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Paul Berger (Canada) · 02-10-2020, 05:00 PM

(02-10-2020 06:39 AM)Alexkumt Wrote: In my computer HP86-B
there is this Ic for Keyboard Control :
1MCB-0001
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1bbePM9...LUgUxq4c8x

I just looked at mine and it has the 1MB2-0001 keyboard controller however my board also does not have the language switches populated nor is the ROM immediately above the switches populated, I am guessing that it is the optional language ROM that is mentioned in the tech data sheet.

(02-10-2020 06:39 AM)Alexkumt Wrote: but in the electronic drawn there is : 1MB2-0001
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1nInkjh...8JjimiKFe9

Are they compatible with each other or not?
can I find them somewhere?

I would suspect that they are, perhaps it is a different version to support national languages, the problem is that these are all custom HP chips and the documentation for only a very few have escaped, I have never seen documentation for this chip.

(02-10-2020 06:39 AM)Alexkumt Wrote: Such as the location in memory where the processor
do you read the keyboard?

I do not believe that the I/O addresses are documented, however I guess it is possible there may be something in the Assembler manual. When you type do the correct characters appear on the screen? If so I think that would be a very good indication that the keyboard and its control chip are functioning properly as the OS would just receive a code that indicates what key was pressed and would then determine which character to display on the screen.

I think that what you really need is a diagnostic ROM. If the correct characters appear on the screen when you type, but you get an error message that would suggest to me that there may be an issue with a ROM. The normal power on tests do not do a checksum of the ROM, and the "Test" button executes the same tests as power on. The diagnostic ROM does do a checksum of the ROMs.

Do all commands fail? What about something simple like BEEP a very basic command that does not expect parameters. If there is a ROM issues it may only affect the parsing of specific functions and you may have a situation where only specific functions fail.

Paul.