# Gory o'scope guts



## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

My trusty o'scope quit working. Fortunately, I had just found a service manual for it.


It's a bit like working on the Millennium Falcon, Latches and hinges everywhere to access this or that. It's reporting a memory error.






















I can't see what it has for a microprocessor, but the newest date code I see anywhere is '82. Since it says Intel, I'm guessing, from the date, and 8085. But then, there is a bit '76 on the processor and the manual mentions AD0 through AD7 and A8 through A15, so maybe it's an old 8008?









 


I tried pulling and reseating all the connectors, and there are a bunch of them, to no avail. There is a switch here that disables the digital section and lets the scope work without it. Let's see. It says error 0300 is  display memory. Everything is nice and clean in here and I don't see anywhere that smoke has leaked out. The scope does work with the disable switch open, so I guess I don't have a storage scope any more.


Just thought the photos might be interesting.


----------



## Therios (Sep 28, 2008)

wow! I have not seen anything like that since I lost an A/D on my old HP555 dual trace rig! Never did get it fixed. Finally just lost it. Amazing what it took back then to accomplish what we do on a single chip now eh? I just sold my FLUKE scope a couple months back for down payment assistance on the farm. Never really used it for anything (needed) but it was still fun. I leaned a lot about DCC and how it communicated.


----------



## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Oh! You should see what they use for scopes these days! A tiny box with a couple BNC and a USB connector.


----------



## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

It looks scary, is what it looks.









Les


----------



## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

I thought it would be all full of dust and corrosion, but it's absolutely pristine inside. Looks brand new.


----------



## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

Looks like a shotgunned fish.









Les


----------



## GG (Jan 1, 2009)

Well,,, 

If you take the long white wire and strip it down which is then attached to the silver thing in the middle. Then attach a 220V recepticle to the other end .... plug it in and I'm sure that you will get results.... 

gg


----------



## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Almost as much fun as a little C4!


----------



## astrayelmgod (Jan 2, 2008)

"so maybe it's an old 8008?" 

According to Wikipedia, the 8008 had 18 pins, so if you're referring to the large black package, it's not an 8008. 8080, maybe.


----------



## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Ok. Cool. I've never actually seen an 8008 as the 8080 was pretty common when I started messing with microprocessors.


----------



## bob7094 (Jan 3, 2008)

Posted By Torby on 03/10/2009 6:57 PM
Ok. Cool. I've never actually seen an 8008 as the 8080 was pretty common when I started messing with microprocessors.

Some guy where I worked around 1974 purchased an Intellec 8 development system with an 8008 processor, using IR&D funds. This is a fifty pound or so box. He had no idea what to do with it, so after that project (a star sensor) came to an end, my boss, knowing I was interested in this new microprocessor thing, gave it to me to play with. I was able to do the usual trick of writing a program that read the front panel switches and output the same to the front panel lights. A telletype interface was next, or course. I was kind of shocked to find that it could not process an interrupt unless the user supplied some kind of external save register. Ok, that's technical, consider a diesel that can't brake because there's no Kingston Valve. Or whatever. Anyhow, all the documentaion and the EEPROM eraser ( UV lamp ) were in a cardboard box by my desk.. Yes, the cleaning crew took it, and this $3,000+ system was then useless. I built my IMSAII not long after that, and it was far better anyway.

-- Bob


----------



## Les (Feb 11, 2008)

This is one of my early computer stories: (I did analog, mind you. before the Good Lord found me refuge in this new Black Hole machine shop.)

My boss called me in for our semi-yearly interview/raise. He *wrote* on my sheet, "Must have (digital) computer experience to remain employed here."

So I got a copy to keep, and went down and bought an Apple II. Not a IIe. $800 in pre-1980 dollars. I wrote it off my income tax, told 'em, and the howls of indignation still ring in my head. My 8 yr daugher picked up on that thing right away.

Boss said, "I _never_ said you had to buy a computer!" (The first in the lab.)

I said, "Want to read my evaluation paper?"

"Uh, but I never meant you _had _to buy a computer!"

"Reads like it."


----------



## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

We didn't have a UV eprom erasing lamp, so to erase eproms, we'd set them out on top of the wall for a couple days.


----------

