Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 8 of 418 1 2 6 7 8 9 10 417 418
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 1,051
S
Very Senior Member
OP Offline
Very Senior Member
S
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 1,051
I bought a Tandy EC-21 Calculator/Blackjack game (http://www.handheldmuseum.com/Tandy/Blackjack21.htm) because the instruction manual and patent had a few similarities that I thought were more than coincidence. They both automatically shuffle when the 38th card is dealt, and the first example game in the manual is almost identical to the example game in the patent. But the chip in the Tandy unit is an NEC D1021C, and the die looked completely different. I also cracked the die into 3 or 4 pieces, so I pretty much gave up on it.

Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 1,458
Likes: 9
Very Senior Member
Offline
Very Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 1,458
Likes: 9
Same processor as this?

http://www.datamath.org/Related/Toshiba/BC-1010BJ.htm


btw there's hundreds of calculators on that site, mostly TI ones.

Joined: May 2010
Posts: 1,051
S
Very Senior Member
OP Offline
Very Senior Member
S
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 1,051
Nice find. That's the same part #- the chip in Radio Shack unit also had K8X056 on the top. Same VFD as well, but the PCB and keyboards are laid out differently.

I've spent a lot of time on Datamath the past few months....

Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,017
Likes: 21
S
Very Senior Member
Offline
Very Senior Member
S
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,017
Likes: 21
BTW, this January 1978 magazine article specifically says Mattel Auto Race, Missile Attack and Football are Rockwell PPS-4/1.
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/new-1978-electronic-games/4/

But Handheld Museum (and others) says Football is Rockwell B6100-15 (modified calculator chip).
www.handheldmuseum.com/Mattel/FB.htm

Magazine article here:
https://archive.org/stream/creative...g_v04_n01_1978_Jan-Feb#page/n27/mode/2up
also says Rockwell B6000 series.

Patent says Rockwell "B6000 Series"
http://www.google.com/patents/US4322074

Anyhow, this is not TMS09xx/1xxx related, hap, but we know Sean is interested. wink

Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,368
Likes: 120
H
hap Offline
Very Senior Member
Offline
Very Senior Member
H
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,368
Likes: 120
Yes, I'm more than OK with this topic being about other antique microcontrollers too.

(articles keep calling them "calculator chips", but seriously, they're the 1st gen. of MCUs)

Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,017
Likes: 21
S
Very Senior Member
Offline
Very Senior Member
S
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,017
Likes: 21
Originally Posted by hap
Yes, I'm more than OK with this topic being about other antique microcontrollers too.

(articles keep calling them "calculator chips", but seriously, they're the 1st gen. of MCUs)

I agree, on both counts. smile

This guy also agrees that B6001 is a PPS-4/1 microcontroller, while others disagree.
http://marc.info/?l=classiccmp&m=131921587007366&w=2
Keep clicking "next in thread" for more fun smile

We may never know until someone traces out the circuit to compare with the PPS-4/1 pinouts, or decaps a standard PPS-4/1 to compare.

Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,368
Likes: 120
H
hap Offline
Very Senior Member
Offline
Very Senior Member
H
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,368
Likes: 120
Judging from that calculator/blackjack patent, I don't think it is PPs4.

Joined: May 2010
Posts: 1,051
S
Very Senior Member
OP Offline
Very Senior Member
S
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 1,051
I traced some of the pins on the Battle Star Galactica PCB. 9v battery negative goes to pin 19, positive (through the on/off switch) to pin 20. Pin 32 has a cap and resistor connected to it, so it seems like that would be the oscillator input. Pins 36 and 39 are connected together and to one side of the movement switch; pin 37 goes to the other side of the movement switch, and the middle of the switch is +9v. The fire button connects pin 38 to +9v. The piezo is connected to pins 1 and 42, and the LEDs to pins 2 and 4-18. That's it- there are 12 pins not connected at all, and 5 pins that are connected to pads that are unused- I guess for testing?

That doesn't seem to match up with any PP4 pinouts I've seen.

Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,017
Likes: 21
S
Very Senior Member
Offline
Very Senior Member
S
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,017
Likes: 21
That's disappointing. Seems weird that Popular Electronics would be so specifically wrong though.

Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,368
Likes: 120
H
hap Offline
Very Senior Member
Offline
Very Senior Member
H
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,368
Likes: 120
What's disappointing?

That patent description contains more than enough information to make an emulator for Rockwell B6000.

Page 8 of 418 1 2 6 7 8 9 10 417 418

Link Copied to Clipboard
Who's Online Now
3 members (Golden Child, Olivier Galibert, judge), 234 guests, and 1 robot.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
ShoutChat
Comment Guidelines: Do post respectful and insightful comments. Don't flame, hate, spam.
Forum Statistics
Forums9
Topics9,320
Posts121,923
Members5,074
Most Online1,283
Dec 21st, 2022
Our Sponsor
These forums are sponsored by Superior Solitaire, an ad-free card game collection for macOS and iOS. Download it today!

Superior Solitaire
Forum hosted by www.retrogamesformac.com