Re: catbox

--- John Robertson <pinball@telus.net> wrote:

> andre wrote:
> > I have been reading all morning to try and find
> > something to simplify troubleshooting pcb's for
> > myself. I have no electronics background other
> than
> > learning as I go so whenever someone says 'buy a
> > scope'.. thats probably not gonna help me much.
> >
> > So I was looking at the Atari catbox which seems
> to
> > have been designed for people with no real
> electronics
> > background.... but 'many' posts just say to get a
> > hp5004a instead. I have tried to find more info on
> the
> > HP, but have not been very successful. Looking at
> the
> > front of the unit, there does not seem to be a
> whole
> > lot of things to be able to set. So I am
> wondering,
> > using the Gravitar manual as an example, does the
> HP
> > manual clearly explain how to (for instance);
> >
> > a. TESTER MODE: SIG
> > b. TESTER SELF-TEST: OFF
> > C. PULSE MODE: LATCHED
> > D START: Negative-going edge trigger
> > e. STOP: Negative-going edge trigger
> > f. CLOCK: Negative-going edge trigger
> >
> > or for the ram,
> >
> > DBUS SOURCE: ADDR
> > BYTES: 1024
> > Enter address 0000 with the keyboard~(HP doesn't
> have
> > a keyboard?)
> > SET R/W MODE to PULSE and back to (OFF)..
> >
> > and on and on.. How would I know what was a
> comparable
> > thing to set on the HP? The above are just
> examples of
> > things that I picked out that I can't find
> anything
> > remotely the same on the HP.. When people talk
> about
> > it, they make it sound retty simple to use on in
> place
> > of a CAT but it doesn't seem so... Is this all in
> the
> > manuals with the 5004a?
> >
> >
> One of the nice things about the Cat Box is it can
> be plugged onto the
> side of most Atari MPU boards - that 50 pin
> connector is of use!
>
> Otherwise everything can be done the same with the
> HP as the Cat Box,
> but the Cat Box is simpler to use for beginners.
>
> I must confess that even though I have a couple of
> these in my test
> drawer I always pull out the Fluke 9010 and the
> appropriate pod as it is
> far more powerful tool, plus it will tell you which
> data/address/control
> line is tied to Vcc/Gnd or each other...in a
> service shop the Fluke
> makes sense.
>
> For the average part time user, a Cat Box looks
> nice, takes up a lot
> less space, and is satisfactory for learning how a
> CPU works and
> figuring out where things went wrong. It can do RAM
> and ROM tests (you
> need to add the extra switch to activate the
> Checksum test that was
> built-in, but not accessible from the outside world
> - no switch - for
> some unknown reason), which the HP can't, as well as
> Signature Analysis
> so the Cat Box is somewhat of a combo Fluke/HP tool.
>
> I only use Signatures on Vector boards, never have
> much need for regular
> MPUs as most problems are RAM or ROM or I/O (not
> much left, eh?) with
> blown gates being pretty high on the list.
>
> John :-#)#
>
> --
> John's Jukes Ltd. 2343 Main St., Vancouver, BC,
> Canada V5T 3C9
> Call (604)872-5757 or Fax 872-2010 (Pinballs, Jukes,
> VideoGames)
> www.flippers.com
> "Old pinballers never die, they just flip out"
>
>
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>

Ya, the CAT definitely looks easier, but they never
seem to come up for sale.. anyone have one for sale?

I mainly have vectors to fix..

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Received on Sat May 10 14:08:01 2008