I do see that Maxim does offer a drop-in replacement for the DS1285.
I'm curious enough about this as to contact TT next week.
> Optimized assembler certainly is
> different for each chip. My experience is that it can take a man year
> to become half way competent in assembler for a particular chip, to
> know whether it was a good choice or not. When I first did that the
> choices were about 5, now there are thousands to choose from. Yet
> some still have the same op codes as those five I had to choose from
> in 1975 but can address much more memory and run much faster.
I was a few years behind you and yes - it takes quite a while to pump
out good assembler. The redeeming thing here is that it's just
basically control functions and and not fast fourier transforms! 8051
tech is alive an well along with it's codebase (who would have guessed
this back in the late '70s).
> I also see a lithium cell on the board.
> Has anyone ever replaced that cell when there was a control board
> problem? Every other radio that vintage with a lithium cell has
> needed replacement. That might be worth the bother in the Omni VI and
> VI+.
I know from experience that an IC-751 can totally loose it's firmware
if the lithium cell dies, but I'm thinking it's more than just losing
code. You suggested a disassembler (if that would solve the problem)
but it's kind of an "in your face" thing to do to a company you like
and what to maintain relations with. But, on the other hand, if someone
would just "happen" to acquire the code through disassembly or by some
other means, the problem could be solved to everyones satisfactions -
if in fact it is code-related.
Since there is a lack of information, I'll give it a rest until I can
ascertain more facts next week and then continue from that point. Maybe
someone at TT will be in a sharing mood by then.
--
Neal, NL7VL
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On Fri, 14 Jan 2011 13:36:58 -0600
"Dr. Gerald N. Johnson" <geraldj@weather.net> wrote:
> That suggestion came up with the slow updates of the Orions a couple
> years ago, but it appears Tentec is unwilling to open up their source
> code to inspection, scrutiny, or user participation in code
> revisions. Likely part of the limitations are that the controler chip
> chosen isn't very popular and the hardware has been locked into a
> limited RAM and ROM space which makes revisions and updates
> excruciatingly tough. That limited space then tends to require
> programming in assembler instead of higher level languages like C or
> C++, and few are skilled in assembler, fewer want to be skilled in
> assembler and assembler tends to be different for each controller
> family, if not each controller chip. Optimized assembler certainly is
> different for each chip. My experience is that it can take a man year
> to become half way competent in assembler for a particular chip, to
> know whether it was a good choice or not. When I first did that the
> choices were about 5, now there are thousands to choose from. Yet
> some still have the same op codes as those five I had to choose from
> in 1975 but can address much more memory and run much faster.
>
> On 1/14/2011 11:09 AM, Neal Laugman wrote:
> > On Fri, 14 Jan 2011 10:40:52 -0600
> > "Dr. Gerald N. Johnson"<geraldj@weather.net> wrote:
> >
> >> I was going to look at the Omni VI control board logic, but unless
> >> I commit to doing a lot, the dozen or 16 schematics turned me off.
> >
> > Uh - yeah. My solution to the problem is this: Barring any
> > intellectual property or licensing issues, release a version of the
> > source code into the public domain and let a 3rd party manufacture
> > the solution. This happens every so often in the software domain,
> > usually creating quite a bit of synergy the OEM can take advantage
> > of in their future product development.
> >
>
> Having the vintage source code would certainly expedite a
> replacement. I wonder if it left with a prior code writer and TT
> doesn't have it to release.
>
> Gerald J.
> _______________________________________________
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> TenTec@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/tentec
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