I assume the Datapoint 3300 terminal's electronics beam characters to the crt differently. If they're the same, or close enough from the font perspective, I have a 3300 that works that could be used. Same goes for power supply, I have a spare of one of the 3300"s power supplies should it be used to modified to be used in a 2200. I.assume it's a long shot.. I did not look it up to see for sure.
Anyone have a 3300 that needs a power supply? The 3300 has multiple power supplies, I have a working spare of the supply that attaches to the back behind the.crt. Bill On Sun, Nov 13, 2022, 4:45 AM jos via cctalk <[email protected]> wrote: > On 13.11.22 07:13, Steve Lewis via cctalk wrote: > > I've been looking for a video or image that shows what font the original > > Datapoint 2200 used. > > > > It's not shown in the manual. There is one vintage image with the > office > > lady and the DP2200 on the desk- but the font isn't very clear in that. > > > > In any modern video about the DP2200, none of them seem to power it on -- > > which is certainly understandable. From what I've read, the power > supply > > of that system is prone to failure. Also, the system is hard-coded to > load > > from Tape 1 -- which means both the tape drive, and tape media, still > needs > > to be in good working order (which would be pretty rare after this time). > > > > In "the" DP2200 book, it only briefly mentions that the original tape > > software was developed "on an HP system" (without any elaboration that I > > could tell on which HP system that was). > > > > Nothing in the manual suggests the original DP2200 could "program itself" > > (i.e. no built in machine code monitor -- those TTL chips had one strict > > boot up sequence: load from tape 1). If there was a read error or no > tape > > available, I'm curious if any message showed on the CRT. > > > > So, I was just wondering if there was any known pre-1973 Datapoint 2200's > > that are still working? (and/or if any HD video of them powered on and > > legible font can be seen) Or any other more current system that we know > > for sure used the same font? > > > > Thanks! > > -Steve > > > Not only is the powersupply prone to failure, it is also the most > dangerous I have ever seen, and I am hesitant on working it. Primary and > secondary sides not separated, isolation between the two almost > nonexistant, many primary nodes exposed. Would never pass modern safety > checks. > > But here is a picture of my DP1100, a DP2200 derivative, while it was > running a memory selftest, for a short time in 2021, before the powersupply > blew again : > > > https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/its-alive-my-datapoint-2200-1100.1222197/#post-1222197 > > While the DP2200 is hardcoded to start from tape, the DP1100, otherwise > identical, boots from a ROM. This ROM also contains a minimal machinecode > monitor. I recovered & disasembled the ROM and Gordon Peterson, from > Datapoint, commented it out : > http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/datapoint/1100/DisketteBootDisassemblyGEP2.txt > > Note that there are multiple videoboard options : the later DP2200, my > DP1100, and the DP5500 share the same videoboard. This relies on a > programmable characterset. In the disassembly mentioned above above, > starting at line 3660 you will see a load of gobldecook, these are actually > fondsets to be loaded into the machine. > > The fontset has a very particular "look" to it. How much is due to > fontdefinition, and how much is due to the diddlescan, that I dont know. > Diddlescan is where they scan each character in full, before proceding to > the next. > > Note that a ROM based bootboard for a DP2200 would be a trivial > undertaking, and only involve changing the cassette reader board for the > ROM board. > > > Jos > > >
