4-bit binary counters 2

[kennyC]

This is embarressingly basic, but my brain is fried from going round in circles.

I have a set of wall sensors that all have individual binary codes that need addressed to step through each module and request the state of all the sensors on each module. The information is sent back to a computer where the info is displayed.

I`m trying to find a simple to implement (preferably hardware, but by software if necessary) a count through from 0 to 16 and loop which will deal with the sensors, but if possible to take take each pulse and use it to increment the program to cycle through each wall module on the computer, ie when the wall module addressing increments from, say, 11 to 12, the computer will increment the "data page" from 11 to 12 as well so the info being fed back is shown in the right place.

ATM, I`m looking at a 2-part binary counter with a separate crystal oscillator. Does anyone have any ideas on all-in-one packages that are cheap and easy to work with?

Any more info ya need, just ask

Thanks a lot,

Kenny

 

[itsmoked]

skogs; I could be wrong on that detail..
Here's what ours looked like:

Even with paper notes stuck on it to list those first few instructions in binary!

http://www.pdp8.net/pdp8i/pics/pdp8i_frontpanel.shtml?med

Those were the days.. Amazing really, to realize how far we've come in computing in just a few years.

Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.-

http://www.flaminsystems.com

- kcress@<solve this puzzle>

 

[zeitghost]

We had a General Automation GA16-220 as a departmental computer.

Aside from disk head crashes due to building work (dust is not kind to hard disks...) it went wrong twice in 8 years: once when the dma card died & once when a zonky 40A diode in the linear psu went s/c coz its mounting nut had come loose.

I'll never forget the smoke from the psu when that happened...

Test equipment ran on GA SPC16 computers with core memory.

As you say, no viruses, no GUI, and green screens that didn't hurt your eyes.

 

[IRstuff]

LSI-11 with DUAL 5MB removables, yeah baby!!!!

TTFN

 

[Skogsgurra]

Oh, sexy, sexy!

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

 

[analogkid2digitalman]

I think yous guys scared off the OP

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"It's the questions that drive us"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[zeitghost]

Yeah.

Proper hard disk drives that took two people to mount into a 19inch rack... 5Mb cartridge & 5Mb fixed platter...

 

[Skogsgurra]

Worse yet, A-kid2D-man. We scare ourselves.

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

 

[MikeHalloran]

Zeit, you brought up a point. I could stare at a green screen for upwards of 24 hours at a time. I can deal with a CRT for 8. This flat screen wears me out in two.

Is it just me?



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[IRstuff]

Green screens weren't that bright, since they were displaying against dark background.

TTFN

 

[Skogsgurra]

Green is also good for your eyes. I feel the same. Thought perhaps that age played a role, too?

The old DOS screens were dark, with greyish text. Sometimes amber or green. Remember doing around-the-clock work with no problems.

We may be on to something. A new trend. "NOSOREYES"(TM) screens?

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

 

[zeitghost]

And the characters were crisp & clear & well defined.

In my collection of valuable artifacts (i.e. junk) I have a PC-XT with a mono screen.

Once in a blue moon I turn it on & am always amazed at how wonderfully clear the text on the screen appears.

 

[IRstuff]

Also, the screens were so dim that you had to use them in a darker environment. I remember the old Tek 4014 vector display we used for graphing outputs from SUPREM and and other simulation programs that needed to be a darkened room to see anything useful. All that reduced the strain on the eyes. Of course, we all then looked like mole people when we left work and entered normal lighting ;-)

TTFN

 

[itsmoked]

Dang! Actually seems like these first terminals were a step backwards from the first thing I used. They worked well.

Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.-

http://www.flaminsystems.com

- kcress@<solve this puzzle>

 

[Skogsgurra]

Yes, and at 10 chars/second, you could read as it typed away. I am not at all that fast these days...

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org

 

[zeitghost]

Ah yes. The joy of producing paper tape source for your FORTRAN IV program... then stepping on it & ripping it to shreds... lucky they made those sticky plastic patch things.

 

[itsmoked]

Those cool yellow rolls with rubber bands on them.

I ran basic on them.

Oh oh!! And playing Star Trek on them.. You'd do a sector scan and it would print out radial sectors.. Then you'd do some trig and put in an angle. Launch photon torpedoes. Bingo! Of course that was between the Least Squares curve fitting you were doing...


Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.- <

http://www.flaminsystems.com>

- kcress@<solve this puzzle>

 

[kennyC]

Thanks MikeHalloran

I didnt think about that aspect, so when i`m done and being asked/interrogated about my design choices I can mention that

 

[zeitghost]

Don't forget to mention the ASR33 teletype & FORTRAN IV too.

People are very impressed by that... )

 

[dford]

I have fond memories of the old Brush strip chart records produced by the 100 Volt Beckman Ease, but I don't miss the sore fingers associated with plugging up a big patch panel. Problem solutions always seemed more tangible in the analog lab then they do now with systems like Simulink.

Anybody remember the old curb feelers on cars?

 

[Skogsgurra]

Systron-Donner analogue computers! And Philbrick dual-tube amplifiers! Anyone impressed?

Gunnar Englund

http://www.gke.org