Re: Challenger 4P - Let's get started!
Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2019 9:43 pm
Yes, that's me. Thank you for your kind words about the Cactus. I'm actually hoping I can get the C4P running well enough to handle BASIC for VCF East in less than 2 weeks, to sit at a table with the Cactus. I figure the C4P is a close relative, primarily due to the BASIC in use being identical.
Back on task: M + ENTER is ineffective as far as I can see. The on-screen garbage is not consistent with each power cycle, except I noticed a pattern in the garbage: so far every character I've looked up that I see on screen? The second nibble is 1011, or 0xB.
Previously, I got this months ago when I had just acquired the machine:
Which indicates to me that the ROMs are still viable.
I'm also noticing that the warmth of some of these RAM chips I've installed seems a bit... toasty. It is entirely possible I got some bogus RAM. Welp, I think it's time I started swapping out pairs until I reach a viable set! So I started pulling RAM chips in pairs, starting at the end farthest from the backplane. I had about 1/3 of it out, when I got a C on screen at RESET.
A few more pairs later, and I got a C/W/M ? prompt. No response beyond it flashing back onto screen, but it's still progress. I'm going to monkey around with RAM until hopefully I have a winning combination.
Back on task: M + ENTER is ineffective as far as I can see. The on-screen garbage is not consistent with each power cycle, except I noticed a pattern in the garbage: so far every character I've looked up that I see on screen? The second nibble is 1011, or 0xB.
Previously, I got this months ago when I had just acquired the machine:
Which indicates to me that the ROMs are still viable.
I'm also noticing that the warmth of some of these RAM chips I've installed seems a bit... toasty. It is entirely possible I got some bogus RAM. Welp, I think it's time I started swapping out pairs until I reach a viable set! So I started pulling RAM chips in pairs, starting at the end farthest from the backplane. I had about 1/3 of it out, when I got a C on screen at RESET.
A few more pairs later, and I got a C/W/M ? prompt. No response beyond it flashing back onto screen, but it's still progress. I'm going to monkey around with RAM until hopefully I have a winning combination.