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PCPI Applicard Diagnostic? [message #354774] Thu, 19 October 2017 17:49 Go to next message
Polymorph is currently offline  Polymorph
Messages: 206
Registered: October 2012
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Senior Member
Hi All,

<back_story>
I recently purchased a Redstone //e clone in real bad shape - it had been sitting in a shed for who knows how many years. It was full of dirt, dead-spider carcasses, and I don't care to speculate on what else. I have completely stripped it down and cleaned it all up (including a trip through dishwasher) and it is now apparently working 100%. I videoed each step of the way, and I plan on putting this online at some point once I've had a chance to edit it. The Redstone //e clone appears to be a very compatible clone, as it has run everything I've thrown at it thus far (including double hi-res games). They managed to clone the MMU and IOU chips, but cheated when it comes to the ROM - they simply copied Apples ROMs. They put the CD and EF ROMs in one 27128 EPROM and the video and keyboard ROMs (2764 EPROMs) seem to be direct copies of Apples ROMs too. The ROM's are all unenhanced ROMs, so I may address this in the near future by burning my own enhanced ROMs.
</back_story>

The computer being a clone had a clone 64kb Aux memory card, a clone Super Serial Card, a clone Disk ][ controller, and a clone PCPI Applicard! The clone Applicard looks identical to a genuine Applicard (I know as I have one) except that it has no text printed on the PCB.

Now with most of the cards in this system, I have had to fully remove all socketed chips and clean them and their sockets with contact cleaner before getting proper operation. With the Applicard having so many chips on it I haven't bothered to do this. I just sprayed the contact cleaner directly onto each chip in place. After doing so I am able to boot into CP/M using the Applicard boot disk.

Now my question is - are there any diagnostic tools for this card to verify that it is working correctly? I'd like to be able to test the RAM on this card (in-place!) as it would be the thing most likely to fail. I couldn't find any diagnostics for this card in the usual areas, nor in the Yahoo CP/M group's file repository for this card.

If you know of any diagnostic software, or even a manual way to test these cards (other than just booting into CP/M as I have already), I'd love to know.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Cheers,
Mike
Re: PCPI Applicard Diagnostic? [message #354996 is a reply to message #354774] Fri, 20 October 2017 07:56 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Steven Hirsch is currently offline  Steven Hirsch
Messages: 798
Registered: October 2012
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Senior Member
On 10/19/2017 05:49 PM, Polymorph wrote:

> If you know of any diagnostic software, or even a manual way to test these
> cards (other than just booting into CP/M as I have already), I'd love to
> know.

I have never seen an Applicard diagnostic.
Re: PCPI Applicard Diagnostic? [message #354997 is a reply to message #354996] Fri, 20 October 2017 08:32 Go to previous message
Polymorph is currently offline  Polymorph
Messages: 206
Registered: October 2012
Karma: 0
Senior Member
On Friday, October 20, 2017 at 10:56:12 PM UTC+11, Steven Hirsch wrote:
> On 10/19/2017 05:49 PM, Polymorph wrote:
>
>> If you know of any diagnostic software, or even a manual way to test these
>> cards (other than just booting into CP/M as I have already), I'd love to
>> know.
>
> I have never seen an Applicard diagnostic.

Thanks Steven!

I was hoping to get a reply from you, because if anyone would know how to test the Applicard it would probably be you. :-)

I'll take it as working seeing that CP/M is booting.

Thanks for confirming my suspicions of there being no diagnostic.

Cheers,
Mike
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