: Dave Daniel Sent: Monday, August 04, 2014 4:02 PM To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit Several people on the TekScopes/Tekscopes2 forums went through this a while back. It turned out that ribbon cable appropriate for this application was either not available or too expensive. John Griessen made a set of PWBs and sold kits consisting of a PWB pair, a connector pair and a set of pre-cut and pre-stripped wires. I believe he sold all the kits. I built one of mine and it works well. I use it with a TM-501 as a stand-alone test setup for single-wide plug-ins. DaveD On 8/3/2014 11:54 PM, Mark Sims wrote: I think a cable made from ribbon cable edge connectors would be the easiest/cheapest way to extend the GPIB connector. Have you thought about making extensions for the smaller connector used to distribute GPIB in the 5000 series? ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
[time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit
Yes, all 56 pins are extended, including the PWR pin unique to the 5000 series (it is a power good/power-on reset sort of signal).Several of the TM500 modules are also double-wides and need two extender cables. I have not done an extender for the GPIB connector, but that would be easy to build. When I've needed to extend the GPIB bus in the past, I just used a cable that had a 20 pin ribbon cable edge card connector on it and a standard IDC header on the other end that plugged into the mainframe motherboard where the GPIB connectors connected (the mainfame I was using had the GPIB connector bus built out of IDC ribbon cable/connectors. - Am I right in thinking that two of these connector/cables would give the full facilities on the 5000 series units. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
Re: [time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit
You are right thats why I am thinking about 2. On the ribbon cable discussion I do agree ribbon cable can be fragile unless solidly tied down then they are pretty stable. An approach I have used in building extenders for RS sig gens that use Euro boards is the same stranded wire type for all pins. Granted all the same color but you can get pre-cut lengths and the wires much heavier gauge as you would want in an extender. Regards Paul WB8TSL On Mon, Aug 4, 2014 at 12:11 PM, R.Phillips phill...@btinternet.com wrote: Am I right in thinking that two of these connector/cables would give the full facilities on the 5000 series units. Roy -Original Message- From: Dave Daniel Sent: Monday, August 04, 2014 4:02 PM To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit Several people on the TekScopes/Tekscopes2 forums went through this a while back. It turned out that ribbon cable appropriate for this application was either not available or too expensive. John Griessen made a set of PWBs and sold kits consisting of a PWB pair, a connector pair and a set of pre-cut and pre-stripped wires. I believe he sold all the kits. I built one of mine and it works well. I use it with a TM-501 as a stand-alone test setup for single-wide plug-ins. DaveD On 8/3/2014 11:54 PM, Mark Sims wrote: I think a cable made from ribbon cable edge connectors would be the easiest/cheapest way to extend the GPIB connector. Have you thought about making extensions for the smaller connector used to distribute GPIB in the 5000 series? ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/ mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/ mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/ mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
Re: [time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit
Except for the three wide units such as the CG5011, CG551, etc. Tom - Original Message - From: R.Phillips phill...@btinternet.com To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement time-nuts@febo.com Sent: Monday, August 04, 2014 12:11 PM Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit Am I right in thinking that two of these connector/cables would give the full facilities on the 5000 series units. Roy -Original Message- From: Dave Daniel Sent: Monday, August 04, 2014 4:02 PM To: Discussion of precise time and frequency measurement Subject: Re: [time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit Several people on the TekScopes/Tekscopes2 forums went through this a while back. It turned out that ribbon cable appropriate for this application was either not available or too expensive. John Griessen made a set of PWBs and sold kits consisting of a PWB pair, a connector pair and a set of pre-cut and pre-stripped wires. I believe he sold all the kits. I built one of mine and it works well. I use it with a TM-501 as a stand-alone test setup for single-wide plug-ins. DaveD On 8/3/2014 11:54 PM, Mark Sims wrote: I think a cable made from ribbon cable edge connectors would be the easiest/cheapest way to extend the GPIB connector. Have you thought about making extensions for the smaller connector used to distribute GPIB in the 5000 series? ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
[time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit
Well, just for grins, I did a small board for extending the TM5000 GPIB connector. I remember that the last time I extended the GPIB bus by hooking a ribbon cable to the TM5000 mainframe motherboard it was a bit of a hassle to get to. These should make life easier... ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
[time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit
I just finished laying out a small circuit board for building an extender cable for the Tek TM500 series mainfames / modules. Prototypes are off being fab'd at OSHPARK. Should be here in a couple of weeks. It uses two 39/40 pin ribbon cables (all the power pins use two wires)... e.g. IDE/PATA disk drive cables. I know LOTs of us have and use these venerable old workhorse machines. They are well documented and easily maintained (particularly if you have extender cables). Is there any interest in purchasing a kit of all parts to build an extender cable. With a moderate amount of interest the price looks like it would be around $20 per kit plus shipping (probably around $6 for shipping in the US for as many that can be stuffed in a small priority mail flat rate box... most serious TM500 users will want 2 cables for the wide modules). Kit cables would be 18-19 long. TM500 extender cables have been selling on Ebay for $150-$350! ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
Re: [time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit
I might be interested. Have you thought about making extensions for the smaller connector used to distribute GPIB in the 5000 series? On Aug 4, 2014, at 0:26, Mark Sims hol...@hotmail.com wrote: I just finished laying out a small circuit board for building an extender cable for the Tek TM500 series mainfames / modules. Prototypes are off being fab'd at OSHPARK. Should be here in a couple of weeks. It uses two 39/40 pin ribbon cables (all the power pins use two wires)... e.g. IDE/PATA disk drive cables. I know LOTs of us have and use these venerable old workhorse machines. They are well documented and easily maintained (particularly if you have extender cables). Is there any interest in purchasing a kit of all parts to build an extender cable. With a moderate amount of interest the price looks like it would be around $20 per kit plus shipping (probably around $6 for shipping in the US for as many that can be stuffed in a small priority mail flat rate box... most serious TM500 users will want 2 cables for the wide modules). Kit cables would be 18-19 long. TM500 extender cables have been selling on Ebay for $150-$350! ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there. ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
[time-nuts] Tektronix TM500 extender cable kit
I think a cable made from ribbon cable edge connectors would be the easiest/cheapest way to extend the GPIB connector. Have you thought about making extensions for the smaller connector used to distribute GPIB in the 5000 series? ___ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@febo.com To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.