Trionyx H8

[Glenn Roberts]

I’ve been having a conversation with eBay seller ‘griffinstorm’ about the H8 he is selling (284975360469). It is unusual due to its 90-pin Trionyx backplane and three Trionyx boards (Z80 CPU, RAM, and disk I/O) https://imgur.com/a/kdOlF8K

Apparently from an estate sale but someone cherry picked the disk drives and perhaps other components. Also he doesn’t appear to have any docs on the Trionyx boards, which is unfortunate. He also has an H19 (local pickup only) The system is pretty clean, but missing one of the front panel key caps.

I was looking back at the Trionyx ads from the early 80s. They certainly had ambitious plans for the H8, including 16-bit processor boards. Not sure how much of this was ever brought to market though?

It would be nice to preserve this system, especially if we had documentation and any software for the boards. As is increasingly the norm on eBay, the seller is doing the Dutch auction thing so who knows when it will come down to a price the market will bear…

Sent from my iPad

[Mark Garlanger]

I'm within driving distance (roughly 3 hrs each way depending on traffic). But the price is way out of line, and I don't really need another H8. 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SEBHC" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to sebhc+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/C4468295-9FA4-466E-B59B-AA2E7025CF89%40gmail.com.

[Glenn Roberts]

Assuming the price eventually drops under $1K there could be someone in this group who might want it (??) 

 

I’m on the fence about the effort involved to preserve the Trionyx stuff.  Would take someone who has the passion for it and is willing to either track down documentation or do some serious reverse engineering… (that’s probably not me 😊 )

 

• Glenn

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/CAAjkm786jfnDBgepLUOPxfUbwYqOeqLr-Trw4TVUJZj%3DwXR-Vg%40mail.gmail.com.

[norberto.collado koyado.com]

I will be only interested on the C-H8 board. Hoe I can buy such board as I cannot find the listing in eBay?

 

Norby

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/0fc101d8d1b4%24b194b120%2414be1360%24%40gmail.com.

[Mark Garlanger]

It was part of the H8 auction, and it looks like it sold for either the asking price, or maybe best offer - https://www.ebay.com/itm/284975360469

Mark

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/SN6PR01MB38558FF98660E5BDBA7D455DF7529%40SN6PR01MB3855.prod.exchangelabs.com.

[Glenn Roberts]

Now marked as sold (below).  I’m never quire sure what this means.  Presumably he made a deal with someone but I doubt that the price listed is what it went for?  But it says:

 

So perhaps someone has deep pockets??  Or the seller sold for less but reported full price to eBay??  He was sending out emails with offers to buy for $1900…  perhaps a side deal was made but he didn’t want to report it to eBay so he just paid full price commission to them based on the $2,495??  People have gotten very sophisticated at “gaming” the eBay ecosystem.

 

 

the C-H8 board was a floppy disk controller interface which could be used with a variety of disk formats. there's a full page ad for this board in Sextant magazine (p. 19):
https://archive.org/details/sextantissue13novdec1984/page/n21/mode/2up

                          

 

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/SN6PR01MB38558FF98660E5BDBA7D455DF7529%40SN6PR01MB3855.prod.exchangelabs.com.

[Benjamin Hansen]

In my H-8 'spares' box I have an unpopulated Trionyx 16 bit 8088/8086 motherboard that has never been populated.  I inherited a bunch of stuff from my dad when he passed.  

I also have an H-8 chassis with the 16 bit backplane.  I'm not keen on parting with the chassis as I still have a goal of getting a working H-8 system together, BUT I am willing to part with the Trionyx motherboard.  I DO NOT have any manuals or schematics for it.

I would be willing to give it freely to one of you that enjoys reverse engineering and adding to the available new products we all can get these days.  

Please let me know of any interest.

Attached is an image of the front of the board.

Thanks,

Ben Hansen

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/10b601d8d1b7%24cb8ac800%2462a05800%24%40gmail.com.

[norberto.collado koyado.com]

If no takers, just send it to me. This board layout can help me with the Z180 layout.

Norby

Get Outlook for iOS

---

From: se...@googlegroups.com <se...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Benjamin Hansen <bdh2...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2022 12:49:19 PM
To: se...@googlegroups.com <se...@googlegroups.com>

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/CAE9N4dbwGTNYpUpGiu_ofMfdrd29e9Xi3cW28jj3wojhGR%3DVEQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[glenn.f...@gmail.com]

Looks like a beautiful board Ben. Very generous of you.  Wonder if by any chance there’s someone in the group that has one that’s populated?  That might give us a shot at the ROM code, otherwise it’s never going to run.  What a shame that so much of the Trionyx documentation and software is lost.

 

If Norberto ends up with the board he’s likely to be able to make the most use of it…

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/CAE9N4dbwGTNYpUpGiu_ofMfdrd29e9Xi3cW28jj3wojhGR%3DVEQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[Benjamin Hansen]

I will send it on to Norberto then.  Hopefully it will be a useful thing.  We're completely done digging through my dad's stuff yet so keep the fingers crossed.  I can't imagine that he didn't buy the whole kit so maybe there's still an unidentified box of parts for it.

If I do find it I will absolutely make that available as well. 

I'll check the koyado website for contact/mailing info.

Ben

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/02ee01d8d20a%24f9362210%24eba26630%24%40gmail.com.

[norberto.collado koyado.com]

Received the Trionyx 16 bit 8088/8086 board from Ben. It was purchased assembled with no parts. It is a beautiful board and layout is awesome. I have been studying the layout as it will help me to finalized the Z180 16 Bit CPU with 1MB of RAM with same capabilities as the Z80 V4 board.

Thanks, Ben, for your support!

Norberto

---

From: se...@googlegroups.com <se...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Benjamin Hansen <bdh2...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2022 5:58 PM
To: se...@googlegroups.com <se...@googlegroups.com>

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/CAE9N4dYarYV133xbYjyKfScM2w92rtqhd%3Dy4hwxv16zb%2BLmwgw%40mail.gmail.com.

[glenn.f...@gmail.com]

Sounds like a beautiful board.  I guess Trionyx must have had a version of CP/M-86 for this board when it was being sold?  I doubt there are many in circulation.  Would be an interesting board to clone if we could find the schematics…

From: se...@googlegroups.com <se...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of norberto.collado koyado.com

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/SN6PR01MB3855EECB67E0EB0B057D56E6F7249%40SN6PR01MB3855.prod.exchangelabs.com.

[Richard Davis Jr.]

Just an FYI.

I am the person that purchased the Trionyx H8.

The Z-H8 board works flawlessly and has no signs of corrosion.

The M-H8/B and C-H8 boards have corrosion issues on the right half of the board. Seems like someone may have spilled something and tried to clean it up. You can hardly read some of the chip numbers and on one chip, no numbers at all.

I am in the process of repairing the M-H8/B board. I removed all of the non-dram sockets off of the board. Some sockets were actually corroded so bad that contacts had dissolved. Some of the chips were missing pins too.

After the M-H8/B, I will attempt repair of the C-H8 which has the same issues.

The Trionyx monitor ROM has neat feature but, man, you can't load tape images over the serial port at 9600 baud like you can with Heath's ROM image. I even had issues using the H8DUtility program. The H89 loader loaded OK but when it went to access the floppy drive it went off into the weeds. I burned XCON-8 and put that on the board and it works flawlessly and downloads tape images at 9600 baud like the 8080 can.

I tried PAM-37. It boots and operates but if I try to boot the H17, it just beeps. It displays no errors and doesn't even try to access the floppy.

Rick

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/018301d8e094%24d3de4310%247b9ac930%24%40gmail.com.

[Glenn Roberts]

Fantastic! Glad to hear it was saved! Sounds like you’ll have a very nice setup once things are cleaned up and repaired…

Sent from my iPad

On Oct 15, 2022, at 3:17 PM, Richard Davis Jr. <rickdav...@gmail.com> wrote:



To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/CABvWWgam55DhHypzJivLXGgNBbJ8%3DNsTRO0kya0w-ys16dNg8A%40mail.gmail.com.

[norberto.collado koyado.com]

Rick,

I will be interested on the Trionyx Storage controller performance once you get it working. Did you get the schematics along with the board?

Thanks,

Norberto

---

From: se...@googlegroups.com <se...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Richard Davis Jr. <rickdav...@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 15, 2022 12:17 PM

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/CABvWWgam55DhHypzJivLXGgNBbJ8%3DNsTRO0kya0w-ys16dNg8A%40mail.gmail.com.

[Richard Davis Jr.]

Norbeto,

There is absolutely no documentation.

The board has an 8085 on it so I am guessing it is doing all of the work.

There is an 8212 near the bus connector and I am guessing this is the control/status port.

Rick

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/SN6PR01MB3855E5D5FD97FA7A593F7E24F7279%40SN6PR01MB3855.prod.exchangelabs.com.

[Mark Garlanger]

Can you get a dump of the Trionyx ROM? I don't think we have a copy in our library.

Mark

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/CABvWWgam55DhHypzJivLXGgNBbJ8%3DNsTRO0kya0w-ys16dNg8A%40mail.gmail.com.

[Richard Davis Jr.]

Mark,

I did copy the rom in bin format just in case of failure.

I will try to remember to send it tomorrow.

Rick

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/CAAjkm78WoP2%2Bw%2BJYkmNgOV4RJ-GFFuRZxYwfoOYZ_KgmwSHkOA%40mail.gmail.com.

[Richard Davis Jr.]

Attached is the Trionyz Z-H8 ROM.

Rick

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/CAAjkm78WoP2%2Bw%2BJYkmNgOV4RJ-GFFuRZxYwfoOYZ_KgmwSHkOA%40mail.gmail.com.

[norberto.collado koyado.com]

The Z-H8 schematics and files are here: http://koyado.com/Heathkit/Z-H8_CPU_Board.html

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/CABvWWgZX3d8b%2BkjM3Gh%3D9EZuVm%2BMc-E0s-viGGuWwcJm6W-xXw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Richard Davis Jr.]

Norbeto,

Yep, got'em. Use them to see how to turn on 4MHz.

FYI, Your H8 I/O map doesn't show the Z-H8 control/status port.

It is 077Q.

Bit 0 controls clock speed.

0=2MHz, 1=4MHz.

Rick

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sebhc/SN6PR01MB3855CEF3D8E5410C2D2753E5F7269%40SN6PR01MB3855.prod.exchangelabs.com.