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u~rnoorn ~~ ~® @[illrn~u~®~
Our computer is a bore-
There is simply no point in trying to ti mes you had to go back and fl ip the IS Just full of information on the sys-
hide it, everyone is going to find out console switches before you got the stem. There are complete sections on
sooner or later anyway. The Southwest loader program in right. Since you can software with sample programs and
Technical Products 6800 computer is do machine language programs direct- information on programming. We have
a big bore. Discussions with customers ly from your video terminal or teletype no assembly instructions in that big
and dealers have confirmed our worse in hexidecimal form, you will not have yellow notebook. They are packed
suspicions. a chance to exchange horror stories with the kits themselves. The note-
with your friends about how you for- book is completely devoted to instruc-
At first people thought that perhaps got the last zero when you entered tion on using your computer system.
owners of our system were just a bit 10100110 from the console on your You are therefore not going to be
shy because they were outnumbered at 374th Byte and messed up the program spending day after jolly day trying to
local computer club meetings. But then
that had just taken you two hours to find out how to put a program into
as the number of owners rose it be-
put into memory. It just isn't fair. your machine; researching all available
came clear that this was not the pro-
outside literature in an attempt to dis-
blem. And it wasn't that they were un- Since we use full buffering on all data,
cover just how you write software for
sociable or anything like that; they address and control lines on all boards
the beast. Sorry about that folks, we
were simply just bored because they in our system and since we use low
didn't mean to spoil all your fun.
had nothing to talk about. power 2102 static memories in our
system, there are no noise sensitivity
Here they were, just sitting there while So please, have a heart, when you see
problems that can lead to hours of fun
all the other members with other those poor lonely souls that have pur-
trying to figure out why a program
brands of computers exchanged data chased our systems say "hello". All
"bombed". Dynamic memories that
on circuit board errors, secret schemes they have to keep them interested in
some others use can drop bits, fail
of adding extra bypass capacitors to computers is writing and running pro-
to refresh random cells, cause programs
make the thing reliable, tricks to keep grams. Our editor, assembler, 4K and
to do crazy things by going into
the clock phases from overlapping, cor- 8K BASIC programs work so well that
a refresh cycle at the wrong moment
rections to manual errors and other fun even this is quick and easy. So be kind
and all kinds of interesting things. Our
subjects. Can you imagine the frustra- to those poor bored SwTPC-6800
poor customers wi II never have a chance
tion this caused? All our customers owners, it's not their fault that they
to have these interesting experiences.
could do was to sit and be bored. They have nothing to talk about.
had nothing to.. talk about.
Even our documentation and software
Our 6800 has an internal monitor is no help. Not only do we have the
ROM that automatically puts the boot-
strap loader in memory and refers con-
most complete and thorough set of
instructions avai lable for any system,
!iiilTIl ®@@@
Computer System
trol to the terminal, when you power we are supplying software either
up. This feature deprives you of the free, or at crazy low prices. Our big with serial interface and 2,048 words
chance to tell sad stories of how many documentation notebook for instance of memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . .$395.00
~----------------------------------------------------- --------_.
o I don't like puzzles anyway and have no free time to be bored so
send information on your 6800 computer system and peripherals.
o Thanks for warning me. Send names of manufacturers of "interest-
ing" computers.
NAME _
ADDRESS, _
Southwest Technical Products Corp., Box 32040, San Antonio, Texas 78284
The only
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It uses the slick new Z-80 chip - ory. No switch flipping to go through Further, the Cromemco ZPU is the
in fact, it uses the even faster Z80/4 to begin your program. only card guaranteed to work with
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Z80/4 is certified by its manufac- Cromemco engineers have also tures the popular BYTESAVER'"
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The Z80/4 has all the advantages will always be useful with the new D + 7AT'" analog interface board, a
of the 8080 and 6800 - and enor- ZPU. To do this, the ZPU has been joystick console, and others.
mously more. designed to have jumper-wire-se-
And Cromemco's new ZPU does lectable wait states on the card. INCLUDES FREE SOFTWARE
enormously more. These simplify interfacing with The ZPU comes with our powerful
your present memory or 1/0 even Z-80 monitor, complete documenta-
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First, the ZPU lets you choose object code. The monitor is also
either a 2 or 4 MHz crystal-controlled 80 ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS available in PROM ($75) for use in
clock rate. Right away that means You've probably heard that the our BYTESAVER memory board.
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reduces software even more. That means with the ZPU you will or assembled. Look into it now be-
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above photo. before. ZPU kit (Model ZPU-K) ..... $295
POWER-ON MEMORY JUMPS ALTAIRIIMSAI COMPATIBLE ZPU assembled
Cromemco's ZPU also has some WITHOUT MODIFICATION (Model ZPU-W) $395
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Crornerneo
Specialists in computer peripherals
2432 Charlelton Rd., Mountain View, CA 94043 • (415) 964-7400
About the Cover In the Oueue is on page 7 this month.
As a way to highlight the history of Once you sit down and Build This
electronic digital signalling, we dug up Mathematical Function Unit as de-
a picture of one of Joseph Henry's scribed in part one of R Scott
original telegraphy keys, circa the Guthrie's two part article, the world of
early 1800s. Robert Tinney then high level mathematical functions is
placed the key in the frame and wall opened to your microcomputer. In
setting you see on the cover, using a part two this month, the software
photo supplied by Brian McCarthy. needed to interface with the calculator
is described, as well as several test
loops used to adjust timing parameters
with an oscilloscope. As a final illustra-
tion of the calculator's use, the author
provides a program called CALCULA
In This ~~TI
which enables a Teletype (or other
ASCII) port to drive the calculator and
print results, simulating the ordinary
hand calculator level of operation .
•
Lawrence Krakauer describes a tech- National Semiconductor announced
The problem of decoding arbitrary
nique to store Morse characters as a the PACE computer some time ago,
hand generated Morse code is not a
packed table of bit patterns for ma- but until recently it has been some-
trivial one. It requires some care and
chine generated outputs - or for what hard to obtain. Now that th is 16
thought in the design of adaptive
machine decoded inputs. bit minicomputer is beginning to enter
algorithms. As one contribution to this
its volume production stage, we Keep
issue's sub theme of computerized
Morse code, Lt William A Hickey,
•
If Only Sam Morse Could See Us
PACE With the Times by offering
Robert Baker's Microprocessor Update
USN, provides some background infor- Now. He'd have a fistful of problems on this processor. If you missed the
mation and suggestions on the subject. trying to copy radio transmissions at convenience of your familiar 16 bit
1000 wpm generated by programs minicomputer when you started
• such as Wayne Sewell's CWBUFFER reading about and "dry ru n program-
subroutine. But, using one of Wayne's ming" for personal computing, then
W J Hosking, W7JSW, is an amateur set of sundry drivers for CWBUFFER, the PACE processor might be a logical
radio operator in search of applica- Mr Morse could potentially learn to choice for a homebrew or kit system.
tions hardware and software. Read copy - or at least have his computer
about A Ham's Application Dreams
and find out how to implement one
copy - in a code practice mode. •
aspect of his dream with the Morse • The advent of the personal system
portends a fundamental change in the
code input and output conversion One appl ication of the Morse code
technology described in detail in the problem solvers is documented in ways computers are used. In Home-
balance of this issue .... Bruce Filgate's article on Morse Code brewery vs the Software Priesthood,
Station Data Handler. This is an appli- David Fylstra and Mike Wilber make
some comments about the impact of
• cation program which handles direct
sending of Morse outputs, from widespread use and knowledge of com-
A theme of this October issue is the character text, adaptive interpretation puters.
application of microcomputers to the
decoding of Morse code. One approach
of Morse inputs, storing of fixed mes-
sages (eg: ' CO CO CO DE W1AW ') in •
to the problem is detailed in Robert a message buffer for later transmission Looking for ideas for meetings of
Grappel and Jack Hemenway's article or repetitive transmission, etc. Bruce your local computer group? Dr Charles
on MORSER ... a program to read has put it all together in the form of a F Douds has a few suggestions to make
Morse code, implemented with a comprehensive 1536 byte program for in his background article on the
Motorola 6800 computer. an 8008. subject this month.
2
KI":'A- MONTH
T.M.
The Altair kit-a-month plan allows you to own an Altair mainframe without
taxing your pocketbook. Mits has made it easy for you to purchase an 8800a,
8800b or 680b computer in monthly installments where you receive compon-
ents with each payment. There are no financial charges because we have made
each monthly shipment a kit in itself. This will give you time to read up on com-
puters and/or gain knowledge from friends.
We have set up an Altair kit-a-month payment desk to service your needs.
When writing or calling the factory for information about your shipment or
account, just refer to the "kit-a-month payment desk~'
OWN YOUR 680b IN FIVE EASY PAYMENTS
1st month 680b Manuals, Main and Display PC Boards,
and membership in users group
2nd month 680b Case and Power Supply
3rd month Parts for 680b Display Board
4th month Parts for 680b Main Board less Integrated
Circuits
5th month 680b Chips
$93.20 plus $2.00 per month make your payments $95.20 per month and you have your complete
kit in five easy payments. This plan gives you the full 680b with memory and I/O. The BAUDOT Option is
still $42.00 extra and may be purchased with Time Payment #4 or #5. Remittance of $95.20 will start you
on your way to owning your own computer.
Alaska. Hawaii, APO and FPO customers include $3.00 per month for Air Parcel Post charges instead
of $2.00 for regular Parcel Post shipment. This would make your payment $96.20 per month.
Canadian customers include $3.00 per each month for postage and handling fees.
NOTE: This plan does not apply to foreign sales other than Canada.
$79.00 I Month
ALTAIR 8800A TIME PAYMENT PLAN
8800A Time Payment #1 8800A Manuals and Users Group Membership
#2 EC-18, PC Board and Hardware
#3 8800A Power Supply Kit
#4 8800A Case
#5 CPU PC Board and Bag of Parts less the
main chip
#6 Main Processor Chip
#7 Display Control Board and Parts
The price of the Altair 8800A mainframe is $539.00. Seven easy payments plus $2.00 per month for
postage and handling charges make this plan equal $79.00 per month. Upon receipt of your first $79.00
payment you are on your way to owning your own 8080A basic computer system. A list of available com-
patible peripherals is enclosed to let you plan your system as you learn about your microprocessor. By
8800A Time payment #7 you're ready to go.
Alaska, Hawaii, APO and FPO customers please include $4.00 for shipping charges (making $81
per month payments) for Air Parcel Post shipment. Otherwise. shipment will come Parcel Post. not insured.
Canadian customers must accept month #4 Emery Airfreight Collect. All other months must include
$4.00 postage and handling making monthly payments of $81.00.
KIT-A-MONTH
ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS
In order to smoothly and efficiently expedite your orders, we ask that you
note the following helpful hints:
1. Send all payments other than BankAmericard or Master Charge in the
form of a cashier's check or money order. Personal checks are acceptable, but
clearance time will delay your order by 2-3 weeks.
2. The kit-a-month plan has been set up to proceed in order and we cannot
deviate from that order. You can help us by noting with your payment what
month you are on.
3. When calling or sending in orders, refer to your customer name on
the original order and also your Mits order number.
4. If you change your address, keep your name as it is on the original
order to keep records straight.
5. Please note special instructions for Alaska, Hawaii, APO, FPO and
Canadian customers. If these are not followed, it could result in delays in proc-
essing your order.
6. The Kit-a-Month desk has been set up to help expedite your orders
because of the overwhelming response we've had with previous time payment
plans. Please feel free to use this service whenever you have questions. When
writing letters to Mits, simply note "Kit-a-Month desk" on the outside of the
envelope.
NOTE: Once you start the Kit-a-Month plan you are guaranteed the existing
price at the time of your first order. You will not be affected by price increases.
---------------------------------------------
Enclosed is my payment of for the first shipment of my Altair
kit-a-month.
Master Charge # or BankAmericard # _
Altair 680bD Altair 8800aD o Altair 8800b
NAME _
ADDRESS _
CITY STATE & ZIP _
I-------------------------------------------~
7
H you thought a rugged,
professional yet affordable
computer didn't exist,
think
IMSAI
8080.
Sure there are other commercial,
high-quality computers that can
perform like the 8080. But their
prices are 5 times as high. There is
a rugged, reliable, industrial com-
puter, with high commercial-type
performance. The IMSAI 8080.
Fully assembled, it's $931.
Unassembled, it's $599. And ours
is available now.
In our case, you can tell
a computer by its cabinet. The
1MSAl 8080 is made for commer- supply produces a true 28 amp memory protect. For the ultimate
cial users. And it looks it. Inside current, enough to power a full in flexibility, you can design the
and out! The cabinet is attractive, system. system for low-cost multiprocessor,
heavy-gauge aluminum. The You can expand to a shared memory capability.
heavy-duty lucite front panel has powerful system with 64K of Find out more about the
an extra 8 program controlled memory, plus a floppy disk con- computer you thought didn't
LED's. It plugs directly into the troller, with its own on-board exist. Get a complete illustrated
Mother Board without a wire 8080- and a DOS. A floppy disk brochure describing the IMSAI
harness. And rugged commercial drive, an audio tape cassette input 8080, options, peripherals, soft-
grade paddle switches that are device, a printer, plus a video ware, prices and specifications.
backed up by reliable debouncing terminal and a teleprinter. These Send one dollar to cover handling.
circuits. But higher aesthetics on peripherals will function with an Call us for the name of the
the outside is only the beginning. 8-level priority interrupt system. IMSAI dealer nearest you.
The guts of the IMSAI 8080 is IMSAI BASIC software is avail- Dealer inquiries invited.
where its true beauty lies. able in 4K, that you can get in
The 8080 is optionally
~~~L%~
PROM. And a new $139 4K
expandable to a substantial system RAM board with software
with 22 card slots in a single
printed circuit board. And the IMS Associates, Inc. Dept. B-1 a
durable card cage is made of 14860 Wicks Boulevard
San Leandro, CA 94577
commercial-grade anodized (415) 483-2093
aluminum.
The IMSAI 8080 power
The Concertina System
9
faces to any existing computer by using the display, ASCII text keyboard and a pair of
two programmable ports of a single PIA audio cassette drives with motor control via
chip. (Most existing computers have pro- relays and a data rate of at least 300 baud.
visions for a "PIA card" with one or more Obtaining better mass storage peripherals
such "parallel interface adapters" together such as floppy disks, 3M cartridge drives or
with appropriate plugs.) The ALF design has high speed electronically controlled Philips
8 fully programmable music channels with cassette decks is of course highly desirable.
an option to add 8 less versatile "back- This use of the computer system, while
ground" channels to achieve the potential requiring a dedicated peripheral, is com-
for a truly orchestral sound. pletely consistent with the concept of the
There are undoubtedly additional in- general purpose personal system, for when
dividuals and companies working on similar the system is not being used for music,
systems and products which can simply and programs with other purposes can be
inexpensively (relative to costs two to three employed. Many typical uses require such a
years ago) add a minimal concertina system peripheral specific to the application; many
capability to the typical home computer other applications such as record keeping,
system. Readers will find more information calculation, text processing, mathematical
on this subject as the products become and simulation games, and so on merely
better defined and reach the marketplace; require the general purpose computing sys-
we also expect to publish articles on the tem composed of processor, programmable
technology of computer controlled musical memory, text keyboard, video display and
instruments (experimenters and potential mass storage on magnetic media. The
authors: take note). "concertina system" concept is but one of
If you have a computer, you have 75 to innumerable answers to the critic's question
90% of such a "concertina system" already of "What do you really do with a home
available. All the control and data manage- computer? "-
ment power needed to implement a rela-
tively simple and quite functional
polyphonic music interpreter is present in a Size and Finesse
microprocessor system using chips such as Perhaps you've noted a moderate expan-
the 8080, Z-80, 6800 or 6502 with several K sion in the size of your monthly mouthful of
of applications program memory (I use 12 K BYTE, along with the addition of some
myself for interpreter and text area, but it colorful spices to make each BYTE more
would certainly be possible to program a flavorful.
usable system with as little as 4 K memory.) Switching metaphors, a magazine such as
The system also requires a video output BYTE is in many respects like a very large
and complicated program design. The first
concern was and is to fill a high quality
Word Gets Around ... technical magazine with good useful infor-
The personal computing field is getting mation and fun, once a month. This is the
some attention as the amount of activity algorithm we have used very successfully and
creates some micro ripples in the big pond of continue to use.
things people do. An article in the July 12 But, like the large program, although the
issue of Business Week featured Paul Terrell's basic algorithm design is not subject to
Byte Shop computer store in Mountain View major changes there are always new features,
CA. Paul's shop is one of the largest retail incremental improvements and parameters
outlets among the more than 250 stores to adjust. Striving for the "best possible
coast to coast which regularly stock BYTE. BYTE" is an ingrained part of our philoso-
Also, Ivan Berger, electronics and photog- phy, where "best" is defined as serving the
raphy editor of Popular Mechanics magazine, needs of our customers in this specialized
reports in phone conversation that he has field.
scheduled a short feature article on home In the area of improving the product,
computers, their present and future recent increases in the size of each BYTE
prospects, in the September Popular reflects a synergistic combination of sub-
Mechanics. scriber and advertiser support. The added
There have of course been several local spice of color printing on interior pages is
and national newspaper stories lately. As directly a result of support from advertisers,
products improve and the market expands, who make such support possible because of
we should see more and more examples of our readership. We're still experimenting
public awareness of computers documented with this new possibility of highlighting and
in the press and other media, a welcome enhancing technical articles but the presenta-
trend indeed.- tion should continue to improve.-
10
And now minis too!
All from a catalog,at discount prices.
Digital's Direct Sales Catalog- logic modules, terminals, cab- sands who ordered our original
the first catalog to offer com- inets, connectors, accessories, catalog, you'll get the new one
puterproducts by mail with and supplies from the first automatically by mail.
off-the-shelf delivery - was edition. If you weren't, why not sign
such a success, we've come out Of course, you still get our up now?
with an expanded second edi- 5% catalog discount, plus For your free copy, call 800-
tion that includes the PDP-8A, another 4% for cash with your 225-9480(~ass.617-481-7400
the newest member of the order. You also get a lO-day ext. 6608). Or write:
world's most popular mini- free trial period, plus our stand- Components Group, Digital
computer family. ard 90-warranty. (Since we're Equipment Corp., ~R2-2/~59,
We've also added the LAI80 selling by mail, you do have to One Iron Way, ~arlborough,
line printer and expanded the install the equipment yourself.) ~A 01752. (Catalog sales to
sections on microcomputers, If you were among the thou- U.s. only.)
The Computer .
Versus .
Lt William A Hickey USN
c/o US NSGA Edzell
FPO New York NY 09518
12
AVE RAGE = 1.0 AVE RAGE = 3.81
.-J
1
of a table lookup assuming both machines .. u
w
use the same Morse code data rate. ~ z~
At this point, it will be convenient to ~ w 1---tL.&.w
0:0:
wO:
illustrate the hand sent Morse translation >::J
problem. Figure 2 is a histogram of a very ,~ug
short message sent with a hand key.
1
co CO CO DE OPERATOR NUMBER ONE w
u
AVERAGE = 4.97
~ AVERAGE = 1.13
The largest single distribution in the a.. '-' .
(/)
shorter mark group has been assigned the
relative time value of (1.0). Keeping in mind Figure 2: A histogram of a
the very small size of this sample, you can typical hand sent message,
see that there is a wide variation in mark the text "CO CO CO DE
lengths. (This variation will increase pro- OPERATOR NUMBER
portionately with an increase in sample size.) ONE". The terms "mark"
varying properties of the statistical Morse and "space" refer to the
Space lengths are not as clearly defined, and
signal. (This means the signals change charac- low and high TTL levels
it is very difficult to decide where the
teristics from time to time .... usually just out of the detector of fi-
decision should be made between letter
as the machine was ready to adapt to the gure 1, respectively.
spaces and word spaces. This won't be a
previous change.) These statistical changes
serious problem though, since an extra space
are reflected only partly in the mark and
or the lack of a space between words rarely
space timing characteristics of different
damages the message context. The decision
problem will become acute when the space operators or those of the same operator over
interval within characters begins to spread an extended time.
toward the lower boundary of the space One of the advantages a human has is the
interval between characters. This will be one ability to make contextual analysis on what
of the primary sources for decoding errors. is sent. For example, an operator might hear
This article will not and should not C? Q?
specifically address such problems as: (1) [~~l
gradual frequency drift from either the
N N M A
transmitter or receiver, (2) rapid transmitter
frequency drift ("chirp"), (3) atmospheric and understand the signal ["CO"]; the
fading, (4) noise from natural or human machine would translate NNMA (just as
made sources, or (5) the presence of many it was sent). Examples of this phenomenon
other Morse and non-Morse (SSB, RTTY, are endless and are available on the airwaves
etc) signals in the same receiver passband. daily.
The reason for this is simple: These factors There are three primary approaches to a
are just too complex to be with in the solution of the hand sent Morse translation
correction capability of simple algorithms. problem:
Remember that these problems are common
1. Macro: You can accumulate statistical
to machine sent and hand sent Morse code
information on a particular operator
signals.
and use this data to make decoding
Translating hand sent code really begins decisions.
to get sticky when the sending operator gets 2. Micro: You can make your decisions
sloppy. (He or she might send a "special" on a mark to mark basis.
signal like -- -- [73, a signoff greeting] 3. Averaging: You can compromise these
which tends to give receiving operators two methods and come up with a
problems too!) Let's face it, there are a lot
hybrid algorithm.
of really bad "fists" out there. Of course,
there are some pretty good ones too, but Approach (1) requires a long sample time
frequently the contact you want falls into to develop the statistical information, and
the bad group! during this time the decoded output would
The reason automatic decoders are usual- probably be unacceptable. Even after the
ly unsuccessful at decoding hand sent Morse statistics become val id, the decoder wou Id
code is: they are unable to adapt to the time operate only on operators with sim ilar
13
Data Definitions: 8 bit registers or programmable memory
MORSE
DECODER
EXECUTION
PREVSTATE DUTCH- 0 ----------------l
:-STATE;
STATE
OUTCH~O ,
REAL TIME-+ I
: -INPUT '--END OF CHARACTER
DETECTED BY
X ~ 2. AVGDOT
~---...rHAVEDOTORi
,-------, >-:..::..:=---t::..l.......... IL DASH ...JI
: ~~~Cd"FUIJE: I
------, J
LCHARACTER
I
I
J. NO
YES
SHIFT 0 Note: This routine is intended
DUTCH: - ,CONCLUDE: -
I
.... - - , SPACE WITHIN
i INTO
MORSREG
to be executed following an
ASCII SHIFT I interrupt generated by both
(MORSREG) ~~A~~!..E~_J
INTO the rising and falling edges of
MORSREG
the TTL Morse code input
from a detector. An applica-
.---------, AVGDOT: • tion routi ne to receive the
I FOR AN AVGDOT I (NEW RUNNING output of this routine must
CLEAR I INCLUDING DASH I AVERAGE) ; have a wait loop which con-
MORSREG - - - , AND SPACE READ- r--
liNGS INSERT CALCU'I tinually tests OUTCH for zero.
t..:~~~~~:'_....J After an interrupt is com-
pleted, a non zero character
wiil be in OUTCH and the
application routine will leave
its idling loop and can use the
character after copying it and
setting OUTCH back to zero.
Figure 3: The flow diagram of a relatively unsophisticated Morse decoder program. The adaptive features of this program are
contained in the calculation of a new running average of the dot length whenever a dot is detected. The speed of the algorithm's
response to a change in the keying rate of the Morse input is a function of the number of dots maintained in the running average.
A more complex algorithm could take into account the nominal dash spacing of three dots as part of the average, as well as the
spacing between signal elements within characters.
idiosyncracies_ This is a nice idea, and it Many individuals and commercial manu-
works well for individual operators; but it is facturers have tried variations on approach
not very workable for a broad collection of (3); but they all boil down to: Sample from
operator characteristics. Approach (2) is the four to eight characters, average the lengths
easiest method - sometimes called the of the dots, and use that average to make
"ideal dot" method - but it is very suscep- decoding decisions. After the initial average
tible to noise pulses and rapid code speed is set, you can update the average each time
changes. (I t tends to generate an excessive a dot is detected; or you can average both
number of errors and is not really that good dot and dash lengths and settle on a median
for decoded outpULl For now, approach (3)
seems to offer the best chance of working. Continued on page 106
14
Cabinets clockwise from top: CPU, Dual-cassette drive, Keyboard, 9" Monitor.
16
How yOU can
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on your own
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1.I.
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The Scelbi "Cook Book" even includes a com-
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Personal checks delay shipping up to 4 weeks. Pricing,
specifications, availability subject to change without notice.
Prices for U.S. and Canadian delivery at book mailing rate. 1322 Rear Boston Post Rd., Milford, CT 06460
Add $2.50 for each publication if Pr.lority Air Service (U.S.) Telephone: 203/874-1573
desired. Foreign orders add $6.00 for each publication,
stores. The Laminar also has protective printer). It appears that you do not
plastic coatings on both sides. The soft, have, for example, Greek letters,
flexible coating is removed before laminating although you have quite a variety of
to the clean copper clad. The inflexible fonts and styles. (This suggests using a
coating is removed before developing. The E different typeface to spell out symbols
I du Pont Company also has a similar type of that may be single characters in the
resist ma terial. original, such as THETA or UP-
The PC boards must be very clean before ARROW). Many of us are no longer
resist is put down on the copper surface. A limited to 47 computer symbols, but
dip in dilute hydrochloric acid or muriatic use 128 character ASCII. [Our text
acid followed by a scrubbing with Ajax or character set is published by IBM, in
steel wool will prepare the surface. Hogen- its literature on Selectric Composer
son's photo 9 looks like the result of resist balls; for computer graphics we gener-
put on a dirty board. ally assume 7 bit ASCII unless noted.]
Printed circuit boards shouldn't be drilled 3. While it is awkward in English to avoid
with regular steel drills. They will wear out masculine pronouns (he, him, etc), I
quickly and will leave ragged holes. Try do think we should try to avoid the
carbide drills made for PC drilling. Most PC masculine assumption about readers
material houses should stock these. The type (eg: having a wife). This is a new field,
with an eighth inch shaft will fit in most which is developing at a time in our
tools. history when women (and men) are
Bishop Graphics Inc, 20450 Plummer St, outgrowing their traditional roles. I
Chatsworth CA 91311, has a wide variety of think we can expect to see a gradual
PC layout and tape-up aids. I would suggest increase in the number of women
that readers get a copy of their catalog since interested in computers, and should
the last 32 pages are a technical manual on encourage the trend.
PC layout and related techniques.
I hope this will help your readers to In this light, it may be relevant that if we
improve their PC board technique. credit Charles Babbage with the first pro-
grammable digital computer design, we
Jonathan A Titus
should likewise consider one of his chief
Tychon Inc
advocates, the Lady Lovelace, as the first
POB 242
programmer. She wrote instructions for set-
Blacksburg VA 24060
ting up the Analytical Engine to perform
certain calculations. (This was, of course,
working in the abstract, as the machine was
ON BLANKS, CHARACTERS AND
never completed.)
WOMEN IN COMPUTING
Zhahai Stewart
I am glad to see BYTE is developing as a POB 1637
stable but flexible medium for the computer Boulder CO 80302
If we credit Charles Bab- hobbyist. There are, however, three points
bage with the first pro- which should be addressed early in your As to the last point, we're all for it. But it
grammable digital com- history: is a fact that most BYTE readers are male.
Where is the other 50% of the human race in
puter design, we should 1. Invent a "blank character." Variable computing? As a rule, we try to keep things
likewise consider Lady spacing for uniform column width is relatively free of stereotypes in the hopes
Lovelace as the first fine for reading, but poor for showing that the other 50% will start finding out
programmer. significant blanks. Programmers have about the wonderful attractions of com-
long used special symbols to represent puters and computing. ... CH
spaces or blanks, much as zeros act as
placeholders for Arabic numerals.
Examples are the lower-case b with IDENTITY CRISIS
overstruck slash or dash, and a square-
cornered U. If no special character is This is just a short note to say that I am
available, perhaps just a lower-case b enjoying BYTE and to offer a suggestion in
would do (eg: "L1Mb+1" to show a the form of a question:
blank as necessary) [Only necessary in
"What do we call ourselves?"
the limited context of character text
string examples . .. CH] Radio amateurs call themselves hams and
2. Publish your character set. Testing the I am sure other people have other names for
character set is often one of the first them. However, in BYTE to date, I find that
acts performed with a new medium writers are grasping for words to use to
(such as a keyboard, video display, or describe the computer hobby. Perhaps you
18
Microcomputers are highly
complicated devices. When you
buy one you vvant to make sure
the manufacturer has a solid repu-
tation for reliability and support. You
vvant to make sure he'll be in your corner
a year or tvvo dovvn the road.
The Aitair™8800 from MITS vvas the first
general-purpose microcomputer. Today, there are
more Altair computers up and running than all the
other general-purpose microcomputers combined.
Today, Altairs are successfully used for literally hun-
dreds of personal, business, scientific, and industrial
applications.
Because vve are so popular, many people have tried
to copy us. The pages of microcomputer magazines
are full of advertisements for Altair compatible devices
and Altair imitation computers.
Because vve are NUMBER ONE,
vve offer a much broader range of
products and services than any of
our competitors. One manufacturer
might be able to copy one of our
computers. Another might be able
to produce a vvorking memory card.
But no one can copy the overall
Altair concept.
The Altair concept is a system
concept aimed at practical, cost
effective applications. That's vvhy
vve offer three mainframes includ-
ing the Altair 680b, Altair 8800a,
and Altair 8800b; ten peripherals
including a multi-disk system; and
over 20 plug compatible modules
including our nevv, lovv povver 16K
static memory board. That's vvhy vve
are the only microcomputer manu-
facturer to go to the extra expense
of providing our customers vvith
quality, higher language softvvare.
When you buy an Altair, you're
not just buying a piece of equip-
ment. You're buying years of reli-
able, lovv-cost computing. You're
buying the support of the N UMBER
ONE manufacturer in the micro-
computer field.
20
Rickeys tackling the SD~80
microcomputer kit for his next science project.
Rickey likes soccer, lizards, hot best part was the instruction manuals. computer of his own. He may be the
fudge sundaes, skateboards and Every step was clearly explained. It was first kid on his block with his own
microscopes. He can't decide if he'd easy. The programming part looked computer. Thanks to a $350 low
rather be Franco Harris, Bobby especially interesting. So simple. Just interest loan from his Dad.
Fischer or Jonas Salk. imagine talking to a computer. If you're interested in being the
When his Dad brought home The big thrill came on Saturday first on your block to have a micro-
the Intel SDK-80 microcomputer when they went to his Dad's office to computer, contact your Intel distri-
systems kit, Rickey helped him put use a terminal. When they connected butor: AlmaclStroum, Component
it together. It took only four hours. the SDK-80 to the teletypewriter Specialties, Components Plus,
Everything was there. The 8080 they got a printout. That was excit- Cramer, Elmar, HamiltonlAvnet,
CPU, RAM, PROM, programmable, ing. Within an hour they were talking Industrial Components, Liberty,
I/O, a printed circuit board with all to the computer, then inventing Pioneer, Sheridan, or L. A. Varah.
_I~
In+
those capacitors and resistors and games. They stayed all day. Microcomputers. •
the other things that go with it. The Now Rickey is building a micro- First from the beginning. "eI
3065 Bowers Ave, Santa Clara,California 95051.
A BIT OF CIRCULATION Engineers, Inc, document number IEEE Std
488-7975. Quoting from the IEEE standards
Attention: Circulation document, "The Hewlett-Packard Company
Dear Ms Luhrs: has assured the IEEE that it is willing to
Thank you very kindly for making avail- grant a license under these patents on
able the lifetime subscription to BYTE reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms and
magazine which I won at the First World conditions to anyone wishing to obtain such
Altair Convention in New Mexico. Of all the a license. " To obtain a copy of the 80 page
door prizes given, I firmly believe I won the standards document write IEEE Service Cen-
best. It was generous of your firm to make it ter, 445 Hoes Ln, Piscataway Nj 08854.
available. I would appreciate your conveying
my gratitude to Mr and Mrs Peschke and Mr
Helmers. TEXT PROCESSING OUTPUT VIA
Since I already have a subscription to CONVE RTED TYPEWRITERS?
your fine magazine, I am presently receiving
two copies. I am passing one along to Jim Lang's letter in the August BYTE on
non-subscribers and hopefully it will gen- hard copy and IBM Selectric typewriters
erate additional subscriptions. aroused a responsive chord. I too have been
I commend you on the many fine articles interested for some time in using the ubiqui-
which have appeared in past issues. Being a tous Selectric typewriter to obtain high
novice in hardware applications, I parti- quality hard copy. It seems to me that any-
cularly look forward to tutorial type hard- one familiar with both Selectrics and Tele-
ware articles. types would prefer the former - half again
higher speed, much higher print quality, and
Gene Straub both upper and lower case. The clincher
5723 Shasta Cir would seem to be that most XYLs would
Littleton CO 80123 look more favorably on the idea of spending
half a kilobuck or so on something that can
also be used as a good typewriter instead of
THE IEEE 488 BUS something that can't.
As some readers are probably aware,
Regarding your comments about a stan- there is a commercial firm that markets a
dard interface for microprocessors, etc, on (rather expensive) applique that attaches to
page 96 of the April issue: I imagine you are a standard Selectric and makes it into a
familiar with the IEEE 488 which is being terminal. (Tycom Systems Corp, 26 Just Rd,
used by HP, Tektronix, Fluke and many Fairfield NJ 07006.)
others to interface microprocessors, calcula- In this connection, I'd like to point out
tors, disks, cassettes, DVMs, counters, etc. that the US Patent Office is a veritable gold
488 is not as complex as the standards mine of technical information that can be
document would lead you to believe. It is obtained for a very modest price. For
achieving rapid acceptance because it is well example, the patent documentation covering
suited to microprocessor manipulation. For the Tycom system consists of 26 pages of
various reasons it may not be ideal for diagrams and 50 fine print pages of descrip-
personal computing, but it seems to be an tive text. An appreciable fraction of this
excellent starting point. One drawback is consists of a very detailed description of the
that HP has the handshake patented. Their internal workings of the Selectric type-
license fee is quite reasonable for some writer - it seems to collect details from the
organizations but perhaps not for hobbyists. myriad of IBM patents on the Selectric into
Other drawbacks include the question of a single place.
common availability of the connector, etc. A copy of the printed version of this (or
However it would be nice if there could be any) US patent can be obtained by speci-
some degree of commonality between 488 fying the patent number (#3,453,379 for
and any hobbyist standard that might the one mentioned above) and remitting
evolve. 50 cents to "Commissioner of Patents, Wash-
Bob Huenemann ington DC 20231."
4209 Armand Dr Obviously one cannot duplicate a
Concord CA 94128 patented item in making a product for sale.
Nor in this case would one want to, since
Yes, 488 might be a good place to start. with new ICs and components, the circuitry
For those unfamiliar with the issue, the full involved is verging on obsolescence. Never-
name is IEEE Standard Digital Interface for
Programmable Instrumentation, published
by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Continued on page 136
22
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
As well as the LSI chip, the CPU board contains stored at the next location; DEPOSIT -causes
the two-phase clock, status latch, buffers and the information preset by the switches (AO-A 7)
the various lines going to the bus. (The buffers to be stored in memory; DEPOSIT NEXT-steps
are tri-state devices.) the P counter and loads the memory; SINGLE
The CPU contains six general-purpose registers, STEP-steps the program one machine cycle;
P counter, arithmetic unit, accumulator, stack RESET-clears the CPU and sets up a starting
pointer, instruction decoder, and miscellaneous address of 0; PROTECT/UNPROTECT-allows
timing and control circuits. The arithmetic unit selective write protection of blocks of memory.
contains the circuitry required to perform When a block of memory is protected, it is
arithmetic in both decimal and binary forms. The impossible to write over that block, but its
stack pointer defines the current address of the contents can be read out.
external stack, which resides in memory. The With proper adjustments, any memory speed can
stack is used to service interrupts and provides be used in the 8800a computer, although
virtually unlimited subroutine nesting. The memory access time must be 500 nanoseconds
instruction decoder decodes the instructions and or less if it is to be run without wait states. In
sets up the various registers, gates, etc., in the addition to semiconductor RAMs, the processor
CPU for proper functioning. will also service ROMs and PROMs.
There are 36 LED status indicators on the front
panel, 16 of which are used for the address bus,
8 for the system status latches, and 8 for the NEW FEATURES
data bus. The four remaining LEOs are used for POWER SUPPLY
indicating memory-protect, interrupt-enable, The power supply provides three voltages to the
system-wait and hold status. Address line inputs 8800a bus: +8V pre-regulated at 8 amps;
AO through A15, data lines DO through 07, and +15V at 500mA; -15V at 500mA.
the various status lines originate on the
FAN
CPU board.
A fan has been mounted on the back panel of the
The front panel control board contains the 8800a to provide cooler operating temperatures.
circuitry for interfacing between the control
switches located on the front panel and the CPU. 18 SLOT MOTHERBOARD
In addition to the interconnections to the actual The four-slot expander cards in the Altair 8800
processor, this board accepts memory address have been replaced with a single-piece 18-slot
switches AO through A15 (also on the front motherboard. The 18-slot motherboard contains
panel). The first eight of these switches (DO to the 100 solder lands that comprise the
07) are used to put data into the CPU. 100 pin bus.
The front panel logic permits the following FRONT PANEL SWITCHES
functions: STOP-stops the processor The front panel toggle switches have 50% longer
immediately after it completes the current handles that are flat (instead of round)
instruction; RUN -starts the processor at the for easier use.
current address; EXAMINE-causes the data An assembled Altair 8800a may be ordered with
stored at the location (set by the switches) to be six, twelve, or eighteen sets of edge connectors.
displayed in binary by LEOs; EXAMINE NEXT- The Altair 8800a kits include an edge connector
steps the P counter once and displays the word with every plug-in module purchased.
Ne\N Front Panel 5\Nitches
~~ DUU0C5~
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1- 1
I'm writing th is article for a selfish b) Keyboard RTTY transmit and CRT
motive. I want to build some things and the RTTY read.
construction articles aren't here yet, parti- c) Alphanumeric slow scan TV transmit
cularly in state of the art. and receive.
I just finished a television typewriter d) Computer terminal operation with a
(TVT) which has alphanumeric character telephone coupled to a timeshared
generation and storage capacity plus capa- computer system.
o bility of serial or parallel ASCII (plus con-
trol) interface. Now that it is finished, I
o want more than a plaything. I would like to
Description
o have the following capabilities:
My envisioned system is shown in figure
1. Let's tackle that drawing block by block,
0°
W J Hosking W7JSW a) Keyboard Morse code (CW) transmit consi"dering the TVT and CRT to already
8626 E Clarendon and receive encoding with CRT dis- exist and applying the constraint of a mini-
Scottsdale AZ 85251 play. mum hardware (low cost) implementation.
FAST TO f-
SLOW SCAN
CONVERTER ~ I-- \7
CRT
"-
TTL ~!-- ..... MIC
DATA
~
SMALL
-
COMPUTER
~
TVT PARALLEL SYSTEM
WITH RCVR
SOFTWARE
~ TTL
DATA TRANSCEIVER
SERIAL
, -. FSK
KEYER AND
I--
CONVERTER
~
ACOUSTIC
COUPLER
~
station configuration
where "ideal" is define d
by the author in the ac
companying text.
26
766/649 767/203
HOWA DATA
COMPUTER PROCESSING
SYSTEM WORKS MANAGEMENT
by J. A. Brown by D. H.
& R. S. Brandon,
Workman A. D. Palley, &
A. M. O'Reilly
Pub. price, $8.95
Club price, $7.60 Pub. price, $29.95
Club price, $21.50
767/98X
THE 767/661
PROGRAMMER'S INTERACTIVE
INTRODUCTION COMPUTER
TO SNOBOL GRAPHICS
by D. Maurer by B. S. Walker,
G. R. Grund, &
Pub. price, $13.50 E. A. Drawneck
Club price, $11.40 Pub. price, $14.50
767/246 Club price, $12.30
A COMPUTER
PERSPECTIVE 766/479
by C. Eames THE U.S.
& R. Eames COMPUTER
INDUSTRY,
Pub. price, $15.00 AStudy of
Club price, $12.75 Market Power
by G. W. Brock
768/03X Pub. price, $15.00
MICROPRO· Club price, $12.50
GRAMMABLE
COMPUTER 353/387
ARCHITECTURES MINICOMPUTERS
by A. B. FOR ENGINEERS
Salisbury AND SCIENTISTS
Pub. price, $13.50 by G. A. Korn
Club price, $11.40
Pub. price, $23.45
Club price, $15.50
768/307
CONTENT
767/084
ADDRESSABLE
PARALLEL THE SUN NEVER
PROCESSORS SETS ON IBM
by C. C. Foster by N. Foy
save time and money r-- MAIL THIS COUPON TODAY --,
COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS/Book Club
by joining McGraw-Hill's new P.O. Box 582 Princeton Road, Hightstown, New Jersey 08520
Please enroll me as a member of the Computer Professionals' Book Club
COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS' and send me the two books indicated below. I am to receive the bonus
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BOOKCLUB cable). These books are to be shipped on approval, and I may return them
both without cost or further obligation. If I decide to keep the books. I
agree to purchase as few as four additional books (including this first
selection) during the next two years at special Club prices (guaranteed
books.
Morse (CW) Transmit and Receive working storage, and a peripheral interface
Looking back through previously existing adapter (PIA) for input and output. Some
magazines on electronics and amateur radio. other items such as power supplies and
I have found several articles on Mors~ clocks are also required. I would hope that
keyboards, most using bulky diode matrices. the microprocessor interface unit cost could
The literature on Morse code readers is much be kept under $100.
harder to find, and as this is written I found Now for the required design work. This
nothing approaching state of the art. black box I am planning would have to
It would seem that, with the rapidly accept a seven bit ASCII code (serial or
dropping prices of microprocessors and their parallel) plus a data present strobe. The box
associated memories and peripherals, the would convert the input character to serial
way to go on this project would be a Morse code and output the code over some
computer using minimum hardware imple- suitable keying circuit to the station trans-
mented with an LSI microprocessor. I have mitter. Since we are talking about a small
presented a very basic approac~ to such a computer, the Morse code speed desired
system in figure 2. All that would be could be ordered by an appropriate input
required from the hardware standpoint code sequence from the keyboard. The box
would be the microprocessor, a read only then has to send a character or flag back to
memory for permanent program storage, a the TVT to say it is ready for a new
programmable random access memory for character.
The reverse or receive mode is the Morse
to ASCII conversion. However, here a special
conversion device will be needed to change
Figure 2: For a dedicated
POWER the audio out of the receiver to some kind of
MICROPROCESSOR SUPPLY "black box" ham radio
signal that the computer can recognize and
data processor, the use of
convert. The software wh ich drives the
a microprocessor system
converter must also recognize intercharacter
with as much as 2 K by 8
versus interword spacing and provide space
-
- bits of program ROM with
216X6 CLOCKS
DATA ROM characters to the TVT where required in the
ADDR
perhaps 256 bytes of pro-
received text.
CONTROL grammable memory for
The end result would be Morse code sent
data buffering. [Exact
-
256 X 6 by the keyboard through your transmitter
PROGRAMMABLE amounts of ROM will
MEMORY and the Morse code heard by your receiver
depend upon the com-
being displayed on the TVT CRT. This is a
plexity and features of the
job for both hardware and software de-
I/O
(PIA)
'>
I software loaded; 2K
should be reasonable for
Morse and radioteletype
signers. [See the articles elsewhere in this
BYTE for technical details . ... CH]
6 BIT support .... CH]
DATA Radioteletype (RTTY) Transmit
AND
~
CONTR OL CW OR and Receive
RTTY
INTF
The same basic microprocessor described
TVT
above could be used to provide the radio-
teletype function instead of or, with more
Editor's Note
o
0
°0
28
ROM, in addition to the Morse code
function.
Here, the transmit conversion would be
from parallel ASCII (or serial) to serial
Baudot at a transmission speed programmed J
into the computer. The system could easily
include niceties such as automatic line feed,
f
f
etc. The Baudot output would be serial
signals sent to an FSK transmit terminal J
unit. When the FCC finally gets around to I
approving ASCII on the air, a simple ROM
change would reconfigure the hardware to
reflect this improvement.
On the receive side, a standard RTTY
terminal unit would be used to convert th'e
received FSK signal to a serial binary signal
for the microprocessor. This keying signal
would be routed to the processor which
would convert it to either serial or parallel
Meet the neW'
ASCII, whichever your TVT or terminal
interface requires.
051400
This system would work just as a regular
teleprinter does, except that the received
COlDputer 5ystelD.
copy would be on a CRT instead of hard Now more performance and
copy on a printer. For those desiring hard more flexibility actually cost you less.
copy, a printer can easily be interfaced to
the computer system. The development here Ask yourself how much system you need. Or how little.
Whatever the answer, even if you want to change it later, you
is mostly software since really good terminal get more system for less money with the OSI 400.
unit and keyer designs are readily available. Start with the OSI Superboard. Add your choice (!) of a
6502, 6512 or 6800 microprocessor; eight 2102s for 1024 bytes
Slow Scan TV of RAM; and an external front panel. Power it up and you have a
working CPU. Or populate the board with a processor, system
This is another area eagerly awaiting new clock, 512 bytes of PROM, 1024 of RAM, an ACIA with RS-232
developments. The TVT already has fast or 20 ma loop interface, a PIA with 16 I/O lines and full buffer-
ing to as many as 250 system boards for system expansion.
scan composite video as an output and the
Even fully populated, Superboard costs less than $140 with
CRT involved accepts composite video. The a 6502, less than $160 with a 6800.
problems and areas for new development are But take a look at what you can have for $29. Our special
mostly in the area of conversion from fast offer includes a plated-through-hole G-10 epoxy Superboard,
scan to slow scan and reverse. I t is highly bare, plus a 50-page theory of operation and construction
manual including complete chip documentation in an attrac-
likely that the microprocessor box we have tive OSI binder.
already discussed can do at least part of this And Superboard is just the beginning of the OSI 400
job for us. I think this one is really ripe for system. You can expand its memory; interface to many I/Os
including plotters, cas-
new breakthroughs.
,-=-"~l
" ~1 ~.'J'
settes, FSK, ASCII,
Baudot and more; go
/~!
Computer Terminal O~eration I I video, including graph-
ics; even add floppy
This is probably the easiest task. There
" ....:= disk. And bare boards
...~ 11'1
....~ •'11I
are those out there who, had they the are just $29 each, com-
terminal, could make use of one or another
timeshared computer system. This use re- \~
'. ~ . .
plete with in-depth
manuals.
But first things first.
quires coupling in one way or another to a
telephone Iine. The easiest way to do th is i----------------------------~
without angering Ma Bell is with an acoustic 400 me now! SPECIAL -$29 postpaid with this coupon only.
coupler. Name _
Address City _
Conclusion State Phone _
29
Add This 6800 MORSER
Development of MORSER
The program for MORSER shown in this article was produced by a
relocating assembler designed and written by jack Hemenway and described
somewhat humorously in the August BYTE article "jack and the Machine
Talk" {page 52} by authors Grappel and Hemenway. The relocatability
feature allows one to put assembled code anywhere in memory without
reassembly, a feature which is most useful for building large programs. One
drawback of this is that relocatable addresses (denoted "R" in the listing) are
always two bytes, so the programmer cannot generally make use of
Motorola's direct addressing mode, which requires addresses to be in the base
page; the first 256 bytes of memory address space. Since MORSER was
programmed so that both data and program code are relocatable, it is not the
most compact form in which the algorithm could be expressed on a 6800. If
one rewrote the program to keep all the variables in the first page of memory
and used direct addressing wherever possible, about 75 bytes ofstorage could
be saved.
30
Photo 7: Author Robert
Grappel, shown at the con-
sole of Jack Hemenway's
computer system with a
hand held switch used to
test Morse code inputs to
MORSER during the de-
velopment of the program.
of hand sent code. A minimal amount of Only one input bit is needed; the rest of the
external hardware is needed, ahd the PIA may be used for other functions. The
program only takes about 600 bytes of listing also shows that an external sub-
memory. The algorithm can be converted to routine, OUTCRT, is being used to drive a
run on almost any 8 bit microprocessor. CRT terminal for output. This program is
Since you are still reading this, you are part of Jack Hemenway's system. The user
hooked. Let's begin to dissect the program. of MORSE R must provide a suitable routine
MORSER consists of five segments: for h is or her own system. For example, the
in i t ialization, decoa ing, delay timer, OUTEEE routine in Motorola's MIKBUG
sampler, and terminal driver. In the program will work. The idea is that some way must
listing, lines 001-068 are initialization, lines be found to take a character from the A
069-200 are decoding, 200-213 form the accumulator and place it appropriately on
delay timer, 214-250 form the audio the output device. An automatic carriage
sampler, and lines 251-277 drive the output return and line feed is required, as MORSER
terminal. Each segment will be described in does not count the characters in a line.
turn. Initialization also sets up the decoding
The major function of initialization is to table DECTAB. The ordering of this table is
define the variables in the program and to the heart of MORSER. The ASCII repre-
give them appropriate initial values. The sentation of a character is placed in
operating system of Jack Hemenway's DECTAB at an offset generated as follows:
machine performs some of the initialization Generate a byte with a binary 1 for every
automatically at loading time, such as clear- dot and 0 otherwise; generate another byte
ing the peripheral registers and setting the with a binary 1 for every dash and 0
stack pointer. If the program is to be run on otherwise. For example, the letter A (Morse
a system without these features, then state- • -) generates 00000010 and 00000001
ments to perform these functions must be respectively. Multiply the dash byte by two
added to initialization. The values of DTIME with a left shift and add the bytes. The
and MAXCNT must be set, based on the result is the character offset. Using this
computer running the program. DTIME algorithm, it is seen that A is at an offset of
adjusts the program timing to the processor 4. All other Morse characters are generated
cycle time, and MAXCNT adjusts the ter- in the same manner, and the rest of the table
minal driver to the data rate of the terminal is filled with blanks. It is the function of the
in use for output. These values are not very remainder of MORSER to convert the
critical, and the program comments list incoming audio ignal into offsets into
typical values for these constants. As assem- DECTAB, and to transfer the character
bled, MORSER assumes a 6820 PIA at representations found there to the output
addresses 8040-8043 (hexadecimal). The device.
peripheral interface can be relocated to suit MORSER decides which inputs are dots,
the particular hardware configuration in use. dashes or word spaces by sampling the audio
31
Listing 7: The MORSER input at intervals. The delay timer section range from 100 to 4 ms. The delay timer is
program, as assembled for controls the period of the sampling. This adjusted by DTIME to count time in milli-
the 6800 at location 0000 tiny section of code (only six instructions) second intervals. The variable TIMER de-
hexadecimal using jack actually consumes more than 75% of the termines how many milliseconds will be
Hemenway's assembler. running time of MORSER. In fact, the time spent in the delay loops. This time is roughly
The program is written in spent in all other parts of MORSER is the sampling period, since the longest path
a relocatable fashion, so considered negligible in the design. A rough through the rest of the program is at most
no data references are "rule of thumb" states that one word per 0.3 ms. TIMER is adjusted in the decoding
made to page a of the minute of Morse code is equivalent to one section to suit the speed of the code being
6800 address space. In dot length per second. All other code ele- processed. The formula 250fTIMER gives
jack's assembler, the col- ments have lengths nominally equal to the approximate input code speed in words
umn immediately follow- integer multiples of the dot length. per minute, after the program has been
ing the hexadecimal code MORSER is designed to sample each dot running for several characters and has ad-
output sometimes has the length time unit four times. Since the range justed itself to the code.
letter "R" in it. This indi- of code speeds is 3 to 60 words per minute, The sampling section repeatedly tests the
cates a reference to a re- this implies that the sampling period should status of the audio input signal against its
locatable symbol.
eeel eeee ,. eeS5 R RF"GIN JMP INJ 1 f'F(JN INll1PLILP11tJN 0~fl2 FE": I-'F1Jl, (,.51, J_N 1971
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0007 0003 80.t12 t-'IA2 ~cu '8042 0080 0AC-S 2- 03 ~PL JII
0"e8 eee3 ee42 nm.. 2 Ewll ~8042 008' 00C7 7F. 0166 JMP ~rPCF"
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001 n 1011010 'NFL" ON ~to~ I. ~11 0 0091 00CO A8 laSL
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0012
""13 002~ 00 eDUNl ~C~ 0 OUlfL'1 1IMF""
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161311 0123 ~6 0B2~
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0160 0161 H
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32
0163 0166 P6 0~~E k ~rACE LCII A ~PLEN IS SPLFN .(..~. LlhSP?
01bA 0169 ~I e029 k CMr II ll~~P previously sampled value. If no change is
0165 016C 20 J:"R fooL 1 F-J:"~J:"1
0166 016£ F6 C"3U I. LOIo f SlLCAS orcor.F L~T1C'"h FJi.O"" PF(S. found, the time counter is incremented to
el67 0171 C~ 3F ~ n F .~,:\r hFS1~ICT T0 6 EllS
indicate the increased length of the signal. If
~16B 0173 66 002F h Lep p ~ILD01
V116 84 :tF I).NO _1.3F
016'
0170 0118 56 ASL
JI
1-
a change is found, then a series of processes
0171 0119 lfo JlPA are done. The data ready flag is set to tell
0112 017A SA 1F ANO A _~1F k~SI~IC1 10 1 foIlS
~173 017C cr 0A3S LOX _OrrlllF the decoder that a pulse is complete, the
01"141 011F 61 01B3 SlA A INor"'l+ I
0175 01B2 E6 ee INDF:X1 LOA fl f',.x r;.rlFdE'VF ASCII cocr time counter is stored into the mark length
0116 e:84 66 ~03d LOP A WOS"'c~ ftJFrFk rlLL?
0177 AIB7 BI 2~ CM~ A _32 or space length variable, the data type (mark
0178 0189 2C C~ H:E f<ESEl I r SO. fl"ll···
0179 0188 Elf "~20 k AOf) p. OLI1XCV (-ENFf',P1E E-UFn-J,. hJIN1F:h or space) is recorded, and the time counter is
01811 018F 841 IF ANn A _~IF kFSlhlC1 fiANCF
0181 01'0 1C 00341 R INC wOSXCV
reset to one. A few notes are in order about
0182 0193 CE 0003 R LOX ,fttjFFI sampling. First, the sampler assumes that an
0183 0196 ~1 019A k STp INorX?+1
018A 0199 (1 00 INorX2 ~lA b.~ fU1 CHA~. IN10 EUFFr~ input level zero (ground) indicates the pres-
01B5 ~19P 1r 002F k CLk SlLoOl CLfP,jo( k[( I SlEf;S
0186 019[ 1F 0~3~ k CLk SlLo~S ence of an aud io tone (mark), and that a one
0187 tHAI f6 002E R LOA A ~rL[N IS 5PLFN d,"'. WOSF-?
8188 01A4 fl 0033 ~ CMF A WOS~ level input (high voltage) indicates no tone
0189 01A7 20 ~o ~L1 f;ESE1 ~Ol A wOhO ~FPCF
AI90 01",9 F6 ~03~ ~ Lol). A WOSXC~ INSFk1 PLANK FO~ ~Ofio SFP,CF
(space). This setup coincides with the audio
0191 "'lAC 81 20 CM~ A "32 IS f-UFFF"k H'-L?
processing hardware described later; but if
0192 e I AE 2C A6 ~(,F f<rS"1 I F SO. Plio'll ••••
0193 01 F'" FP il020 R AI)O A OU1 XCV {;F"'F'~A1 F PllFr~R PO I ~ 1 ~f\ one wishes to have a one input signify mark
0194 elF:- 8~ IF ANO P "otiF fiE51HIC1 kA:~(.F"
0195 01PS 1C 00341 h INC WOSxCv instead, only two simple program changes
AI96 ~IR8 C6 ?0 LOP E "~20 PSCII ~LA~~ rHPkACTFF
0197 ~IPA CF 0~H3 H LOX ,EUFFI are necessary. Changing the BN E (branch on
~198 01pn P? 01CI k 5TA A INorx3+1
0199 ~IC0 [7 00 INDfx3 SlA F 0.x rUT FLPN~ IN10 ~UFFF~
not equal to zero) instructions on lines 236
0200 01C2 7F ~156 h JMP kFsrT
0201 .................................................... and 241 to BEQ (branch on equal to zero)
C2C2
020:\ FNn 0 F Mt-I N PRO (,F-JlM
instructions will accomplish the inversion.
"':''''4 Bn.IN (lELIlY 11Mrf,: This illustrates the ease of modifying the
0285 ~~NF"~A1r "lIMEk" M~FCS. OF nrLAY
1'l2~6 system when it is based on a program instead
02P7
0288 ~IC5 ~6 0"32 h W~11 LOP P 11 MF;:'; of hardware. One other note: One must
02919 01C8 F6 0025 R OLOOP I LOP F Ol'M~
0l?10 t)1 CF- 5. OLuuF2 Or.r:.f-
protect against overflows of the time coun-
~211 01Ce 26 FD PN[ OLOOP2 ter. This occurs when long marks or long
0212 01C£
0213 01CF 26 F1
•• DEC A
e.'lE DLOOF I spaces cause the counter value to exceed the
02104 ..............................................
0215 maximum value representable as a positive
0216 EN" OF OF:LPY 11M~R
0217 lESl AUOIO INPUT nF~f byte. MORSER checks for such occurrences,
{l218 riA,,"OLF OU1rU1 10 1Ek""I.'lAL
0219 and resets the time counter to a large
022~
0221 V'1 [II 86 El0.o" P 1-1 P I lEl ~UDI0 tNf-Ul
positive value whenever an overflow is
0222 Vlol'l 8ol! ~ I A 1f~~1 Eoll iFhO OF FIA- detected.
0223 0106 PI 002C " P OLoST;' PI 1=~ I [ MPFK
\Y<'2. 0109 26 10 OJFF~~ We come now to the decoding section.
0225 '-"IDE- 7C 91"31 k 1C"lR
0226 01 DE 10 031 k lCN1" OVEf',FLOW OF lCV1"? The section is a software version of algo-
0227 el E1 2C 05 OKJlY
0228 el~3 C~ 78 D 11120 rithms abstracted from several hardware
\Y<'29 VolfS r1 ~~31 R E 1Cl"ollR
0230 01 E8 1E 021C R OKP,Y lRA-N~
designs. It can be described by a set of five
0231
02:\2 AlfF C601 OIFFFk LOP P SF1 "Olllp·f,.FPOY" FLA(
decoding rules. The length (time counter
0233
~23A
~IEn F1 k)"2~
01F0 F6 0~31
k
R
SlA
LOA
"
p- O FLAt
... lCN1N S10Rr 11FM LFN( 1104
value) of the last mark received is used to
0235 01~3 10 ~1t2C
01F6 ~6 06
k 1 Sl OLOS1A A MAkK Of- S~,a.CE? determine the type of the present mark. The
0236 eNF LfliO Sf ACE
0237 fl1 F8 F1 002B k STP f ML~N length of the last dash received is used to
02,:\8 01 F'P 7[ 0201 R JMP NMARK
0239 f'lFE: F1 f)0?r R IF:kO 51'-' E! SPLFV determine the type of space being received.
02.0
02.'
0242
0243
~2AA
020.1 10 ~02C
P20A 26 08
0206 C6 0'
020~ F1 \1026
~20f 7f 0213
f',
"
H
NMPof<K IS1
PNt
LO.
Sl.
J"P
.
OLOST.
NEWSP
L[lA1A
~K I"'~
SF1 LoA1A
-1~Sf'P,Cf.
10 OLO~lP
I=MPRK
RULE 1. If the new mark length is at
0245 02i\F" C6 FF Nn!Sp LO. "fFF
0246 8218 F7 0026 ~ SlA LoATP least twice the length of the
02.7 021:\ &1 0~2C ... Y'JF4 51. OLOSTP F:[SfT OLoS11l
i\248 0216 1F ~031 h- CLh lOllh nfSJ:"l llM[ COLN1fk last mark received, then the
02.9 0219 7C 0031 R INC
0250
lCN1"
new mark is a dash.
1(1251 021C ~6 e023 R TRPNS
021F F6 0032 ~
LOll A COLJ,\IT CIo4F"CK FOf< l"'PM'NfoL f<'FPny RULE 2. If the new mark length is less
0252 LOP f lIMF"R
0253 A222 r:.l 3C CMP F "6b 11.Y 10 Sf-EFO lFkMI PoL than one half of the length of
A25' "'22.0 21) 01 fL 1 SI
C255 r.226 418 PSL P the last mark received, then
0256 C?~1 EI ~~2P ~ SI eMf' A ~AXCN1
i:l257 ~22A 2C 06 };(jE UU1CHK 1~F\M1NAL hF,ony the new mark is a dot.
0258 022C 1C r."23 ~ INC rOU"'l
C259 ("22F 1r;' C:PF" R JHP ~lP"l ~f1UP.~ TO ff(I\lNIN(
RULE 3. If the new mark length is
0260
0261 'l232 1F OU1 CHo(CL ~ COlh'll
more than one half but less
0262 e235 P6 LOP Po wosxCV P.'''Y 0,011\ IN foIIFFFf..? than twice the length of the
0263 1<1238
0264 023A
26
7~
, E:oNF
JI'iF
l,o.OtJUl
STPfiT IF ,\101. ~r;'ll1f.\I last mark received, then the
0265 0230 F6 f', \wDOU1 LOP. ... Ol'1XCV (:EI~F:kA1'" FllrFF:h fo01N1F"
0266 (12.00 CF Ii LO>' HourFI new mark is the same type as
'?i267 (!I243 F1 Ii SlA f- I·'lo~",.o+1
0268 C2A6 116 INoEX4 LO~ A ~.)" Ol'1PUl ("iAh. I t-CClIM A
the old mark was.
0269 USf SYS1EM ~U~"OUTINE 10 OU1~UT CHAkPC1Ek RULE 4. If the new space length is
0278 P£'I ?2F~ J~n OUICkl
027, 1P "rG34 R: OFC WOSXC~ more than 3/4 of the last
"272 F6 l102n k LOP aUl"'CV
0213 5C INC dash length received, then the
0214 C. IF ANn 'fiF f',F~lhI Cl hP:.I( r
0275 F7 0020 STP UU1XC\I new space is a letter space.
0216 7< 0f1FPo f\ J"F SIP,,1 FliCK 10 1HF P~(1N.'lt\l(.
0277 END RULE 5. If the new space length is
33
longer than twice the last substituted for the garbled character.
dash length received, then the MORSER can handle code with wild speed
new space is a word space. variations and weightings from 10% to 90%,
but it can be fooled by sufficiently erratic
Any other space is an element space. These code. So too, however, can most human
rules determine the processing path of each operators.
data item returned by the sampling section. MORSER use a programming "trick" in
The dots and dashes are stored in memory conjunction with indexed addressing to
(STLDOT and STLDAS) until a letter space facilitate the decoding and output process.
is detected. Then the memory contents are This occurs on lines 174,183,198, and 267.
converted to an offset in DECTAB, follow- The problem is to retrieve or store data at a
ing the process previously described. The particular location within a table or buffer.
character code found in DECTAB is then The starting address of the area is known,
transferred to the output buffer. The buffer and the desired offset is calculated each
is arranged as a 32 character first in, first out time. MORSER uses the technique of
store which allows the decoding to get ahead modifying itself during execution. Since the
of the output device for short periods. The program is stored in programmable memory,
detection of a word space causes the latest it can be changed just as the variables can be
letter to be decoded and an extra blank changed. In Motorola systems, the second
character is inserted into the output buffer byte of an instruction using indexed address-
to provide a space between output words. ing stores an offset to be added to the index
The decoding section also adjusts the register contents to generate the final effec-
TIMER value each time a dot is detected. tive address for the instruction. MORSER
Dots are nominally four samples long. If a loads the index register with the beginning
dot is declared shorter than three samples, of the desired table and then writes the
the sampling period is reduced. If a dot is calculated offset into the second byte of the
declared longer than five samples, the indexed instruction. The processor adds the
sampling period is increased. This mech- two, making the desired address. This works
anism helps MORSER to follow changes well, as long as the program is stored in
in code speed during a message or even programmable memory, and one is careful
within characters. The flexibility of the where one writes. If this type of trickery is
decoding rules will allow code far from the to be avoided (for example, if the program is
proper timing to be decoded correctly to be put into read only memory), the
during the adjustment process. Most de- process of adding the offset to the base
coding errors will result either in no charac- address must be done explicitly. The follow-
ter at all being output, or a blank being ing code will perform the function, where X
contains the starting address of the table,
and accumulator A contains the offset:
+12V +5V
INDSAV RMB Programmable memory area for
330fl computation
INDEX STX INDSAV Starling address
PSH B Save contents of B accumulator
10K CLR B
.51'F 4 ADD A INDSAV+l Add low order part of address With
300K 3 5K offset in A
ADC IND$AV Add high order part of address With
carry
RI NE567
AUDIO STA A INO$AV+l
O.II'F 10K 2K 5 8 TO PIA STA B IND$AV
INPUT INPUT LDX INDSAV Put effecllve address into Index register
~
PIN PUL Restore contents of B accumulator
TUNE
6 7
+
FROM 2 I00I'F
RECEIVER
IK II'F The output terminal driver makes use of
21'F the delay timer to prevent the program from
exceeding the speed capabilities of the out-
put device. A count is kept of the number of
delay periods since the last character was
Figure 7: A suggested audio input processing circuit designed to be used with sent to the terminal. The value of MAXCNT
an amateur radio receiver. The tuning adjustment sets the frequency of the is set such that MAXCNT delay periods at a
signal which is to be interpreted as a dot or dash by the program. The receiver
60 words per minute Morse code speed are
tuning and BFO should be adjusted so that the desired station will have its roughly equal to the recovery period of the
dots and dashes at the frequency set by R 7. terminal in use. If the code speed is less than
30 words per minute, then one half of
MAXCNT is used to let the terminal run
nearer its full speed. This counting ensures
34
that the terminal will not receive characters
faster than it is capable of handling them.
IMSAI
The output buffer helps absorb speed varia-
tions. In cases of extreme speed variations announces
with a very sl9w output term inal, a few •
BUDlque
characters may be lost. This would require
input speeds of over 80 words per minute to
be maintained for many characters if one 4KRAM
used a 110 baud terminal. It is not likely
that the audio processing hardware could
switch at this rate, so the characters would
board
be unreliable anyway. All slower speeds
could be handled without trouble. The
for just
system subroutine used to drive the terminal
is called in this section on line 270. It should
$139.
not use interrupts or any timing loops, since Nobody has a 4K RAM board
these will upset the timing in MORSER. that gives you so much for your
Since MORSER already does output timing, money. It's fully compatible with
they are not needed anyway. the Altair 8800.
That is all there is to the MORSER Through the front panel
program. The most critical part of the whole or under software control, you
system is the audio input hardware. This can write protect or unprotect
circuit needs rapid response (since switching any lK group of RAM's. Also
time for 60 words per minute code is about under software control you can
13 ms), audio selectivity, immunity to noise, check the status of any 4K RAM
and immunity to varying signal levels. No board in lK blocks to determine
optimum circuit is known by the authors. whether it's protected or not. The
The circuit shown is a suggestion which board has LED's that clearly show
shows prom ise. It uses a 567 phase locked you the memory protect status
loop tone decoder, tuned to a center fre- of each lK block and which
quency of about 1 kHz. The bandwidth is block is active. And there's a
set at approximately 10% of the center
circuit provided that will let you
frequency, or about 100 Hz. This circuit
prevent the loss of data in the
should switch fast enough for most code
speeds, and the phase lock design gives noise
memory if there's a power failure.
immunity, for the circuit will require 10 or
This low power board has a
more cycles at the correct frequency before guaranteed 450 ns cycle time-
it will switch. An input level of about 200 no wait cycle required. There's
mV seems to give the best immunity from nothing like the IMSAI 4K RAM
interfering signals and noise. The output board around.
rests at +5 V, dropping to near ground when Dealer inquiries invited.
a proper frequency tone is detected. This
voltage level is read by the sampler program
through the peripheral interface. This signal
must be very clean, since variations will IMS Associates, Inc.
probably be decoded as extra dots and ~-------I
dashes. Lots of 'E's and 'T's will indicate a IMS Associates. Inc. Dept. B-1 0 I
problem in the audio processing.
MORSER works surprisingly well, and it
I 1922 Republic Ave.
San Leandro. CA 94577 I
will be able to decode almost anything that I (415) 483·2093
its operator can feed it. It does not know I Order Your IMSAI 4K RAM Board For I
Only $139. Use BankAmericard.
English or radio terminology, so it cannot
guess what the characters should be. It I Master Charge. personal check or
money order.
I
simply decodes what it "hears," and may
not correct some errors that a human would
I 0 Send _ _ 4K RAM hoard., lodav
II
o0 Charge to my CTl:!'dll card
recognize. It does decode the input faith-
fully, and that can be quite a help. Of course
I o
SAC No
MC 0 _
_
Character Since many of BYTE's readers are radio operator to be some large number of char-
amateurs, a number of whom have expressed acters ahead of the code actually bei ng
Table 7: Morse Code Patterns and ASCII Equivalents for Selected Graphics.
Graphic ASCII Code Morse Pattern Graphic ASCII Code Morse Pattern
Char Hex Octal Hex Octal Binary Char Hex Octal Hex Octal Binary
36
EXAMPLE
rENTERWiTHMORSEBi:r-""
---~ PATTERN IN TEMPORARY I
Sending an L .... IL 'A' ...JI
YES
37
r-------------, Character Morse Code Binary Representation
I ENTER TO FORMAT I
------1 ONE CHARACTER I E 0100000
T 1100000
'---r----/ IL ..JI A 0110000
L 0100100
r------------, - - .. - - 1100111
I SETS UP END OF I
A: - '00000001 , -----I CHARACTER MARKER I _0"_ 1000110
I IN LOW ORDER BIT I Table is a complete list of alphabetic
L_.:...- .J
characters, numerals and selected special
characters shown as hexadecimal and octal
ASCII along with the equivalent hexa-
CY:. (received
dolor dash); -l
r;E-;E-;~~~~~NEXT
ELEMENT" SUBROUTINE
-lI decimal, octal and binary code for the Morse
pattern. Given the representation, transmis-
---- I WHICH MAY HAVE ADAPTIVE I sion of the character is easy. Working from
LR':~~I~~~~~~=-_...J left to right, simply transmit each bit as a
r-----------...,I
I MORSE
Morse element, until all that remains is a
I ROTATE LEFT: INPUT I single 1 followed by all zeros, at which point
A:-ROL(A,I);
-----I r-1 ~ I
the character has been completed. This
L -__~__~
ILIIIAIII~
L ~
: operation is easily done using the "rotate"
or "shift" instructions of the typical micro-
computer. A flow chart for this procedure is
r-------------,
I END OF CHARACTER I given in figure 1. It is so simple that it
NO I CONDITION IS SET I reduces to only a four line subroutine in a
- - - - . . . , BY -GET NEXT ELEMENT"
I SUBROUTINE
L .JI typical microprocessor. Listing 1a gives a
suggested program for the Motorola 6800
r-------------., and listing 1 b gives a program for the Intel
I
SET UP END I 8080 (or 8008). These programs use an eight
_ _ _ _ . , OF CHARACTER MARK I
bit representation, which can express a code
Il .JI of up to seven elements, although no seven
element characters are actually used in the
Morse code.
Note that there are two binary represen-
~
I tations which represent the null character;
I that is, they result in the subroutine re-
A:-ROL(A,II;
I r------------...,
I
}---,
I LOOP TO LEFT
JUSTIFY INPUT PATTERN
turning without transmitting anything at all.
These are the codes 00000000 and
Ir IL ...JI 10000000. If desired, they could be spe-
cially decoded. For example, one of them
YES I
I could be used to represent the special Morse
)
character , wh ich is used as a
r-------------.., delete character. It would have to be trans-
: RETURN WITH I mitted as a special case, since it contains
-----1 PATTERN IN I eight elements. If the all zero code were to
I
l
A
JI be used for this purpose, it could be tested
for by a branch-on-zero instruction at the
subroutine entry point.
Figure 2: Flow chart of the RCVCHR routine which is used to format The representation proposed here is also
incoming dots (binary 0) and dashes (binary 7) into an 8 bit code. easy to build up while receiving Morse code.
Reference is made to a routine loosely described as "get next element" which A receive subroutine flow chart is given in
is used to receive a Morse code element. This "get next element" input figure 2.
routine will have adaptive speed interpretation features required if the The possibilities inherent in the combina-
program is to be used with hand sent Morse code. A fter the end of character tion of small computers and amateur radio
indication is returned by the input routine, the RCVCHR routine must left are enormous. The challenging task of
Justify the code so that it is in the same form as found in the code genera- machine reception of hand sent code is now
tion table (see table 7). Control returns with the input code contained in receiving much more attention due to the
register A. low cost of microprocessors. The pos-
sibilities of computer station control, ama-
teur radio data communications networks,
The Morse character is represented from left and microprocessor control of repeaters have
to right, one bit per element, using 0 for dot barely begun to be explored. The large
and 1 for dash. At the end of the character, number of radio amateurs who are now
after the last element, a 1 is placed as a stop beginning to experiment with small com-
bit. The remaining bits, if any, are filled out puters should produce some rather in-
with zeros. Some examples are: teresting results in the near future.-
38
altair 8800b
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Interface Board
The Interface Board buffers all signals between the display/
control board and the ALTAIR 8800b bus. It also contains eight Ne\N Power Supply
parallel data lines which transfer data to the CPU from the
Display/Control board. The new power supply in the ALTAIR 8800b contains an 8
volt, 18 ampere tapped secondary supply which permits the
CPU Board addition of up to 16 printed circuit cards, and pre-regulated
positive and negative 18 volt, 2 ampere supplies. A multiple
The CPU board ( IJntrols and processes all instruction data tapped primary transformer provides for 110/220 volt
within the ALTAIR 8800b computer. It contains the operation and a 50/60 Hz operation.
model 8080A microprocessor circuit, the master
timing circuit, eight input and eight output data lines to the
ALTAIR bus, and control circuits. Electronic Design Advancements.
Display/Control Board The electronic design advancements on the ALTAIR 8800b are
in the CPU and front panel circuit boards.
The Display/Control Board conditions all ALTAIR 8800b front
CPU. The new CPU circuit board uses the Intel 8224 clock
panel switches and receives information to be displayed on the
generator integrated circuit (IC). The 8224 IC provides a
front panel. It contains a programmable read only memory
specified clock frequency to the ALTAIR 8800b using an
(PROM). switch and display control circuits, and control
external crystal and dividing the crystal frequency down to
circuits to condition the CPU.
2 M Hz. Therefore, both the clock pulse widths and phasing
(as well as frequency) are crystal controlled.
2. Front Panel. All front panel data lines are connected to an
interface which buffers them from the rest of the ALTAIR
NEW DESIGN FEATURES 8800b. The front panel circuits also use a programmable
read only mem Iry (PROM) which contains programs for the
Several new design features have been incorporated into the
following eight functions:
electronic and mechanical areas of the ALTAIR 8800b
EXAMINE
computer. Some of the new design features include additional
EXAMINE NEXT
front panel capabilities, redesigned power supply, and various
ACCUMULATOR DISPLAY
electronic and mechanical design advancements.
ACCUMULATOR LOAD
DEPOSIT
New Front Panel S\Nitches DEPOSIT NEXT
Five new front panel switch positions have been added to the INPUT ACCUMULATOR
ALTAIR 8800b computer to expand the front panel capability. OUTPUT ACCUMULATOR
SLOW position: Permits execution of a program at a rate of The front panel circuits also have a wiring option which
approximately 2 machine cycles per second or slower. The allows the CPU to perform a complete instruction cycle or a
normal machine speed is approximately 500,000 machine single machine cycle during the single step or slow operation.
cycles per second. The ALTAI R 8800b operates in the slow
mode as long as the SLOW switch is depressed on the
front panel.
Mechanical Design Advancements
2. DISPLAY ACCUMULATOR position Displays the contents of The mechanical design advancements on the ALTAIR 8800b
the CPU accumulator register on the ALTAIR 8800b are incorporated for ease of assembly and maintenance.
front panel.
The wiring harness connection which exists on the front
3. LOAD ACCUMULATOR position: Loads the information panel of the ALTAIR 8800 is replaced with ribbon cables.
present on the lower eight front panel address switches These ribbon cables connect the front panel circuits to the
into the CPU accumulator register. interface circuits.
4. INPUT ACCUMULATOR position: Inputs the information 2. The four slot expander cards in the ALTAIR 8800 have been
present at an Input/Output device into the CPU accumulator replaced by a single piece 18-slot motherboard. The 18-slot
register. The Input/Output device is selected on the upper motherboard contains 100 solder lands which comprise the
eight front panel address switches. 100 pin bus.
5. OUTPUT ACCUMULATOR position: Outputs the contents of 3. A new multi-color and redesigned dress panel is used in the
the CPU accumulator register to a selected input/output ALTAIR 8800b. The front surface of the dress panel has a
device. The input/output device is selected on the upper protective sheet of mylar to insure that the graphics are
eight front panel address switches. not rubbed or scratched off.
ADDRESS JA¢-AI51
STATUS
Memory
RDY
or
1lXJ>-D71 (DI i7)·D 171
1/0
BI·DATA DATA IN Device
CPU
BC ')I'
~
~.Ao~,nn7
L
~
FDIi7)· FDI7
~ Front
BUS CONTROl Panel
L«
8800b BLOCK DIAGRAM
COMPATABILITV
Compatibility
8800b BLOCK DIAGRAM DESCRIPTION All of the current 8800 software is compatible with the 8800b,
and all the current plug-in circuit boards are compatible, with
The 880Gb computer contains four main circuits: a Central the exception of the 8800a CPU Board.
Processing Unit (CPU). a Memory, an Input/Output (I/O), and a
Front Panel. The CPU controls the interpretation and execution Memory Cards
of software instructions. and the Memory stores the software 1. 4K Dynamic RAM Memory Board
information to be used by the CPU. The I/O provides a 2. 4K Static RAM Memory Board
communication link between the CPU and external device. The 3. 16K Static RAM Memory Board
Front Panel allows the operator to manually perform various 4. PROM Memory Board
operations with the 8800b. The 8800b block diagram
description explains: A) the communication between the CPU Interface Cards
and the memory or I/O circuits; and B) the communication 1. Serial Interface Board
between the CPU and the front panel. 2. Parallel Interface Board
3. Audio-cassette Interface Board
CPU to Memory or I/O Operation 4. Disc Controller Board
Software
Resident Assembler Yes
Front Panel Operation Higher-level Language BASIC
Monitor or Executive Sys. Mon.; text edit.
The Front Panel Operation is very similar to the Memory or I/O Complete Software Library
operation. The Front Panel gains control of the CPU by Sepa rately Priced Yes
producing a HIGH BC signal. The BC signal disables the' DATA
IN (01(2)-017) lines from a Memory or I/O device and enables
the FDI(2)-FDI7 lines. The FDI(2)-FDI7Iines contain Front Panel
data which is transferred to the CPU upon the occurrence of the
PDBIN signal. All data from the CPU to the Front Panel is
applied to the DATA OUT (00(2)-0071 lines and displayed
on the Front Panel. ~ DiJiJiJ[50
2450 Alamo S.E./ Albuquerque, New Mexico 87106
Software Bug SOLUTION TO BUG OF THE MONTH 4
Only $59.95
Assembled
FINALLY - A CASSETTE INTERFACE THAT WORKS!
Tested The PerCom CI-810
• Easily connected to any computer • An 8-bit parallel interface
• 'Kansas City' Standard • Load a 1k byte program in 40 seconds
• Little or no software required • Easily upgraded to 218 bytelsec
• Operate 2 tape units simultaneously • 18 page Instruction Manual
PerCom
PerCom Data Co.
4021 Windsor, Garland, Texas 75042
(214) 276-1968
Wayne Sewell WB5NYC When dealing with personal computers, it trying to find a valid use for it anyway.
9277 LBJ #253 is necessary for a person to be familiar with Think of the glory as you transmit a message
Dallas TX 75243 his machine from both the hardware and in Morse code several hundred characters
software point of view. It has been my long at a speed of 1000 wpm. (While there is
observation that hardware people often tend a legal speed limit for radio Teletype, to my
to stay in hardware and software people in knowledge Morse Code bandwidth is not
software, each faction learning just enough explicitly mentioned in FCC regulations.)
about the other side to get along. I am guilty Then comes a real challenge: Find someone
of this myself - I never do in hardware what whose computer can receive at that speed.
could feasibly be done in software. Hope- Finally, the ultimate goal: Read the response
fully, th is situation will change as my knowl- sent back to you at the same speed. [See
edge of microcomputing increases, but for articles by Robert Grappel and jack Hemen-
the time being I am assuming that the way, by Bruce Filgate, and by Lawrence
computer runs because of the little elves Krakauer in this issue. ]
pushing electrons around in the processor This article describes a software Morse
and putting most of my effort into code generator. The program listed is for a
programming. 6800 system (specifically the one sold by
This article is for people with a similar Southwest Technical Products); but a com-
bent. There are several electronic Morse code plete description of the generator is included
keyers on the market, but rather than spend to facilitate conversion to other systems.
precious cash, why not use that little digital
demon of a small computer that you paid all Data Format
of that money for. You've probably been
The data format used in my Morse code
generator makes it possible to pack any of
the "dot" and "dash" combinations asso-
ciated with a Morse code character into a
single byte. The rightmost 5 or 6 bits
(throughout this article, "rightmost" and
"least significant" are synonymous) contain
r-- the pattern of dots and dashes, and the
SHIFT upper 2 or 3 bits contain a count which
OUT
informs the program how many of the data
bits are actually associated with the charac-
ter. The remaining bits are set to zero
arbitrarily. Out of all of the characters in
international Morse code, there are only two
which will not work in this system: space
and the error code. It is not surprising that
the space is a maverick in any data repre-
Figure 7: Data Formats. The number of ways to represent data within a sentation, since it is not really data at all,
computer can sometimes be equated to the number of programmers there are but a lack of data. It is simply a lengthening
in the world. Here is another way to represent Morse codes internally, which of the normal interval between characters to
differs from several other articles in this issue. The format is supported by form an interval between words, and must
table 3 which lists the equivalent hexadecimal codes for each Morse code be handled as a special case. Similarly, the
graphic.' error code is not really a character either.
42
When an error is made during a Morse binary number up to 7, inclusive. However,
transmission, due to a spasmodic twitch of there are only 5 bits left over within the
the operator's hand or similar cause, the byte, which means that although the count
errant operator sends a string of 8 dots, can keep track of more than five elements,
meaning: "Oh I'm sorry I made an error there is no place to store them. The one fact
please disregard the last character I sent that keeps the entire system from collapsing
please will you huh." Both the space and the into a pile of random logic is that there are
error code, since they don't fall in the no characters with seven elements. There are
normal scheme of things, are treated as several special codes with six elements, but I
special cases: Immediately upon detection, have been unable to come up with one
the program intercepts them, modifies them containing seven. Since the difference be-
to a compatible format, and inserts them tween a count of six, the binary string 110,
back into the main logic flow. and a count of seven (111) is one bit; and
For all characters five elements long or since there will never be a count of seven,
less, the format is absurdly simple, as shown then bit 5 becomes a "don't-care" and can
in figure 1a. The high order 3 bits contain a be used as a data bit if bits 6 and 7 are both
binary number from 1 to 5 corresponding to 1. We simply consider any count greater
the number of dots and/or dashes in the than five (leftmost 2 bits on) to be equal to
character. The rightmost 5 bits contain the six, shift our wild card bit right with the
data elements themselves, where a is a dot others, and the problem is solved, as seen in
and 1 is a dash. They are stored from right figure 1b. When the count is extracted in
to left so that when the byte is shifted to the this case, bit 5 is forced to a zero, making
right, they are transmitted serially in the the count equal to six.
proper sequence. As an example, the Morse When Morse transm ission actually starts,
code character Q is transmitted as "- - . -". the data bits are shifted right one at a time.
The element count is four, so a binary 100 If the rightmost bit is a zero, the weight
string is stored in the leftmost 3 bits of the factor for a dot is loaded; if the rightmost
byte. Using the coding scheme above, the bit is equal to 1, the dash weight factor is
equivalent Morse bit pattern for Q (the loaded, normally exactly three times that of
binary string 1011) is stored in the rightmost a dot. The key is turned on, and the timing
4 bits. In this case, bit 4 is not needed so it is subroutine, controlled by the value stored in
a "don't-care" bit which is set to zero ELESPEED, generates the proper delay for
arbitrarily. Therefore, the code for Q stored that element. The key is then turned off and
in the table is the binary string 10001011 or the timing subroutine is reentered, this time
hexadecimal 8B. to generate the space between elements,
If all Morse code characters contained normally equal to a single dot time. This
five elements or less, the coding system loop is repeated for every element in the
would be much simpler. However, many of character, shifting right each time. The space
the special characters, uncooperative cusses between elements is added to the last
that they are, contain six elements. At first element in the character, also.
glance, this doesn't seem to be an obstacle, If a string of characters is being trans-
since the 3 bit count field can contain a mitted, rather than a single character, the
I - A---+- B: ---41-- C ----+- B -+- A---+- B --+-- D----+-A-I- B-1- A ---+- B -+- D ----+- E - I - B -+- D - - l
I--F~
1------- G-------
Time
Interval Explanation
A Dot. key on; basic timing element; duration is number of milliseconds contained in ELESPEED.
B Space between elements. key off; duration is one dot; also controlled by ELESPEED; generated
automatically after every dot or dash.
C Dash, key on; duration is three times dot in normal weighting.
D Character space synchronizer, key off; generated automatically after every character; added to B to
form total space (F) between characters; duration is twice the dot interval for normal spacing but can Figure 2: Time Relation-
be increased for greater character separation; controlled by CHRSPEED. ships. The Morse charac-
E Space character (ASCII hexadecimal 20), key off; duration is one dot; added to character space (F) ters RI sent in succession,
before and after to form total space (G) between words. followed by a space. The
F Space between characters, key off; duration is B + D; if ELESPEED and CHRSPEED are synchronized
this is equal to three dots; if not, duration is longer.
intervals identified by
G Space between words, key off; duration = twice F plus one dot; if ELESPEED and CHRSPEED are capital letters are ex-
synchronized, this is equal to seven dots; if not, duration is longer. plained in the notes below.
43
LOC CODE STMT SOURCE STATEMEllT
Listing 7: CWBUFFER
Subroutine. This listing
gives the complete absolute
0040
0042
0044
67
68
69
70
.
CIIRSPEED RMB
ELESPEED RMB
INITMASK RMB 1
I OF MILl SECONDS BETW'EEN CIIARACTERS
LENGTH OF ELEMENT (DIT) DURATION
IN MILISECONDS
OSCILLATOR CONTROL BYTE
hexadecimal assembled 0045
0046
71
72
HOLDBYTE mlB
MASK Rl~B
1
1
code qnd symbolic repre- 0047 73 COUNT RMB 1
0048 74 CWPTR RMB 2 POINTS TO 1ST BYTE IN STRING
sentation for the 0100 75 ORG H'lQa
0100 76 CWBUFFER EQU *
CWBUFFER routine. Data 0100 A6 00 77 LDAA 1,0 GET CHAR
0102 81 03 78 CMPA 13 IS THIS TilE STOP BYTE]
in this listing was prepared 0104 26 01 79 BNE CONTINUE DR IF NO
using the author's SPUCA 0106
0107
39 80
81
RTS
CONTINUE EQU
RETURN
06 44
113
114
115
116
COUNTOK EQU
STAB
BITLOOP I:QU
LOAD
.
COUNT
INITMASK
STORE BI'l' COUNT
INI1'IALIZE THE
0138 07 46 117 STAll .MASK OSCILLATOR MASK
013A C6 01 118 LDAB il LOAD WEIGHT FACTOR FOR DIT
013C 46 119 ROR A ROTATE DATA Bn INTO CARRY
0130 24 02 120 DCC SEND BR IF CARRY CLEAR (DIT)
013F C6 03 121 LDAB 13 LOAD WEIGHT FACTOR FOR DAH
0141 122 SEND EQU *
0141 73 00 45 123 COB HOLD BYTE TURN ON KEY
0144 124 SPACENT EQU *
0144 80 22 125 BSR ELDELAY GENERATE DELAY FOR ELEMENT LENGTH
0146 7F 00 46 126 CLR MASK CLEAR OSCILLATOR MASK
0149 7F 00 45 127 CLR HOLDBYTE TURN OFF KEY
014C C6 01 128 LDAB 11 LOAD WEIGHT FACTOR FOR BREAK
129 BETWEEN ELEMENTS
014E 80 18 130 BSR ELDELAY GENERATE DELAY FOR ELEMENT LENGTH
0150 7A 00 47 131 DEC COUNT LAST ELEMENT IN CHAR ]
0153 26 El 132 BNE BITLOOP BR IF NO
0155 39 133 RTS RETURN
0156 134 MILDELAY EQU
0156 06 46 135 LDAB MASK HOLD THE KEY OUTPUT CONSTANT
0158 08 45 136 EORD HOLD BYTE AND FLIP-FLOP THE
015A 07 45 137 STAB HOLDB"tTE OSCILLATOR OUTPUT IF
015C F7 80 04 138 STAB L,H'8004 KEY IS ON
015F
0161
C6 8F 139
140 LOOP 2
LDAB
EQU
'li t
SF LOAD MILl SECOND LOOP CONSTANT
*
0161 5A 141 DEC B COUNT DOWN
0162 26 FD 142 DNE LOCP2 BR IF NOT FINISHED
0164 09 143 DEX DECRE MILl SECOND COUNT
0165 26 EF 144 DNE MILDELAY BR IF NOT FINISHED
0167 39 145 RTS RETURN
0168 146 ELDELAY EQU
0168 DE 42 147 LOX ELESPEED LOAD DELAY CONST FOR ELEMENT SPACING
016A 37 148 PSHB SAVE I OF INTERVALS
016B 80 E9 149 BSR MILDELAY DELAY PROPER I OF MILISECONDS
0160 33 150 PULB RESTORE I OF INTERVALS
016E 5A 151 DEC B DECRE I OF INTERVALS
016F 26 F7 152 DNE ELDELAY BR IF NOT FINISHED
0171 39 153 RTS
0172 154 CHARTOCW EQU
0172 84 7F 155 ANDA 'H'7F STRIP PARITY BIT
0174 80 20 156 SUBA 132 SUBTRACT OFFSET
0176 20 17 157 BLT INVALAS IF INVALID CHAR OR • o BRANCH OUT
0178 81 40 158 CMPA lLASTASCW CHARACTER IN TABLE
017A 2C 00 159 BGE NOTFNDAS BR IF NO
017C 160 GETENTRY EQU *
017C 5F 161 CLR B ALLOCATE AND ZERO OUT
0170 37 162 PSHB A TEMPORARY 2-BYTE AREA ON
017E 37 163 PSHB TOP OF THE STACK
017F 30 164 TSX POINT INDEX REGISTER TO IT
0180 A7 01 165 STAA 1,1 STORE TABLE OFFSET INTO SECOND BYTE
0182 EE 00 166 LOX 1,0 LOAD CONSTRUCTED POINTER INTO INDEX
0184 A6 00 167 LDAA 1,0 LOAD CW CODE
0186 31 168 INS DELETE TEMPORARY HOLD AREA
0187 31 169 INS , REALIGN STACK
0188 39 170 RTS RETURN
0189 171 NOTFNDAS EQU
0189 80 20 172 SUBA 132 POINT TO LOWER CASE CHARS
018B 81 20 173 CMPA 'H'20 BETWEEN UPPER • LOWER CASE ]
Ol8D 2E ED 174 BGT GETENTRY BR IF NO (USE LOWER CASE AS UPPER)
018F 175 INVALAS EQU *
018F 4F 176 CLR A SET A TO CW NULL
0190 39 177 RTS RETURN
44
LOGIC I
space between them is generated according SPEED. In this configuration the program
to the value stored at location CHRSPEED. will generate perfectly synchronized Morse
If element and character speeds are syn- code according to the established standard
chronized, the delay caused by CHRSPEED (dash duration three times that of dot,
is exactly twice the space between elements, duration of space between elements equal to
wh ich has already been generated after the one dot, duration of space between charac-
last element. Combining the two causes the ters equal to that of one dash, and duration
total space between characters to be exactly of space between words seven times that of
the length of a dash, the established spacing one dot). When you change speeds, change
between Morse code characters (see figure the values of ELESPEED and CHRSPEED
2). (once again, the value of the latter should be
If a space (in ASCII, hexadecimal 20) is twice the value of the former.)
detected, it is treated as a.phantom character If you wish to lengthen the interval
consisting of one dot length with the key between characters without changing their
off. When added to the 3 dot interval internal speed, simply increase the value of
following the previous character, and the CHRSPEED. For instance, if you wish to
equal interval following itself, a total interval practice copying code, you can set the
of 7 dot times is generated, the standard ELESPEED field at the value for 20 wpm
spacing between words. (ASCII codes with and the CHRSPEED field to the 5 wpm
no Morse code equivalents are also treated as value. Th is will cause 20 wpm characters to
spaces.) be sent at 5 wpm intervals. You can tweak
either speed to any 16 bit value you want
Speed Control (except zero), but the value of CHRSPEED
There are two separate controls for Morse must never be equal to less than two times
code spacing: element speed and character that of ELESPEED or the spacing will be
speed. The element speed is the time dura- demolished!
tion of the smallest element of the Morse
And It Comes Out Here
pattern. The time duration of dashes, dots,
and the breaks in between are based upon it. The Morse code generator program is
If normal weighting is used, a dot is equal to designed to output the Morse signals through
one of these intervals, a dash is equal to a parallel 10 port. Two different types of
three of them, and the space between dots output are available simultaneously: logical
and dashes within a character is equal to a and oscillating. The logical output cor-
single dot interval. The 2 byte field labelled responds to the Morse signal as it is broad-
ELESPEED contains a 16 bit binary number cast - the output is high during a dot or
specifying the element delay as an integer dash and low in the times between. This
number of milliseconds. With normal corresponds to the telegraph key itself and
weighting, the duration of a dot will be may be fed to the transmitter directly or via
exactly the number of milliseconds con- a relay or other driver. The oscillating
tained in ELESPEED, and the duration of a output changes state once every millisecond
dash will be exactly three times that. while the logical output is high and is held
If you wish the element and character low during the times the logical output is
speeds synchronized (20 wpm characters low. This output, when connected to a
sent at 20 wpm intervals, etc), the binary speaker, produces a 500 Hz tone and can be
value stored in CHRSPEED should be exact- used as a sidetone or a code practice
ly double the binary value stored in ELE- oscillator. Both types of output can be
45
produced simultaneously, as seen in figure 3. tem, which uses the Motorola MC6830L 7
Which of the lines in your parallel port ROM (MI KBUG Revision 9). A complete
are to be used at logical outputs and which cross assembly of CWBUFFER is printed in
are oscillators is determined by the control listing 1. The program was written to be
byte labelled INITMASK. For every bit in configuration independent, however, and
INITMASK which is equal to zero, the will work for any 6800 system having
corresponding bit in the parallel port is a programmable memory at locations hexa-
logical output. Every bit in INITMASK decimal 00 to 49, at least 190 bytes of
which is in an on state causes the corres- programmable memory elsewhere, and one
ponding line in the output port to oscillate. PI A. The ASCII to Morse conversion
I am not a hardware type person; there- subroutine is completely relocatable and
fore, I am not going to attempt describing reentrant, although the main generator
the interface necessary to take the Morse routines (CWBUFFER and TRANSMIT) are
code output of the nonoscillating line and not.
transfer it to your ham rig, especially since All of the timing loops are calibrated for
every transmitter has its own keying system. the Southwest Technical Products System,
In a classic copout I say, "It is up to the which has a 1.797 MHz master oscillator
user to take the logical output of the PI A crystal. If your clock runs at a different
(O=key off, +5 V=key on) and get it onto speed, you may want to tweak the loop
the air without blasting the PIA output constant so that the output of one of the
driver." oscillating lines is exactly 500 Hz (each
outer loop of the MILDELAY subroutine is
Viva Southwest Tech
supposed to last exactly one millisecond).
This Morse data generator was written for The loop constant is at hexadecimal location
a Southwest Technical Products 6800 sys- 0160; incrementing or decrementing it by
·
Ol.l ao E. cOO IlHA LUAOLlJOiol CONTiNUE
routine (bypassing OIBO ,01 lIEI~Ol T t: ... u
CWBUFFER) to output OIBO
OIBa
86 OJ
A7 00
C02
cUJ
LV".
'I AA
03
1.0
LO'O .NO STORE
OELIMl1ER [STOP BYTEI INTO BUff
that character as its Morse Oleo celt ~ONEEU3 EWU
_tH..n- t:.H
OIB' cE 01 F7 co~
L'" RELO'O BUfflR 'OORESS IN10 INOE>
equivalent. CODEPRAC is
a routine used to generate
OIBT
OIB'
olea
BO 0 I 00
ao us
cUb
_01
215 LUUEPHAC IiIoU
.....
J.H l.t1Uffl:..l<l
A~Okl ... 1:.1'(
C'LL C. GENER.TOR ROUTINE
START CYCLE .LL OVER 'G.IN
·
0103 Of' 4b cl'i $IX C_IJ!I'( INTU Sl.RT-Of-8UffER POINTER
(Note that the instruction OlD. c~o ~ENLOOP EwU
010~ 80 00 00 _21 J~~ C'LL • ROUTINE TO GENER.TE • I-BY1E
at 07 D5 should be patched c~2 R'NOOM NUM8ER
0108 J6 i~J P~I1A S'VE ORIGIN'L .SCII CH'H
to reference a random 0109 80 0 I la 120 J~H TE51 fOR VALID C. CH.R'CTER
OIUC JZ ii~ P~LA GEl ORIGIN'L .SCII CH.R
number routine specific to 01110 27 F b tib 8Ly 8R If NOT V'L10
your own computer
.."
OIOF DE 4ts ct!1 .. UA LO'O BUffER POIN1ER
OIEI AT 00 cib 51.A STORE CH.RACTER INTO BUFFER
system.) 010 oB INA INCRE POINTER
Olro OF _b 'JO 51< C_PTH S'VE NEll BUffER POINTER
0lE6 8e 7F FF aJI G':'< .ttUFfENu END Of 8UFFER OR END Of MEMORY 1
0lE9 a6 EA 'Ja "I~E ut::NLOQP BR If NO. GET ,N01HER CH'R'CTER
OllB B6 03 cJ3 ~UAA .3 LO'O 'NO STORE
01[0 AT 00 il30 $1 . . 1.0 OELlMl1ER 15TOP BYTEI INTO BUff
OIEf Cl 0 I F7 lJS LUA .dUFFll-t RELO'O 8UfFER 'OORESS INTO INOE>
Olfa BO 01 00 .30 J:>R CWI:iUffl w GENER.1E ClI fOR ENTIRE BUFFER
0lf5 ao 03 cJ7 ittl COOEPHAC CONTiNUE
OIFT .JB ~uffEH i~U
8"v
·
TFn lJ" H' 7fFF
lHf HO ,?uFFENO (iwu
46
Table 7: Speed Control Values. CWBUFFER
uses a 76 bit value, taken from this table, to
Morse
control the basic number of milliseconds code Value Loaded Value Loaded
spent in each dot interval of the generated rate into ELESPEED into CHRSPEED
code, and each inter character interval. For (wpm) (hexadecimal) (hexadecimal)
one will increase or decrease the interval as to how this data is input, whether through
which should correspond to a millisecond by the keyboard, read from tape, generated by
six machine cycles. If you aren't concerned a random number generator, or conjured up
with perfect timing, you can compensate by by evil spirits. All that is required is that the
loading different values into ELESPEED and Morse code routine's controls (ELESPEED,
CHRSPEED. CHRSPEED, and INITMASK) be set before
The parallel port address used in the the subroutine is entered, and, if the
program corresponds to the serial control CWBU FFE R entry point is used, that the
interface used by MIKB UG, wh ich is really a index register contains the address of the
parallel interface that only simulates a serial first byte of the string and the stop byte,
interface via software. Connect a small 8 hexadecimal 03, follows immediately after
ohm speaker between connections RO and the last byte of the string.
GND on the serial control interface. (Your I have included three simple drivers which
computer will probably be unable to talk to could be used for the 6800: one that
the TVT or Teletype while the speaker is generates one Morse character at a time from
attached, due to loading problems.) In the
program turn on the rightmost bit in INIT-
MASK to produce the oscillating output. Table 2. Special Codes and ASCII Graphics.
There is only one output line normally There are several special case codes used in
available from the PIA on the Southwest radio communications with Morse code.
Technical Products serial control interface, These are listed at the left with a short
although it separates into two output sys- explanation. At the right are shown the
tems, RS-232 and 20 mA current loop. ASCII character graphics and hexadecimal
Another line on the PIA's A side is used for codes used by CWBUFFER to represent
MI KBUG input, which leaves six lines com- these special case codes.
pletely unused. These lines can be used for
Morse output if you bring them out via To send: Keyboard Entry
jumpers from the backside of the PIA. Of
SK End of work '#' ASCII hexa-
course, MIKB UG has designated them as
decimal 23
inputs in the A side data direction register;
but if you OR a hexadecimal 7E into the BT Break '&' ASCII hexa-
DDR, you will reset them as outputs and decimal 26
leave the normal MIKBUG lines alone. You AR End of Message '$' ASCII hexa-
can use any combination of those lines for decimal 24
Morse output. KN I nvitation to transmit, '+' ASCII hex a-
specified station only decimal2B
Sundry Drivers '-' ASCII hexa-
AS Wait
The Morse Code generator program is decimal 3D
{~EL
designed to be used as a subroutine. It ERROR CODE (8 dots) ASCII hexa-
simply takes a character or string of charac- decimal 21 or
ters in memory and outputs the Morse code ASCII hexa-
equivalents. It is completely up to the user decimal7F
47
the keyboard; a second that buffers charac- CWBUFFER, which outputs the CW codes
ters until a delimiter character (line feed) is in a continuous stream until the end of the
encountered, after which it sends out the buffer is reached. Control then returns to
characters it has stored in one brill iant blast the driver, which starts loading the buffer all
of precision keying; and a third driver which over again. When a backspace command
fills up a buffer with random characters, (Control H, hexadecimal 08) is received, the
then sends them out (for code practice). character immediately preceding the com-
These drivers are shown as listing 2. mand is deleted from the buffer.
The single character driver (SINGLECH) CODEPRAC, the code practice program,
lies dormant until a character is entered fills a buffer in memory with random charac-
from the keyboard. When the character is ters, then passes them to CWBUFFER,
received, it is passed immediately to which sends them out the PIA into your
TRANSM IT and the Morse code is sent out speaker (hopefully you have set INITMASK
the PI A. The driver then goes back to sleep so that the line is an oscillating output). The
until a new character comes in. speed and spacing are controlled by what-
The buffered driver loads incoming ever you have loaded into ELESPEED and
characters into a buffer in memory until CHRSPEED.
either a line feed or ETX (Control C, This code practice application is where
hexadecimal 03) character is encountered. the dual speed controls really come into
When either is received the starting address is play. When a person is first learning code, he
loaded into the index register, a delimiter obviously has to start at an extremely low
(ETX) is stored in the buffer after the last character rate. At this speed, the dots and
data byte; and the buffer is passed to dashes are extremely dragged out and sound
NULL
(AS)
(ASCII
(ASCII
(ASCIf
H'3C' )
H' 3D')
HI 3E')
001F CC 33 FCB B' 11001100' ? (ASCII u l 3F')
bit result as the address of 0020 00 34 FCB B'OOOOOOOO' NULL (ASCII H' 40' )
0021 42 35 FCB B'01000010' A (ASCII H'41' OR H ' 61 1 )
the desired Morse equiv- 0022 81 36 FCB B I I0000001' D (ASCII H' 42 I OR H' 62 I )
0023 85 37 FCB B'10000101' C (ASCII H' 43' OR H'63')
alent. Information in this 0024 61 38 FCB B' 01100001' 0 (ASCII 11 1 44' OR H'64')
0025 20 39 FCB
table was prepared using 0026 84 40 FCB
B'00100000'
B'10000100'
E
F
(ASCII
(ASCII
H'45' OR
H'46' OR
11'65')
H'66')
the author's "SPUCA" 0027
0028
63
80
41
42
FCB
FCB
B' 01100011'
B'10000000'
G
H
(ASCII
(ASCII
H'47 1 OR
H'48 1 OR
H'67 1 )
H'68')
cross assembler. 0029 40 43 FCB B' 01000000' 1 (ASCII H' 49' OR H'69')
002A 8E 44 FCB B' 10001110' J (ASCII H'4A I OR H' 6A')
002B 65 45 FCB B' 01100101' K (ASCII H I 4B' OR H'6D')
002C 82 46 FCB 5'10000010' L (ASCII H'4C' OR U I 6e')
0020 43 47 FCB B'01000011 1 M (ASCII H'4D' OR B ' 60')
002E 41 48 FCB B'01000001' N (ASCI! H'4E' OR H'6E')
002F 67 49 FCB B'01100111 1 0 (ASCll 1l'4F' OR H' 6F')
0030 ij6 50 FCB B'10000110' P (ASCII HISO' OR H'70 1 )
0031 8B 51 FCB B'10001011' Q (ASCII H'Sl' OR H'71')
0032 62 52 FCB B'01100010' R (ASCII H t S2' OR H t 72')
0033 60 53 FCB B ' OI100000' S (ASCII H'S3 1 OR H ' 73')
0034 21 54 FCB B' 00100001 1 T (ASCII H'S4' OR H'74')
0035 64 S5 FCB B I OII00I00 1 U (ASCII H'SS' OR H'75')
0036 88 56 FCB B'10001000' V (ASCII H' 56 1 OR H'76')
0037 66 57 FCB B' 01100110' W (ASCII HiS 7 t OR HI 77 t )
48
Table 4: Label Table. This
AScwfAbL 0000 LA~IA.3C. 00_0 c ... ~::t~Et:.u 00"0 ELESPEEO OooZ INITHASK 00 .. table, also prepared with
HOcO~YrE oil.s MA~" OO_b COUNT 00_7 CWPTR 0008 C.~UFFER 0100
COl" f INUE oioT TkAi~:'Ml r 011' NOTSPACt u Ilf NOTERR OIZE COUNTOK 0134 the author's cross as-
81TLOOP OIJo SEI\U 01'1 SPACENi 01"" HILOELAY 0lS6 LOOPZ 0161
ELOELAY 0168 Cr1AMIUC- OITl (,ETtNT':n OI1C NOTFNOAS 0189 INHLAS 018F sembler, gives the address
ASOfdvtH Ul91 LUAOLUO~ 5ENOI T 01~0 NONEE03 0180 SINGL£CH OIBC
SINGLOUP o ICZ CUUt.'-kA':'
O! 'JIA
o l(.A GENLOO~ OIOS 8UFFER OIFT BUFF£NO TFFF (hexadecimal) for each
symbol in CWBUFFER
and the sundry driver
programs.
completely different than they do at l:1igher programmers aren't such bad guys after all.
speeds. The Morse code neophyte should Seriously, the sidetone output is a perfect
really learn to recognize the characters by way to ensure that the program is working
listening to the total pattern, not by with each of the various drivers before you
counting dots and dashes. However, speeding try to tie it into your rig.
up the characters also speeds up the charac-
ter rate if normal element to space ratios are Other 6800 Systems
maintained and an entire message has gone For non Southwest Tech 6800 systems,
by while the beginner is still trying to the installation of the Morse generator pro-
recognize the first character. Therefore, the gram is not much more difficult. The address
ideal situation is to retain the sound of the of the PIA used for the Morse code output
high speed characters and yet increase the and that of the input routine are the primary
interval between them. This is accomplished concerns. If your system uses MIKBUG,
by leaving the element speed (ELESPEED) which has the single character input routine
the same and increasing the duration of time at hexadecimal location E1 AC and the serial
between characters (CHRSPEED) to what- control interface at hexadecimal 8004, so
ever length is desired. much the better - you shouldn't have to
Anyway, to get back to the code practice modify a single byte. If your configuration is
driver, it will continue to send characters at different, substitute your own PIA address
the CHRSPEED rate until the end of the at hexadecimal locations 015D, 0195, 01 CO,
buffer is reached, at which time it will and 01 CE, and your ASCII input routine
generate another set of practice characters. address at locations 01 C3 and 019B.
Unfortunately, the random number genera- The programs in this article were not
tion routine itself is missing. The code assembled on Motorola's assembler. They
practice driver was a last minute addition, were run on SPUCA (Sewell's Psychedelic
and there was not time to develop one. (The Universal Cross Assembler), a homemade
program was tested using a kluge substitu- cross assembler which runs on the IBM 370
tion.) However, there are several different and generates code for the 6800 and four
versions floating around. The one you use other microprocessors. Listings 1 and 2, and
should generate a one byte random number tables 3 and 4 were generated by SPUCA.
and return it in accumulator A. It should not The formats are almost identical, but
destroy accumulator B or the index register. there are some minor differences that should
Load the address of the routine in the be pointed out for the sake of clarity. The
dummy jump to subroutine at hexadecimal major difference is in instructions using the
location 01 D5. The address at location 01 E7 indexed mode of addressing. Motorola places
is the end of buffer address or your maxi- the symbol for the index register (X) after
mum memory location. Don't forget to leave the operand with a comma in between,
a place for the random number generator where SPUCA looks for an I before the
subroutine. operand, again with a comma in between. In
The drivers in this article are very primi- other words, a Motorola indexed instruction
tive, and are designed simply to get you looks like this: LDA A OPERAND,X and
running. If your system is a Southwest one read in by SPUCA is in this format:
Tech one, you should be able to load all of LDAA I,OPERAND. In addition, the pro-
the programs and the table into your system grammer must specify explicitly whether
exactly as coded (CODEPRAC too, with the direct (base page, one byte address) or
addition of a random number routine), extended (two byte) addressing is to be
connect a speaker between RO and ground used. If the extended addressing is to be
on the control interface, load ELESPEED used, the operand must be preceded by an L,
and CHRSPEED according to table 1, turn (for Long). Example: LDAA L,OPERAND.
on the rightmost bit of INITMASK, branch Most of the rest of the instructions are
to the starting address of the driver of your identical to Motorola's except that my as-
choice, and start typing. As you hear the sembler has no FCC (Form Constant Charac-
speaker sing a 500 Hz aria with perfect 1 to ters) directive and no separate column for
3 to 7 spacing, you may reflect that maybe the accumulator ID.-
49
In addition to the ADM-3 Dumb Terminal Kit
we now offer you the complete ADM-SERIES
ADM-3
ADM-1
ADM-2
Self contained version, with power supply, front panel o IMSAI 8080 Microcomputer (Kit) $ 559.95
switches, real time clock, card cage, including CPU & 4 K o LSI-11 $ 840.00
RAM. o PDP 11/03
o DECWR ITE R LA 36 II 30 cps printer $1769.95
DISCOUNTS ON OTHER o Z-80 $ 242.00
IMSAI products, Lear Siegler Terminals and
o 8 K low power RAM board $ 279.00
DEC components.
We have the Z-80 also.
------------------------------------------,
Enclosed is my ...
Name --il
I
Address --ilI
I
1
City State Zip -.;:
For some time, there has been a need in in listing 1. As can be seen in the source
amateur radio for a machine that could both code of the monitor, there are two principal
decode and generate Morse code; in addi- routines that provide for Morse input and
tion, the decoder had to be capable of output; these two routines are INPEND and
automatically tracking varying received code OTPUT respectively. The other routines
speeds. Although Morse code keyboards within the main modules provide house-
have been around in the amateur radio field keeping and data manipulation for these 10
for some time, decoders have not been so drivers.
readily available. Since hardwired logic can It should be noted, on consulting the full
be difficult to modify, I decided to imple- program Iisting, listing 2, that there are two
ment the coder and decoder in software. data tables: an ASCII table and a Morse data
Since a low price was desirable and high table. The only restrictions on modifying
performance was not required, I used Digital these tables are that both tables be the same
Equipment Corporation's MPS Starter Set. size and in the same sequence. For instance,
This is an Intel 8008-1 based product which the ASCII table could be changed to reflect
DEC has been marketing to the commercial a non-ASCII code so that the console could
world. This article describes my implemen- be other than an ASCII terminal.
tation using MPS.
Principle of Code Manipulation
Implementation
A search of published literature available
The main program consists of a few at the time th is program was created showed
subroutine calls to the main tasks, as shown an excellent method of representing Morse
code in memory, particularly in eight bit
wide memory. This method, found on page
Listing 7: Monitor Entry and Supervisor Main Task. This listing shows the 13 of the July 1975 QST magazine, was
symbolic assembly language representation of the outer loop of the Morse adopted here for internal representation of
code program. The detailed assembly is found in listing 2 along with the rest Morse code. Binary ones represent dashes,
of the program. binary zeros represent dots and a final
binary one closes the character. For in-
RESTRT, CAL INPEND try code input line; stance, the Morse character B(- ••• ) would
CAL KYBD try the keyboard task;
CAL PNTR try the printer task; be represented by the octal number 210
LHI CMMNDt test the mode byte; (binary 10001000). Note that the binary
LLI CMMND
XRA zero the A reg and figs; strings are left justified with trailing zeros. It
ADM mode byte to A reg and figs; can be seen that if this representation is to
JFZ CMMNDR enter command mode; be used to generate a Morse character B, the
CAL IDLE non command character feedthrough;
CAL OUTPUT anything morse to output? bit string should simply be shifted out to the
JMP RESTRT and loop (?) along; left with each bit interpreted as a dash or a
52
~------,
I MORSE CODE I
I INPUT SERVICE I
Figure 7: Flow Chart De- - - -i
I
ROUTINE
LISTING 2
I
I
tail of INPEND, the Morse ~~~~~~O':'~
code input service routine.
This routine, beginning at
address 24/034 in listing
2, is responsible for track-
ing and adapting to the
variations in speed of INITIALIZE
-INCHAR-
human generated Morse
code inputs. This routine
also detects end of charac-
ter and end of word gaps
between Morse inputs. The
characrer OU~U5 a~
translated and sent to the
printer buffer maintained
by the program.
SHIFT A SHIFT A
dot until a final result in the shift register '0' INTO 'I' INTO
" INCHAR"
is 200 octal. Thus 200 octal remaining in "INCHAR"
53
output speed is selected by th is method it
will remain constant until a new value is
selected.
Software Availability in Machine Readable Form
Since the DEC M7341 processor card uses
a variable speed clock, table 1 is calculated
Table 7: The list of ASCII The software for this program in source and
assum ing that the clock be operated at the
character graphics and binary form has been submitted to the DECUS
library. DECUS is the Digital Equipment Corpora- same speed as the clock on the author's
their equivalent speed set- I
tion User's Society, managed by a board of system. If the clock for the processor on
tings when used with the directors composed of DEC equipment users. Free which the software is running is operated at
speed change command. membership in the society is open to users of DEC
a different rate, then table 1 must be
The command sequence is: equipment. The group periodically publishes
indices of currently available programs ~ith recalcu lated.
escape character, W, speed
abstracts. If it is desired that the user's clock be set
character. Thus the se- The documentation for this program is listed at the same speed as the clock found in the
quence escape, W, + sets under the number 8-801. Since it is expected that author's processor, a method of calibrating
the speed to 78 words per some users will want to modify this program, the
the clock is offered here: If the program is
minute. source in ASCII is available on paper tape from the
DECUS library. To order copies of the ASCII set up to transmit a sequence of dots, for
source tape or the binary tape, write to: instance the character "five" which is five
Speed Rate Program Libarian
dots sequentially, a string of "fives" will
Character (wpm) DECUS generate five dots followed by three dot
SP 120
146 Main St times between characters, five more dots for
! 89 Maynard MA 01754 the next "five" and so on. This, in considera-
63 tion with the equation:
as of the time of writing, the following prices
# 48
apply: Speed (wpm) ; dots per minute;
$ 44 25
% 37
27
8-801 Binary paper tape $2 2.4 * dots per second
) 8-801 ASCII source paper tape $8
22 can be used to compute the effective code
+ 18 8-801 DECUS writeup $1
/ 14 8-801 Assembly listing $10 rate in words per minute.
3 12 The code input speed is never actually
> 7.6 calculated but instead a rather heuristic
? 7.2
tracking technique is used to update what
54
the processor "judges" the current code rate speed, all that is required is to keep track of
to be. Therefore, the processor arbitrarily a counter which represents the length of a
selects the initial code speed to be about 15 dot. If the dot time is increased, thus
words per minute and, if it deems that the decreasing the code speed, all the other
input code speed is other than that, a change times will be affected in a similar direction.
will be made in the appropriate direction
Keyboard Monitor
until the processor is able to synchronize
against the incoming code speed. At this In general, characters typed on the key-
time, small changes in the code rate will be board are immediately translated to the
made to insure that the code speed remains Morse code bit string and then transmitted
within the tracking range. In addition to
decoding the dot and dash times, the pro-
gram must also be able to decode the times
between characters, between symbols and
even at the end of sentences. Additionally an
arbitrary time is selected which is deemed to
be an end of message; these times are set to
be a function of a dot time. Thus, as the GET NEW
KEY INPUT
processor works to synchronize the code
CLOSE
MESSAGE
BUFFER
YES
55
buffer out, translated in Morse code.
(SEND command)
• <ESC> T is a test to do <ESC> S
until an escape is typed. (TEST
command)
• <ESC> W loads a new rate constant
for WPM output. A character obtained
YES
from table 1 sets the rate, and should
follow the W. (Speed change
YES
command)
• The delete (rub out) can be used in a
Figure 3: The keyboard buffer loading mode to remove pre-
service routine, KYBD, vious characters back to the beginning
specified as a flow chart. PUT CHAR of the buffer.
This routine is simple: IN FIFO
Hardware Configuration
NO Th is piece of software has been designed
and constructed so it can operate without
PRINT A modification on DEC Logic Products Starter
Figure 4: The printer ser- CHARACTER
Set 1 (KMPOl based). This starter set con-
vice routine, PNTR, speci-
tains adequate memory, hardware, and inter-
fied as a flow chart. This
facing to allow the software to execute
a/so is very straightfor-
properly. When executed on the starter set,
ward: Look at the VART DELETE CHAR
the least significant bit of the input byte
and see if it is ready to FROM FIFO
from input device 2 is used as the sense line
transmit. /f so, then if the
for code input. The entire byte on output
printer buffer is not empty
device 4 is used for code output (any
send a character to the
VA RT and remove the particular bit on this output channel may be
character from the printer
buffer. Text continued on page 70
56
Listing 2: Complete Assembly of the Morse Code Program for an 8008. This listing was prepared using a cross assembler
available to the author at Digital Equipment Corporation. The listing is reproduced here in its entirety, with an absolute origin
picked for the hardware available to the author. The listing is well commented and includes a symbol table found at the end.
I I THIS PROGRAM. CONSISTING OF A PROM SECTION OF 20 ' 2 ' 370 LHA
ISUBRQUT INES
•
HAINLINE TASKS AND A RAM
ISECl ION OF BUFFERS, GENERATES AND DECODES HORSE CODE.
20 125 056
024
LH' BAUD- /5£T OUTPUT [lAUD AT ABOUT 15 WPH
1*
I *****************************************
I F'ROGRAM SHOULD BE STARTED AT STRT IMONITOR ENTRY AND SUPERVISOR HAIN TASK
I 20 172 106 RESTRT, CAL INPEND ITRY CODE INPUT LINE
I PROGfi:AH HAY BE RESTARTED AT f\'ESTRT 034
I 024
ITRY THE KEYBOARrl TASK
1* ***************************************** 20 175 106
227
CAL KYEcD
022
ITHE TERMINAL BELL WILL BE RUNG WHENEVER A BUFFER 20 200 '06 CAL PN'fR ITRY THE PRINTER TASK
IOVERFLOW IS CAUSED BY THE USER. THE CHAR 316
ITHAT WOULD HAVE CAUSHI THE OVERFLOW IS TRAPPED 022
lAND DELETED. 20 203 056 LHI CHMND'" ITEST THE MODE ByrE
024
20 205 066 LLI CHHND
INORMAllY THE KEYBOARn DATA IS TRANSMITTED OUT TRANSLATED 275
18UT AL T MOnE (ESC) KEY USED FOR SPECIAL COMMANDS. 20 207 250 'RA IZERO THE A REG AND FLGS
IL=RELOA[r THE MESSAGE BUFFER UNTIL ESC 20 210 207 ADH IHODE BYTE TO A REG AND FLGS
IESC=RETIJRN TO NORMAL MODE 20 211 110 JF2 CHHNDR IENTER COHHAND MODE
IP=PRINT THE MESSAGE BUFFER CONTENTS 150
IS=SHIF' THE MESSAGE BUFFER TRANSLATEO 021
IT=TEST BY DOING 5 UNTIL AN ESC IS TYPED 20 214 106 CAL InLE INON COHHANn CHARACTER FEEDTHROUGH
IW=LOAn BAUD CONSTANT FOR WF'M OUlF'UT 360
I SF' 120 WPH 023
I 80 20 217 106 CAL OTPUT IANYTHING HORSE TO OUTPUT?
I 63 230
I 48 023
I 4. 20 222 '04 ~JHP RESTRT lAND LOOP (?) ALONG
I 37 172
I 27 020
I 22
I '8
I 14
I 12
IASCI r TABLE OF DATA
I 7.6
20 225 101 AseTAB, BLOCK 32; 101; 1 IA THROUGH Z
I 7.2
102
IANO THE DELETE <RUBOUT> kEY IS USED TO EDIT BUFFER AS '03
IWELL AS REPRESENT THE ERROR CODE IN THE IHHEDIATE MODE. '0'
105
106
107
110
11 I
112
INEED A FEW MORE INSTRUCTIONS HERE •••
113
OPDEF SENSE;105;0 IREAD THE SENSE LINE
114
OPDEF READ; 101; 0 ISERIAL INPUT
115
OPDEF PRINT; 121;0 ISERIAL OUTPUT
116
OPDEF STATUS;103;0 ISERIAL STATUS
117
OPDEF OUTPUT; 131;0 IENCODED OUTPUT
IBUFFER SIZE SET UP
'20
121
HSGSZ=377 IMESSAGE ~OLDING
122
BUFOUT=60 ICODE OUTPUT
123
BUFSKY::377 IKEYBOARD
12.
BUFSPN=60 IPRINTER
125
126
ITERHINAL DEPENDENT CONSTANTS
127
WIOTH=110 IPRINTER WIDTH IN OCTAL
130
CR=15 ICAR RET CHAR (ASCII CR=15
131
LF=12 ILINE FEED CHAR (ASCII LF=12)
132
101=127 ILOAD NEW SPEED CONSTANT (ASCII W=127)
20 257 061 BLOCK 1U6lil 11 THROUGH 9
ERC~AR=7 ICONSTANT FOR ERROR CHAR (ASCII BEL::7)
062
ESC=17S IENTER COMHAND HODE (ASC I I ESC:: 175)
063
L=114 ILOAD MESSAGE BUFFER (ASCII L::114)
IPRINT THE HESSAGE BUFFER (ASCII P-120)
06.
P::120
ITRANSLATEISEND HESSAGE (ASCII 5-123)
065
S=123
ITEST DO 5 UNTIL ESC TYPEn (ASCII T=124)
066
T=124
067
ESCSYM=044 IECHO A • FOR ESC
070
QUEST=77 IOUESTION HARK FOR BAD COMHAND
071
DELETE=177 ICHAR THAT REPRESENTS THE DELETE
IPRINTABLE CHAR FOR A DELETE
20 270 060 DATA 60 10
DELSYM""134
20 271 055 DATA 55 1-
ETX=3 ICONTROL C EXIT TO STRT
20 272 056 DATA 56 I.
C=103 IREDUIRED TO ECHO ETX, "'C
20 273 05'" DATA S' I.
UPARRO-136 IREaUIRED TO ECHO ETX, ... c
20 27... 077 DATA 77 11
BlANK=040 IASCII SPACE CONSTANT
20 275 057 DATA 57 ISlASH
20 276 072 DATA 72 I:
20 277 050 DATA SO I'
20 300 051 DATA 51 /)
*201120
20 301 0 ... 7 DATA .7 I'
ISTART UP TIME HOUSEKEEPING
20 302 042 DATA '2 I'
20 120 056 STRT, LHI MSSGBF'"' ICLEAR THE HESSAGE BUFFER
20 303 012 DATA 12 lEND OF HESSAGECCR/LF)
026
20 122 066 LLI HSSGBF 20 30'" 012 DATA 12 lEND OF WORK <CR/LF)
0 •• 20 30~ 073 ASCEND, DATA 73 I'
57
AN
EDUCATIONAL
EXPERIENCE ...
THE FD-8 FLOPPY DISK SYSTEM is designed for use with 8 bit
microcomputer systems including the ALTAIR 8800, IMSAI, and
SWTP 6800. JUST COMPARE THESE FEATURES:
• Full sector buffering for both read and write operations.
• Both single and double density models available.
• up to 4 drives may be daisy-chained together.
• Complete software documentation for MSI-FDOS and disk driver routines
provided for 8080 and 6800 syster,ns.
• Resident I/O software for disk operation of assembler/editor.
• Easy interface, just two 8 bit parallel I/O ports required, or one PIA chip!
• Furnished complete with cabinet, power supply, drive, controller and cables.
• LOW COST, only $950.00 for this introductory offer.
THE 6800 LEARNS THE BASICS ... AT MSI, We needed a flexible programming language for
our 6800 based data acquisition systems. That's why we developed MSI BASIC. Its many
outstanding features will help you get the most out of your 6800 system:
• Full floating point arittimetic capability, decimal based for increased precision.
• Handles strings, subroutines. arrays, and multiple statements per line.
• User defined verbs.
• Operates from ROM or RAM and is relocatable anywhere in memory.
• Compatible with MSI-FDOS software and FD-8 floppy disk system.
• Available in 5K and 12K versions.
PROM/RAM BOARD
Contains 3.840 bytes of 1702A ROM and 256 bytes of RAM on one
board. May be used to contain MSI-FDOS software and scratchpad
area. Price 595.00
WHO IS MSI?
For the past 6 years MSI has been a leading manufac-
turer of microcomputer data handling systems for medical
laboratories, so we're not new to the business. Four years
ago we introduced the first floppy disk system for program-
mable calculators, which is still in production today. We
manufacture CRT terminals, PROM programmers, and a
large selection of instrumentation interfaces.
For more comprehensive product information, write
MSI at the address below. Incident<;llly, our products are
ready for immediate delivery.
60
five got it!
z-ao power for
the Altair bus.
Here it is, TOL's ZPU n • the high-
est point of technology for an
Altair/IMSAI system. Now,You
can multiply your present cap-
abilities without creating cost-
ly obsolescence. Take advan-
tage of the wide range of exist-
ing hardware backup for your
current system. The ZPU is
compatible and dependable
with many plus features you'll
want to know about.
To further round out your
system we also have available
the fastest and lowest power
static ram boards going (from
4 to 16K with expansion) and
a system monitor board with
a Z-80 monitor, powerful I/O
and audio casette features.
As for software, TOL's user
support program is unmatched
in the micro-processor indus-
try, currently available are the
Z-80 monitor, basic, and the
most sophisticated MACRO-
ASSEMBLER yet developed.
Join the Z-80 revolution -
It's more than just hardware!
21 352
023
OS. LHI MSSGBF'" / I S THERE A MESSAGE? 22 1'36
'"
022
150 JTZ WPM IWAIT FOR CHAR
02' 133
21 354 0 •• LLI MSSGBF IF I NO CHAR CNTR AND CHECK FOR NON ZERO 022
0" 22 141 0 •• NOl 37 IMASK FOR 5 VALID BITS
21 356 250 XRA ICLEAR THE A REG 037
21 357 207 AOM IADD IN THE CHAR COUNT 22 1"'3 002 RLC IMUL TIPLY BY 2
21 360 053 RTZ INQ MESSAGE. EX IT 22 1 ...... 0 •• ORI ISET THE LSB
21 361 OS. LHI MSSCNT- ICHECK COUNT ON XFER CHARS 001
02. 22 1 ... 6 OS. LHI BAUD'" IPOINT AT BAUD LOCATION
21 363 0 •• LLI MSSCNT 02'
277 22 150 0 •• LLI BAUD
21 365 277 CPM IBUFFER ALL XFERED? 301
21 366 053 RTZ IEVERYTHING XFERED. EXIT 22 152 370 LMA ICONSTANT TO BAUD LOCATION
21 367 317 LeM ISTILL HERE. BUMP THE CHAR COUNT IFALL THROUGH TO CLRMD
21 370 010 INe
21 371 371 LMe ICLEAR THE FLAGS AND EXIT TO SUPERVISOR
IFETCH THE CHAR FROM THE MESSAGE BUFFER 22 153 OS. ClRMD, LHI CMMND~ IZERO THE MODE BYTE
21 372 00. PR4, LAI MS5GBF ICOMPUTE POINTERS 02'
0" 22 IS5 0 •• lL I CMMND
21 374 207 ADM IAOD IN THE BUFFER OFFSET 275
21 375 3.0 LLA 15ET UP THE L, H YET TO GO 22 157 07. LHI
21 376 OS. LHI MSSGBF'" IH SET IF NO CARRY FROM THE L 000
02. 22 161 10. JHP RESTRT ITO SUPERVISOR
22 000 100 JFC PR2 INO CARRY 172
00' 020
022
22 003 050 INH IF I X FOR THE L CARRY
22 004 317 F'R2. LeM ICHAR TO THE 8 REG
22 005 250 XRA ICLEAR THE A REG
22 006 OS. LHI SOH'" IGET THE SUBMODE
024
22 010 066 LLI SOH
300 IROUTIHE TO GET CHAR FROM KEYBOARD-FIFO
22 012 207 ADM ISUBI10DE IN THE A REG AND FLGS IRETURNS WITH CHAR IN A REG. A REG::O IF NO CHAR
22 013 110 JFZ SOHI ISEND SUBMODE 22 164 106 UNPAK. CAL PNTR ITRY TO FINISH PENDING PRINTING
02' 31'
022 022
62
You'll Want to Nybble at these
Byte Books Where does the editor of a computer magazine turn
when he must verify some author's hardware design?
Information on a 75450 interface gate, or a 74147
priority encoder circuit does not spring forth by magic.
Checking the information supplied by authors is part of
BYTE's quality control program.
When you build a project, you need this same sort of
information. All you find in the advertisements for parts
are mysterious numbers identifying the little beasties ...
hardly the sort of information which can be used to
design a custom logic circuit. You can find out about
many of the numbers by using the information found in
these books. No laboratory bench is complete without
• The TTL Cookbook by Don Lancaster, published by an accompanying library shelf filled with references -
Howard W Sams, Indianapolis, Indiana. Start your quest for data
here with Don's tutorial explanations of what makes a TTL logic and this set of Texas Instruments engineering manuals
design tick. 335 pages, $8.95. plus Don Lancaster's TTL Cookbook will provide an
• The TTL Data Book for Design Engineers, by Texas excellent starting point or addition to your personal
I nstruments Incorporated. How does an engineer find out about library .
the TTL circuits? He reads the manufacturer's literature. This
640 page beauty covers the detailed specs of most of the 7400 • The Transistor and Diode Data Book for Design Engi-
series TTL logic devices. No experimenter working with TTL has neers, by Texas Instruments Incorporated. You'd expect a big
a complete library without The TTL Data Book for Design fat data book and a wide line of diodes and transistors from a
Engineers. Order you rs today, only $3.95. company which has been around from the start of semicon-
ductors. Well, it's available in the form of this 1248 page manual
• The Supplement to The TTL Data Book for Design
from TI which describes the characteristics of over 800 types of
Engi~s, by Texas Instruments Incorporated. What happens
transistors and over 500 types of silicon diodes. This book covers
when you can't find a 7400 series device listed in The Data Book
the TI line of low power semiconductors (1 Watt or less). You
for Design Engineers? Before you start screaming and tearing
won't find every type of transistor or diode in existence here,
your hair out in frustration, turn to the Supplement. The
but you'll find most of the numbers used in switching and
Supplement has 400 pages of additional information including a
amplifying circuits. Order your copy today, only $4.95.
comprehensive index to both TTL Data Book volumes. To be
complete (and keep your hair in place and vocal cords intact) • The Power Semiconductor Handbook for Design Engi-
you'd best order the supplement at $1.95 to accompany the neers by Texas Instruments Incorporated. To complement
main volume. the low power transistor handbook, TI supplies this 800 page
tome on high power transistors and related switching devices.
• The Linear and Interface Circuits Data Book for Design
Here is where you find data on the brute force monsters which
Engineers, by Texas Instruments Incorporated. When you run
are used to control many Watts electronically. Fill out your
across one of those weird numbers like 75365 the immediate
library with this book, available for only $3.95.
frustration problem occurs again. What kind of gate could that
be? We won't tell in this ad, but you can find out by reading the • Understanding Solid State Electronics by Texas Intru-
specifications in The Linear and Interface Circuits Data Book for ments Incorporated. This is an excellent tutorial introduc-
Design Engineers. You can interface your brain to the 72xxx tion to the subject of transistor and diode circuitry. The book
Oinear) and 75xxx (interface) series of funct ions by ordering was created for the reader who wants or needs to understand
your copy of this 688 page manual at only $3.95. electronics, but can't devote years to the study. This 242 page
softbound book is a must addition to the beginner's library at
• The Semiconductor Memory Data Book for Design
only $2.95.
Engineers, by Texas Instruments Incorporated. Don't forget the
importance of memories to your systems. Refer to this 272 page • The Optoelectronics Data Book for Design Engineers by
manual to find out about the TI versions of many of the popular Texas Instruments Incorporated. This 366 page book is a
random access memories and read only memories. Order your compendium of information on TI phototransistors, LEOs and
personal copy today, only $2.95. related devices. Order yours at $2.95.
_ _TTL Cookbook@$8.95 Please add 75 cents for postage and handling. Please allow six weeks for delivery.
_ _TTL Data Book@$3.95
Send to: Name
___Supplement to TTL Data Book @ $1.95
_ _ Linear and Interface Circuits @ $3.95 Address
_ _Semiconductor Memory Data @ $2.95
City State Zip
___Transistor and Diode Data Book@$4.95
o Check enclosed
_ _ Power Semiconductor Handbook @ $3.95
_ _Understanding Solid State Electronics @ $2.95 o Bill MC # Exp. Date _
___Optoelectronics Data Book@$2.95
o Bill BA # Exp. Date _
64
THE POLY 88
MICROCOMPUTER
A Complete Microcomputer System with Keyboard Input and Video Output
The Hardware: The heart of the POLY 88 The Software: Supplied with the POLY 88
microcomputer, the CPU circuit card, features an microcomputer is a 1024-byte monitor on ROM. The
8080A central processor, 512-byte RAM, space for program is there when the power is turned on, so you
3K of PROM, vectored interrupt and real time clock, don't need to key in a loader. The monitor is designed
a dual serial port with software-selectable baud rate, to use a keyboard entry and TV display, with a
casstte or paper tape as the storage medium.
With the monitor you can: load data into memory
in hex, display memory in hex, dump or read data
from a storage device, and execute program one step
at a time, displaying the contents of each of the 8080
registers as well as the values in memory at the
address of each of the registers. All of these functions
A ,. B C D E H L SP PC
38C3 aDFa aCrr acea aCrF ICIl
(BC) C3 39 ra 0D rr 0C 90 ac
(DE) 9D 21 00 99 75 23 7C FE
CHL> 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
CSP) 8D 21 00 88 75 23 7C FE
(PC) 99 90 00 41 90 06 89 78
and single-step logic that allows the processor to .C99V
execute one instruction at a time. 9C99 90 90 00 00 41 00 06 80
The POLY 88 also includes our video terminal 9C98 78 91 90 20 CD 4D 0C 99
interface circuit card, which is both a video display 9Cl9 47 36 A0 19 36 8E 3E 29
device and an input port for a keyboard. Sixteen lines SCl8 AS C4 25 0C 3E 03 A4 CC
9C20 38 0C C3 08 0C 78 07 3F
of up to 64 characters may be displayed on a 9C28 IF DR 32 0C 01 02 00 C3
standard TV monitor or modified receiver. In addition eC3S 48 ac 01 FE F'F' C3 49 ac
to the 128 ASCII characters which are displayed in an
•
are available the instant you turn on the power.
Future software available with this system will
include BASIC, an assembler, and games.
Prices: Basic kit including chassis, CPU and
video cards - $595, $795 assembled. Cassette option
- $90 kit and $125 assembled. 8K of RAM - $300 in
kit form or $375 assembled. We also sell the video
and other "Altair-compatible" circuit cards separately.
Dealers: This system sells itself.
All prices and specifications subject to change
easy-to-read 7x9 font, there are 64 graphic characters without notice. Prices are USA only. California
available for plotting on a 48 x 128 contiguous grid. residents add 6% sales tax. Prepaid orders shipped
These two circui~ cards fit into a compact "A1tair- postpaid. BankAmericard and MasterCharge accepted.
compatible" chassis with room for up to five cards. A r---------------l
6 amp power supply is built right on the mother I 737 S. Kellogg, Goleta, CA 93017 (805) 967-2351 I
board. The front panel consists of just two switches, I 0 Please send more information I
on/off and reset; the monitor software with video I 0 Order and check enclosed I
screen and keyboard eliminates the need for a
I~~ I
hardware front panel. As your system grows, you can
plug chassis together for easy expansion. (The I Address I
expansion connector also eliminates the need for an I I
extender card.) Cassette, RS-232, and current loop BankAmericard
I, I
interfaces are available which connect via ribbon
cable to the CPU board and mount on the backpanel. LMaster Charge ~
I
PolyMorphic
Systems
ITtHS SUBROUTINE TRANSLA"fES A REG TO PRINT HODE 23 313 150 JTZ OUT END /DONE'
23 125 07 .. XLAT. CPI 377 ISET C fLG (GUARD BIT) 342
377 023
23 127 022 RAL IROTATE 23 316 100 JFC [ISH /DOT OR DASH?
23 130 100 JFC • -1 IIF NO LEFT GUARD. LOOP 327
127 023
023 23 321 106 CAL DO T /YES A OOT. 50 KEy OUT A DOT
/ I F A REG CONT A I NS A 000. ERROR CHAR WAS SEEN ••• 120
23 133 074 CPI 0 /SET FLGS 021
000 23 32~ 104 JHP OTLOOF' INExT SYHBOL
23 135 110 JFZ XLATl /NOT ERROR. TRANSLATE 332
143 023
023 23 327 106 DSH. CAL DASH /HUST BE A DASH. SO KEy A DASH
23 140 006 LA I nELSYI'I /SET UP FOR DELETE SYMBOL 126
134 021
23 1"2 007 RET /EXl T 23 332 303 OTLOOP. LAD /6ET THE CHAR BACK TO THE A REG
23 143 056 XLATt, LHI HORTAEf~ /POINT AT MORTAS 23 333 044 NOI 177 /THROW OUT THE USED EfI T
020 177
23 1.. 5 066 LL t MORTAB 23 335 002 RLC /ROTATE IN AN UNUSED BIT
306 23 336 330 LOA /SAVE THE NEW IMAGE IN D
23 1"7 277 THIS. CPI'I /IS THIS THE CHAR? 23 337 104 J"P OOO[lCH /LOOF' FOR OTHER SYMBOLS
23 150 150 JTZ HCONVT /YES. GO CONVERl lHE CHAR 311
177 023
023 23 342 106 OUTEND, CAL TICI\ /INTER LETTER SPACE
23 153 106 CAL INCLH /TRY NExT CHAR 061
046 021
021 23 345 106 CAL TICt>.
23 156 310 LBA /SAVE CHAR 1 N f4 REG TEI'IF' 061
23 157 006 LAI MOREND~ /OET HIGH LIt'll r TO A FOR COI'IF"ARE 021
020 /SET UP TO POP THE STACK
23 161 275 CPH /PAST END OF TABLE? 23 350 066 LlI OTFIFO /POINT AT STACK
23 162 140 JTC NTFND /YES. WITH NO HATCH 364
225 23 352 056 LHI OTFIFO~
023 025
23 165 006 LAI HOREN[I /GET LOIiJ LIHIT TO A FOR COMPARE 23 354 106 CAL PDF' /POP THE STACI(
366 014
23 167 276 CF'L /F'AST END OF TABLE? 021
23 170 140 JTC NTFN[t /YES. NO HATCH 23 357 007 RET /NEXT TASK
225 /END OF THE OUTPUT ENCODED DRIVE TASI( SUBROU"TINE
023
/IF HERE. STILL IN TABLE. TRY CONTENTS AGAIN
23 173 301 LAB /RE"fURN CHAR TO A REG
23 174 104 JHP THIS /LOQF' FOR NEXT TABLE ENTRY CHECI(
147 /I(EYBOARD OECODER FOR NON COHMAND HODE
023 23 360 056 IDLE. lHI "YFIFO~ /POINT AT CHAR COUNT
23 177 006 HCONVT. LAI ASCTAB /CQHPUTE REL DI5F'LACEMENT LOW 024
225 23 362 066 LLI ~YFIFO
23 201 024 SUI MOR TAB 305
306 23 364 250 XRA /CLEAR THE A REG
23 203 140 JiC "at\! 23 365 207 ADH /CHAR COUNT "TO A REG
207 23 366 053 RTZ /BUFFER [I'IPTY, TRY SOI'lETHING ELSE
023 23 367 106 CAL INCLH /POINT AT CHAR
23 206 051 OCH /HANDLE THE BORROW 046
23 207 206 1'101(1. ADL /Am, IN "fHE LOW POINTER 021
23 210 100 JFC 23 372 347 LEH /SAVE CHAR IN E REG TEI'IP
214 23 373 106 CAL DCRLH /POINT AT START OF BUFFER
023 052
23 213 050 INH /HANDLE THE CARRY 021
23 214 360 1'I0K2. LLA /L IS NOW POINTING IN OUTPUT TABLE 23 376 106 CAL POP /POP THE CHAR OFF THE 8UFFER
23 215 006 LAI ASCTAB- /COHPUTE RELATIVE DISPLACEHENT HIGH 014
020 021
23 217 034 2 .. 001 304 LAE /CHAR TO A REG
020 2 .. 002 074 CPI ESC /IS IT AN ESC?
23 221 205 AOH /ADD IN THE HIGH POINTER 175
23 222 350 LHA /H NOW POINTS IN THE OUTPUT TABLE 2" 004 150 JTZ IDLEt /YES
23 223 307 LA" /REPLACEI'IENT CHAR TO A REG 025
23 224 007 RET /ASCI I CODE IN A REG RETURN 024
23 225 006 NTFND. LAI BLANK ICHAR NOT FOUND, LOAD OUT A SPACE 24 007 056 LHI OTFIFO~ /OUTPUT IN CODE
040 025
23 227 007 RET /ERROR RETURN 24 011 066 LLI OTFIFO /SET UP FOR ENTPAK
364
24 013 310 LBA /DA1A IN B REG
24 014 026 LCI BUFOUT /SIZE IN C REG
060
24 016 106 CAL ENTPAK
367
/SUBROUTINE TASK TO OUTPUT CODE 020
OTPUT, LHI OTFIFO~ /POINT AT STACK
2" 021 112 CFZ wHOOP /BUFF[R FULL, TELL USER
23 230 056
025 305
23 232 066 LLI OTFIFO
021
24 024 007 RET /DONE
364
2" 025 056 IDLEI. LHI CHHND~ /SET FOR COHMAND HODE
23 234 250 XRA /CLEAR THE A REG
23 235 207 ADM ICHAR COUNT TO A AND FLOS
024
24 027 066 LLI CHHND
23 236 053 RTZ /NEXT TASK. IF NOTHING TO DO
23 237 106 CAL INClH IPOINT AT THE DATA 275
24 031 076 LHI /1'I00E:l
046
021 001
23 2"2 307 LAH /CHARACTER TO A REG 2" 033 007 RET
23 243 074 CPI DELETE /ERROR CHARACTER?
177
23 245 110 JFZ OTF-UTI /NO. GO TRANSLATE
264
023
23 250 036 LDI /YES. DO 8 DOTS ISUBROUTINE TO SERVICE MORSE CODE INPUT
24 034 105 INPEND, SENSE /OET CODE INPUT LINE
007
24 035 044 NDI /WE USE THE LS8
23 252 106 OTERR. CAL DOT /1 DOT
120 001
24 037 013 RFZ INOTHING PENDING, EXIT
021
24 040 056 LHI INCHAR~ /POINT AT HOLDING REG
23 255 031 OCO /-1 THE COUNT
23 256 110 JFZ OTERR /NOT DON£, ••• 00 IT AGAIN
024
24 042 066 LlI INCHAR
252
023 304
OUTEND /DONE. POP AND EXIT 24 044 076 LHI ISET UP TO SHIFT IN HORSE
23 261 10" J"P
342 001
023 24 046 056 INTIHE. LHI TIHER"" /POINT AT TIHER REG
23 264 106 OTPUT1, CAL XLATER ITRAHSLATE 024
24 050 066 LlI TIHER
040
023 303
24 052 076 LI'II /INITIALIZE FOR TIHEzO
23 267 330 LOA /SAVE THE CHAR IN DREG
23 270 07 .. CPI 200 / I S IT A BAO CHAR (OR A SPACE)? 000
24 054 106 INSENS, CAL TICKI /WAIT FOR PART OF A BAUD (1/8)
200
23 272 110 JFZ
107
GOODCH /CHAR OK. SO DO IT UP RIGHT
021
311
24 0:57 056 LHI TIHER~ /UPDATE TIHER
023
024
/IF HERE GENERATE A CHARACTER SPACE
23 275 036 LDI 6 /SET UP FOR 7 UNITS DELAY(UNITS-l)
24 061 066 LLI TII'IER
006 303
23 277 106
061
SPACE, CAL TICK /WAIT ONE UNIT
24
24
063
064
317
010 L""
IN" 1+1
23 302
021
031 DCD IDECREI'IENT THE UNI T COUNTER
24
2 ..
06:5
066
371
105 L""
SENSE
/TIHER+1
/KEY DOWN?
23 303 110 JFZ SPACE /LOOP UNTIL DONE 2" 067 04" NOI
277 001
24 071 150 JTZ INSENS /WAIT FOR KEY UP
023
054
23 306 104 JHP OUTEND
342 024
023
IIF HERE. KEy IS NOW UP
24 074 046 LEI 0 /SET E:O FOR DOT, FIx LATER IF DASH
23 311 07" GOODCH, CPI 200 /IF A=200 THEN DONE
000
200
66
MERLIN
THE INTELLIGENT VIDEO INTERFACE
HARDWARE SPECS.
* Altair/IMSAI Plug-in Compatible
* 40 Character by 20 line ASCII Display Format
* 5 by 7 font, 64 Character Generator ROM
* Dual Resolution Graphics:
100 V by 80 H or 160 H
* Mixed ASCII/Graphics Mode
* Program Control of:
Cursor: On/Off
Control Characters: I nverted/Blimked
Carriage Returns: Displayed/Blanked
FIXED or FREE (Memory Saver) Format
Video: Black on White or Reversed
ASCII, Graphics or Mixed Mode
* Plug-in Keyboard Port
* DMA makes MERLIN the fastest display available
- over 48 K characters per second
* Sockets and Decoding for on-board Memory:
Two 2708 1 K X 8 EPROMs, or
Two 2 K X 8 Mask ROMs, and
One 128 X 8 Scratch Pad RAM
FIRMWARE SPECS.
MERLIN's BASIC INTELLIGENCE (MBI) ROM Contains:
Monitor Functions Editing Functions
* Built-in linkage, through on-board RAM, to user defined routines creates an indefinitely expandable system.
* The MBI ROM also includes decoding and direct linkages to our MEl (MERLIN's EXPANDED INTELLIGENCE) ROM
and to our forthcoming Cassette-Modem Interface on-l;Joard ROM. The MEl ROM contains additional Monitor/Editor
software: plus Graphics subroutines.
* Besides the direct Monitor and Editor commands, the MBI ROM contains many general purpose subroutines including
general purpose, selectable I/O drivers and KYB and Display drivers.
PRICING SPECS
MERLIN: kit containing PC boards, IC sockets, User Manual and all parts except memory $249.00
MBI: MERLIN's BASIC INTELLIGENCE - 128 X 8 RAM and 2 K x8 mask ROM containing Monitor/Editor software $ 3 4.95
MEl: MERLIN's EXPANDED INTELLIGENCE - 2 K X 8 mask ROM with more Monitor/Editor functions
and Graphics subroutines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . • . . . . . . $ 34.95
MERLIN User Manual: over 100 pages of detailed hardware and software documentation $ 8.00
Special Offer: All prepaid MERLIN orders received before 1 November 1976 will receive the MBI ROM FREE.
All prices subject to change without notice.
Mass. Residents please add 5% sales tax.
Dealer inquiries invited.
• MlnlTerm Associates
..
~I~ ·····B·o·x·2·6·S·,·Be·d·fo·r·d·,·M·o·SS·.·O·l·7·3·0···....
2" 076 301 LAB ITIMER TO A REG (8*. OF BAUD) 24 266 310 LeA ISET UP FOR PPAK
2 .. 077 074 CPI 20 24 267 106 CAL PPAK IPRINT THE CHARACTER
020 30.
2" 101 100 JFC INDASH IIF DASH, SERVICE DASH 022
131 24 272 104 JMP UPTIME IKEEP TIMING THE UP TIHE
02' 17.
ISEE IF CLOCK MUCH TOO SLOW FOR DDT 024
074 CPI 6 ISHOULD ElE A 10 IDEAL
00.
24 106 100 JFC INPOK ICLOC'" IS GOOD ENOUGH
15.
02.
24 111 05. LHI 8AUDI- INOT GOOD ENOUGH, FIX WPM CONSTANT
02.
24 113 0 •• LLI 8AUDI
302
24 115 307 LAM IWPM TO A
24 116 074 CP I IWPH TOO LOW TO TRACK?
002
24 120 1<0 JTC INPOK IDON'T TRY TO FIX, ALREADY roo FAST.
15.
02'
24 123 OJ< 581 /-1
It**ANYTHING BEFORE THIS POINT CAN 8E IN PROtt* ••
001
l.ttEvERYTHING AFTER THIS POINT MUST 8E IN RAM.**
24 125 370 LMA IElAUDI-l
24 126 10' JHP INPOK
15.
02'
24 275 000 CMMND. DATA o 10"'NORMAL HaDE. OTHERWISE COHMAND MonE
24 276 000 TlJlftTH. DATA o IlJHEN BYTE [5 ZERO, GENERATE A CR/LF
24 277 000 MSSCNT. DATA o ITEHP CHARACTER COUNT FOR MESSAGE l'UMP
IIF HERE, SYM80L IS DASH. UPDATE BAUDI FOR TRACKING
24 300 000 SOH. DATA o ISUBHOO[ FOR OHPSUB O"'PRINT l"'SEN['
24 131 05. INDASH, LHI 8AUDI- IPOINT AT INPUT WPM
24 301 000 BAU[I, DATA o IlJPH CONSTANT (SEE HEADING ON PROGRAM)
024
24 302 000 BAU[lI, [lATA o I,INPUT lJPM VALUE (GETS MODIFIED)
24 133 0 •• LlI 8AUDI
24 303 000 TIMER, DATA o ITIHE BAUD *8 (10 OCTAL> COUNHR
302
24 304 000 INCHAR. [lATA o /INPUT CHAR HOLDING REG
24 135 301 LAB IGET TIHER TO A REG AGAIN
24 136 07' CPI 34 ICLOCK TOO FAST'? 24 305 000 KYFIFO. HL T IINPUT BUFFER
03'
24 140 "0 JTC OK DASH INO,
154
024
*KYF 1 FO+BUFSK Y
24 143 307 LAH IYES 25 304 000 PNF I FO, Hl T IPR I N rER BUFFER
24 144 07' CPI 376 ITIHER REALLY TOO TOO SLOW?
37.
24 146 100 JFC OKDASH IYES, BAIL OUT'
*PNF I FO+BUFSPN
15' 25 364 000 OTFIFO, Hl T IOUTPUT BUFFER FOR CODE
02'
24 151 00' ADI /+1
001 tOTFIFO+BUFour
24 153 370 LMA IBAm'ltl 26 044 000 HSSG8F, HL T IMESSAGE BUFFER
24 154 0'.
001
OKDASH, LEI ISET EEl FOR DASH
68
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fee
S T e xt
07
..... X STROBE
0 Y DIRECTION
6
COMPUTER
° 5 C
5
MATHEMATICAL
0 C FUNCTION
4 4
OUTPUT
PORT
0
3 . C
3
UNIT
O2 C
> KEY SELECT
2
0 C
1 1
DO Co I
07 R READY
06 0 OVERFLOW
0 MATHEMATICAL
5 P DEC. POINT
COMPUTER
FUNCTION
INPUT 04 S SIGN
UNIT
PORT B
0 3
3
O2 B
2
B
> BCD DIGIT
0, 1
DO B
O /
74
R Scott Guthrie
1374 Franchere PI
Sunnyvale CA 94087
75
associated with the transfer to compensate
for the inversion.
The calculator command code to be sent
to the Mathematical Function Unit is passed
to the CAENTR routine in memory location
Listing 1: Standard Input/Output Routines. The standard routines CAENTR, DIN. This command code is combined with
CAFTCH} and RDY are presented here in the Intellec 8 Mod 80 assembly the bit pattern 11000000 using the ORI
language format. The hexadecimal address and object code is listed at the left, operation at address 0119. Th is forces both
with symbolic assembly code at the right. CAENTR moves a command code the X and Y control bits of the computer
to the calculator from DIN. CAFTCH reads the current calculator output to output port to be in a high state. The X line
DOUr. RDY delays return until the calculator ready state is indicated, thus high starts the Mathematical Function Unit
syncronizing a fast 8 bit central processor with a slow calculator. Prior to load sequence, and the Y line in a high state
using the interface and calculator routines shown in this article} the stack indicates that data is to be loaded into the
pointer must be set to point to some area ofprogrammable memory which is calculator from the computer's port. The
not in use. low order bits contain the bit pattern of the
calculator key selection taken from table 1
on page 31 of September 1976 BYTE.
;~ATHEMATICAL FUNCTION UNIT
;STANDARD INPUT/OUTPUT ROUTIN~S
Finally, the CAENTR routine restores the
saved contents of the A register and returns
;*** •••• *** •••••••••••••• ** •••••••• to the calling routine.
;NOT~: ALL INPUT ~ND OUTPUT DATA
; IS COMPL~~NTE1J BY HARDWAR~ ANU is In using the calculator interface, the
;RE-GO~PLEMENTED ~Y SOFT~ARE FOR procedure is quite simple: Set up a calcu-
;THIS REASON.
;** •• ***.*** ••••••••••••••••••••••• lator control code from that table in the
location DIN (hexadecimal 010D in this
;MFU LOAD PROGRAM (CA~NTR>
case) and then CALL CAENTR. One com-
;PROGRA~ DESCRIPTION: mand to the calculator is transferred for
;PROGRAM TRANSMITS DATA AT LOC 'UIN' each such CAENTR call.
;TO MFU INPUT PORT
;2 BYTES OF ST~CK SPACE US~u
; NO REGISTl:.t'S AFF~CTElJ dY SU~ROUTIN~ Calculator Fetch Routine
aal'la ORG 13laEH
1'110D DIN EQU al13DH The Mathematical Function Unit read
i'lli'll DOUT EQU 13 HllH routine, called CAFTCH (for CAlculator
l'l1'1'il3 PIN EQU 133 ;PORT IN
1'13a3 POUT EQU a3 ;PORT OUT FeTCH) is responsible for controlling the
a10E F5 CAENTR: PUSH PS'. ;SAVE REG. A transfer of data from the unit into the
31aF C0521'11 GALL RDY ;TEST FOR REAlJY
a112 AF XRA A ;ZERO R~G. A
computer's memory.
a113 2F CMA ; ••• SEE NOTE ••• This routine transfers all 12 digit posi-
1'1114 0303 OUT POUT ;TOGGLE MFU tions of the calculator chip's output number
al16 3Mloai LDA DIN ;GET COlJE
3119 F6C0 ORI 0C13H ;FORGE'IIXXXXXX' into 12 sequential locations of the com-
allB 2F CMA ; ••• SEE NOTE ••• puter's memory starting at location DOUT,
311C031'13 OUT POUT ;SE.Nu CODE shown at location 0101 hexadecimal in
011E n POP PSW ;RESTORE kEG. A
011 F C9 RET ; R~TUnN listing 1. CAFTCH begins by saving the
processor status. Then the subroutine RDY
;MFU RETRIEVE PROGR~M (CAFTCh>
is called to delay until the calculator is ready
;PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: for data transfer.
;OIGITS I(LSD> THROUGH 12(MSIJ> When the Mathematical Function Unit is
;ARE LOAO~D INTO M~ORY STARTING
;AT LOC 'DOUT'. THE INFORMATION ready, return from RDY is followed by
; I S OF THE FORM "ROPSdBbS" WHERE: disabling of interrupts with the DI instruc-
;R=READY SIT, P=DECIMAL POINT
;O=OVERFLOW, S=SIGN, BBdd=DCD DIGIT. tion, so that complete transfer of all 12
; 6 BYTES OF STACK USW. bytes of calculator display output can occur
; NO REGISTERS AFFECTED bY SUBROUTINE. without interruption. The calculator's "dis-
0120 F5 CAFTCH: PUSH PS~ SAVE A .. PSW play restore" command (see table 1, page
0121 C5 PUSH B SAVE ~ .. C 31, BYTE September 1976J of OB hexa-
1'1122 E5 PUSH H SAVE H " L
1'1123 1'16aC MVI B,0CH LOAD 12 IN REG. D decimal is then sent, in the form of the code
1'1125 210101 LXI H,DOUT LOAD ADDR. OF SAVE AREA CB (logical sum of OB and CO). This insures
1'1128 C05201 CALL ROY TEST FOR READY that the Mathematical Function Unit output
'il1~B F3 01 DISAbLE INTERRUPTS
012C AF XRA A ZERO REG. A will be valid prior to reading the data into 12
012D 2F CMA ••• SE~ NOTE ••• bytes of memory. After another CALL RDY
1'112E 0303 OUT POUT TOGGLE MFU
0130 3Eca MVI A,0CBH DISPLAY RESTORE KEY wait, the program enters a loop extending
1'1132 2F CMA ••• SEE NOTI:. ••• from address 0138 hexadecimal to 014A .
0133 031'13 OUT POUT SEND COOE This loop transfers 12 output digits in
0135 C05201 CALL ROY TEST FOR READY
0138 AF LOOP I: XRA A ZERO R~G. A sequence into 12 consecutive memory loca-
1'1139 2F CMA ••• SE~ NOTE ••• tions starting at the location DOUT. (The
1'113A 0303 OUT POUT TOGGL~ MFU
013C 3E8a MVI A,080H SET TOGGL~ bIT initial address was set up by the LXI H at
76
location 0125.) During this loop, the Y Listing 1, continued:
control line, bit 6 of the computer output
port, is left at a logic 0 level. The X line, bit 013E
013F
2F
D303
CMA
OUT POUT
••• S E.E. NOTE. •••
SU"J.J C OUE.
7 of the computer output port, is toggled by 0141 CD5201 rwy TE.ST FOK R~uY
CALL
the instructions at locations 0138 to 013F, 0144 DB03 IN PIN GE.T C{)liE.
setting up the next output transfer from the 0146 2F Cfo'A ••• SEE. NOTE. •• *
0147 77 ~10V M,A SAV E. liI GIT
calculation. After waiting for the ready 0148 23 I NX H INCR H & L
condition, the data is transferred into the 0149 05 DCR d DE.CREoMENT rl
computer at location 0144 with an IN PIN 014A C23801 JNZ LOOPI CHECK FOR DONE.
014D FB E.I ENABLE INTERRUPTS
instruction, addressing the input port of the 014E EI POP H RE.STORE H & L
computer. The byte is then saved in memo- 014F CI POP 0 RE.STORE. B " C
0150 Fl POP PSIol RLSTORE. A & PS1J
ry, and the index register provided by the 0151 C9 RET RE.TURtII
HL pair is incremented. A loop counter in
register B is decremented, and if the loop is ;RE.ADY SUoROUTINE.
;THIS SUBROUTINE., WHE.N CALLE.O
not completed, reiteration continues. After ;RE.TURNS TO CALLING ROUTItIIE. ONLY
all 12 digits have thus been transferred, the ;~HE.N MFU IS IN THE. RE.AliY STATE..
0152 DB03 RDY: IN PIN ;GE.T MFU INFO
interrupts are reenabled and the registers are 0154 2F CMA ; ••• SE.E. NOTE. . * .
restored prior to return. 0155 E680 ANI 080H ; GE.T RE.AUY til T
The format of data recovered from the 0157 CA5201 JZ RDY ;JUMP NOT RE.ADY
015A C9 RET ; ilE.TURN
calculator in this transfer process was given 0000 E.ND
in figure 2a found on page 27 of last
month's BYTE. The offsets in memory for
each byte of the data format were given in Listing 2: Alignment of the oneshots in this circuit is accomplished using
figure 2a. timing loop programs which repeatedly toggle certain aspects of the interface.
This listing shows three such timing loops, D1MS, D70MS and D140MS.
Calculator Ready Routine
; ALl GtIIME.tIIT ROUTItlli:.S
The subroutine called RDY is the final ; 1 • I 70 ., ANu 14<1 ~S. uE.LAY KOUTlNt.S
component of the basic set of interface ;FOil ';OMPUTE.R i,;YCU. Tl!",i:. OF 2 US.
driver software. This program is found at
,a000 ORG 2'1011 ;STAilTlNG Auui<<.SS FOrt I l'.S
addresses 0152 to 015A of listing 1, and is a ,~2'30 Cli0004 ulfo'S: CALL OUTPUT ; OUTPUT ST",'nINlJ S .. Q.
simple procedure to input from the com- 0203 067C !"VI 0,7(;H ; S E.T fOR I t':S. ui:.LAY·
0205 05 TLOOP: DCil 0
puter input port (symbolically PIN, absolute 0206 C20502 J/IIZ TLOOP
value 3 in this case), and test the ready bit, 21209 C30002 Jl':P ull'S
bit 7 of the input pattern. If the ready state
02'0C ORG 3121011 ; STAilTlt"i,i "uuitE.SS Fu,t 7iIJ MS
is indicated, the subroutine returns, other- a 30Cl CD0B04 07121"'S: CALL OUTPUT
wise it keeps reiterating. This routine is used 0303 0623 I'V I 0,35 ; SE.T FOR 7" MS. ",E.LAY
031215 Clil604 CALL ut.LAY
by both CAENTR and CAFTCH. <13:18 C31HJ03 J!':P J.J70~S ;rl<:.PE.HT
If the interrupt structure is being imple-
03·aB ORG 4i1JIilH ; ST",\! I!'H.i J\U,lJht,.$S FOi, 140 1"15
mented, th is routine could return control to ~400 CD0804 DI40"'S: CALL OUTPUT
the operating system, or other programs in 0403 "1644 MVI d,68 ; Si:.T FOR 140 MS. uE.LAY
memory, allowing them to execute until ,a405 COl604 CALL liE.LAY
0408 C30004 J~'P DI40MS ;ilE.PI:AT
being interrupted by the ready state of the
Mathematical Function Unit. ; SU3ROUTlNE.S
77
Listing 3: CALCULA, a Calculator Simulator. CALCULA demonstrates the imately 40 ms long for the MPS 7529-103
use of the Mathematical Function Unit in an application program. The Calculator Chip and is set using the 70 ms
purpose of CALCULA is to drive the calculator interface as a printing program loop, D70MS. With the scope's
calculator, interpreting ASCII codes from a keyboard as the key strokes on a input connected to pin 5 of IC 1b and the
typical hand calculator. The output of the calculator is displayed after every time base set for 10 ms per division, R6
return operation. The original CALCULA was run with a Teletype for input should be adjusted for five divisions (50 ms).
and output. This allows an extra 10 ms from the required
40 ms minimum for assurance that the data
l~FU-CALCULATOR SIMULATOH
will be received in worst case situations.
lTTY KLYdOARu SIMULAT~S The key released delay can be set using
lA HAND HELD CALCULATOR. the 140 ms delay loop, D140MS. Since the
; . 50 ms key released delay does not start until
lNOTE, ALL INPUT ANu OUTPUT uATA after the 50 ms key pressed delay, the end of
lIS COMPLEM~NTED dY HARUWAR~ ~Nu IS this pulse should be around 100 ms from the
lRE-COMPLEMENT~u riY SOFTWAR~ FOR
;THIS REASON. initiation of the sequence. This can be seen
; . on pin 13 of IC 19a and set by adjusting R7.
llllllll ORG 200H
The scope's external trigger can be con-
lSTARTING AlJuR~SS
llillD DIN EQU 010UH nected to pin 5 on IC 1b and the time base
llllli IJOUT EQU 01l!lIH set for 10 ms per division for a closer look.
111211 CAFTCH EQU 0120H
1110E CAENTR EQU 01ilUi It is not imperative that all pulse delays
be exact; however data transmission errors
1il21111 21B3112 LXI H.HEAU lH.L -> hEAulNG may result if the two 50 ms delays are not
112113 1161C MVI d.28 lHEADING COUNT
112115 4E PHEAD, MOV C.M lMOVE CHAR TO C set for at least 40 to 45 ms.
112116 CDA71il2 CALL CO ;PRINT CHAR~CT~R
112119 23 INX H ; INCR. M~M. PTR.
1il211A 115 DCR d lD~C COUNT What's It Good For?
11211B C2115112 JNZ PHEAD lJUMP NOT uONL
11211E CD9Cll2 LOOP' CALL CI lG~T INPUT COU~
The appl ication of the Mathematical
11211 E67F ANI 7FH ;R~OV£. 8TH riIT Function Unit is appropriate wherever cal-
11213 FEilD CPI 0DH ;COMPARE WITH R~TURN
11215 C271112 JNZ CODEIN lJUMP IF NOT R~TURN
culations must be done. To illustrate a
11218 CD211111 CALL CAFTCH ;GET uATA FROM MFU specific case, listing 3 provides a very simple
1121B 4F MOV C.A ;MOV~ R~TURN TO C calculator program which will enable an
021C COA7112 CALL CO ;PRINT RETURN
1121F 0EllA "'VI C.ilAH ;MOVE LINEFEEIJ TO C 8080 to drive the unit through the routines
11221 CDA7112 CALL CO ;PRINT LINLFELU of listing 1. A sample of the output is shown
11224 1611C MVI D.12 luIGIT COUNT TO U in listing 4. The purpose of the CALCULA
11226 21111111 LXI H.DOUT ;H.L -> DOUT
11229 7E DLOOP, MOV A.M ;C(H.L) -> R~G. A program is to accept inputs from the normal
022A E67F ANI 07FH ;FORCE '0XXXXXXX' ASCII keyboard of your computer (here
022C 77 ~OV M.A ;REPLACL , IN MEMORY
l CHECK FOR OVERFLOW INIJICATOR assumed to be connected to a Teletype using
11220 E6BF ANI 0BFH ;FORC~ 'X0XXXXXX' input port 0 for data input, input port 1 for
1122F BE CMP M l SAM£.? status, and output port 0 for data output)
112311 CA3Dll2 JZ CONTI lYES = JU~IP. ELS~.
11233 llE2A MVI C.2AH ; ..... -> REG. C and use thes'e inputs to set up command
11235 COA702 CALL CO lPRINT ..... sequences to the calculator. After each "="
11238 1601 MVI O.0IH II -> u (NO MORL PRINT)
1123A C35F02 ..IMP CONT ;dACK TO ROUTINE operation, the current display output of the
l ~HECK FOR A N£.~~TIV£. SIGh IN COUL calculator is read and printed.
023D E6EF CONT I: ANI 0~FH lFOrlCL 'XXXl!lXXXX' The program is set up in a fairly straight-
Ql23F BE CMP M lSAMU
Ql24Ql CA4Bil2 JZ' CONT2 ;Y~S = JUMP. LLSL. forward manner, using a table located at
Ql243 QlE2D MVI C.2DH l"-" -> R:t.G. C hexadecimal location 0300 to store the
111245 CDA7Ql2 CALL co ;p;llr~T "-"
conversion between ASCII input characters
Ql248 C35302 ..IMP DECPT lGO TO u:t.~IMAL PT. ROUTINL
lPRINT , FOUNIJ and calculator control characters. The list of
Ql24B E60F CONT2: ANI 0FH STRIP OFF u. P. ASCII codes and their corresponding calcula-
Ql24D C630 ADI 030H CONV:t.RT TO ASCII
1124F 4F MOV C.A C(A) -> C tor functions is found in table 1.
0250 CDA702 CALL CO PRI NT NUMd~R To use CALCULA, simply load memory
0253 7E VECPT: MOV A.M C(M) -> A
0254 E6DF ANI 0DFH FORCE 'XX0XXXXX' address space from 0100 to 0334 (hexa-
0256 BE Cl':P M SAME? decimal) with the content of listings 1 and 3,
0257 CA5F02 JZ CONT YES = JUMP. l:.LS~. then start the CALCULA program by
025A 0E2E MVI C.02~H ..... - > R£.G. C
025C CDA7Ql2 CALL CO PRINT ..... jumping to location 0200. This begins execu-
025F 23 CONT, INX H INCREM~NT H.L tion by printing out the heading MFU
0260 15 UCR o COUNT IJOWN CHArtACT~RS CALCULATOR SIMULATOR shown at the
0261 C22902 JNZ OLOOP CONTINU~ uISPL~Y
0264 0E0D MVI C.0DH RLTURN -> R~G. C beginning of listing 4, after which an inter-
0266 CDA702 CALL CO PRINT R£.TURN active input of various calculator commands
11269 llEllA l':VI C.0AH LIN~F~£.U -> REG. C
1126B CDA702 CALL CO PRINT LINEFE~lJ from table 2 can begin. The sample of listing
1126E C311 E02 ..IMP LOOP lJON~ WITH OUTPUT 4 shows uses of many of the calculator
11271 211111113 CODEIN: LXI H.TABLE H.L -> TAdL~ functions. The calculator replies with an
11274 IE35 MVI E.53D 53 = , OF ENTRILS IN TAbLl:.
11276 FE211 CPI 20H COMPAR:t. WITH SPACE. asterisk (*) if an overflow occurs, as is the
78
case with the attempt at 100! (100 facto- Listing 3, continued:
rial). Display output is normally printed
following the input of a carriage return. 0278 C282a2 JNZ AGAIN JUMP IF NOT SPA~E.
CALCULA is of course only the simplest 027B 41' MOV C.A MOVE. SPACE. TO RE.G. C
of possible uses for this unit. For general a27C COA7a2 CALL CO PRINT SPACE.
0271' C3aEa2 JMP LOOP BACK TO LOOP
programming, specialized routines could be 0282 BE AGAIN. CMP M COMPARE. CCA) WITh TAoLE.
written to execute sequences of calculator 11283 CA8E02 JZ FOUND JUMP IF FOUNU
0286 10 OCR £ DE.CRE.ME.NT COUNTE.R
keystrokes when needed, using data kept in 0287 CAaEIl2 JZ LOOP IF NOT FOU~u TRY AGAI~
the 12 byte arithmetic format. 028A 23 INX H INCR H.L
It should be fairly easy to implement a a28B C3821l2 JMP AGAIN KE.foP TRY IlliG
028E 41' FOUND. MOV C.A MOVE. FOR PRIlIIT
simple programmable calculator style inter- 028F COA7a2 CALL CO PRINT
preter to drive this interface, thus converting 0292 70 MOV A.L MOVE. COUE. TO A
11293 3200a 1 STA 01'" STORE. COUE FOR MFU
your personal computer into the equivalent a296 COllE01 CALL CAENTR SEND CODE. TO MFU
of some fairly expensive desk top micro- 0299 C31l E02 JMP LOOP t3ACK TO ROUTINE.
computer packages being sold commercially. ;CHARACTER INPUT ROUTI NE.
Ambitious readers will go even further and 029C OB01 CIt IN 01 ;01 = TTY STATUS PORT
implement a BASIC interpreter or some 029E E601 ANI 01 ;01 = MASK FOR DATA AVAILAoL~
02A0 C29C02 JNZ CI ;JUMP IF NO uATA
other form of high level language referencing 02.1\3 OB00 IN ,,1<1 ; RE.Au ThE. ChAHkCT ~j(
this machine both at compile time and in the 1l2A5 21' CMA ; ••• SE.E. NUTE. •••
run time software packages. 02A6 C9 RE.T ;rtf.TURN TO PROGRAM
79
Table 7: Keyboard Code Assignments for CALCULA. The CALCULA which are missing due to the use of MOS
program interprets the ASCII keystrokes listed in the "keyboard code" buffers in their place.
column as the corresponding calculator key functions in the "function" The Mathematical Function Unit has
column. The current content of the output displays is printed whenever an been overdesigned in several areas. The ready
ASCII carriage return is input. and timing circuitry has been designed for
easy modification to accommodate some
different calculator chips in place of the one
used in this project. The timing pulses can be
extended or shortened, or even bypassed if,
Keyboard Keyboard
Code Function Code Function for example, the key released delay is not
needed. All modifications must, however, be
0 0 E eX carefully considered with the chip's specifi-
1 1 ! N! Factorial cations prior to altering the electronics.
2 2 Y yX
The Mathematical Function Unit and the
3 3 P Pi (3.1415927)
4 4 A Arc related software routines provide the micro-
5 5 S Sine computer user with a very powerful calcula-
6 6 C Cosine tion tool where little could easily be done
7 7 T Tangent before. The programming of this peripheral
8 8 L Natural Log
9 9 G Log base 10 calculator has been found to be very
Decimal Point Z Degree to Rad ian straightforward and uncomplicated, re-
+ Plus Mode Switch quiring much less memory space (and design
Minus M Store in Memory time) than would be required to perform
Multiply F Recall from
Divide . mathematical routines with microcomputer
Memory
Equals D Add to Memory software alone.
( Left Parenthesis W Swap X with Y After considering the speed versus cal-
) Right Parenthesis $ Clear Entry culation ability tradeoffs, as well as the
t Enter Exponent $$ Clear All
H Change Sign points mentioned above, I feel th is project
Carriage Output Current
I Inverse IIX Return Contents of Dis- has been a complete success. I hope the
Q X2 play to Main microcomputer hobbyist as well as system
R Square Root of X Memory and designers will take advantage of this method
X lOX Output
for satisfying their mathematical function
requirements in cases where high precision
and low speed prove usable.-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BROWN-OUT PROOF 1. Intel Corporation: Intel Data Catalog, 1975,
80
SOME HISTORICAL NOTES ON COMMUNICATIONS AND PEOPLE
Source materials supplied by
Claude Kagan. Western Elec·
tric Co.
::
The following text is taken exactly from T roy, Utica, Rochester, Buffalo, Erie, Cleve-
a privately circulated English language trans- land (Ohio), Chicaga (Illinois), Milwankie
lation of an excerpt (pages 579 to 523) of a (Wisconsin). .
French work, Traite De Telegraphie Elec-
trique by Abbe Moigno, published in Paris in [The text goes on to describe further details
7852. and give a table totalling the telegraph
mileage as of july 7849: 70,885 miles.]
Telegraph Lines in America
Electric telegraphy has not spread any-
where its mysterious network with as much What Was the Public Response to
speed and success as in the United States of the Telegraphy Revolution?
North America; nowhere has one either [Continuing the excerpt] ... Here is how
conceived as promptly and executed with the work is accompl ished: the poles, twenty
such admirable response the happy thought feet long, are cut in the forests and trans-
of placing commerce and private enterprise ported to the site by the neighboring far-
in possession of this all powerful means of mers; one implants them into holes a foot
communication. and a half deep, one fastens at some distance
The first American telegraph line was from the top insulators or glass rings, on
established in 1844, between Washington which the conductive wire rests. A few days
and Baltimore, on a length of 40 miles. It suffice to see the rise, as by enchantment, of
transmitted with such celerity and a long line of poles. The surveillance and
promptness the news relating to the election protection of the poles and of the wire is
of presidential candidates, that all pro- entrusted to these same farmers, all provided
claimed, with a unanimous voice, the excel- with the small instruments required by such
lence and immense importance of these a simple task: a hammer, cutters, a vise,
messages prompt as lightning; and one saw pliers, some screws, some rings and some
the formation at once, on all of the territory nails.
of the Union, private companies with the The telegraph lines usually follow post
strong intention of making the entire roads, and their maintenance costs ab-
country participate in the unexpected bene- solutely nothing; there is no instance that
fit of the electric telegraph. The line from the wires, delivered to the good public sense,
Washington to Baltimore was immediately were broken through meaness. It is because
extended to Philadelphia and New York, in America all the wishes cooperate in
over a distance of 250 miles; it reached concert for the public welfare, and that all
Boston in 1845, and became the great useful invention is like a family heirloom
Northern line on which two lines branched: that all wish to safeguard. Each farmer
one, a thousand miles long from Philadelphia participates at the very least by h is contribu-
to Harrisburg, Lancaster, Pittsburgh, Ohio, tion of labor and materials, if not through
Columbo, Cincinnati, Louis Ville (Ken- his purse, to all the national undertakings;
tucky), and St. Louis (Missouri); the other, each thus becomes a shareholder and is
1,300 miles long, from New York to Albany, interested in seeing them prosper.-
81
Microprocessor Update:
IE1
IE2
IE3
IE4
IE5
I Always logic 1, not used.
I
10 BYTE package.
16 bit when low.
11 Instruction Set
12 F12
F11 General purpose control flags. Drive PACE output
13 F13 pins to directly control system functions. The PACE microprocessor instruction set
14 F14 consists of a general purpose mixture of 45
15 1 Always 1, addressing for interrupt 0 exit. instruction types in eight classes as shown in
82
Table 2: PACE Instruction Set Summary.
This table lists the mnemonic and a short
description for all of the PACE instructions.
For complete functional descriptions and bit Diagrams and information,
patterns consult National Semiconductor's courtesy of National Semi·
PACE Technical Description document. conductor from their PACE
Technical Description.
Mnemonic Operation (or meaning)
Branch Instructions
r--t~'3
AND And
OR Or )---+-1'4
ADD Add
'5
SUBB Subtract with borrow
DECA Decimal add
NCLK 24 ) - - - - - - - - - - - - ;
Register Data Operate Instructions
STATUS AND CONTROL ,LAGS REGISTER
RADD Register add
RADC Register add with carry
RAND Register and
RXOR Register exclusive or
CAl Complement and add immediate
83
table 2. Conditional branches are imple- reference instructions use a flexible memory
mented using the BOC instruction which addressing scheme which provides three
allows testing anyone of 16 conditions as floating memory pages and one fixed page of
shown in table 3. Additional testing capa- 256 words (16 bit) each. Figure 3 shows the
bilities are provided by the skip instructions various memory reference instruction for-
which provide memory and register com- mats used to obtain the four different
parisons without altering data. Memory addressing modes.
84
Applications
There is a complete family of support
chips designed for PACE which are intended
to interface directly to the microprocessor
chip. The System Timing Element (STE)
provides the necessary MOS clock signals
and V bbo supply voltage for the processor
chip as well as an optional TTL clock for the bits 15 10 9 8 7 0
user's system. Figure 4 shows how the STE INDEX (XR) DISPLACEMENT (disp)
OPERATION CODE
is connected to the PACE microprocessor
for a typical application.
The Bidirectional Transceiver Element
Index Field Addressing Mode Effective Address (EA)
(BTE) provides single chip, 8 bit input and
output buffering between the PACE MOS 00 Base Page EA; disp
input bus lines and TTL devices. Figure 5 01 Program Counter Relative EA ; disp + (PCl
shows how three BTEs are utilized along
10 AC2 Relative (indexed) EA ; disp + (AC2)
with an STE and PACE chip to assemble a .
system providing a fully multiplexed address 11 AC3 Relative (indexed) EA ; disp + (AC3)
and data bus with a minimum chip Key: (PC) ; Contents of program counter
configuration. The other two support chips, (AC2) ; Contents of AC2
the Address Latch Element (ALE) and the (AC3l ; Contents of AC3
Interface Latch Element (ILE), may be
added for more complex systems as shown
in the PACE Technical Description available Figure 3: Memory Reference Instruction Format. The PACE processor's
from National Semiconductor as publication minicomputer-like instruction set has four addressing modes which are
number 4200078A. This book also illus- specified by the index field of an instruction. Addressing can be through an 8
trates a priority encoder, a control panel, bit signed or unsigned base page address selection, an 8 bit signed offset
DMA capabilities, application cards, and relative to the program counter, or an 8 bit signed offset relative to registers
various applications and features of the A C2 or A C3. This diagram is reproduced courtesy of National Semicon-
PACE system along with the information ductor, from pages 2-77 and 2-72, PACE Technical Description.
contained in this article.
User Group
COMPUTE, a National Semiconductor
sponsored user group for microprocessor
programmers, users, and technical experts
publishes a newsletter called The Bit-Bucket.
They can be contacted at:
COMPUTE/470 4.0
MHz Ee>-;-V;=B.::;BO"---- __!23
National Semiconductor Corp E'O-::v7<ss':- -.j20
2900 Semiconductor Dr
E'O-::C7:lK~=:_:_::=:__------.j
25
Santa Clara CA 95051 STE
GND (SEE NOTE)
the days of the mini). Looking at the PACE V SS ' GND. AND V GG liNES
architecture is reminiscent of looking at a SHIELD ClK AND NClK LINES.
85
SYSTEM MOS ADDRESS/DATA BUS
PACE
SYSTEM MOS TIMING
AND CONTROL BUS
SYSTEM TTL
BTE MULTIPLEXED
ADDRESS/DATA
BUS
TTlClK ~
TTL elK *
1976) for the personal computing market, for readers to obtain this 16 bit byte sized
evaluation kits and products like the Pacer microprocessor.-
(see below) will provide a convenient way
86
Also included is the Pacer control card,
shown at the top of photo 2 with its ribbon
cable running down to the motherboard.
This control card contains the logic and
switches needed to support the 8 digits of
alphanumeric display and key board
functions.
Photo 2: Removing four
What Can You Do with Pacer as It Comes? screws and tilting back the
In the minimal configuration, you receive cover of the assembly
a powerful 16 bit PACE processor wh ich shows the interior of the
basically resembles a Data General NOV A machine: a motherboard
{see Robert Baker's article}. The executive with raw power supply
features of this minimal configuration allow (unregulated voltages for
the user to enter and debug mach ine on board regulators) and
language programs for PACE, using a set of positions for eight boards
commands much more flexible and sophis- in addition to the three
ticated than the toggle switches of an earlier boards of the basic Pacer
era. These built-in checkout and debugging kits. The control panel
features include: board and its ribbon cable
Commands to set, modify and examine connector are shown
the hexadecimal contents of: mounted on the cover near
Program counter the top of the picture.
Accumulators 0, 1,2 or 3
°
Stack locations through 9
Flag register gram and powerful debugging executive,
Any memory location selected wh ich takes over the system instead of the
Anyone of several break point ad-
°
dresses labelled to 9
Value and mask fields used for search
original read only memory executive of
Pacer's minimal configuration. With the
addition of PACE 2, the original front panel'
operations is essentially ignored with the exception of
Extended command functions include: the restart and initialize buttons. The
Hexadecimal calculator: add, subtract address space locations of the PACE 2
display result executive and assembler are contained in an
Memory search for value, with op- 8 K block of memory which is completely
tional mask protected by hardware in the standard
Run, restart, initialize, single step the boards as they arrive. (If desired, it is of
processor. course possible to defeat th is feature
For initial checkout of machine language through hardware modifications suggested
programs, this is more than adequate. The by the logic diagrams supplied.) The hard-
bus structure is completely documented in ware lockout involves write protection and
the manuals, and will prove quite expand- automatic return of hexadecimal FFFF
able using prototyping boards which are also values when referencing the protected loca-
available from the manufacturer. The Pacer tions. In the words of the PACE 2 users
has 8 slots available on its backplane after guide, "As a result PACE 2 will remain
the minimum three cards are inserted.
operable even after a massive failure of the
user's program .... "
The Number One Expansion
The memory editing commands of PACE
to Make to Pacer
2 allow the user to display and set memory Photo 3: This detailed
One additional board came with our contents from the terminal using ASCII, view shows the three
Pacer, one which both exhibits its expand- signed decimal, unsigned decimal or hexa- boards of the basic Pacer
ability and will prove quite useful to anyone decimal conversions. Memory listing com- kit product. The processor
wishing to do software development. This is mands allow the user to get an assembly itself is the large chip on
the optional PACE 2 printed circuit card. language formatted output with symbolic the rightmost board of the
This addition to the system contains a references and absolute hexadecimal, sort of three shown. In the Pacer
parallel Teletype current loop interface, an a built-in "disassembler" program. De- shown here, additional
RS-232 interface, and the PACE 2 read only bugging features include Q sophisticated sockets and card guides
memories. memory snap feature tied to break points, which came with the kit
The read only memories are the key to snap points or single step execution. This are ready for the PACE 2
the usefulness of PACE 2. This board has a feature allows selected contents of registers, board and for proto typing
simple assembler (and dissassembler) pro- or memory to be dumped when execution boards.
87
reaches the desired points. As an assembler, hardware or software tone decoder and a
the PACE 2 module in its "alter" command software command interpreter to carry out
mode allows one to insert symbolic assembly your remote instructions; for reliability,
language statements to define memory such software should be stored in ROM
content word by word. The symbol table against the possibility of power failures.
capacity built into the system when PACE 2 Eventually, commercially produced "uni-
arrives is 26 symbols. By adding memory it versal signallers" using this technology
is possible to extend the symbol table to a should be available in calculator style
limit of 121 symbols. Each symbol has a 16 packages, but until then you'll have to make
bit address value associated with it. your own. Contact MOSTE K at 1215 W
By putting the PACE 2 board together Crosby Rd, Carrollton TX 75006.-
with the Pacer, the result will be an excellent
combination of software development tools
and expandable hardware which will prove
attractive both to the engineer using PACE SCELBAL, an 8008/8080 High
in systems work, and to an individual who Level Language
wants a prepackaged 16 bit computer with In our June 1976 issue [page 82], we had
good systems software support at a mod- a product description article on the SCEL-
erate price. For further information contact BAL language, implemented for the 8008
Project Support Engineering.- and 8080 processors by Nat Wadsworth and
Mark Arnold. Since that time, the language
design has been published in detail in
SCELBI Computer Consulting's book of
The MOSTEK MK5085N/MK5086N
documentation, available at $49 postpaid.
Integrated Tone Dialers
The documentation is very complete, and
This product provides the electronics expresses Nat Wadsworth's excellent ph ilos-
needed to simply implement remote access ophy of giving all the information possible
via telephone to computer using a miniature about the subject at a reasonable price.
hand held terminal which can be used with Quoting from the introduction:
any telephone. In such a system, the com-
puter end listens to audio from one of a .... It was known at the start that the
number of Bell approved electronic tape program could not be developed to
answering service devices commercially satisfy every potential user. Nobody
available, and standard touch tone signals are has a system with that much memory
sent to the computer after dialing into its available! Care was taken to provide a
phone port. This MOSTEK chip, built into a good fundamental selection of syntax
tiny case using the circuit described in the statements and functions in the lan-
MOSTEK documentation, and reproduced guage. From that point, backed by the
here, is used to drive the remote telephone descriptions of the program's organiza-
through a speaker you build into the remote tion, general flow charts, and highly
package. The computer end must have a commented listings provided in this
publication, it is felt that the U5er will
be equipped to add extended capa-
"Figure j" excerpted from MOSTEK's April 1976 data sheet for the bilities depending on memory avail-
Integrated Tone Dialer MK5085N/MK5086N. able, or willingness to sacrifice de-
scribed functions.
DTMF TONE GENERATOR· Fixed Supply Operation
FIGURE J . . . . The extra measure of providing
IOpf
the information so that the user may
COL I
go further if desired is the funda-
C==:J 3579545 mhz mental premise behind this publication.
+1211
IJJf
II(~~HIGH
Fli
-
OF!
- -
OTHER I
I
IMPEDENCE I
- - - ~ ---,
M I C I
pages. Of these pages, 51 alone are spent on
chapter 6 wh ich describes the statement
interpretation logic of the program with
1 1
I
L
-=- ~
1 flow charts, symbolic (commented) as-
R 1 value ;s dependent upon Impedence and sembly language code and verbal descrip-
L . . - - - - - - - - - - - - ' O - - - - 4 ~~~ ~ dfr~~~o~ii~~o~~~~ej~~~:~~lrevalues when
1K - Carron tyPe mics
tions. In the chapter 12, the detailed as-
50K - Low impedance dynamic
lOOK - High impKlance dynamic sembly of SCELBAL for an 8008 is given,
88
and in chapter 13 the same information is
repeated for an 8080 assembly. The detailed
assemblies give absolute code for the pro-
gram in octal, beginning at origin 01/000 for
either version. The total memory requ ired is
the same in either version since the code is
written for an 8008 and simply reassembled
for the 8080 version. The actual program
code covered by the assembly in either case
is approximately 11.5 K bytes. The listings
together occupy 164 pages. Chapter 14
contains operating instructions and chapter
15 contains "Suggestions for Program
Tinkerers." The book is concluded with a
"SCELBAL Labels Reference List" (ie: the
symbol table of the assemblies), and several
notes pages for patches. The final sheet of
the book is a cardboard sheet with a
personal "SCELBAL Registration Card," a
change of address card, and a pocket ref-
erence card. Purchasers of SCELBAL return
the registration card in order to be placed
upon the update list for errors and patches
(several of which are already present on the
notes pages).
SCELBI is to be commended for this
example of complete and thorough docu-
mentation for a high level language product.
It will prove a useful volume for any person
interested in a high level language like
BASIC which has options for customization
and extension. -
89
Homebrewery vs the
Software Priesthood
90
"... these are, and of right ought to be, Free
and Independent. ... "
- John Hancock, et al
91
ware because software has two distinctive
properties:
• A buyer cannot evaluate its benefit
without extensive testing and use .
• The elementary operation in moving
software is not to transport one copy
but to generate another copy.
Another danger threatens free distribution
of free software, and for some of the same
reasons, a scarcity of documentation which
is all too common in software. The tempta-
tion is strong: Somebody developing it
understands it well and is concentrating on
getting it to work at all and usually prefers
not to be distracted by efforts to make it
comprehensible to others. On the other
hand, the task of documentation can easily
take as much effort as the development
itself. However, documentation is crucial to
the value of a piece of software. Un-
documented software is very hard to use and
even harder to modify. We have no good
solutions to either of these problems. The
only thing to do is to repeatedly urge people
to be m indfu I of the problems and to
broaden their perspectives beyond the gains
copy at the next meeting. A few cautions, of the short term.
however, must be repeated every few meet-
ings: that people label the tapes they bring
back, that they take reasonable steps to Telecommunications and the Community
ensure the accuracy of their copies and that Information Exchange
they only contribute software with the Enthusiasts in this field can share soft-
author's consent. Homebrewers have good ware right now by banding together into
intentions but still need occasional re- clubs, but that medium limits sharing to
minders to keep them from getting careless. small groups of people who live near one
It is most unfortunate that some people another. With telecommunications, people
give free distribution to software against the can share their programs with others living at
author's wishes. In fact it's usually illegal, long distances from one another. One vital
and anyone caught could face a heavy fine ingredient to such remote communication is
Software exchange is a because the cri me is new enough that many the ordinary telephone, which works
think prominent examples should be offered wonders at spanning long distances between
two way street: He or she
to reduce its frequency. Until that lucky people. Telephones can have the same bene-
who uses an application or day, the main people being deterred are the fit for computers, if they are equipped with
system's program from a people who have contributed the software modems, which handle the translation be-
community library is as- that has immeasurably helped the whole tween a computer's digital signals and the
sumed to be willing and hobbyist movement get started. Even though audio signals the telephone can handle.
able to provide programs we have a tremendous potential for genera- Then, one person can call another, and they
of equivalent value for ting our own software, we still owe a can use that same call to connect their
others to use. tremendous debt (of gratitude besides the computers; one computer can run a special
money) to those who have brough t us AI tai r program to copy data from a cassette or
BASIC and 6800 BASIC, and who may have memory to the phone line; and the other can
enough faith in us to bring us APL and some run another special program to copy the
truly groovy text editors. Freely exchanged information from the phone line onto its
software should be truly free and untainted own cassette. Of course, the data being
by ripoffs or by the appearance of ripoffs. copied will likely be some program the two
The extreme ease of software theft could parties wish to share; and presto, you have
present a real barrier to free interchange of an instance of software sharing at a long
good software because many valuable people distance.
could understandably be reluctant to be- While that kind 'of person to person
come very deeply involved in a forum where exchange is quite effective, it leaves room
such ripoffs are commonplace. Theft is so for improvement in several respects. It re-
much easier with software than with hard- quires very close coordination between the
92
two parties, and it requires one phone call individual subscribers can communicate
for each interchange of data. However, there words among themselves, they can com-
is another possible mechanism, which can municate much more than news about the
permit widely scattered users to com- latest programs available and how to use
municate far more freely and with much them. They can also tell one another about
looser coordination while improving on the the problems they are having with some
economy of phone line usage. That would be program they recently picked up or even Imagine a Community In-
a sort of "Community Information Ex- about problems they are having with some
formation Exchange, com-
change," a computer that would be con- hardware they recently bought. The com-
plete with telecommunica-
tinually prepared to automatically answer puter community can find a great deal of
the telephone and would expect a computer strength in freely sharing that kind of tions access ports, mass
to be placing the call. It would be located information, in addition to sharing their storage and an accounting
where a number of individuals (for example programs. Free communication of informa- algorithm to keep track of
members of a local club) could reach it with tion of all types can greatly enhance the operating expenses at-
a local call; it would provide bulk storage community's resi~tance to inferior products, tributed to each user's
facilities, and it would accept commands in a and acceptance of superior products. activities.
very concise, well understood format from The Community Information Exchange is
the computer which had called it. Then one not limited to the local communication
subscriber could leave a program in the bulk described thus far. In the dead of night,
storage and invite all other subscribers to when telephone traffic is reduced and the
that Community Information Exchange to transcontinental rates are low, a CI E in one
copy it to their own systems at their leisure. locality can call a CIE in another locality.
Th is is a very powerful means of broad- Then they can send programs and other data
casting software among a local community, back and forth. Of course, they have to
but it has implicit in it a means of broad- know just what should be sent where, and
casting opinions and news too. It requires a they could be told by their subscribers. The
means of transmitting plain English text commands they will accept from their sub-
NOTE: The term "Commu-
between people just so the people will know scribers could direct them to copy a file to
nity Information Exchange"
which programs they can or might wish to or from some remote CIE. Nor is it neces- was inspired by Michael Ross-
communicate to their computers. Once the sary for a CIE to directly call another to man.
93
healthy trend in two ways: the person using
the copy benefits by its availability; and the
program's originator benefits by having
helped spread a good example of the pro-
grammer's art. Of course, such freely ex-
changed software may well be worth less at
best. That does seem a minor penalty,
though, for all the advantages that stand to
be gained by ready availability. That is one
example of the difference between the two
kinds of programmers. That is, a functioning
program is required of the professional,
while it is merely desired by the amateur
user who figures he or she will have to patch
and customize anyway. Someone paid to
write a program has to make it do what the
client wants; a personal computing user has
only personal preferences to satisfy. Some-
body paying for a program has a right to
expect that it will be reasonably efficient in
order to conserve the money spent on
computer time, while your patience is a
much stronger constraint for you than the
~----.;::) cost of your computer's time. Somebody
paying for a program is quite likely to need
the documentation oriented toward people
unskilled in the technicalities, while fellow
enthusiasts won't need to have all the details
explained to them. Finally, deadlines are
have access to its file storage. Instead, quite firm in the commercial world but of
commands and data could be relayed from considerably less importance among ama-
one CIE to another until they finally reach teurs [except for those who fill magazines
their destination. Then, many isolated CIEs once a month! . .. CHI.
would behave like a vast network capable of While the priests who market the old time
transmitting software across the country software religion can help the personal sys-
overnight. tems user, such users should be mindful of
We are describing a communication net- the benefits to be gained from a healthy
work which can be very effective and which measure of independence. If you can get
is highly decentralized. In fact, this decen- your hands on the symbolic form of freely
tralization is crucial to its effectiveness in exchanged software, you can revise it to suit
promoting free communication between your own needs. That's considerably easier
individual computer people. For example, than trying to convince somebody else who
computer manufacturers now organize their supplies a high priced package to make your
customers into user groups in order to favorite changes, especially since the other
provide a forum for communication of ideas person may differ from you in values,
and programs among their users. Most com- priorities and notions of demand. For the
munication is channeled through publica- traditionalist software source, a request from
tions controlled by the manufacturer, how- a single person could easily seem to repre-
ever; and this all too often results in the sent too narrow an interest to motivate a
encouragement of software and viewpoints change or patch. If program source listings
which are consistent with those of the are distributed freely and nearly every user
manufacturer. On the other hand, it is not has the requisite skills to make patches, then
necessary to use a centralized forum to the person wanting something changed will
encourage people who need it: most of that probably be the person making the change.
interaction is on a person to person basis in Of course, the end result is nearly the best of
almost any group. all possible worlds: Your home computer
All well and good, you might say, but just will do what you want it to do, and it will
how does the personal computing user com- do it in the way you want it done. It will not
pare with the journeyman programmer? do what somebody else decided it was
Well, the computer amateurs live in a world reasonable for you to want it to do and in a
in which wholesale copying of programs is way that it was convenient for somebody
nearly inevitable. Actually, that represents a else to have it done.•
94
YTE'S
])r,;,(. \.~A!'<.1j;."",,-
11191'I'Y j~ l»~rNlJA'(./
B ITS
What's Coming Up in BYTE ....
Networking, Anyone?
Walter Banks of the Computer Communi-
cations Network Group, University of
Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA N2L
3G1, is interested in talking to radio
amateurs and computer people interested in
organizing and promoting computer tele-
communications networks for amateur
experimental use. The definition of a com-
munications software discipline modelled In the November BYTE, you'll find an article by john Deres of Southwest
after existing commercial and academic Technical Products Corporation, describing in detail the circuit and operation
digital networks would be one goal of such of the new GT-61 graphics display generator product which Southwest
activity. Such network activity could be manufactures. Included in john's article is a 6800 program which is used to
supported "for free" on the radio bands transfer stored images from the processor's memory to the display generator's
using the OSCAR synchronous satellite memory through a parallel data port. One example given in john's article is
when it gets launched, or using the dial-up the data needed to produce this display on the screen. Also scheduled for
capabilities of the phone network at the November are an article on APL by Mark Arnold, and an article on how to
usual Bell rates for long distance calls. Walter homebrew a 256 by 256 point array display interface written by Thomas R
can be reached by phone at (519) 885-1211, Buschbach.-
extension 2847.-
95
Classified Ads for Individuals and Clubs
96
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Almost all of the 68Gb circuitry is contained on a single large The 6800 has seven different addressing modes. with the
printed circuit board, including memory and a built-in I/O port. particular mode being a function of both the type of instruction
The full front panel model contains all of the controls necessary and the actual cOding within the instruction. The seven modes
to program and operate the computer and includes an additional include the following: Accumulator Addressing -one byte instruc-
printed circuit board, which provides all of the logic circuitry tions, specifying either of the two accumulators; Immediate
necessary to reset. halt or start the processor. Also located on Addressing-two or three byte instructions. with the MPU
this board are switches and associated LED indicator lights for addressing the location given in the 2nd or 2nd and 3rd bytes
each of the sixteen address lines and eight data lines. The front when the immediate instruction is fetched; Direct Addressing-
panel circuit board mounts directly to the main printed circuit two byte instructions which allow the user to directly address
board via a 10Q-contact edge connector. The power switch is the lowest 256 bytes of memory in the machine; Extended
located on the back panel of the unit for safety purposes.- A Addressing -three byte instructions. the second two bytes
"turn-key" front panel model, which eliminates all control except referring to an absolute address in memory for the operation;
restarting the processor, is also available. Indexed Addressing -two byte instructions, the second byte
The basic ALTAIR 680b computer can be subdivided into five being added to the 16-bit index register to give the address of
functional sections. These are the MPU and clock, the memory, the operand; Implied Addressing -one byte instructions and
an I/O port, control and indication, and the power supply. The the instruction itself gives the address; Relative Addressing-
first three of these sections, along with the power supply two byte instructions where the second byte is added to the
regulation components, are located on the main printed lower 8 bits. allowing the user to address memory + 129 to
circuit board. -125 bytes from the location of the present instruction.
There are several timing and control signals required to
At the heart of the 680b system is the 6800 Microprocessing operate the MPU. Two clock inputs are required. phase 1 and
Unit. which is largely responsible for the overall simplicity of the phase 2. These must be nonoverlapping and run at the Vcc
680b design. The 6800 MPU contains three 16-bit registers VOltage level. In the 680b the clock is a 2-MHz crystal controlled
and three 8-bit registers. The program counter is a two byte oscillator wit~ logic to provide a 500-KHz two phase clock.
register which keeps track of the current address of the program. Sixteen active high address outputs are used to specify the
The stack pointer is also a two byte register which keeps track sections of memory or I/O to be used. These can drive up to
of the current address of the program and contains the next one standard TTL load and 130 pf. There are also eight
address in an external. variable length push-down/pop-up stack. bi-directional data lines with the same drive capability as
The index register is a two byte register used to store data or a the address lines.
memory address for indexed addressing operations. There are
two single byte accumulators used for holding operands and
results from the arithmetic logic unit (ALU). The 8-bit condition
code qagister indicates the results of an ALU operation. In this
register there are two unused bits, kept at a logic one. The
remaining six bits are used to indicate the status of the following:
carry; half carry; overflow; zero; negative; interrupt.
NEW MEMORY FEATURES
M ITS is pleased to announce the development of a 16K static
memory card for the Altair 680b. With an access time of 215
nanoseconds and low power consumption of 5 watts, we feel
that this is an excellent addition to the Altair 680b.
The 680b cabinet has room for up to three 16K static memory
cards, thereby increasing the memory of the Altair 680b to 49 K.
SPECIAL FEATURES
PROM monitor,
1702A PROM monitor chip pr09rammed so that you can
immediately load and run paper tape object programs such as
the text editor and assembler (see below).
Basic Interpreter
A BASIC interpreter has been developed which will be
comparable to the 8800 8 K BASIC interpreter. Altair 680b
Specifications
Buffered Data Lines No. of Boards Up to 3 additional
All data lines are buffered to provide fanout capability of over 20 Microprocessor
standard TTL loads. Model 6800
Technology NMOS
Data Word Size, Bits 8
Instruction Word Size, Bits 8
Clock Frequency, 500K Hz
Add Time, Register to Register,
Microsec. Per Data Word 2
Number of Instructions 72
Input/Output Control
I/O Word Size, Bits 8
Number of I/O channels 256 Memory Address
Locations Designated
Interrupt Capability Std.
Type of interrupt System Maskable (Interrupt Request)
and Non-maskable Interrupt
Software
Resident Assembler and Editor Yes
Higher-level language BASIC
Monitor Resident System Monitor
onPROM
Complete Software Library
Separately Priced Yes
100
Now, you can buy an Altair 8800 or
Altair 680 computer kit right off the
shelf. Most all Altair options, software
and manuals are also available. The
MITS Dealer List below is just the
beginning:
RETAIL COMPUTER STORE, INC. GATEWAY ELECTRONICS MICROSYSTEMS COMPUTER PRODUCTS UNLIMITED
410 N.E. 72nd 2839 W. 44th Ave. 6605A Backlick Rd. 4216 West 12th St.
Seattle, WA 98115 Denver, CO 80211 Sprin~field, VA 22150 Little Rock, AR 72204
(206) 524-4101 (303) 458·5444 (Washin~ton DC area) (501) 666-2839
(703) 569·1110
COMPUTER KITS the COMPUTER STORE, INC.
GATEWAY ELECTRONICS
1044 University Ave. 63 South Main St.
8123·25 Pa~e Blvd. THE COMPUTER SYSTEMCENTER
Berkeley, CA 94710 Windsor Locks, CT 06096
St. Louis, MO 63130 3330 Piedmont Road
(415) 845·5300 (203) 871-1783
(314) 427·6116 Atlanta, GA 30305
(404) 231-1691 the COMPUTER STORE of NEW YORK
THE COMPUTER STORE BYTE'TRONICS
(Arrowhead Computer Co.) 55 West 39th St.
Suite 103 -1600 Hayes St. New York, NY 10018
820 Broadway THE COMPUTER STORE, INC.
Nashville, TN 37203
Santa Monica, CA 90401 120 Cambrid~e St.
(615) 329·1979
(213)451-0713 Burlington, MA 01803 THE COMPUTER ROOM
(617) 272·8700 3938 Beau D'Rue Drive
CHICAGO COMPUTER STORE
THE COMPUTER SHACK 517 Talcott Rd. Eagan, MN 55122
3120 San Mateo NE Park Rid~e, IL 60068 (612) 452·2567
THE COMPUTER STORE OF ANN ARBOR
Albuquerque, NM 87110 (312) 823·2388 310 East Washington St.
(505) 883·8282 Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(313) 995-7616
MARSH DATA SYSTEMS
5405-B Southern Comfort Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33614
(813) 886·9890
NOTE: Altair is a trademark 01 MITS, Inc. MITS, Inc. 2450 Alamo S.E. Albuquerque, N.M. 87106
grams and simulations. Most of the 125 bless 'em). Of course, the techniques pre-
programs which are listed are interesting sented are also of considerable use in nu-
enough to elicit an "I want to try it out" merical computing, as there is always a
response on the part of students, and many non-numerical background in programming.
of the programs are unavailable in other By numerical computing, I refer to the
computer supplemented sources. Activities solving of equations, finding of roots, and
such as modifying the given programs to other number oriented calculations (the
make them more efficient, revising programs "traditional stuff"). While that aspect of the
to make them do different things, and field is little covered by this series, that
creating new programs are suggested at the doesn't mean there is no mathematics in-
end of each algebra topic. volved. Indeed, Mr Knuth is himself a
If you want to Iiven up your algebra professional mathematician. This need not
classes with computer activities such as scare away those who are not, however, as
building an ultramatic root finder, making the author kindly presents theory and
and breaking secret codes, writing robot algorithm with the minimum math needed
coaching programs, programming Honest Hal to understand and use them, keeping more
the simulated used-car salesman, and many difficult analysis towards the end of each
others, this fascinating book is for you and section, where only those with more interest
your students. Even if you only want to see need tread. (Some knowledge of basic math
how computers can be used to enhance notation would be helpful, though.) Also
learning mathematics or find some new ideas optional are the exercises which conclude
for mathematical appl ications of computers, each section (the answers are included, by
the Computer Resource Book - Algebra is the way).
still appropriate. If this series is not just for the mathema-
My only complaint about this book is tician, who then? Everyone? Not quite. It is
that it ends too soon; and where are the aimed at the person with more than a casual
computer resource books for geometry, interest in computers, the programmer con-
trigonometry, probability, and statistics? cerned not only with how to use some one
else's subroutines, but with how to use the
Frederick H Bell
algorithms behind the subroutines to
Associate Professor
School of Education improve his own creations. The reader's
University of Pittsburgh relationship with the computer should be
Pittsbur!tl PA 15260'. beyond the stage of introductions. For
example, Knuth suggests that the reader
The Art of Computer Programming by should have written and debugged at least
Donald E Knuth. Volume I: Fundamental four programs on at least one machine. (The
Algorithms. Addison-Wesley, Reading MA, programmer who has written scores of pro-
7975, $20.95. grams for several machines may get at least
as much value from the series. As I say, it is
There is some doubt in my mind as to a reference, too.) It's for you if you're
how to classify this series. It is undeniable getting the hang of your programming units
that we have here a standard, perhaps even (be they hex machine codes or FORTRAN
classic, reference work, which sits handy on statements), and you want to start putting
many a programmer's desk. But it clearly is them together to do something.
also a text, useful for self instruction and To connect the units with the application
used in several university programming in mind, you need algorithms. (Roughly, an
courses. The exercises, while very instruc- algorithm is a step by step procedure for
tive, could also fall in the realm of recre- doing something.) That's what The Art of
ational mathematics (another field the Computer Programming is all about. The
author has contributed to). It even makes algorithms are chiefly presented in two
entertaining reading at times (no mean feat forms: in a general English-language outline
for a text and reference work). I suppose the form and, when appropriate, in the assembly
best description, however, would be that this language for a hypothetical computer of the
is a cookbook of computer algorithms. author's own concoction, MIX (the "world's
More specifically, it deals with "non- first polyunsaturated computer"). Knuth has
numerical analysis." Numbers occur only several good reasons for getting us involved
"coincidentally," with more stress given to with this mongrel machine (read the book),
the decision making capabilities of the com- but for our purposes there is the additional
puter. The numeric computing which is advantage of easier translation of algorithms,
involved consists mainly of addition and ie: from his assembly language to our assem-
subtraction (these qualities are among the bly language. While many algorithms trans-
stronger points of inexpensive computers, late well to higher level languages like
102
BASIC, some things can be better done computer comes into their every working
closer to the assembly language level, eg: day association.
systems programs. The author is Keith R London who has
While it's not necessary to the use of the produced considerable output related to
series, I plan to have a MIX simulator management of computer systems. In this
running on the MOS Technology 6502, and I new book, he directs attention to how
expect there will be simulators for other computers can cause disruptions in em-
micros as well. This will allow very quick ployee relationships.
checkout and modification of the MIX Keith acknowledges the need and use of
algorithms given in The Art of Computer computers, but he also sees a need to
Programming before further translation, and reorient project leaders and systems analysts
make possible the exchange of programs away from a pure hardware/software aspect
with other hobbyists. to giving some attention to the impact the
In particular, let's consider Fundamental system has on those it comes into contact
Algorithms, which is the first volume of with: workers in a company or group. The
seven in The Art of Computer Programming thrust is to show how to integrate a com-
(of which three have been published so far). puter with people.
Chapters 1 and 2 are contained therein. This book is not directly of import to the
Chapter 1 features a concise tutorial of average Byter other than giving some insight
much of the math that is particularly useful to better relationsh ip with the rest of the
to programming. You may skim this section, family who may think, with some degree of
but don't be surprised if over the years you justification, that the excessive interest
keep referring back to it. Then follows a hobbyists show towards do it yourself com-
complete presentation of MIX and the MIX puters has placed them just this side of the
language, including the description of a MIX funny farm. The book is a must for those
simulator. In fact a well commented listing who have to make computers work in a large
of the MIX simulator is given and explained "people" group.
(written in MIX, of course). This presenta-
Art Brothers
tion will greatly help anyone interested in
555 Avenue G
writing their own simulator (which is a very
Boulder City NV 89005 •
useful exercise).
Chapter 2 is titled "Information Struc-
tures," and begins the meat of the series.
Major topics covered include stacks, arrays,
linked lists, dynamic storage allocation, and
trees. (These trees have roots and leaves, but
[generally 1 aren't green and usually grow
ACT-I
upside down.) Whether you know all or
MICRO-TERM I~C.
none of the above terms, this chapter should
leave you with a good understanding of what
they are and how to use them. No "TKIS"
(page 42, january BYTE; is complete with-
out some of these structures. Nor is any
programmer.
Zhahai Stewart
PO Box 1637
Boulder CO 80302 •
$525 complete with high resolution 9" monitor • $400 without
monitor INCLUDED FEATURES:
Humanizing Computer Systems by Keith R • Underline Cursor • 64 characters by 16 lines
London, McGraw Hill, New York, $75. • RS232C or Current Loop • Auto Scrolling
• All oscillators (horiz., vert., • Data Rates of 110, 300, 600,
What is the people impact when com- baud rate, and dot size) are 1200,2400,4800, and 9600
crystal controlled baud are jumper selectable
puters are placed in a working environment?
What are associated problems of developing The ACT-I is a complete teletype replacement compatible with
any processor which supports a serial I/O port. Completely
and implementing systems to meet the re- assembled and dynamically tested.
quirements of an organization and yet Prices FOB St. Louis Mastercharge and BankAmericard
satisfy the people - the employees?
This new book, "The people side of THE AFFORDABLE CRT TERMINAL
systems," is a valuable work which puts MICRO-TERM INC. P.O. BOX 9387 ST. LOUIS, MO. 63117
aside the technical aspects of computing and (314) 645-3656 .
looks at the implications for people when a
103
Interested in Notes about Electronic Music?
Electronotes is the name of an excellent points about "Analog Interfaces for Micro-
newsletter which will be of interest to processor Systems." Electronotes is jammed
anyone who is into electronic music full of information on circuitry and equip-
experimentation. Published by Bernie A ment needed to produce electronic music
Hutchins, it is subtitled "Newsletter of the sounds, and will provide an excellent and
Musical Engineering Group." The address is specialized forum for those who want to
203 Snyder Hill Rd, Ithaca NY find out about progress in this field.
14850 ... write for information on signing The Musical Engineer's Handbook is a
up for a subscription. The price of a typical publication in the same vein, as one might
subscription is $16 for one year. expect since it is made up of materials
Bernie sent BYTE several copies of the based upon past issues of Electronotes.
newsletter, and a reprint book entitled Its dedication reads: "This book is dedicated
Musical Engineer's Handbook. The news- to musicians everywhere and of all times,
letter has been published by him and his without whom many of us would have only
associates for several years, and is circulated electronics to do." It is a very thick photo
to a select group of electronic music people. offset publication (354 pages) in a GBC
The beginnings of microprocessor automa- binding, containing fundamental informa-
tion in traditional electronic music are found tion on the technology of electronics in
in the pages of Eleetronotes where the music applications. The book has a combina-
November 1975 issue, EN#59, starts a series tion of background theory with numerous
of tutorials on what a microprocessor can do practical applications circuits. It is an essen-
for the electronic musician, written in terms tial sourcebook for anyone seriously
familiar to the music person. The author of interested in the art and practices of elec-
the series, which extends through four issues tronic music. The book is available from
of Electronotes, is Bill Hemsath. The theme Electronotes for $18, in return for which
is continued in the March 1976 issue where you'll get thousands of dollars worth of
Douglas Kraul discusses some elementary ideas.-
104
Still More
BYTE's
Books
-DESIGNING WITH TTL INTE- Design gives 53 pages of background The most important use of this book is its
GRATED CIRCUITS by the Components information on Boolean algebra and practi- value as an introduction to TTL logic. By
Group, Texas Instruments Inc. Edited by cal representations of logic in the form of reading and studying it, you will begin to
Robert L Morris and John R Miller. SSI gates. The chapter includes a description understand the ways in which SSI and MSI
of Karnaugh mapping techniques and the TTL gates can be utilized in your own
People often ask questions Ii ke "Where minimization of logic. From combinatorial experimental logic designs. After studying
do I get basic information on hardware design, the book progresses into Flip Flops, this text, you should be able to make much
design?" One answer is in "Designing With including background information on the more sense out of the technical information
TTL Integrated Circuits." workings of these devices, and fairly summaries typically published as specifica-
This book, published by McGraw Hill in detailed descriptions of the uses and tions sheets and data catalogs.
1971, is a fundamental starting point for applications of these devices including Order your copy today from BYTE's
any person designing peripherals and custom synchronization of asynchronous signals, Books, $24 postpaid.
logic employing TTL integrated circuits. shift registers, flip flop one shots, etc. Then
While its publication date precl udes any the book returns to static combinatorial
-MICROCOMPUTER DESIGN by Don-
reference to the later additions to the TTL logic with its description of the Decoders
available in the 7400 line as it stood in ald P Martin, Martin Research. Edited and
7400 series of components found in the
Published by Kerry S Berland, Martin
Data Books, it is nevertheless the source of a 1970-1971.
A chapter on Arithmetic Elements gives Research.
wealth of ideas on TTL integrated circuits
and design of logic with this family of fundamental descriptions of binary arithme- Purchase your copy of the definitive
circuits. tic, diagrams of the basic gate configurations source for circuitry and hardware design
What is fanout? You may have heard this for combinatorial logic adders, and a section information on the 8008 and 8080 com-
term mentioned at computer club meetings on number representations for use in puters today.
or in advertisements for circuitry, or in computers. Much of the material in this Even Intel, the originator of the micro-
articles in BYTE. You can find out section is dated, due to the fact that the processor revolution, is hard put to compete
background information on the calculation later 74181 series of multiple function with the wealth of information found in
of fanouts by reading the chapter on Circuit arithmetic units had not yet appeared when Martin Research's new second edition of
Analysis and Characteristics of Series 54/74. the book was written. But for a background Microcomputer Design. This is the book
Worried about noise, shielding, ground- on arithmetic operations implemented with which was originally published as an
ing, decoupling, cross tal k and transmission the simpler 7483 circuits, this chapter is expensive (but quite practical) engineering
line effect? (Or, more properly, did you ideal. A chapter on Counters and a chapter report in loose leaf form, at about the time
know you should worry about these effects on Shift Registers complete the detail logic the microprocessor technology was first
in certain circumstances?) Find out about sections. The book is closed out by a catching on in the form of the 8008. This
general precautions and background infor- chapter on miscellaneous Other Applica- 388 page second edition of the manual is
mation by reading the chapter on Noise tions including a simple binary multiplier, a loaded with detailed information on how to
Considerations. 12 hour digital clock and a modu10-360 build and use computers based on the 8008
The chapter on Combinatorial Logic adder. and 8080.
But even if you do not intend to use the
8008 or 8080, the practical pointers on
digital logic design, peripherals and applica-
tions of hardware techniques will more than
justify the new low price of $25 for this
__ Designing With TTL Integrated Circuits $24 handbook. Microcomputer Design is a must
__ Microcomputer Design $25 for 8008 owners and 8080 owners who
Send to: :...N:..:a:.:-m:..:.e"- _ Vl8nt to truly understand how their
processors process.
Address Microcomputer Design is complete with
numerous illustrations, tables and diagrams,
City State Zip
pillS reprints of the specifications sheets for
o Check enclosed the Intel processors. There are numerous
o Bill MC No. Exp. Date practical examples of circuitry and many
complete computer designs ranging from
o Bill BA No. Exp. Date _
"minimal microcomputers" to a full blown
Signature 8080 processor.
Order your copy today, $25 postpaid
L ------------------------------------------------- -_..._-------------------
Please allow six weeks for delivery. from BYTE's Books.
Continued from page 14 decision boundary. There are innumerable
ways to vary this technique. BIBLIOGRAPHY
For those who would like to try their 1. Blair, C R, "On Computer Transcription of
luck at hand sent Morse decoding, I have Manual Morse," Journal of the Association for
included a brief flow chart outlining a Computing Machinery, pages 429-442, vol 6, no
typical process from approach (3). Success- 3, July 1959.
ful models have been constructed by Picker- 2. Duda, J S, "Noise Reduction for CW Recep-
ing Radio Co (to name but one com- tion," Ham Radio, pages 52-55, September
pany ... look at Ham Radio, QST, or other 1973.
amateur radio magazines) and a computer
3. Gold, B, "Machine Recognition of Hand-Sent
model has been designed using about 4 K of
Morse Code," Institute of Radio Engineers
memory on a PDP-12 as described in a Transactions on Information Theory, pages
master's thesis by J A Guenther. For those 17-24, March 1959.
interested in the exact PDP-12 algorithm,
Guenther's thesis is available for a nominal 4. Gonzales, C and Vogler, R, "Automatic Radio-
telegraph Translator and Transcriber," Ham
charge from the National Technical Informa- Radio, pages 8-23, November 1971.
tion Service of the US Department of
Commerce [See bibliography]. 5. Guenther, J A, Machine Recognition of Hand
As you can see, the problem of transla- Sent Morse Code Using the POP-12 Computer,
master's thesis, Air Force Institute of Technol-
ting hand sent Morse code is not easily ogy, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio,
solved. To further complicate matters, most December 1973. Available as document number
of the really good information is classified, AD-786-492 for a nominal cost from the Na-
or even worse, proprietary to a particular tional Technical Information Service, US De-
company. So, I wish you all the best of luck, partment of Commerce, 5285 Port Royal Rd,
Springfield VA 22151.
you'll probably need it. As a final note, just
renlember: When you think you've got the 6. McElwain, C K and Evans, M B, "The Degarbler
problem licked, Chisholm's Law of Human - A Program for Correcting Machine Read
Interaction will apply (eg: Some joker - Morse Code," Information and Control, vol 5,
pages 368-384, May 1962.
radio amateurs call them "lids" - will come
along with a "fist" that will tear your 7. Petit, R C, "Morse-a-Verter," QST, pages 30-35,
algorithm apart).- January 1971.
106
Waiting to leave at Logan A irport in Boston,
Ed Zealy captured this interesting juxtapo-
sition of transportation technologies. The
tail of a 707 frames the distant image of a
727 masked against a sailing vessel leaving
Boston as a part of "Operation Sail. "
Travelogue
... Notes by Carl Helmers, Editor
DENVER
.uYlfl
=
:;-.....
Ideal for
17&'"
communicating
with your
microprocessor!
R5-232 interface x 32 characters $400
TV/TTY kbd./display (16 lines x 64 characters) $500
Keyboard/CRT Monitor (24 lines x 80 characters) $700
- - - - - -ORDER FORM - - - - - -
I Sh;pTo I ~
I I
I Subtotal $ _ _ _ I
I Calli res'ds~7~~ ~:xd ___,."" I
I en~~~~~el~l~~e~~~~~~ ...,." I
I 01 total order S ---.-coN I
'NOU STR I IE $
I BIll my BankAmeocard exp Micon Industries I
A sign in the lobby of the Denver Hilton I Maslercharge exp ~~~I~~~,S~~~~607 I
greets the several thousand visitors to the I My Signature as purchasef 'd'i'i'e (415) 763·6033 I
ARRL convention.
----------------
107
Gary Kay (leaning over
table) and joe Deres
(seated) of Southwest
Technical Products dem-
onstrate their wares at the
ARRL convention. The
table contains an SWTPC
6800 system, CT-7024 ter-
minal, GT-6744 graphics
display unit, and printer.
108
ALTAI R 8800 OWN ERS
We recently received the following letter:
RUN
AP:tlL 26 .. 1976
GENTl.EMEN:
1 ';UST l",'AKTEO TO rEL..L YOU THAT 1 Hilt.i: YvUrl elLCh fiX-IT ;'.11 IS
REALLY GREATl I WAS IiAVll\G TROliulE Rur.Nlt\G EASIC AND AfTE.?
INSTALLIr-;:G YOUR hIT fOUR lIf l'o.Y hITS SCA~OS T:;AT I.tl~E.I.. 'T n.t::.i-.IN.:i
CAI1E BACK TO LIfE Ar.;O !'I.OI,;' A:!.E nEL?H.G ",E TO l,i'RITE. THIS I.-Ei;ER
Of'.l THE. CQi1PUTEP... El\CLG5E.D IS j;f.uThE::l GRDER FC~ A CLOCh ;"'1 T.
TrilS 15 fCil THE SECGl\D f.LTAiP. Ti,A! l'Ab r,(j\"; Iii: ThE. PP..Ut:C.~S
OF clilLDl:~:;.
h~A1!: 1·:;'i'.Y TnAf':hS F(;::;t Sl:Ci-'. M tIM.. FilOLlUCT.
S1l\~L1i.LY
L;..c.n.. L. 5h11H
A candid shot of Ed Roberts, president of
MIT5, during an informal discussion in his
office in Albuquerque. How well does your Altair run?
A Clock Fix Kit is only $15 postpaid.
109
Mating Game
110
$69.95, and less expensive models (without
monitor shroud) are also available. The
products are supplied with hardware, and
. . . . ,'ZC.. .
additional openings can be cut in the mate-
rial using ordinary woodworking tools. Con-
tact Enclosure Dynamics, PO Box 6276,
Bridgewater NJ 08807.-
......
" . . l ~ ~
. •
• c>-..J
proprietary phase locked loop system
developed by EPA which is said to be the
most reliable method available for transfer-
piggyback on the EPA Micro-68 develop- EPIC 2leatures: • 256 byte PROM bootstrap.
ment computer. The TCC3 price is $129 in .. 2 MHz 8080 mlcro-computer.
• Easy to use teletype.nyle fully encoded keyboard.
singles, completely assembled and tested. .. 16 ge~al purpose 110 lines.
• Programs loaded and Stored via yoor standard audio
Delivery is quoted from stock.- tape recorder. • Standard prograrm included: Monitor, Text Edilo'.
Game of Life. Blackjack Game.
• Video interface - displays 16 lines of alpha numeric
charactell on you, TV set or optional video monitor. • Memory expansion and oor optional Vector GraphiC$
Software Pack. allows you to create. display. and
• Unified extendable bY$. store graphics.
Software New Product • 2 K RAM memory. • Many more options 10 come!
33 Programs and Projects for the Altair .- .... ~~~ .. _-----~----_ .... ~._------~----------_._-------------------- ..
PIH14 .end ~ _ EPIC 21< (sl. Enclosed '1 $495 IOf eiJd'l EPIC 21< OO'de,fd.
8800 is a new self-published book by P1et5e send ~_EPIC 2 III. Enclosed II S775IOf eKh EPIC 201de<ed
ICillfOln•• 't'Sodtnu oncllXte 6'" wit'S luI
Jacques Roth, 543 16th Av, San Francisco I.m ,llow.ng90 dlvs IOf <kl'~e<\/
N. _
of information printed on loose leaf pages : For 1dd"ton.1 inlOlmltoon plene ...."11' :
l_.__ ~y_F!.~!§!i_I~_~..s.':~I~~S_!.:_'~:.~~..5_13_M~~'!~al'lYj!'::' .. ~!!i!l!~nj!_~~i!_ •••• !
111
with three hole punching. Programs range
from the simple to the devious, and are all
designed to run in less than 1 K bytes, with
many taking fewer than 256 ·bytes. Projects
include an XY scope plotter using an oscillo-
scope, two DACs and the PliO board, a Pong
game for the scope interface, a computer
telephone dialer interface with several phone
dialing programs, a monitor program, etc.
Other programming projects include Tic Tac
Toe, a 1 byte bubble sort program, and a
package of 4 byte arithmetic functions
including integer addition, subtraction, nega-
tion, move, set zero, left sh ift, right sh ift and
multiply. The price of this collection if Wind Up Your (Paper Tape) Affairs
$5.95 postpaid from Mr Roth.- Continuous Expression Processor Inc, 12
Main St, Natick MA 01760, has come out
with this cordless paper tape winder as an
accessory for use in paper tape systems.
(Suppose you have one of the hand powered
paper tape readers. You can automate your
input processes by using this paper tape
winder to pull the tape through the reader.)
The unit requires two "C" size flashlight
cells and sells for $29.95 postpaid in the
continental United States.-
Ano,ther Completely Packaged Computer MOS Technology 6502 CPU, priced at $675.
The ETC-1000 comes with a 40 key key-
Electronic Tool Co, 4736 W EI Segundo
board, a programmable 8 digit display, 10
Blvd, Hawthorne CA 90250, has introduced
interfaces, power supply and memory. All
a new microcomputer system, based on the
systems are fully assembled, tested and
--oowca _ _ ready to run. According to its manufacturer,
" • > J • , •
the ETC-1000 is intended for system
development, control, and small scale data
processing applications. As a development
system, it provides system support for hard-
ware and software design work. As a control
system, it offers an inexpensive high speed
computing capability in a sturdy rack
mountable package.
The manufacturer describes the
ETC-lOOO as a "full capability high-
performance computer system which you
can have running 10 minutes after you open
the box." The system needs no external
112
ANNOUNCING! WANTED
MICROCOMPUTER Microprocessors Kit or Assembled
PRODUCT ALTAIR • SPHERE • MOTOROLA
INTEL & OTHERS
SURVEY Altairs, immediate delivery.
60 companies manufacture main-
frames and peripherals for micro- NOW ON
Memories, I/O boards, chassis, power
computing market. Do you know supplies, modems, peripherals, spe- LONG ISLAND
who they are? The MPS does! cials, prom programmers, AOCS,
Hardware and software are ex- OACS, GPIOS, RS232 faces, and any
pensive today for small business associated software. Ask about I MSAI, SWTPCo, Digital Group
let alone a personal system. Be- Processor Tech, Apple, OSI
our complete Altair system.
fore you buy invest in thought-
ware, shop by comparisonthrough Available now. TD L-Z-80, Seals, Cromemco,
MPS. No advertising, we just FORWARD INFORMATION AND/OR Sphere, Tarbell, Oliver
report the electronic parameters, INQUIRIES TO:
software features, price and com- Magazines, books, chips,
AMERICAN USED MICROPROCESSORS, sockets, connectors, terminals.
pany profile of firms selling in the EQUIPMENT & SUPPl Y CORP.
microcomputer market. AT THE CHICAGOlAND AIRPORT
IT'S ALL HERE WAITING FOR YOU
BOX 515
First Issue Nov. 15 PRAIRIEVIEW,llliNOIS 60069 FRIENDLY ADVICE TOO
TelEPHONE (312) 634~076
FULL DETAILS $1.00 New York City
SAMPLE ISSUE $3.00 314 5th Ave
For complete monthly catalog of
SUBSCRiPTION $9.00 (32nd St)
items available and in stock Enclose Long Island
SBS $10. for six issues. Many new un- 2072 Front St
1800 Wayne #1 used items. Amazing values for East Meadow NY
Bellevue Ne 68005 everyone. Tested and guaranteed. Phone
Dr. Dan Nash memory and MPU chips. To order. send check or money order
(include $2.50 shipping/handling) to
Oliver Audio Engineering. 7330
405-524-1 209 Audio Design Electronics Laurel Canyon Blvd .. No. Holly·
487 Broadway Suite 512 wood. CA 91605. or call our 24 hr.
eves. an d wkn ds. New York NY 10013 M/C-B/A order line (213) 874·6463.
attachments such as Teletypes, power sup- supported by the ETC-1000 basic system
plies, or memory expansions to provide basic when appropriate PROMs are included.
programming capability and computer Selection of speed is accomplished auto-
operation. Many expansion options are avail- matically by the hardware. 20 mA DC cur-
able, including communications, real-time rent loop interfaces are provided as standard,
and DMA interfaces, memory expansions, with EIA RS-232C capability optional.
and various add-on CPUs. The ETC-1000 CPU consists of a MaS
A 40 key keyboard for control and data Technology 6502 8 bit CPU, plus clocks,
entry is mounted on the front of the control logic, interface buffers, 1024 bytes
ETC-lOOO. Th is keyboard includes a full set of high speed RAM, and 256 bytes of ROM
of hexadecimal keys for data and address containing system control functions.
entry, system function keys such as load, Software currently available includes a
reset, examine memory, etc. Eight special resident assembler, 10 handlers, diagnostics
function keys which may be sensed under and other support tools. The manufacturer
program control by the user are available for says that BAS IC and PLM support are
assignment to user-specified functions. expected to be available during the third
An 8 digit LED panel display is also quarter of 1976.
contained in the ETC-1000 control unit to Availability of standard configurations is
display memory contents, system status and 30-60 days.-
user programmed information.
The ETC-1000 contains a direct input
output system consisting of eight latched Attention Analog Interfacers ....
output lines and eight latching input lines National Sem iconductor Corporation has
wh ich may be used under program control just announced a new building block for
to operate external devices. A hardware analog input interfaces. This is the MM5356
interrupt system with two levels is standard; 8 bit analog to digital converter. The func-
eight additional levels are available. The tion provided by this chip is converting an
company says one or two independent full input voltage of typically 0 to 10 V or -5 to
duplex communications streams at speeds +5 V into an 8 bit binary word. In order to
between 110 and 1200 bits per second are operate properly, the circuit requires a con-
Have you every been victimized by is its inspirational data content. The
Stamp Out Cybercrud one of a myriad computer based inter- machines we're all busy working on are
personal putdowns? I n Ted Nelson's deep personal expressions, and not the
book, Computer Lib/Dream Machines, cold and inhuman monsters of the tradi-
you'll find an excellent essay on the tional stereotype. The book defines
COMPUTER
nature of this "cybercrud." many of the terms and explains many of
Have you ever wondered where to go the techniques which can be used in the
for a basic starting point in your quest personal computer systems we're all
for information about computer appl ica- busy constructing and programming. It
tions and uses? Ted Nelson's book, performs this service in a way which
Computer Lib/Dream Machines, is the adds color and excitement to this newest
place for you to begin. of art forms, the computer application.
Computer Lib/Dream Machines is for Computer Lib/Dream Machines is
the layman - the person who is intelli- must reading for the beginner, and is also
gent and inquisitive about computers. It a refreshing self examination for the old
is written and self published by a hand at programming and systems work.
philosopher who is also a self confessed You can order your copy of Com-
computer fan and an excellent teacher of puter Lib/Dream Machines from BYTE's
basic concepts. (For those who have not Books for $7. Send your order today to
yet heard, ivory towers are constructed BYTE's Books, 70 Main St, Peter-
out of real and substantial white bricks.) borough NH 03458. Help stamp out
The most important aspect of this book cybercrud.
r--------------------------------
Please add 50 cents for postage and handling. Please allow six weeks for delivery.
Send copies of Computer Lib/Dream Machines to:
Name
Address
Check enclosed
L~~TI
rI
114
version clock of at least 5 kHz and as much
as 2 M Hz. The actual conversion time
required is specified in the timing diagram of
its specification as 40 clock periods. Thus if
the clock rate were 40 kHz, the unit could
be used to generate a valid digital word 1
millisecond after the beginning of the "start
conversion" input command signal.
Operating at a typical microprocessor clock
frequency of 1 M Hz, the conversion time
would be 40 /lS, correspond ing to a maxi-
mum sample rate of 25,000 measurements
per second.
Where would this item prove useful in the
context of personal systems? Well, consider
the problem of read ing the vol tage on a
thermocouple used to measure temperature.
After ampl ification and normal ization with
operational amplifiers, the signal could be
read by the analog to digital converter and
used in a program written to implement a
digital feedback loop used in controlling analog front end on this converter and have
temperature in some way. Consider the your TV display put out the values it reads.
problem of deriving the coefficients used in National Semiconductor is located at
controlling a digital speech synthesizer: An 2900 Semiconductor Dr, Santa Clara CA
ADC is an essential input to the process of 95051. The 100 piece price of th is conver-
analyzing such data. Or simply consider the sion chip is listed as $7.95, so it certainly
general laboratory problem of using your should be available at a reasonable price
computer as a voltmeter: Put a voltmeter through distributors and retailers.-
STANDARDIZEI
7338 Baltimore Ave., SUite 200 Attentfon: KIM-1 owners.
College Park, Maryland 20740
JOINT VENTURE
well
accept small
as indiVidual
program, and both run in 4K of CHASSIS MOUNT CON-
memory. They are distributed on NECTOR
Clrde below Ihe products you may be Interested 10 and cassette in both source and object
estImate their quantlly. Afler we receive thiS survey, we shall
send. to you. more InfOfmal.on. pflces and delivery dates. form, in case you wish to improve or (solder) ON L Y $14.95
MemOlles. 91 L02 _ _ . 2102 _ _ . 1702 _ _ modify them to suit your needs. REGULARLY $17.00
MleroP ZSO _ _. 8080A _ _. 6800 _ _
p.e. Boards; Computer Grade double buffered opllonal pauty
Assembler/text-editor •• $19.50 ppd.
memory boards compallble wllh the AltaH 8800 on one
edge and the Altair 680 on lhe opPOsIte edge. 4 .8·16K_
Write for details on sale of your Rugged, Reliable, widely
programs on a commission basis.
Floppy D.sk Drlves _ _ .
Mag. Tape Dflves _ _ .
DISk Controller
~':odems
_
_
used in video applications.
TV MonItors
Sockets 14PIO___
. OSCllloscope
16pln.
_
_
Oty. discount, no C.O.D's,
24plO _ _ . 40plO _ _. Othet
Software Fortran _ _ . PL/l Subset
_
_ Micro Software Specialists. Inc. Details, Specs:
Other _ 2024 Washington St
Other: _ Commerce TX 75428. JOHN ANTHONY TELEVISION
EXTRA We Will cons.der purchasing general purpose p.e.
Boards and KIts. elc. Wnte us about what you may have to
DINGMANS FERRY
offer and Its OEM pflces.
A122 PA.18328
115
Excerpts from Future History
John W Burgeson Who Wants an Automobile? the part of people endowed with electronic
101 Skyline Rd abilities is immaterial for our purposes.
Toward the end of the last century,
Georgetown TX 78626 Surely the invention did not originate with
nobody "wanted" an automobile. Whether
the consumer and was not made with an eye
the invention of the horseless buggy was due
to prevailing consumer wants. Even when
to accident, play, tinkering or rational
the first computers appeared in the offices
thinking on the part of people endowed with
of large companies and for many years
mechanical abilities is immaterial for our
purposes. Surely the invention did not thereafter, their use for mass personal use
originate with the consumer and was not was envisaged neither by producers nor by
made with an eye to prevailing consumer consumers. But today, even small children in
wants. Even when the first cars appeared on America feel the need for a percom to help
the road and for many years thereafter, their them and their parents manage their affairs,
use for mass transportation was envisaged help them with schoolwork, entertain them
neither by producers nor by consumers. But with electronic games and the like. Between
today, even small children in America feel the early days of the percom and the present
the need for a car to take them and their situation there was a long period of social
parents shopping, visiting, and later to learning. The learning process was, of course,
school. Between the early days of the not spontaneous; first of all, it could not
automobile and the present situation there have taken place without the original inven-
was a long period of social learning. The tion; second, it was a function of numerous
learning process was, of course, not spon- stimuli - personal experience, education,
taneous; first of all, it could not have taken and reading, as well as propaganda and
place without the original invention' second advertising. Thus it may be said that wants
it was a function of numerous s~imuli -.:. for percoms were induced, or to use Gal-
personal experience, education, and reading, braith's term, "contrived." But are not most
as well as propaganda and advertising. Thus of our wants contrived in this sense? And are
it may be said that wants for automobiles not most of our contrived wants, in a certain
were induced, or to use Galbraith's term, sense, original with the buyer? It can hardly
"contrived." But are not most of our wants be said that such want-creation is artificial.
contrived in thi~ sense? And are not most of George Katona jr, The Mass Consumption
our contrived wants, in a certain sense, Society (Second edition), New York,
original with the buyer? It can hardly be said McGraw Hill, 7996, page 55.
that such want-creation is artificial.
George Katona, The Mass Consumption Who Wants a Homer?
Society, New York, McGraw Hill, 7964, page
55. Toward the end of the last century,
nobody "wanted" a homer. Whether the
invention of the home robot-computer was
Who Wants a Percom? due to accident, play, tinkering or rational
Towa'rd the middle of the 1970s, nobody thinking on the part of people endowed with
"wanted" a percom. Whether the invention cybernetic abilities is immaterial for our
of the personal computer was due to acci- purposes. Surely the invention did not
dent, play, tinkering or rational thinking on originate with the consumer and was not
116
made with an eye to prevailing consumer I!•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• i ••••••••••••••• U
---- -::--
wants. Even when the first real-time mini-
computers appeared and for many years
:: ANY WAY YOU WANT IT!
----
thereafter, their use for personal home
management, protection and entertainment
was envisaged neither by producers nor by
----
-----
consumers. But today, even small children in
America feel the need for a homer to help
them and their parents to manage their lives, --
protect them, entertain them and the like.
Between the early days of the homer and the --- ----
presen t si tuation there was a long period of
--
social learning. The learning process was, of
course, not spontaneous; first of all, it could
not have taken place without the original :
--
5 X 7 IMPACT DOT MATRIX • 75 LINES PER MINUTE :
---
invention; second, it was a function of : 40 COLUMNS • 12 CHARACTERS PER INCH :
numerous stimuli personal experience,
education, and reading, as well as pro-
paganda and advertising. Thus it may be said
-
:
:
:
6 LINES PER INCH. ORDINARY ROLL PAPER
CHOOSE FROM THESE THREE ASSEMBLED AND
TESTED MODELS COMPLETE WITH CASEWORK
:
:
:
-
: AND POWER SUPPL Y :
that wants for homers were induced, or to
:: • LCP-40 • Parallel IIF without character generator ::
use Galbraith's term, "contrived." But are
: for special software fonts . $329 :
not most of our wants contrived in this : • MP-40 • Parallel IfF with 64 character :
sense? And are not most of our contrived :: ASC II set . .. .. . .. . .. .. . . $425 ::
wants, in a certain sense, original with the - • SSP-40 • Serial RS232 or current :
buyer? It can hardly be said that such
want-creation is artificial.
George Katona 1/1, The Mass Consumption
-
:: loop. TTY compatible
:: OR SELECT THE "NO FRILLS" KP-40
: • Mechanism, LCP IIF, PC and components
.. .. . .. . $499 :
$179 ::
:
-
: SEND FOR FREE LITERATURE :
Society (Third edition), New York, McGraw - "1aster Charge Welcome. Utah Residents Add 5% Sales Tax :
Hill, 2024, page 55.• :: rnpll P.O.
.............................................................,
:
BOX 221011 SALT LAKE CITY 1 UT 184122 :
801-566-0201 :
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117
The formal organizations used for clubs and societies can range from the
totally informal (one person arranging a regular meeting place) to the setting
up of all sorts of corporate nonprofit organizational structures, etc. The
informal versions usually work best for small groups; formal organization
tends to increase with the size of the group. Whatever the case, the less time
spent on long drawn out nitpicking at business meetings, the more time there
is to devote to more interesting matters ....
Meeting· Activities
for Computer Clubs
118
Activities at meetings of computer organizations can
make or break the group.
about hardware or software. That poses a It is very important that the host check
real problem to a speaker in front of a large up well beforehand to find out what the
group. author wi II need and what he or she is going
The other problem with lectures is having to bring. Assume that the speaker will forget
too many of them. They are about the things like extension cords, chalk, and
easiest kind of program to arrange, but erasers. It is particularly important to check
people get tired of being talked at. Dis- on projectors, screens, and electrical outlets.
cussion with large groups doesn't work too Make sure that they actually have power in
well. A couple of poor speakers in a row can them. Find out where the lighting switches
easily turn off a whole group. Program are (especially in motels and hotels!) and
variety and member choice are important where the background music can be turned A lecture, with a good
ingredients to a successful group. off. Again, don't forget the thank you speaker on a topic of inter-
letters. est to the group, is one of
Clinics When you get to the point that on the easiest types of activ-
Clinics are less formal and often involve occasion several clubs get together for a ity to organize.
"meet" that might last a weekend, or you
smaller groups than a lecture. More than one
clinic can go on at the same time. People decide to put on a real bash in just your own
have a choice and different types of topics group, you will probably have several clinics.
can be handled. A clinic is usually limited, This is great because people can then get
for example, to one hour. It may also be a to the topics that particularly interest them,
lecture, but it can take many different and sti II not be trapped in a room for
forms. The topics covered can be just about something they care little about. But many
anything. They might include: design of an people will want to get to all the clinics. This
10 circuit, printed circuit artwork tech- can sometimes be worked out by careful
niques, debugging procedures, an overview scheduling and persuading the authors to
of high level languages, etc. The presentation present their clinics twice. This isn't quite as
may be in the lecture mode, or the author bad for the author as it sounds. An hour
might simply talk, work on a blackboard, clinic is really only 50 minutes and usually
use flip charts, work at his computer key- at least another 10 minutes should be
board, or use slides or transparencies. allowed for questions. Besides, the practice
Clinics are greatly enhanced if a handout is good for him or her. (I expect to see a lot
is provided. It may be just a list of key more women actively involved in this hobby
point or provide details about what is being than in other comparable ones 'such as ham
discu sed. Sometimes a marketing minded radio or model railroading.)
manufacturer may be willing to provide
material to a local member presenting a Demonstration ("Hall") Clinics
clinic about the manufacturer's equipment. If you don't have a lot of rooms for all
For reference purposes handouts should the clinics you would like to provide, or if
include the author's name and address. you just have one big room where several
If hardware is used or demonstrated, you speakers would interfere with each other,
need to make sure that the group is small so "hall" clinics might solve your problem.
that everyone can see. If you are meeting in They can literally be set up in the halls; but
a high school or a college and have a crowd, more usually a number of them will be held
you might be able to use a closed circuit TV in a large room - the kind that used to be
so that the people in the back of the room called a hall.
don't go away saying it was lousy, while the In the demonstration clinics one person NOTE:
ones in the front say it was great. For the A brief version of this
does his thing for an extended period of article originally appeared in
same reason, consider the use of PA systems time. Perhaps he is assembling a kit, laying the Micro-8 Newsletter, vol 2,
if you are likely to have a large audience. out the artwork for a printed circuit board, no 2.
119
demonstrating his operating system, or what- be amazed at the variety of soldering irons
ever. The topics may be similar to the and pliers model railroaders will bring to
regular clinics, but the format is different. build a printed circuit item!)
The author does not lecture. He simply talks At the clinic the author then shows the
about what he is doing. He explains and participants how to build the device step by
answers questions as he goes along. Th is step. It is very important that there be
gives people the chance to see all the details adequate facilities for checking the devices,
and exactly how things are done. People are too. You are trying to provide people with
free to move from one demonstration to the their first success in a new (for them)
next spending as long as they like at each. endeavor. There is nothing like the feeling of
It is often important that tables or going home with a gadget you know for sure
railings be set up to keep people a few feet works.
back. This makes it possible for a half dozen Obviously, it is important that the project
or so people to see, while still being close be small enough so that it can be built and
enough to observe the details. It is best tested by the neophyte in the available time.
arranged so that the demonstrator can hand It is important that this be checked out
things to the viewers if he wishes to. beforehand. If there are more than six or
eight participants, the author should have
Participation Clinics one or two helpers - people who know a
These clinics would be called "labs" in a capacitor from a resistor, can read the color
school curriculum. The audience gets their code, and who can recognize a cold-soldered
heads and hands into the topic and learns by joint.
doing. These are good for such things as It might be possible to have "advanced
lessons on programming or introductory level" clinics of this sort. The problem is
circuit design. These clinics require very that people who are not adequately ad-
careful preparation by the author. He or she vanced will still sign up anyway. Not only
should fully test out the lesson beforehand. are they likely to go away dissatisfied; but
Of course, not a whole lot can be accom- the author may get trapped into having to
A panel discussion, with or plished in an hour or two, but the most rebuild a half dozen units for these people.
without audience partici- important thing is that it gets people started. Keep the projects simple and short. With the
pation, can be a good The author can only do a little bit of complex chips available today, one still
round robin affair which teaching, followed by a lot of individual might be able to come up with relatively
helping. Often these kinds of clinics are best soph isticated projects.
helps clarify and present
run by two people working together. Of course, other variations are possible. If
concepts on a given theme.
If equipment is going to be used - pin it were clearly advertised as such in advance,
boards, vol tmeters, etc - it may be neces- it might be possible to start construction at
sary to have people sign up beforehand. one meeting and complete it at a second
Sometimes it may be possible to have people meeting. The more advanced builders would
work in pairs. As long as the room doesn't probably complete the project and be able
get too crowded, it may be possible to let to test it themselves, so the second session
others in as spectators. The host should be would involve a smaller group.
prepared to shoo out excess people. The The host should make sure that there are
author will appreciate not having to do this suitable tables and adequate power outlets
for he or she may be busy with the to accommodate all participants.
instruction.
Make sure that there will be enough Show and Tell Sessions
materials available for a reasonable number
Here we take a page out of the stamp
of people to participate. Don't call it a
collector's and photographer's book. It is a
"participation" clinic if only two or three
lot of fun to simply see each other's equip-
can do so.
ment. So much the better if it is up and
working, but projects under construction
Do It Yourself Clinics
can be very interesting, too.
In these kinds of clinic the audience I suppose you could even have prizes for
builds something and takes home a working the best shaped letters on a TV set - with a
device. They are immensely popular if separate class for monitors. How about one
adequately publicized, but they often for the hardest to read Teletype) Or the
require a lot of work to prepare. The item is prettiest set up) Or the worst (or would it be
announced beforehand. It might be a logic "best"7) job of haywiring that actually
probe or a simple power supply. Participants works l The possibilities are endless. Why not
send in their checks for the cost of parts. announce that there will be prizes, but not
The announcement includes the list of tools announce the categories. I would expect that
needed, specified very exactly. (You would altogether too soon we will be having too
120
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many committees working on too many panel discussion, where the discussants speak
prizes, although I must admit that contests their pieces then argue back and forth, is
do seem to stir up interest and provide real appropriate; but it is probably better for a
progress among enthusiasts. computer group meeting to have a question
I think that the most important aspect of and answer panel. The audience asks
individual displays, apart from the conversa- questions, and one or more panel members
tions that develop, are the many ideas that tell how they handle the problem. Some-
one can acquire in such a short time. These times members of the audience turn out to
may be little details that make life easier or have good suggestions, too.
they may be whole new vistas that weren't The moderator is the key person in
really meaningful until seen "in the flesh." setting up a panel. He or she must not hog
the stage, must be able to summarize long or
Workshops confused questions, and have a facility for
steering the discussion among the panel
Workshops can take many forms, cover
members. The biggest difficulty is in getting
many subjects, and be conducted in many
the audience participating. It is often wise to
ways. An expert might work on debugging
have several questions planted with a few
equipment that participants bring in. Or two
friends in the audience. It is entirely natural
or three people might design a special
for people to hesitate to speak up in a crowd
interface. The area is set up in such a way
until they hear one or two questions that
that the audience can watch and listen, but
they recognize as being as simple, or simpler,
they do not participate. It is important, of
than theirs. A dozen people may have the
course, that the experts do their thinking
question in mind, but no one wants to be
out loud. Again, a PA system or closed
first. The other important point is to stop
circuit TV may be helpful.
A second type of workshop is essentially the session while the questions are still
coming. Stop at a high point, not in a valley
a "closed door" session, at least once it
starts. Discussion among all the participants - and everyone will go away thinking how
is expected. The output of such a workshop great it was.
is often something that is going to benefit
the whole club or others. For instance, the Tape Slide Programs
workshop might be devoted to developing a
Many of the activities above can be
chart comparing the characteristics of cer-
worked up into a prepackaged recorded
tain types of kits, developing the rules and program with accompanying slides. The
standards for a local computer conferencing
visuals probably should be 35 mm slides
network, or other such things. The output of because projection equipment is always
the workshop might become a regular clinic available. It might be possible to use cassette
at another meeting. Such workshops require tapes, but standard reels are probably better.
minimal facilities on the part of the host, The problem is that it may be awkward to
but the participants certainly have to come get adequate sound volume for an ordinary
adequately prepared and a competent dis- size audience from a cassette machine, while
cussion leader is needed. there is seldom a problem with an ordinary
home tape recorder.
Panel Discussions Tape slide programs can be made success-
A good panel discussion can fit into many fully by amateurs, but they do not work out
types of programs. The topic area should be by simply recording a live clinic even if it
definite, but not too narrow, ordinarily, for uses a lot of slid;2s. A script has to be
a hobby group. Sometimes the usual kind of prepared and worked over. The final taping
122
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124
shouldn't get out of hand in terms of skill or
money demands. When this happens, they
just become spectator events. In my opinion,
the major goal of contests should be to
encourage active participation. We have
enough TV watchers now; let's apply our
imaginations and have more keyboard
button punchers and TVT watchers!
Business Meetings
We hate them, but we can't seem to get
along without them. Every organization has
to have business meetings. Unfortunately,
the kind of people who enjoy business
meetings tend to be the ones who run them.
Certainly there is little reason why a com-
puter hobbyists group has to have a business
meeting involving everyone as a part of every
meeting. The amount of time spent on
business meetings should be minimal!
The work of the organization should be
done outside the whole group sessions by a Creative Computing Magazine
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wind up electing officers (although the about computers. Fiction, articles, humor about computers, cybernetics,
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Chicago Area Computer Hobbyists Exchange Contemporary. non·technical approach. SubSCrIption: £5.00 (UK). $8.00 (USA).
operated for more than a year without $10.00 (Other).
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close minded, secretive, or not doing things 101 BASIC Computer Games
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125
The following item is adapted from a press soldered in place. If the printed pattern were
126
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eTHESE PRODUCTS ARE PACKAGED FOR OUT- e DEALER'S AND WHOLESALER'S INQUIRIES
STANDING WALL DISPLAY APPEARANCE INVITED-PRICE LIST AVAILABLE.
- FULL I=AIRCHIL.O PRODUCT LINE -BUY WITH PRIDE THE PRODUCTS BUILT BY
TO FOLLOW THE INDUSTRY'S LEADER - I=AIRCHIL.C
130
S. D. SALES CO. P. O. BOX 28810 - B
DALLAS, TEXAS 75228
"
A PERFECT GIFT - NOT A KIT! with P. C. leads. Most popular
The CUBO Alarm Clock mfg. by Corvus, division of value for hobbyists. Compare
MOSTEK CO RP. Originally sold for $49.95. We bought at up to $1.19 each from fran-
out their entire inventory. All new, individually gjft chise type electronic parts stores.
•
boxed. Mini size (2 1/2" cube) with maxi performance. S.D. SPECIAL 4 for $1.
~,f "1
FEATURES:
A. 4 Digit H.P. Bright Display $14.95 SLIDE SWITCH ASSORTMENT
'~.'
B. "Second Hand" LED Activity ,Indicator EACH Our best seller. I neludes mini-
C. ~6 ~~~~t~I~~~~le2 hour real tIme format(Add 75c P.&H.)
"-'. ture and standard sizes, single and
~
D. m UIt i-posit ion units. All new,
E. Auto Display Dimming - Adjusts to Ambient Light first quality,
F. AM/PM Indicator name brand
G. Power Failure Indicator Try one package and YOU'll re-
Uses Famous Mostek MK50250 MOS LSI IC order more. SPECIAL - 12/$1.
RESISTOR ASSORTMENT ~
MOTOROLA POWER DARLINGTON WESTERN DIGITAL UART 1/4 W 5% and 10%. PC leads.
Back in Stock! No. TR 1602B. 40 pin DIP. A good mix of values. 200/$2.
Like MJ3001. NPN 80V. lOA. HFE This is a very powerfUl and popular part.
6000 TYP. TO-3 case. We include a free NEW - $6.95 with data 74S200
723 C volt reg. with schematic for power LIMITED QUANTITY 256 Bit High Speed RAM
supply. SPECIAL $1.99 Same as 82S 16
INTEL 1702A 2K ERASEABLE PROM'S
FAIRCHILD BIG LED READOUTS $6.95
$3.95
A big .50 inch easy to read character. Now We tell it like it is. We could have said these
available In either common anode or com- lK PROM BACK IN STOCK!
were factory new, but here is the straight 82S 129. 256X4. Bipolar, 50 NS.
mon cathode. Take your pick. Super low scoop. We bou9ht a l<;lad of new computer
current drain, only 5 MA per segment lyp- FAST. WITH SPECS.
gear that contained a quantity of 1702A's
ical. YOUR CHOICE: 6 for $7.50 in sockets. We carefully removed the parts
verified ttleir quality, and are offering them
$3.95
FND - 510 Common Anode $1.50 ea.
Common Cathode $1.50 ea. on one heck of a deal. First come, first BT97B
FND - 503 served. Satisfaction guaranteed.
Hex Tri-State Buffer. Back in stock.
BACK IN STOCK!
$1.25
UP YOUR COMPUTER!
21 L02-1 lK LOW POWER 500 NS STATIC RAM
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE CALL YOUR BANK AMERICARD OR
And so is power. Not only are our RAM's faster than a speeding bullet but they MASTER CHARGE ORDER IN ON OUR
are now very low power. We are pleased to .offer prime new 21L02 - 1 low power
and super fast RAM's, Allows you to STRETCH your power supply farther and at CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES TOLL
the same time keep the wait light off. B FOR $17.50 FREE WATTS: 1-800-527-3460
SALE ON CUT LEAD SEMICONDUCTORS C&K MINI TOGGLE SWITCH Texas Residents Call Collect
Leads were cut for PCB insertion. Still very No. 7103 SUB MINI SPOT Center OFF.
useable. All new, unused. Some House no. SPECIAL - 99c 214/271-0022
IN914/1n4148 . . . . . . . 100/$2.
IN4002 1 Amp 100 PIV. .40/$1.
IN4745A 16V lW Zener. .20/$1. TERMS:
EN2222 NPN Transistor. .25/$1. Money Back Guarantee. No COD. Texas S. D. SALES
EN2907 PNP Transistor. .25/$1. Residents add 5% tax. Add 5% of order for
2N3904 NPN Driver Xstr .25/$1.
postage and handling. Orders under $10.
P. O. Box 28810- B
2N3392 GE Pre-amp Xstr . .25/$1.
CI03Y SCR. 800MA 60V . .10/$1. add 75c. Foreign orders: US Funds ONLY! Dallas, Texas 75228
Homebrew Class
The Shift Register
The Homebrew Computer Club's news-
Eric Rehnke, (216) 888-7531, of the
letter has a new face. According to Robert
Cleveland Digital Group sent along a copy of
the June newsletter, volume 1 :7. It included Reiling and Joel Miller, Laurel Publications
a biorhythm program, impressions of the will be donating typesetting services on their
MOS Technology KIM-1, and a number of computerized typesetting/text editing sys-
language conversions. The CDG hopes to put tem as well as providing graphics, layout and
out a small booklet on the differences editorial services. This certainly increases the
between systems so users will not have appeal and readability; looks good. Bob will
problems converting from one basic to the continue as chief editor, and Tom Pittman is
next. the man to write to regarding the mailing
list. POB 626, Mountain View CA 94042.
CACH E Register
Triangle of North Carolina
In volume 1 :5 of this Chicago area based The Triangle Amateur Computer Club
club's newsletter, CACHE reports that they meets every fourth Sunday at 2 PM at the
have 145 members. In attendance at the May Dreyfus Auditorium, Research Triangle
meeting were Dr Suding of the Digital Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC. They
Group, as was the president, Dick Bemis. are currently exploring a club interchange
Besides showing Digital products, Dr Suding standard, have a monthly newsletter, and are
engaged CACHE members in a discussion of starting software and hardware club projects.
the hobbyist field, and of the new Z-80 from For more information on this Raleigh, Dur-
Zilog. Bill Precht continued his popular ham, Chapel Hill area club, contact: Russell
clinic on programming basics. They say that Lyday Jr at (919) 787-4137 or write Tri-
the response to this discussion was so good, angle Amateur Computer Club, POB 17523,
the steering committee is planning a series of Raleigh NC 27609.
talks on the relative merit and drawbacks to
the major chips. The club's mailing address
A Bit of Ham from Louisiana
is: POB 36, Vernon Hills IL 60061.
Emil Alline (WA5WUj) passed a note
along informing us of the formation of the
Personal Systems of San Diego "Crescent City Computer Club." The ad-
In the June issue of the San Diego dress is now Box 1097, University of New
Computer Society newsletter, a feedback Orleans, New Orleans LA 70122. They meet
sheet was included. These sheets were to be at 8 PM on the second Friday of every
132
A COMPLETE 1 K RAM SYSTEM
FOR O~JLY $459.00 IN KIT FORM
$709.00 ASSEMBLED & TESTED
rnEVERASF8COMPUTER
With CPU card, buffered
mother card, power supply
THE SYSTEM DESIGNED WITH THE USER IN MIND
as described below and
cabinet. The VERAS Sys-
FOR BOTH COMMERCIAL & HOBBYIST USE
tem is developed around
the popular F·B Series of
chips which in our estima-
THE CPU BOARD FEATURES:
tion is the finest and most • Two 1/0 ports each on the CPU and ROM chip make 32 bidirectional TTl lines.
versiltile Micro processor • The Fairbug· programmed storage unit provides the programmer with all
now available.
I/O subroutines, allows the prowammer to alter or display memory, and
The VERAS System can register its contents via teletype.
be made into a 17K pro-
cessor by merely adding • Programmable internal timer is huilt into the ROM chip.
four of our optional mem- • Built in clock generator and power on reset are built into the CPU chip.
ory boards. The kit in-
cludes everything you need • There is a local interrupt with automatic address vector.
to build the VERAS F·B • It is expandable to 65K bytes of memory.
Computer as described. All • 20 mil loop andlor RS232 interface included.
boards, connectors,switch-
es, discrete components, • 1 K of on board 2102 RAM.
power supply and cabinet • Serial interface built into PSU chip.
arc supplied. Programming
manual, data book and
simplified support docu-
The More Flexible and Expandible
mentation
Assembler
supplied,
and
8K
Editor
Computer at a Comparative Price.
(paper tape) available on
request with minimum ord-
er of 8K RAM. 7" x 16" x 14·3/4"
OUR 4K STATIC RAM BOARD FEATURES: (OPTIONAL) VERAS SYSTEMS
• Outputs buffered.
• On board decoding for any four of 64 pages. Warranty: 90 days on parts
• Address and data lines are fully buffered. and labor for assembled units.
• 32 2102-1 static RAM's, 500 ns. or less, requiring no refreshing. 90 days on parts for kits.
• No onboard regulators to cause heat problems. (Chassis mounted) Prices, specifications and
• 4K memory boards with connector, buffers and static RAM's are available in kit form for $149.00 delivery subject to change
The fully buffered mother board will accept (41 4K RAM boards for a total of 16K bytes of memory.lndividual power ter- without notice.
minals for each 4K RAM board are provided. Memory expansion beyond 16K bytes can be accomplished by the addition of
more mother boards. Extra buffered mother boards with connector are available in kit form for $45.00 • Fairbug is a registered trademark of Fairchild Corp.
Our modular power supply is designed around a high frequency torroid transformer which affords a large saving in size and .-----
I
---------
VERAS SYSTEMS
weight, and keeps filtering to a minimum. It is rated at +5V at 10 amps and ·5V and ±12V at 1 amp. This power supply will
drive our CPU, four memory boards and some peripherals. I A Div. of Solid State Sales, Inc.
All boards are high qualilY G-l0, double sided, solder plated with gold plated edge connector.
POWER SUPPLY KIT $139.00 I Box 74B, Somerville, MA 02143
16171547-1461
PACKAGING FEATURES ARE: I o Enclosed is check for $ _
• All Complete modular plug-in construction. or 0 Master Charge # _
• Bl Specifically designed rugged aluminum card rack with provisions for voltage regulators (TO-220 supplied) to keep heat I
off the boards.
• C) Designed for convection or optional forced cooling.
I DVERAS F-8 Computer Kit DAssembled
• 0) All I/O ports brought out to the rear panel connectors for easy accessibility.
• E) Auxiliary DC power available at the rear panel to power peripherals.
I D4K Ram Board
DPower Supply Kit
Ouantity _
....
5202A UV PROM . $12.50 VECTOR BOARD 1" SPACING
.68UF 35V
lUF 35V
5/$1.00
5/$1.00
33UF 35V
30UF 6V
$ .40
5/$1.00
600- --~--~1:75----~uxS~
MM5203 UV PROM. . $12.50 4.5" x 6" SHEET $1.25
t702A UV PROM $12.50 3.3UF 35V 4/$1.00 looUF 35V S.50 SANKEN AUDIO POWER AMPS
5204-4K PROM $24.95 4.7UF 35V 4/$1.00 150UF 15V S .40 Si 1010 G 10 WATTS. $ 6.90
MINIATURE MULTI·TURN TRIM POTS M7001 ALARM CLOCK CHIP. $6.00 Si 1020 G 20 WATTS. .. . $13.95
100,500, 2K, 5K, 10K. lOOK. 200K 2N 3820 P FET $ .45 Si 1050 G 50 WATTS $24.95
$.75 each 3/$2.00 2N 5457 N FET $ .45 NATIONAL MOS DEVICES CCD 110 LINEAR 256 XI BIT SELF
MULTI-TURN fA 1M poTs Similar to Bourns 2N 4891 UJT. $ .45 MM1402- 1.75 MM5057- 2.25 SCANNI"iG CHARGED COUPLED
3010 style 3/16"x5/8"x1·1/4"; 50. 100, TIS 43 UJT . $ .35 MM1403- 1.75 MM5058- 2.75 DEVICE . . . $99.00
1K. 10K. 50K ohms ER 900 TRIGGER DIODES. 4/$1.00 MM1404- 1.75 MM5060- 2.75 CCD 201 100 x 100 CHARGE
$1.50 ea 3/$4.00 2N 6028 PROG. UJT $ .65 COUPLED DEViCE.
MM5013- 2.50 MM5061- 2.50 $135.00
LIGHT ACTIVATED SeR s
MM5016- 2.50 MM5555- 4.75
TO·18. 200V lA. 5 1.75 VERIPAX PC BOARD'
MM5017- 2.70 MM5556- 4.75 LINEAR CIRCUITS
This board is a 1/16" single sided paper epoxy LM309K 5V 1A REGULATOR $1.25
MM5055- 2.25 MM5210- 1.95
TRANSISTOR SPECIALS board, 4v;,"x6W' DRILLED and ETCHED
MM5056- 2.25
723 - 40 + 40VV REGULATOR. $ .50
2N3585 NPN Si TO-66 ... $ .95 which will hold up to 21 single 14 pin IC's 3011748·Hi Per. OP. Amp. $ .31
2N3772 NPN SI TO-3. . .. $ 1.60 or 8. 16, or LSI DIP IC's with busses for 320T5,12, 15, OR 24V
2N4908 PNP 51 TO-3 . . . $ 1.00 power supply connector. . . $4.00 TIL IC SERIES NEGATIVE REG. $1.50
2N6055 NPN Si TO·3 Darlm~ton $ 1.30 74LOO- .25 7441- .85 74126- .60 709C - 011, Amp.
MV 5691 YELLO#·GREEN $ .31
2N5086 PNP SI TO-92 . . 4/5 1.00 7400- 16 7442- .55 74150-1.00
BIPOLAR LEO . . $1.25 741 A or 741 C OP AMP. $ .31
2N4898 PNP TO-66 . . . $ .60 7401- .18 7445- .75 74151- .80
MT-2 PHOTO TRANS .. $ .60 710 COMPARATOR $ .35
2N404 PNP GE TO·5 5/$ 1.00 7402-- .18 7446- .80 74153- .79
RED. YELLOW, GREEN OR CA 3047 Hi Pel. OP. Amp . . . . . $ .95
2N3919 NPN Si TO-3 RF ... $ 1.50 7403- .22 7447- .69 74154-1.05
AMBER LARGE LED's $ .20 340T 5, 6,8,12,15,18, 24V POS
MPSA 13 NPN S, TO·92 3/$ 1.00 7404- .22 7448-.77 74155- 1.00
14 PIN DIP SOCKETS. S .25 7472- 40 74157- .75 REG. TO·220 $1.50
2N3767 NPN Si T0-66 . . . $ .70 16 PIN DIP SOCKETS .. . . . $ .28 7405- .22 101 OPER. AMP. HI PERFORM. $ 75
2N2222 NPN SI TO-18 . . .. 5/$ 1.00 7406- .35 7473- '40 74161- 1.00
MOLEX PINS .. 100/$1.00 LM 308 Oper. Amp., Low Power. $ .95
2N3055 NPN SI TO·3 . S .80 7407- .33 7474- '40 74164- 1.05
1000/58.00 747 - DUAL 741 $ .65
2N3904 NPN 5i TO-92 . 5/$ 1.00 7408- .25 7475- :50 74165-1.05
8flN MINI DIP SOCKETS . $ .25 556 - DUAL TIMER $1.00
2N3906 PNP SI TO·92 . .5/$ 1.00 7409- .25 7476- 40 74173- .95
10 WATT ZENERS 3.9. 4.7. 5.6, 8.2,12.15, 7480- .48 74174- 1.20 537 - PRECISION OP. AMP. $1 70
2N5296 NPN Si TO-220 . . . $ .50 7410~ .16
18,22,100,150 or 200V . . . ea. $ .60 7411- .25 7483- 80 74175- .95 LM 3900 - QUAD OP. AMP $ .49
'2N6109 PNP Si TO-nO. $ .55 LM 324 - OUAD 741 $1.50
1 WATT ZENERS 4.7, 5.6,10.12.15, 7412- 40 7485- .88 74177-1.00
2N3866 NPN Si TO-5 RF $ .7~
18 OR 22V . ea. $ .25 7413- .45 7486- .45 74180-1.00 560 - PHASE LOCK LOOP $2.00
2N3638 PNP SI TO·5 5/$ 1.00 561 - PHASE LOCK LOOP $2.00
2N6517 NPN TO-92 SI . 3/$ 1.00 7414-1.00 7489- 2.00 74181-2.40
Silicon Power Reclifiers 7416- .33 7490- .48 74190- 1. 15 565 - PHASE LOCK LOOP $1.25
C/MOS (DIODE CLAMPED) 7491- .75 74191-1.10 566 FUNCTION GEN. . $1.65
7417- .33
74C02- .25 4016- .50 4035- 1.75 7492- .49 74192- .80 567 - TONE DECODER $1.50
7420- .18
74Cl0- .25 401/- 1.30 4042- 1.60 7493- .49 74193- .90 LM 1310N FM STEREO DEMOD. . $2.75
7425- .30
4001- .25 4018-1.40 4047-2.60 7494- .80 74194-1.25 8038 IC VOLTAGE CONT. OSC. $3.90
7426 - .35
4002- .25 4019- .GO 4049- .70 7495- .80 74195-.74 LM 370 - AGC SQUELCH AMP. $1.15
7427- .28 555 - 2jJs - 2 HR. TIMER. $ .45
4006- 1.60 4022- 1 20 lt050~ .70 7430~ .16 7496-.73 74196-1.10
4007- .25 4023- .25 4055- 1.20 553 QUAD TIMER. $2.50
7432- .30 74107-.40 75324-1.75
4009- 60 4024- 1.25 4066- 1.20 FCD 810 OPTO-ISOLATOR $ .80
7437- .30 74121- .39 75491-- .60
4010- 60 4025- .25 4071- .30 1458 DUALOPAMP. $ .60
7438- .30 74123- .75 75492- .60
4011- .25 4027- .65 4077~ .70
LM 380 - 2W AUDIO AMP. $ .95
7440- 18 74125- 60
4012- .25 4028- 1.50 4081- .35 SILICON SOLAR CELLS LM 377 - 2W Stereo Audio Amp. $2.50
4013- .50 4029- 1.75 4076-1.20 MINIATURE DIP SWITCHES LM 381 - $TEREO PREAMP. $1.50
2%" diameter LM 382 - DUAL AUDIO PREAMP $1.50
4015- 1.40 4030- .90 CTS·206-4 Four SPST switches LM 311 - HI PER. COMPARATOR $ .90
LED READOUTS 5V at 500 rna.. .. $5.00 ea., 6/$27.50 in. one minidip package. . S 1.50 LM 319 - Dual Hi Speed Comp. $1.25
F NO 500·.5" C.C. $ 1.95 CTS-206·8 Eight SPST switches in a 16 .LM 339 - QUAD COMPA_R~TOR $1.50
HP 7740-.3" C.C. $1.40 REGULATED MODULAR pin DIP package. $2.55
MAN-7-.3" C.A $1.25 POWER SUPPLIES
NS 33·3 dig. array . $1.35 AY-5·1013·A30K ser.lpar., par.lser., unto
versal UART. $6.95
A.Lca MINIATURE TOGGLE SWITCHES
MTA 106 SPOT . . $1.20
MTA 206 DPDT . . . . . . $1.70
month in Room 2120 of the science building Troubleshooting," and a humorous essay on
of the University. He also notes that the the living room workshop by MCS III.
FCC and ARRL are taking steps toward The address is: NY ACC, c/o R Schwartz,
making it easier than ever before to become 1 E, 375 Riverside Dr, New York NY 10025.
a ham and with more privileges than ever.
ACGNJ News
Chicago Area F-8 Users In June at the general meeting, Marty
Nichols, Tom Kirk, and Roger Amidon gave
If you live in the Chicago area, Louis
a presentation on the "String Language
Burgyan is interested in meeting other F-8
Processor." The high level language was
users. He may be reached at (312) 327-0472,
running on 8080 based systems at the
evenings.
meeting. The demonstration was given with
video monitors which were set up around
The Computer Network of Kansas City the meeting room.
The KC Thru-Put is the organ of this The bylaws were also printed, in this, the
Kansas City group. President Earl Day writes July volume 2:7 issue. A "Life for the
a column called "Day Dreams," and Bart M6800" reprint, and an article, "Interfacing
Schwartz is editor. The group first met in the Original TV Typewriter to a Computer"
May with 12 members and as of the July by Monty Shulte, were included.
issue, number 2, has increased to 37. At the The address is: ACGNj, UCTI, 1776
June meeting the possibility of making an Raritan Rd, Scotch Plains NJ 07076.
educational program for the local PBS
(Public Broadcasting Station) channel was Computer Hobbyist Group - North Texas
discussed, but was deferred until the club is In volume 2:6 of the newsletter, they
more established. Anyone wishing to contact state that at the May meeting they were
this organization may write: KC Thru-Put, honored with the first look at three new
968 Kansas Av, Kansas City KS 66105. products by the Southwest Technical Pro-
ducts Corp (SWTPC). Displayed at the
Microcomputer Society of Florida meeting were a dual cassette controller/inter-
In the Marsh Data Systems Newsletter face, a graphics controller for input to CRT,
number 5, Don Marsh writes that the Micro- and a small but quick printer. TCHG-NT's
computer Society of Florida has chapters in address is: 2377 Dalworth 157, Grand
Vero Beach, Ft Myers, Sarasota, Jackson- Prairie TX 75050.
ville, Gainesville, as well as Tampa. The
society will soon be publishing a newsletter A Roving Computer Show
of its own. They suggest that their chapters for the Experimenter?
consider getting a free write-up in the local Well, not quite; but a firm called Mar-
papers. Computer groups are newsworthy. In keting Ventures Inc, 5012 Herzel PI, Belts-
Tampa they have had a write-up in each of ville MD 20705, is organizing a show called
the major papers, and have been on tele- TECHNIHOBBY USA which will be travel-
vision twice. ling to four cities in the US this fall. The
For more information contact: Marsh boundaries defined for the show's content
Data Systems, 5405 B Southern Comfort are not limited to computers alone, but
Blvd, Tampa FL 33614. encompass amateur radio, radio control
models, do it yourself electronics, as well.
New York Amateur Computer Club The firm is looking for participation by local
Elections of club officers have been held, clubs in its exhibitions to be held:
but as of the June newsletter, the results Boston November 4, 5 and 6
were not yet complete. Club member David Washington DC November 12,13 and 14
Ripps is scheduled to speak on the topic of Atlanta November 19,20 and 21
"Systems Monitors and Their Features." Los Angeles December 5, 6 and 7
The newsletter also included a report from
the technical committee, an article by Alan For further information contact Robert E
Yorinks, "A Short Course in Digital Logic Harar, at (301) 937-7177.-
134
~ Q§I-~I1EsB§.~s§~I~Qo~Ig~
11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
Wood Cabinets
One of the problems with home-brew projects is finding
a suitable enclosure, one that will do justice to your
latest pride & joy. We have 2 wood cabinets that are
suitable for small projects. 85344 has real teak veneer on all 4 sides
over a W' particleboard base. Outside dimensions are 13%"W x 5 1/8"H x 6%"D, with a W'deep recess
in the front. Mounting holes in the bottom. 87129 has a walnut vinyl covering over a 3/8" plywood base. Outside
dimensions are 8%"W x 4%"H x 10%"D. With small vent and rubber feet on the bottom.
STOCK NO. 85344 Teak cabinet Shipping weight 6 Ibs. $7.95 each, 2/15.00
STOCK NO. 87129 Walnut cabinet Shipping weight 3 Ibs. $5.95 each, 2/10.00
·~~~§~_t~~~:,~S:,~~~~~~~~op~~~o,~~~~~~W~~:'~i~~ ~~~~~~'~::OO 5
in a 1-of-5 pattern, and the 6th button is momentary, which releases the others. Sections 4 & 5
may be depressed together; the others are excluded by means of a lockout bar. The switch comes
with 12 sets of contacts: 6 SPST, normally open, 3 SPOT, and 3 OPOT, all rated at 3 amps. The
contacts may be arranged in any order, up to 4 in each section. Buttons are y," square black, on 5/8" centers. Overall size 5Y," wide x
3Y," deep x 1 %" high. This versatile switch lists for well over $30! Shipping weight 2 Ibs.
STOCK NO. 86408 $2.50 each, 3 for $6.00
Power Transformers
89397.... (shown) A versatile power transformer from a line printer manufacturer. The primary is tapped for
operation at 115v or 230v. There are 4 secondaries: 34v centertapped @ 3 amps, 17v @ 4 amps, 11v @ 5 amps,
and 6.3v @ 1.5 amps. This would make an ideal transformer for a +5 volt and ± 15 volt power supply. 3%" x
4Y," x 4%" high. Shipping weight 10 Ibs.
STOCK NO. 89397 $12.95 each, 2 for $24
89940.... 0ual 115v primaries, 3 secondaries: 17v center tapped @ 10 amps, 22v center tapped @ 5 amps, and
25v center tapped @ 7 amps. 3%" x 4%" xAY," high, shipping weight 15 Ibs. Another good +5v and ± 15v
supply transformer. STOCK NO. 89940 $14.95 each, 2 for $28
Send for our latest free catalog. Minimum order $5, phone orders welcome. Include sufficient postage (2 Ibs min,), excess will
be refunded. BANKAMERICARO & MASTERCHARGE welcome, ALL numbers needed for processing. Minimum charge $15.
Continued from page 22 To keep it simple, I would like those who
want to be in the book to drop me a
postcard with your name, address, phone
theless, amateurs and experimenters may number, and a brief explanation of your
find that a perusal of the patent literature application. I will then send you a form to
is quite fruitful. fill out which will put the information into a
standard easy to read format. This will then
Howard L Grams be collated into the book.
2616 N Salisbury St Not all applications need to be up and
W Lafayette IN 47906 running to qualify for the text. Ideas, well
thought out, are as valuable as finished
systems.
APPLICATIONS DIGEST,
If you wish our field to expand, I urge
MATERIALS NEEDED you to take time to drop me a postcard and
to expound on your efforts with microcom-
I am compiling a "Microcomputer Appli- puters-it's by spreading ideas that new ideas
cation Digest" to be published by Howard W grow.
Sams & Co. The text is arranged by subject Mitchell Waite
(Biorhythms, Electronic Music, Speech Anal- H S Dakin Co
ysis, RTTY, Terminals, Business Systems, 3101 Washington St
Security, Video Art, Video Games, etc). San Francisco CA 94115
Each section will cover several real systems,
a brief tutorial on the subject, block dia-
grams, list of components, and names of NEXT OF KIM ....
contri buting parties. Sources of additional
information will also be provided. Congratulations on an excellent maga-
At this point, I am seeking inputs from all zine! I look forward to its arrival every
interested persons who wish to share their month as each issue contains at least one
experience to increase the exchange of in- article (and usually 3 or 4) that I can use
formation in their application area. immediately.
I would also like to publicly thank one of
your advertisers for their fast delivery times,
their prompt no-questions-asked warranty
First Come First Served service, and their excellent newsletters. This
company is MOS Technology. After months
of fighting with two other computer manu-
facturers, I ordered a KIM-l. The KIM-1 is,
Back Issues in itself, a fantastic product, but with MOS
Technology backing it, it is, in my opinion,
of BYTE the best buy on the market today!
$1.50 There are presently three KIM-1 owners
who work here at Eastern Washington State
College. Also, the chemistry department has
We have very few of some of them and a large supply of others,
an Altair 8080 and the psychology depart-
but no more than 2,000 of anyone issue. Orders will be filled on ment has a DEC PDP-8/F. We would like to
a first come, first served basis until the supply is exhausted. DO invite anyone in the greater Spokane area (or
NOT SEND MONEY, we will enclose a bill with your order for anywhere else) who is interested in building
the number of issues we are able to supply plus a 25 cents EACH
a system or learning more about micropro-
postage and handling charge.
The back issues listed below are available from BYTE. Circle cessors and/or programming techniques to
iss ues desi red contact either myself of Dr R Keefer. I am a
technician for the psychology department
Dec 75 Jan 76 Feb 76 Mar 76 June 76 July 76 and Dr Keefer is a professor for the mathe-
matics department. Perhaps we may have
OBil1 me OBil1 MC BAC No. _ _----"Exp. Date _
enough interested people to start a computer
club or a KIM-1 users group.
Name _ Keep up the good work.
Tony Kjeldsen K7VNT
Address _
5315 N Allen PI
City State Zip _ Spokane WA 99208
PS I'm afraid I must agree with B L Donelan
BYTE 70 Main Street Peterborough, NH 03458 (june 1976 BYTE) concerning the De-
cember issue cover.
136
_1t'_a_I_I_"9...::::"~h_t_h_ere • Prompt servic.;;...e _ Electrolytic Capacitors
w' BR I
ri)
~GAR .In-depth inventories
ELECTRONICS for INDUSTRY
TUBULAR, HIGH RELIABILITY ~ -y
---~/
lOW. lOW PRICES!
~~'~A~~!.[Qy!:t~~§3111 rr~-OO-7-NE-7-2-~-RD-3-~-I-I-"I
QUAN. MFD VDC EACH QUAN. MFD. VDC EACH
SAVE SAVE 600
375
100
250
3
3
.30
.35
1055
246
30
40
350
350
$1.00
1.14
",
298 500 6 $1. 00 967 4 450 .98
::,~~:~~ra.Cllor1J
299 1000 6 1. 00 400 10 450 1. 07
.. . -
carbonate dust cover. Contacts are gold
flashed silver. 20,000 4 250 .35 30,000 .01 100 .'15
Mounts by solder terminals or 3-48 stud 339 8 250 .70 1000 .047 100 .20
Ii:••)(eU i.) •• ! (CJ: ito; 5/16" long. Also mounts as plug-in.
6500 pc in stock, BRAND NEW, while they
400 16 250 .60 291 .22 400 .30
~
•• Ill GLO INCAHDn(INT LAMPI
UMINATED IJHlNOLIC
nASTlC 'ANUS
BRITE-GLO Incandescent Lamps "
"
HIGH POWER OUMMY lOAO
Ultraminiaturized Series, 100,000 hr .life BRAND NEW PHENOLIC SHEETS Mfg. Eastern Microwave. IIO-1254 ... RF Coaxial Load Re-
Versatile, low cost indicator lamp. Ideal
Grade LE- Natural sistor utilizing water flow to cool and provide a load
for Stero Amplifiers, ~obile Equipment,
Instrumentation, Computer and Display Type - FBE, Mil Spec: 15035, .062" thick resistance of 50 ohms for inputs from DC to 4000 MHz.
Panels, Etc.
Maximum power input is 1000 watts. Requires a flow of
~eeded by all experimenters, amateurs and
.218 GPM min. per 100 watts of input power; 100 psi
High temperature, T 1-3/4 lamps - Metal radio men for insulating parts - terminal
pressure. Compression fittings on water line inlet and
Base - lVire Terminals. 1'1etal base in- strips - building set!: or for research
& developr.lent, etc.
outlet for copper tubing supply lines. Has a Flange
creases light output and protects lamp
type coaxial fitting, friction type, 13/16" 1.0. with
from damage. Stock j 560 - 6" x 6" x .062" 42¢ each
2-1/4" flange. Completely shielded unit of machined
41, 685 ?Cs - 6.3 volts, 75 rna, 8" wire i 561 - 6" x 12" x .062 82C each
aluminum. Size: 1-5/8" diameter by 5-3/8" long.
.....
leads. 1563 - 12" x 12" x .062 $1.58 ea
i 564 - Full sheets 38" x 47" x .062" Shipping weight, 2 lbs.
40,263 pcs - 6.3 volts, 200 rna, 13" wire $13.00 each. 5,000 pcs in stock, NEW BOXED $14.95 each .
leads.
BRAND NEW QUALITY SHEETS
DISCOUNT SCHEDULE
~:::.::::'~:~::" ~
1 - 99 25< ea.
SALE 100-499
500- 999
20<
15<
ea.
ea.
SALE High-Speed Reset Counter
~ ~
,'.
lOOO-UP 12< ea.
Veeder-Root stamp sized precision swit-
-I FIGURE COUNTER MANUAL RF.SET ches wh1ch feature long op-
11~\'nc/1U\'AC erating life & high e12ctrical capacity for their size
BARGAINS !P~~©!l~!l®~ -=- \'EEDER ROOT In....
~§;.~~~;~!J.~:~":;.~ ~
reset. DIm.: 1·7/8" width 1-1/8" hIgh
K2-1n"deep.
TANTALUM CAPACITORS
BRAND NEW - FINEST QUALITY LIGHTED $2.95 Each
IIiI ~"J;o... ..
QUAN
10,686
3,000
MrR
T. I.
Electra
TOL.
1% )
1
1
OHMS
191
191
WATTS
1/8
1/8
PRICE
Each
$.04
.04
PUSHBUTTON SWITCHES TYPE 109D " ..
TUBULAR SINTERED-ANOOE TANTALEX CAPACITOR
EiiIi'
29,900 1 R C 1 243 1/8 .04 '109014 7x9060T2
Unit can be used on 6 v
G
75,000 T. I. 1 2.43K 1/8 .04 1620 pcs - 140 uf HO' - 60Vdc $2.00 ea.
35,000 LI. 1 909 1/4 .06 11. or in series for 12 volt
~ SPST, mom, PC board gold
7000
3000
T. I.
Electra
1
1
10
15.4
1/2
1/2
.07
.07 ~ ~plate~ pins fo~ wiring or GENERAL_ ELECTRIC f::"I:L::"~=~':'
_e_'"'cl.u ......... _ .
..
;~.j:l.~1
5700 Electra 1 28 1/2 .07 ~ ":(:r ~ easy 1nstallat10n. Cl.J./ll_OUIl.I;tIl.
7900 I R C 1 53.6 1/2 .07 . la, 000 pes in stock 3,000 pes CL3lBEIBOf>iPE, lIbf - J5vdc 65¢ each
7200 IRe 1 99.9 1/8 .04 300 pes CL31BE5SOMPE, S5uf - 15vdc B5C each
6600 IRe 1 1650 1/8 .04 Mfr: Grayhill Widely used on computers, machine tools,
Swi teh Co. office machines, guidance control and a noo-polarized CL32/33
1800 I R C 1 6190 1/8 .04·
1000 I R C 1 267G lie .04 2" x lJ," x IJ," wide variety of applications. 900 ~ CL33BL020t>M:, 2.Ouf - 75vdc $1.00 each
fl. MTr!MT"H ULTIA.MINIATUII TANTALUM (A"A(nOU
I.yr·"U];,. ." m" ~
Computer 6rade Capacitors \\\ 10,550 pes MrP68S!'f)20PID, 6. Buf - 20vdc 55¢ each
I
QUAN. MFO.
I Instant
PHONE ORDERS
607 723 3111
VOLTS SIZE
delivery.
off-the-shelf
PRICE EA
1, 02B pes MrP336f>l>10PlA, Duf - lOvdc
~TAS
Can it be that there are still hackers')(- out there who haven't As our holiday gift to you, each subscription after the first
yet subscribed to BYTE? at the regular $12 rate (which by the way saves you $3 a
year over single copy price) will cost only $10 (a vast $5
From the way new subscriptions are inundating Debby, saving over single copy price).
Deena and crew, it seems there are thousands of hackers')(-
who are only now discovering what a blessing it is to have Considering it can take as long as six weeks to process a
BYTE come each month whether they remember to go out subscription, it's not a bit too early to give the perfect gift
and buy it or not. for the hacker')(- who hasn't yet subscribed.
*microists, cybernuts. byters. kluges, etc ..• see letter on pages 18-20 about our identity crisis.
Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Address . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
138
7400N Ttl CONSUMER ELECTRONICS
ft
SN7400N .16 5N7'59o' .25
SN7~lN
5N74Q2N
.16
21
SN7460H
5N7'7OH
22
45
5H7.'5"N"
5N74155N
1 00
99
PONG SINGLE
GAME $59.95
SH'_ 16 5N7412N 39 SN141S6H 99 4 GAMES
SN7..GtN"
SN74Q5N
SN7406N
.18
24
.20
SN7473H"
SN7..1..N·
SN74~·
31
32
50
SN7.'57H
SN74160N
$H7"161N
99
1 25
99
SUPER PONG ItIQ11E $89.95
ft
5N7'07N .29 SN7476H .32 SN74163N" 99 GAMES INCLUDED IN SUPER PONG ARE:
SH'....
SN7409N
.25
.25
SNl.79H"
SN148QN
5 00
50
5N74164H
5N74165N
1 10
1.10 • PONG • CATCH
ft
SN7410N .18 5N7482N .98 SNW66N 1.25
5M74'1N 30 5N7483N 70 5N74167N 5.50
• SUPER PONG • HANDBALL
5N7412N .33 5N7485N 89 5N74170N 210 FEATURES OF PONG ANOSUPER PONG
8N7.1]N 45 5N7486N .39 5N74112N 8.95 • IIlcrtmlffital s~ on \'Olley.> incleases excilemellt
5N7.. ,4N .10 5N7488N 350 5N74173N 150 • Playing held adlusts 10 any sileSCteeft
5N1416N .35 5N7.89N 225 5N74174N 1.25 • G<rneappears in colOl Of 11 black &whlte,depelldlngonllllevlSloo set
5N7417N 35 SN749ON" 45 SN74175N .99 • Urrmslakable "PONG" sound accompallles each \'Olley
SN742{)N .21 5N7491N .75 5N74176N 90 • Dtgilal scoring II:lihfS on lIM! screen betwffileach porl!
5N7421N 33 SN7.92N 49 5N74177N 9ll .2playllfctlallengeorSolllaire
5N7422N* 49 5N7493N· 49 5N7418ON 99 • Hoo+;supsmply10 anymo<lellelevlSlOI1se1,mescfeen aclually lleccmesthe playltlglleld
5N7423N 37 5N7494N 79 5N74181N 249 • EnglISh atKI other technllllltlS can be used 10 make any member 01 me lemily a Pong ch;mpion
5N7425N 29 5N7495N 79 5N74182N 95 • Battery Opelated by 4Sllfl "D" II:lihl'llhl battellf'S IOCIUdfJll W'lh me Unit.
SN7"26N 29 5N7496N 89 5N741S4N 195
37 SN7497N· 4.00 5N7418SN 220 AC Adaptor (Eliminates Batteries) 59.95
•
5N7.27N
•
SN7.29N 42 5N74100.t 100 5N74186,t 500
$H7.JON 26 SN74107N 39 SH74117N 600
SN7.32N 31 SN74121tr ~ 5N74188N 395
SH7"37N
$H7.38M
27
27
SN74122N
5N74123N·
39
70
SH74190N
SH74191H
1 19
125 ,125" dia. DISCRETE LEOS .190" dia.
5N7439N
SN7440N
$N7",N
25
15
89
5N74125H
SN74126N
5N74132N 109
60
60
SN74192tr
5N74193,t
5N74194N 125
89
89 XC209 Red
XC209Green
10/1' SPECIAL SALE!
41 1
XC111 Red
XC111Green
8/S1
XC111 Yellow 41 1
4/1'
XC209Yellow 7/ 1
SN74'2H 59 SN74136N 95 SN74195N 75 41 1 XC1110range 41 1
•
XC2090range
5N7443N 75 5H74141N 115 5N14196N 125
5N7444N
5N7«5N
SH744{jN
5N7•• 7N"
75
75
81
69
5N74142N·
SN74143tt'
5N14144N·
5N74145N
400
4.SO
4 SO
1 15
5N74191N
SH7419SN
5N141!l9N
5N742{X)N
175
U5
559
75
4t= ~
5N7.48N 19 5N14147N 2.35 5N74279N· 9ll .200" dia. .185" dia . .200" dia . .085" dia.
$N745(1N
5N7451N
SN7453N
.26
.27
27
5N14148N
5N141SON
5N14151N
200
100
79
5N74251N
5N14284N
5N74265N
179
6.00
6.00
XC22Red
XC22G reen
XC22Yeilow
5/1'
41
41
1
1
XC526Red
XC526Green
101$1
XC526Yeilow 41 1
7/1' XC556Red
XC556Green
10/1'
71 1
XC556Yeilow 71 1
MV50
.085" dia. Micro
CLlPLITE !! 4/
XC220range 41 1 XC5260range 41 1 XC5560range 71 1 red LEO
5N7454N 20 5N741S3N
MANY OTHERS AVAIlABLE ON REQUEST
.69 5N74367N .75
SSL-22RT 81 1 XC526Clear 71 1 XC556Clear 71 1 6/~1 NEW LED
MOUNTING SYSTEM
$1.00
=
20% Discounl tor 100 Combined 74oo's
MAN? DISPLAY LEOS DL33B • CliPlITE mounts from the
~ CMOS i:~= ~
$99 SUPER SAVINGS! $.99 ~r~~to~fj7~"P~;~~~;s.ap:;e~ ~
II i 10Lm
C04002 25 C04035 1 85 74C2ON 65
a>4006 2 so C04040 2 45 74C3ON 65
C04007 25 C04042 1 9ll 74C42N 2 15 thickness from 1/16" to 1/8".
CO'OO9 59 C04044 1 so 74C13N 1 SO • CLlPLITE equalizes and increases the bright·
CD4010 59 C04046 251 74C74 1 15 OLIO' ness of commonly u5ed wide beam LEOS.
M~3 M~' o~
C04011 25 C04047 2 75 74C9ON 300 FNOS03 FND70
C04012 25 CD4049 79 74C95N 200 • CliPlITE is to be used with XC556 LEOS only.
C04013 47 CD40s0 79 74Cl07N 1 25 Specify red, green, amber or yellow CLIP·
(;()4016 .56 (1)4051 295 74C151 2911 LI TES when ordering.
C04017 1 35 COC053 29S 74CI54 400
C04019 55 ~ 325 74C157 215
C04020
C04022
149
1 25
C04066
C04069
175
45
74CI60
74CI61
325
325
TYPE
MAN 1
POLARITY
Common AnOde
HT
.270 2.49
TYPE
MAN 3620
POLARITY
Common AnOde·o.8tl~
HT
.300 ...... ZENERS-DIDDES-RECTIFIERS
CD4023
C04024
C04025
25
1 SO
25
C04071
C04081
C04511
45
45
2 SO
74Cl63
74CIl)4
74C173
300
3 25
260
MAN 2
~:~ ~
MAN 1
5,. 1 Dot Mat",.
~~~~~~ ~::~:::
Common Anode
.300
. 125
.187
.300
4.95
...
3/1.
1.95
MAN 3640
MAN 4710
OL70t
0L707
Common Cathode·oranll"
Common AnOde·Red
Common Anode red
Common Anode
.300
.400
.300
.300
...
.99
1.50
Tm VOLTS
IN746 33
1N751A 51
W
400m
400m
PRICE
4 1 00
4100
TYPE
lN4005·
IN4OO6·
VOLTS
600 pry
800PIY
W
1 AMP
1 AMP
PRICE
1011 00
1011 00
C04027 69 CD4518 2 SO 74C193 2 75 ~~~;~ ~~:;:~~~ ~~::::e~~r~", .300
.300
......
t.95
1.95
OL 128
OL 147
Common C.thode
Common Anode
.500
.600
1.99
...
2.25
1N752 56
lN753 62
400m
400m
41100
411 ()()
lN4OQ7· 1000 PlY 1 AMP 10{1 00
.........
C04028 1 65 74COON 39 74C195 275 MAN 52 AnOde g...n .300 OL 750 Common Cathode .600 2.49 lN3600 50 200m 61 00
.400 lN754 66 400m 411 ()() lN4148 15 10m 15tl 00
C04029 2911 74C02N 55 MC4Q44" 4 SO ~~~ ~~ :~~: .• ed .300
OL 3Je CommonC.thode
Common C.lhoda
.110
.250 .50
FN010 IN959 62 400m 8/1 ()() IN4154 35 10m 121100
.."'!CO'l.'lll"'l!!H:--i:i:-------~~M::::C:~:::::~::-.~,:i:~
. .. ~:S ii ~~:~:.ellrl~'"
.300
.300
1.15 FN0503
FN0507
Common Cathode
Common Anoda
.500
.500
1.29
1.29 lN965B 15
lN5232 56
400m
500m
41100
28
lN4734
1N4735
56
62
lw
lw
26
26
t~~i~N .;;75 t~i~~~~ ~:~~ IC SOLDERTAIL - LOW PROFILE (TIN) SOCKETS 1N5234 62 SOOm 28 lN4736 68 lw 28
LINEAR lN523568 500m 28 lN4738 82 1w 28
lM302H lM1458C 65 lN5236 75 SOOm' 26 1N4742 12 lw 26
lM304H 1 00 lM370N 115 LMI496N 95 1·24 25·49 SO-I00 1·24 25-49 50-100 1N4144 15 lw 28
lM305H 95 lM373N 325 lMI5S6V 1 85 6pln S11 \ 1N456 25 40m 6/1 ()()
16 15 "" 24 pm 538 37 36 lN458 150 7m 611 ()() lN1163 SO PlY 35 AMP 160
1.M307CN 35 lM377N 4 00 LM2111N 1 95 14pm 20 19 16 28 pin 45 44 43 IN485A 180 10m 51 ()() lNl164 100 PlY 35 AMP 170
lM308t1 100 lM380N I J9 lM29111N 29S 16 PIn 22 21 20 36 PIn 60 59 58 lN4001 SO PlY 1 AMP 12.100 IN1185 150 PIV 35 AMP 1.10
lM308CN 1 00 lM390CN 1 OS lMJ06SN 69 18 Pin 29 28 27 40 pIn 63 62 61 lN4oo2 100 PIV 1 AMP 1211 ()() INIl86 200 PIV 35 AMP 1 80
lM309tt 110 1.M381N 179 lM39llON 55 22 PIA 37 " 3S SOLDERTAIL STANDARO (TIN) lN4003 200 PlV 1 AMP 12.1"1 ()() lHIl88 400 PlY 35 AMP 300
lM309K 99 LM382N 1 79 lM3905fl1 60 lN4004 400 PlV 1 AMP 12.100
lM31(lCH 1 15 NESOll( 800 LM3909· 1 2S 14Pll 521 25 24 26 PIn 599 9ll 81
1.M311H
lM311N
90
9ll
NE5lQA
NES31H
600
300
lMS556N
MCS558V
18S
100
16 PIn 30 27 2S 36P1fl 139 126 115 SCR AND FW BRIDGE RECTIFIERS
16P1l1 35 32 Xl 40 pIA 159 145 130 060 15A@4lX)V SCR 51 9S
LM316CN 1 SO NES36T 600 LM7S25N 90 24 pm 49 45 42
lM319N I 30 NE540l 600 lM7S35N 1 25 C36M 35A @ 200V SCR 1 95
lM32OK-5 1 35 NE5SON 79 8038B· 495 SOLDERTAIL STANDARO !GOLD) 2N2326 1 6'\@ 200V SCR SO
.. -
LMJ2Ot(-5 21 35 HE555v*' 45 LM754SO 49 MDA 91l().1 25"'@'!IJlI FW BRIDGE REC 1 95
lM32OK-12 135 NES606· 500 7S451CN 39 8PIA S30 27 24 24Pl1l 570 53 57 MOA 981)-3 25.a@ 2«N FW BRIDGf REC 1 95
LM32OK-15 135 NES61B· 500 7S4S2CN J9 14 11m 35 32 29 26P1f1 110 100 90
......
,,-
lM320T-5· I 75 NES628· 5 00 7S4S3CN 39 16 pm 38 35 32 36 PIn 175 140 126 TRANSISTORS pt,!424g 41100
s.'$tOO
lM320T-5 2 I 75 NES65H- 1 25 7S4SACN 39 18P1l'l 52 47 43 40 PIn 175 159 14S
LM320T -6· 1 75 NES6SN· 1 75 7S491CN 79 WIRE WRAP SOCKETS (GOLD) LEVEL #3 M'"''
""'".
~StOO
3$100 ""'" lSI 00
f'H.Q5O
2N44llO
4$100
4StOO
lM320T -12·
LM320T-15
1 75
175
NES66CN-
NES67H·
1.25
1.95
7S492CN
75494CN
69
69 10pm '4539 . 31 24 pm 5105
" ""'" .so
2N2221 41100
00 ""69
2N37().1
4S100'
4S100
2N44(jl
2N4402
4$100
4"'00
. ~::::t
85 2N2J69 2N4403 4.1100
lM320T -16-1 75 NES67V· 1.50 RCA liNEAR 14 pin 38 31 26 Pin 140 125 110 I s"oo
2H2J69A 4!S100
, 2H37115 2N4409 511100
LM320T·24 1.75 lM703CN 45 CAJOn 2.15 16pm 43 42 36 pin 159 145 2H3706 §JS100
1.30 fN2415 2NS086 4'$100
~:: 1\
lM323K-5· 995 lM709H 29 CA3032 2.56 40 pin '" 00 2N3707 ZN5087 4'$100
lM324N 1 80 LM709N 29 CA3035 248
18 Pin 15 68 62 175 155 1." 2N2484 4'Sl00 2H3711
2N~ ."'00
LM339N 1 70 lM710N 79 CA3039 1 35 """"
2N2907A
'''00 I 2N3724
2HS089 4$100
LM34{JK-5 195 lM111N 39 CA3046 1.30 50 PCS. RESISTOR ASSORTMENTS $1.75 PER ASST. 20""
'" 00 203725 "00 ZN5tzg 51100
......"""'" "'".
'" 00 2N3903 5.1100 ~'$1 00
,"
20"" 2w.jl18
LM34OK-6
lM34OK-8
1 95
1 95
LM723H
LM123H
sa
55
CA3059
CA3060
325
325 10 OHM 12 OHM 15 OHM 16 OHM 22 OHM ""." "00
""""
,.,..
""'"
41100
4S100
41100
M1)g
216209
~'$loo
~'$1 00
LM340K·12 195 lM733N 100 CA3080 85 m5951 ~Sl 00
lM34{JK-15 195 lM139N 100 CA3061 200
ASST. 1 5 II. 27 OHM 33 OHM 39 OHM 47 OHM 56 OHM 1/4 WATT 5% .. 50 PCS. 203391 ""S,$loo
S,SIOO ""'''
2N.tlI14
3'$tOO
31100
C106ll1SCR
2NS432
21100
lM34OK-18
lM34OK-24
1 95
195
LM741CH
lM741CN
35
35
CA3062
CA30&3
200
160 ASST.:l 511.
68 OHM 82 OHM 100 OHM 120
180 OHM 220 OHM 270 OHM 330
OHM 150 OHM
OHM 3911 OHM 1/4 WAn 5% .. 50 PeS. ""'" 2K4123 10/S1oo 1200
74lSOO 39
74LSOO
141555
TTL7415151
.39 155 ASST. 7 S ...
1M
27M
12M
33M
1~
39M
IBM
47M
22M
56M 114 WATT 5% .. SOPCS.
oolml .12
12
100 VOLT MYLAR FilM CAPACITORS
10
.10
.07
.07
022m!
047m!
13
.21
11
17
oa
.0022 13
14lS02 J9 74LS13 65 14l5l53 189 llll4,m1 12 .10 07 lml .27 23 11
14lS03 39 741514 65 1415151 155 5 EACH MINIMUM PfR VAlUE ON ANY RESISTORS FROM ,., OHM TO 5.6M 01ml 12 .10 .07 22m! .33 27 22
74lS04 45 141575 79 7415162 225 5-2 PCS 05 ea 30·9 pes 04 ea 100·495 pe5 a 500·995 .0275 ea +20% OIf'PEO TAHTALUMS (SOliD) CAPAQTORS
14lS05 45 141516 65 1415163 225
74lS08 39 74lS63 219 74l5l64 225 SINGLE TURN ;>00 CERMET POTENTIOMETER '135'
.15/35V
.26
.26
.23
.23
.17
17
15/35V
2.2125V
.30
.31
.26
.27
.21
.22
741510 39 741566 65 7415181 369 • Resistance Tolerance ::t 20% .22/35V .26 .23 17 33125V 31 .27 22
74lS13
74lS14
79
219
74LS911
74lS92
125
125
74lS190
14lS191
285
285 • High Power -O.S Watt at 70"C $ 89 .33/35V
,41/35V
.26
.26
.23
23
17
17
4.1125Y
68125V
.32
36
.28
.31
.23
.25
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sophistication is where you find it. The 8080 and 12 bits is a short and limited address
is far more soph isticated than the PDP-8 so field. In the "olden" days, before ASCII, the
if one needs a capable computer, regardless 12 bit word could hold two characters at 6
of the imputed applications intent of the bits each, but that is ancient history.
designers, the 8080 is better than the PDP-8 The autoindexing locations in octal 0010
hands down. to 0017 are kind of cute. The Data General
The PDP-8 was truly a marvel for its time NOV A extended this concept to also allow
and for this DEC deserves great praise. auto decrement locations, but neither the
However, the PDP-8 is an old warhorse auto increment or auto decrement locations
which should be put out to pasture. A group are used very much these days because no
"The PDP-8 is an old war- within DEC's environs realized the PDP-8 program is really quite sure they are not
horse which should be put was over the hill so they broke away from used by some other program wh ich leads to
out to pasture." Data General and made the NOV A which the consequence that they are not used by
was a vast improvement, conceptually, over anyone. In a sense, the NOVA was an
the PDP-8. But now the original NOVA and extension of the PDP-8 in concept, but the
its replacement the SUPERNOVA are both NOV A people should have looked elsewhere
also over the hill, eclipsed if you please, by for inspiration.
later innovations. The DEC people felt the Now for some fundamental theory. Mr
hot winds of change blowing on their col- Nelson points out that instructions can be
lective necks so they developed the PDP-ll manipulated and data words can be exe-
(no doubt partly in reaction to the success cuted, concerning which he says, "Software
of the NOVA which is a mighty fine little people wi II recogn ize th is conven ience."
computer except for the possibility it is Convenience my foot - this is a bucket of
somewhat wasteful in its utilization of worms. Before the invention of index reg-
memory address space). But it is not my isters and indirect addressing, this was the
purpose to discuss the PDP-ll. only method available for instruction modi-
It is fantastic that Mr Nelson claims the fication. Very few modern programmers
PDP-8 is easy to understand from a software play such games with instructions because it
standpoint. It is not all that difficult to unduly complicates on line debugging and
understand, but he must have meant that the prevents a program being written as "pure
PDP-8 is easy to understand when compared procedure." A program consists of pure
with other computers. The PDP-8 is not a procedure when it never changes any loca-
"clean" machine - it has some complica- tion that is peculiar to (is assigned to) the
tions that are needlessly tedious when com- procedure block itself. Such a program has
pared wi th a classic von Neu man compu ter the virtue that it can be placed into read
such as the IBM 7090 (the 7090 was only memory (ROM, PROM or EROM) or
somewhat larger than the PDP-8). The so- protected programmable memory. A con-
called microinstructions are enough to drive ventional PDP-8 program cannot be written
a beginner right up the wall. The 8080 has as pure procedure because the return vector
its little complications; but, if desired, one from a subroutine is always stored into the
could select a subset of the 8080 instruc- first location of the subroutine. This is the
tions (Such as Charles Howerton used in his classic subroutine linkage and is how it was
July 7976 BYTE article on page 22] which done on most computers for many years.
if used for comparison with the PDP-8 Thus, it follows that the PDP-8 and read
would be both simpler and more powerful only memory do not get along together.
than the PDP-8. Many complications in The interrupt structure of the PDP-8 (and
programming have to do with addressing. the NOV A) is quite crude when compared
Compared to the pain of addressing on a with most modern computers (maxi, mini,
PDP-8, addressing in the 8080 could not be and micro). The PDP-11 has a particularly
easier. Addressing only 4 K on the PDP-8 nice vectored interrupt structure.
requires 24 bits: 12 bits for the instruction I think that the article by Mr Nelson is an
and another 12 bits for an indirect address excellent example of the smoke screen that
vector. The poor little 8080 "industrial is thrown up when discussing a machine that
controller" directly addresses 64 K in the is quite deficient in terms of registers. He
same 24 bits. mentions the multiplexer (DX) register and
Mr Nelson says the PDP-8 has a "con- the temporary register (TEMP) that are
venient parallel word length of 12 bits." absolutely unavailable to you in any sense;
Convenient for what? The only thing I can but, when thrown in with the "real" regis-
think of is a 12 bit A to D converter or ters, it seems to up the count. He also
reading all 12 levels of a punched data card. includes features common to all CPUs such
One hardly needs 12 bits for an operation as the PC, MAR, IR and the ALU which is
code (8 bits allows 256 possible operations) not a register anyway.
140
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A virtue of the PDP-8 which must be print your letter to give an example of a
admitted is the large amount of software critique which might be made. Does anyone
that has been written for it. Considering that else have some information or opinions to
practically none of it may be placed into contribute on the basis of personal exper-
ROM, this treasure trove is of little value ience with PDP-8s?
unless you have it on disk or other fast mass Digital Equipment Corporation is the
storage device. Now you are beginning to source of a whole industry, the minicom-
talk the kind of bucks that would be better puter industry, and the PDP-8 is historically
spent for a more effective computer. It is the first successfully marketed minicom-
not nice for me to say it, but this vast store puter. (Successfully is defined here as widely
of freely available software contains a heck sold and installed.) All present microcom-
of a lot of junk that would be more trouble puter work owes its heritage to the earlier
to understand and get working than it is minicomputer industry and indirectly to
worth. You obviously need systems pro- Digital Equipment Corporation and the
grams like an editor, assembler, and a debug PDP-8.
executive, but beyond these you need little We caution readers that just as Robert
more. These should properly be supplied by Nelson may be a bit pro-PDP-8 in his recent
the manufacturer anyway! two part article, the above letter represents
Contrary to Mr Nelson, I say the PDP-8 and emphasizes the other side of the coin.
or its near equal the IM6100 are not at all An important item to remember in forming
the "ideal machine for the computer hobby- your own opinion about the matter is that
ist." If you could "fall in" and get one for virtually any machine with the character-
nothing, then take it, but for your hard istics of programmability can be used in the
earned bucks - no way man. small computer systems context. If you are
having a race to see who is the fastest, who
Webb Simmons
uses the least memory, who has the best
1559 Alcala PI
software development systems, etc, then
San Diego CA 92111
differences in the design and history of a
computer architecture will enter into the
There are two sides of every coin, and we decision. _
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142
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144
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