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  • Industrial Transtech TMB08 troubleshooting

    From John Snowdon@21:1/5 to All on Sun Dec 6 02:50:51 2020
    Hey folks,

    I finally got around to restoring an old TMB08 that I bought several years ago. It was one of those 'hacked as an RS422' transmitter jobs - hardwired link connector, no T2, RS422 module in slot 1, etc.

    I've removed the bridge wires from slot 0 to slot 1, fitted a real T225 in a PLCC socket, put a real C004 in the PGA socket and jumpered the board as detailed in the Transtech manual as a single, master board (I have yet to decide whether to run this as
    slave or master against my TMB04):

    S1 + S2 : On (0x150)
    S3: Off (20mbit)
    S4: On (slot 1-9 reset as slot 0)
    S5: Off (slot 0 controlled by PC)
    S6 is currently off, but I can't see any reference to it in the manual.

    U66 has 6 jumper blocks fitted to the links as per the 'single master' settings of the manual.

    I have tried a single TTM15E as well as an IMSB426 in slot 0 (both known-working).

    None of the normal tools detect the board - ispy doesn't detect either the onboard T2 or the T8 on the TTM15 ("error 29 bytes returned"), and Axle's itest tool reports that it cannot detect a C011 interface either. I've tried different base addresses (no
    other devices using them in the PC at present), but it seemingly makes no difference.

    Anyone have any other experience returning these boards to general service?

    John

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  • From John Snowdon@21:1/5 to All on Sun Dec 6 03:38:56 2020
    I just followed Mike B's debugging suggestion from an earlier chat about the TMB08 (2015-ish) and it doesn't look like the C011/C012 interface is talking to the PC:

    debug
    -o 160 1
    -o 160 0
    -o 160 1
    -o 160 0
    -o 160 1
    -o 161 0
    -o 160 0
    -i 152
    FF
    -i 153
    FF

    Faulty card? There's not much in the way of components to change - these later designs have just four active components: a Lattice chip, an ACT14, a 74F245D and the C011. Other than that it's just a few passives and the dip switches and pipe links.

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  • From John Snowdon@21:1/5 to All on Mon Dec 7 05:39:50 2020
    So without changing any settings, but inserting the card again it appears to be (somewhat partially) working. Which is a little spooky....

    At the very least ispy detects whatever I put in slot 0... but.... everything is a bit weird after that. Depending on which version of ispy I use, it either detects the next transputer as either (with ispy <= 322) a "T16-25" or "T16-20" (I'm using a T225-
    25 as C004 controller) *OR* my TRAM (whatever I use) in slot 1 (ispy >= 323). I'll get a copy of rspy on there and see what it says.

    Regardless of how many TRAM's I have installed, I receive the following error message:

    Error - ispy - partial results: Failed to send Transputer id to processor 1

    What are the correct steps for installing additional TRAM's and programming the C004?

    John

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  • From John Snowdon@21:1/5 to All on Mon Dec 7 09:20:01 2020
    I fully populated the TMB08 with all the modules I had (6x size-1 transputer modules and a single, size-4 Parsytec PPC module) and it seems to now reliably detect okay.

    Does the entire board need to be populated and/or the remaining empty sockets after the final module (assuming all are size-1) need to be terminated with pipe jumpers?

    Also, I don't know what I can do with these two Parsytec PPC modules (incidentally, there are 3 sets of TMB14 VME boards each with dual PPC modules on Ebay right now, if anyone is feeling supremely flush enough with cash to snap them up). It seems crazy
    to have these size 4, power hungry, hot things plugged in, just to use the itty-bitty T425 and 1MB RAM.....

    John

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  • From Mike B.@21:1/5 to All on Tue Dec 8 06:06:14 2020
    Hi John

    To operate the TMB08 reliable you have to guarantee that your whole configured IO Range is not used by anything else and not reassigned for another PNP device later by any intelligent system software.
    It's always a good start with IRQ and DMA disabled (if possible).
    Please check the correct setup of the patch area also.
    For first tests the C004 and T2 are NOT required.

    My first check for such a board is always an empty Board and test reset toggling on slot 0 with debug and the base io address + 0x10. A simple digitester or even a Voltmeter can be used.
    If this works check reset for all other slots.
    The same for analyse.
    Check the quiet state of all LinkIn and LinkSpeedSelect pins at all TRAM slots. If a LinkIn is floating, this will be okay, as every TRAM has normally 10K pulldown resistors.
    Check the 5MHz signal on all TRAM Slots. For this you need an more versatile DigiTester :-)
    Finally the 5V power should be also checked at the TRAM slots.

    To check the C012 the output status signal should toggle after sending a single byte (debug.com is your friend).
    Always start with an reset (assert - deassert sequence). Maybe check also the reset line on the C012 and the 5MHz.

    Place an wire strap between link0in und link0out in TRAM slot 0 and try to transfer (send & receive) an single byte (still with debug.com)

    Than remove the wire strap and insert an single TRAM and run the testprogram(s) of your choice.

    If a TRAM with size >1 overlaps an TRAM slot n and you are operating a TRAM at slot >n pipe jumpers are required for the overlapped slot n. It's also legal to stack a TRAM over the bigger TRAM to use the overlapped TRAM Slot. In this case no pipe jumpers
    are required - but maybe an enforced cooling!
    If you don't cascade another board after this board there are no pipe jumpers required for the last unused/overlapped slots.

    Finally insert the T2 and C004 and test further the board.

    It looks that there are different TMB08 from Transtech:

    http://www.transputer.net/mg/tmb08um/tmb08um.pdf (second opt linkadaper+ ROM) http://www.transputer.net/mg/tmbm711/tmbm711.pdf (more like the INMOS B008)

    -Mike

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  • From John Snowdon@21:1/5 to All on Tue Dec 8 07:04:30 2020
    This is the board I'm working on, it's quite a late one (dated 1994) - it seems to match the tmbm711.pdf example, rather than the tmb08um.pdf which has jumpers listed which don't exist on mine:

    https://www.target-earth.net/wiki/lib/exe/detail.php?id=blog%3Atransputer_tmb08_repair&media=blog:img_1846.jpg

    ... and here it is now, with the socketed T2 and newly fitted C004:

    https://www.target-earth.net/wiki/lib/exe/detail.php?id=blog%3Atransputer_tmb08_repair&media=blog:img20201124104119.jpg

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  • From John Snowdon@21:1/5 to All on Tue Dec 8 07:00:40 2020
    Thanks Mike,

    It all appears to be working now - I have 6 size-1 modules fitted and they all get picked up. I haven't had an opportunity to play around with configuration of a C004, as my existing TMB04 just has jumper-wire connected links to the onboard slots - not
    even a basic pipeline; everything is done via the D-connector. I don't know if this was a transient electronic glitch from the board sitting unused for many years or something else - regardless I've powered the system on/off at least a dozen times now
    and ispy|mtest reports back the same results reliably.

    I plan on using 5 of the 10 links at the D-connector of the TMB08 to directly connect to the onboard transputer and 4 slots of the TMB04 (with the PC interface side of things disabled on it).

    I think I'm reading the manual correct in that I need to connect the the 3 wires from down-error/analyse/reset of the TMB08 to the 3 pines of up-error/analyse/reset of the TMB04, plus the 5x linkin/linkout pairs. I don't think I need pipetail or config
    signals with the TMB04.

    John

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  • From Mike B.@21:1/5 to All on Tue Dec 8 06:43:14 2020
    Hi!

    I've inspected my TMB08 Rev D Board. There is an C011 an not an C012. But it's operating in Mode 2 (SeperateIQ = GND)

    S6 is currently off, but I can't see any reference to it in the manual.

    S6 is not used. There are no visible wires and no pullup resistor like on the other 5.

    -Mike

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