ZVT SPU-800
Also called Systém Pořizování Údajů,TP8.Designed by Ing. Pavel Sedláček.It was manufactured from 1979 (it could have been introduced, the development was definitely taking place) by ZVT B.Bystrica. Hardware is based on 74181 @ 10 MHz.Operating systems running on the computer: SPUAS,MKOS-1.
TP8 Processor Cards
The entire processor is built on TTL 74xx series circuits, so there is no microprocessor in the modern sense of the word.
- DEK – instruction decoder [ 7CB 006 081 ]
- CAZ – time base [ 7CB 006 080 ]
- PRC – program counter [ 7CB 006 079 ]
- ALJ – arithmetic-logic unit [ 7CB 006 082 ]
- LGP – Memory logic [ 7CB 006 083 ]
The front panel is labeled RPL (Control Panel), it is connected to the TP8 bus using individual wires (wound connections).
The model of the processor will probably be some calculator from HP, I guess according to the bus terminology - signals /SIH, /CEO, SP-ScratchPad can be found e.g. in HP9830 or in patent US4012725A.
- TPE [ 7CB 006 134 ]
- ETP [ 7CB 006 135 ]
It is a board with an array of connections with a metric pitch of 2.5 mm. According to the photos, these boards were apparently quite actively used for various specific applications where it was not appropriate to use any existing peripheral board.
- SPU universal board
- SPU-UND [ 7CB 006 113 ]
(it is also possible to use TNS-BASTL, which was created later)
They plug into the ZPP part of the SPU-800 like other peripheral cards
- P1K 1KB ROM [ 7CB 006 084 ] MH74188 +3xMH7442 (2x4+1)
- P4K SRAM 4KB [ 7CB 006 085 ], 8x4 MHB2102
- P16K SRAM 16KB, 32x MHB2114 (this was not an original ZVT product)
The cards can be addressed in the entire 64kB address space of the processor. At least one P1K card usually contains a Boot ROM, e.g. to read another code from the punched tape.
According to available unverified information for the SPU-800 there was also a set of complete controller cards with DRAM memory (cards PMT 7CB 006 275, GAD 7CB 006 276 and RSP 7CB 006 277).
They connect to the ZPP part of the SPU-800
- DPR: Connection board (for "terminal" AZJ 6416) [ 7CB 006 132 ]
- SDS: ARITMA 2050 punched label sensors
- SDP - core tape sensor FS 1501 [ 7CB 006 087 ]
- DDP – DT 105 S hole punch [ 7CB 006 086 ]
- KLV - keyboard Consul 259.1
- MTL - Mosaic printer DZM 180 [ 7CB 006 088 ]
- MTS - CONSUL 2111 serial printer
- ZPD - ZPD 1200 data transfer device
- MPP DZC - Magnetic tape memory CM 5300 [ 7CB 006 138 ]
- SKP,RKP - to connect KPP 800 [ 7CB 006 226 ] (other electronics boards: RSK DEP CRC)
- S2 - serial transmission (MHB1012) [ 7CB 006 233 ]
- “TP8 communication board” (UART MHB8251, RS-232+current loop, IRPS)
- TNS UVI - IRPR printer connection
LED indication:
- KEYB EN: TP8 in mode of entering instructions from the panel, processor stopped
- RUN: The processor runs automatically from the memory bus
- PHASE: Instruction phase, lit for the second byte of double-byte instructions
- CARRY: State of the CR (carry) flag of the processor
Functions (buttons):
- EXECUTE: Executes the selected byte of the instruction (PROgram Counter is not incremented)
- RUN: Starts the processor from the memory bus (blocks entering instructions from the panel)
- STOP: Stops the processor
- STEPS: Executes one instruction from the memory bus and stops the processor
Program Counter, ACC, PHASE, CARRY are displayed dynamically while the processor is running (LEDs flash)
The bus is I/O compatible with 8-bit TNS.
MI[0..7] | memory IN |
MO[0..7] | memory OUT |
MW | Memory Write |
CO[0..3] | I/O select CODe |
SO[0..3] | I/O Status OUT |
SI[0..3] | I/O Status IN |
DI[0..7] | I/O data IN |
TO[0..7] | I/O data OUT |
/SIH | Service INhibit |
/CEO | Control-Enable-Output |
- Distorted replica machine processor cards, some peripheral cards
- Assembler, disassembler
- Tool for punch tape emulation (for SDP card) via PC USB port
- Memory card (SPU-MPPK0 - 32kB SRAM + 512kB banked flash, replaces P1K and P4K)
In 2023, Martin Bílý shared about the use of SPU-800 at CTU FEL: "I knew this as, let's say, an educated user sometime around 1985. I encountered it in, let's say, terminal workstation mode. Four workstations, character screen, keyboard. Connected via domestic modems via a common landline to the parent computer. Modems the size of a shoebox, apparently it was MDS 1200. There was a protocol for addressing individual workplaces on that line. I probably knew it in detail then. I vaguely suspect that the text of the entire line was being scrolled. There was no such thing as a teletype mode. It was not very comfortable to edit files in line mode combined with sharing a slow shared line meant that users only used it in emergencies when they didn't want to wait for "normal" terminals to become available.
In the deployment known to me, it was about expanding the number of user workstations of the ICL-2904 minicomputer. The communication line was a piece of cable, the modems for both ends were on top of each other in the table of one of those workplaces. I don't know why modems were used there. Perhaps that ICL computer required a full and true serial interface on its interface with all control signals and their timings.
I have no idea what the typical use of the SPU-800 was, how and what it was programmed into. In my case, the assembly worked at the imaginary turn of the mains switch."
In a treatise on the history of the use of computer technology at the FE BUT in Brno, he states about SPU-800: "The first terminal classroom was a classroom built on the SPU 800 system... The terminal classroom was connected to the ADT 4316 minicomputer via the TC-99 serial communication protocol, its use began in 1983. The SPU 800 system consisted of a TP8 terminal processor, 9 expanders, with which it was possible to increase the number of connected devices and individual workplaces.In our terminal classroom, these devices were alphanumeric display units AZJ 6416 also produced in ZVT Banská Bystrica [...]
It can be said that during the development of the terminal classroom, a typical feature of that time manifested itself - our workplace had to develop the necessary technical and software equipment on its own. It was a time when devices appeared on the market whose deployment in a specific application was solved by their users themselves. Our workplace was able to implement such activities."
EPROM programmer (see AMARO in references)
Management of technological processes
Peter Šindler states in private correspondence (2024/05) about the use of the SPU-800:
"An interesting deployment of SPU-800 was in Žiar nad Hronom in an aluminum smelter, where a network of SPU-800s (perhaps 10 units) was connected to SM 4-20 and SPU-800s were connected to furnaces for the production of aluminum, where it was determined whether the so-called skin-effect – the emergence of an electrode from liquid aluminum – and the time it took the operator to react rewards. In the beginning it turned out badly, because the operator did not react, which caused very large energy losses. While they got used to it, there was also damage to the computer equipment..."
- DUMP
- ASS III
The program for the punched tape, which is loaded by the standard loader from the SDP card to address 0170000 (0xF000) and counts slowly on the ACC front panel display from 0377 to 0000, the BASE64 encoded content of the punched tape follows:
ADwAOfAA/wBlZv//YwAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAANiVGmVTsTAH/9tl
lhpmU7EwB9STFWOyMAfYvUAwAADo
- Computer with 8080, buses only mechanically compatible with SPU-800, two cards survived, processor with KP580NK80A, and peripheral with KP580NK51
- Unknown computer, D8K memory card and DAK peripheral survived
Inaccuracies/doubts related to the topic
Unknown predecessor - "inspirational model" (probably from Hewlett-Packard)
If you have information on the ''Unknown Derived Computers'' chapter.
Insecure controller with DRAM memory.
If anyone has more information, please get in touch.
Computers derived from ZVT SPU-800
The following computers were inspired by or derived from ZVT SPU-800:References
- https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZVT_SPU-800 (WebArchive)
- Terminálový procesor TP 8, technický popis. ZVT k.p. Banská bystrica
- Terminálový procesor TP 8, prehľad ďalšieho programového vybavenia, ZVT k.p. Banská bystrica, 1980
- Terminálový procesor TP 8, malý kazetopáskový operačný systém MKOS-1, ZVT k.p. Banská bystrica, 1981
- Sedláček, Pavel: Základy programování mikropočítače TP-8
- 4. seminární školení k využití výpočetní techniky-sborník přednášek. Dil 1
- 4. seminární školení k využití výpočetní techniky-sborník programových rutin SPU-800
- 5. seminární školení k využití výpočetní techniky : Sborník přednášek
- 6. seminární školení k využití výpočetní techniky-OS SPUAS - Systémové a aplikační programy
- Klvaňa M. 1983 , MONEX - jednoduchý uživatelský program pro spolupráci periferií systému SPU 800 s pamětí procesoru TP8, R: Konference "Možnosti využití zařízení SPU 800", ČSVTS Praha, 1983, V: Publikace "Možnosti využití zařízení SPU 800", ČSVTS KORT Ostrava, (1983), 72-75
- https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA342651.pdf (WebArchive)
- https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA342661.pdf (WebArchive)
- https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA359734.pdf (WebArchive)
- http://prog-story.technicalmuseum.cz/data/vut-fit/vyuzivani-vt.pdf (WebArchive)
- https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/a0/8c/82/0f7a60dfc96264/CS232023B1.pdf (WebArchive)
- čs. patent PV 1978-767
- Sdělovací technika: měsíčník pro rozvoj a praxi sdělovací elektrotechniky. Praha: Státní nakladatelství technické literatury, 05.1983, 31(5), s. 167. ISSN 0036-9942. Dostupné také z: https://ndk.cz/uuid/uuid:82425d00-6785-11ea-8fc0-005056825209
- Sdělovací technika: měsíčník pro rozvoj a praxi sdělovací elektrotechniky. Praha: Státní nakladatelství technické literatury, 12.1984, 32(12), s. 451. ISSN 0036-9942. Dostupné také z: https://ndk.cz/uuid/uuid:c2efdd70-6373-11ea-8fc0-005056825209