SONY/Tektronix AWG520 2ch 1Gs/s with no output - repair attempt and teardown - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / repair

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 05, 2020, 11:05:52 pm
content: Hello everybody,I've acquired from my favorite German TE vendor, for a reasonable price, a Sony/Tektronix AWG520 2 channels 1 Gs/s arbitrary waveform generator. Kind of way bigger and heavier brother of the FY6600.As I wasn't able to find a similar topic around, I think is nice to have one regarding this device and his smaller brother AWG510.I've attached the brochure for what this boat anchor could do, actually, is not that old, the last Tex sigil is from 2006, but still a proper boat anchor with three ventilators on the side.I've read the specification and I definitely like the idea of connecting it with a scope and having it "steal" the stored waveform and trying to reproduce it, lots of interesting possibilities are opening here.I've got the user and service manuals, that I can't attach here because of their size, but I can put some links:Service Manual:http://research.physics.illinois.edu/bezryadin/labprotocol/AWG520ServiceManual.pdfUser Manual:http://research.physics.illinois.edu/bezryadin/labprotocol/AWG520UserManual.pdfUnfortunately, like with most of the newer TE, the service manual is just block and board replacement depth, no schematics whatsoever, if anybody have some CLP for this device I would really appreciate it they can let me heve a copy.Now about the defect, as described by the vendor:"Device powers up and pass the internal tests, unfortunately there isn't any signal at the output, after the first power up, the signal was there but it disappeared afterwards, We've tried to open it,I have but the lid stuck halfway because of a dent in the case. No further repair attempt has been made."This is definitely a strange description, as the used equipment sellers will use any means possible to forcefully open a device in hope of finding a easy repair opportunity and double the price (and in the process destroying it permanently), but what the hell, it was reasonably cheap and I have a long winter vacation coming so I've bought it.It arrived today, nicely packed, optically it looks very clean and I wasn't able to see the famous dent that prevent the removal of the lid but sadly I've heard some small part jiggling inside, so this time I will stay true to the mantra "first open it then power it on", so in the meantime here a couple of photos front and back and hopefully tomorrow we'll see the insides and what is the mystery lose part.

author: bob91343
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 05, 2020, 11:21:37 pm
content: It would be fun to play with one of those if it worked. I see a disk drive on the left so that means it's pretty old. How much did it cost?

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 05, 2020, 11:24:45 pm
content: Even with only the block diagrams it should be possible to repair. Just follow the signals using an oscilloscope. Amplifiers and DACs should be easy to identify. If both outputs aren't working then the problem is in a part which is shared by both outputs.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2020, 06:52:48 pm
content: Hello again,good news everybody, today was a dark Gothic day here, so just the perfect time for Niklaus presents and repair time.I've started by trying to remove the outer case, that is some kind of a sleeve, one has to remove the 6 screws in the black hinter feet and pull the outer shell. And pull, and pull, and pull..., and finally it gave up, I've seen nothing wrong and the floating part was unfortunately not inside the main box, but somewhere between the plastic front panel and the metal counterpart, I'll have to remove it anyway when the time will come for the CRT replacement.Anyways, the beast is now open and inside is extremely clean, a feature seldom found in old TE.On the top side we have the controlling industrial PC (in the metal cage with holes), with a 486DX-100MHz and three ISA slots, more detailed pictures later, when I'll pop it up and imagine the HDD (the IDE connector and a BIOS battery could be found in the picture), the power supply in the fully shielded box and beside this just some connection board (A10) with all connectors having an elegant 3M pull tab, impressive:The real stuff is on the bottom, where the gazillion of hybrids, RAM, clock generator, attenuator with a lot of relays and the expected RF plumbing is:On the side, 3 large, but mostly silent fans are cooling the beast:So much for the initial teardown, more stuff will be showing up soon when I'll imagine the HDD and disassemble the control PC.Let's continue with the actual testing and repair.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2020, 08:10:28 pm
content: OK then, let's pop open a Sanpellegrino Clementina and start inspecting: no actual dust, no exploded or leaking elcos, in summary nothing suspicious, OK then, put the beefy table fan to blow on the back board where the whole hybrid and RAM agglomeration is and push the power.IMPORTANT NOTE: If you repair such a device, do NOT let it run for more than 3-5min without the case, if you need a longer time use a strong external fan to blow over the analogue board (even so, try to do it for less than 30min) , the hybrids and memory are REALLY getting hot and they will die.So at the first power on, nothing blows, the fans are reasonable silent for their size and the system performs the startup checks, all pas and displays the OS and the User Program versions, both 2.0, so far so good. the screen is bright and focused enough, no traces of burn-in. At the end of the boot procedure it goes into the super-complex waveform editor and this is it.OK, this is incomprehensible without studying the manual, maybe there are some waveforms saved by the previous owner, oh, there are, something like 20 of them, with names derived from car engine mechanical parts, maybe this thing was used for testing engines or such, good, let's load one..."Invalid File Format"... another one..."Invalid File Format", wth is this stuff... OK, one of them finally loads, the front panel RUN button goes active and I can see some VERY strange shape on the output, even mixed with noise, but the output is controllable and so is the output level.OK, we have something, even if uglay, first factory reset, done, then let's do extended diagnostics, full PASS, yupiee, is hot enough, let's do calibration, YUPIEE, full PASS without any errors whatsoever. Good then, let's see how this wave editor thingie works and what was the maths representation of a sine and square wave.... uhmmmm... click, click... more uhmmm... screw this, let's get some example form the user manual, they must have some or... not,"....for basic waveforms, like sine, square, ramp, triangle, etc, use the EZ-wave button...", am I blind, what EZ-wave button, there is no such a thing on all the menus.Could it be that the manual is for a later version of software, let's see what Tek has to offer, is it user upgradeable, seem so, go to download, need an account, naja, I'm making an account, Neh,neh,neh, not so fast buster, we need you full address, and phone, and where you pee and then wait for itsigh... OK, waiting for it.In the meantime, let's check the floppy, it will absolutely be some vile procedure involving maybe multiple floppies, oh crap, the floppy is dead as a door nail, no reaction at the disk insertion and the interface says "No disk is inserted", the hell isn't, out with the floppy and see what now...The floppy, of course a Sony is clean and nice, but some gorilla bend the ejector arm that doesn't let the disk position itself correctly in the drive, bend it carefully back, everything OK, do a test formatting of an original WIn'95 floppy and prepare the USB external floppy. The account is ready, latest version seem to be 2.30, download it, a zip archive with a 6MB binary !!! a Changelog and a Readme, let's see what perversion we have there:"- Connect with a FTP client form your PC (no user or password, different times) and copy the binary in the /main directory, then use the utility button and select update User Program then power-cycle when done."Is that it, no multi-floppy diarrhea, no strange hidden switch, nothing ?!?!?- Tek: OK, go to the"Communication"menu and set your IP, sorry no DHCP available, this is a security risk, everybody knows, there you can also set your GPIB address and other communication related stuff.- Me: Uhmm.., what about the"Network"menu, isn't this a more logical choice ?- Tek: Neah, you simpleton, there is where you set the parameters for the NFS mounts, everybody knows !!!OK, done, reboot,OS: 2.0, User Program: 2.3, mission accomplished, where is my "EZ-waveform" menu, I want to output a sine and square wave, scheiße, no EZ-Waveform menu.More digging on Tek site, more swearing that I'm not a terrorist and here comes the 4.0 package: the User Program 4.0, package together with the OS 3.0, let's check the Changelog:-Changes--Release note for AWG500s OS version:3.0 and User Program version: 4.0======================================================================Note: This includes the release note for User Program version: 3.0.1. Features (User Program version:3.0)1) Implemented simple Function Generator mode, EZ FG.The instrument always set to the normal mode after the power-on.To start up FG Mode:- After rebooting, the Waveform/Sequence section on the side menuwill contain a selection called "EZ FG..."- Press this selection to start the FG mode application.- Refer to the FG Mode user manual for more details.2) Added enhanced FTP server.a. more friendly with GUI-based FTP client.b. improved transfer rate.c. support for more requests.The previous one can be selected for backward compatibilityby either way;UTILITY -> Service -> Tweak AWG1 -> FTP Version Standard | ObsoleteSYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:FTP[:SERVer]:VERSion STANdard | OBSolete3) Added NFS timeout setting.UTILITY -> Service -> Tweak AWG1 -> NFS Timeout <timeout>SYSTem:COMMunicate:LAN:NFS:TLIMit <timeout>where <timeout> is a value in second, from 25 to 300.Factory default is 300.2. Main Fixes (User Program version:3.0)1) CH2 marker delayes might not be restored correctlyif the CH1 key is pressed.*** This problem could be happen only for AWG520-op03.3. Copyright Notice(OS version:3.0 and User Program version:4.0)Change the Copyright Notice to Tektronix Japan, Ltd.- end -OK then, same procedure, reboot, oh yess, now we're talking, let's show stuff to the closer scope, the Riglol, the super cool part, everything works as expected, the miserable part, I have a Agilent MSO6054 with proper 50ohm inpuse and using this POS ?!?!?THE DEVICE WORKS PROPERLY, I'M DONE MUHAHAHA, TAKE THIS ELCO REPLACERS !!!Oh well, is late, tomorrow, the insides of the control PC and pretty waveforms on the Agilent screen, today just some diagnostic and calibration results screenshots, also a new mystery "Service Menu" button shows on the screen, see in the next episode...

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 06, 2020, 09:28:46 pm
content: Cool that it works!An interesting upgrade for the 486DX100 may be a Pentium overdrive. A long time ago I upgraded a Lecroy AWG from 486DX to Pentium overdrive and it made creating waveforms much faster because of the much improved FPU performance of a Pentium. Maybe the same is true for this AWG520.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 07, 2020, 04:22:20 am
content: Quote from: nctnico on December 06, 2020, 09:28:46 pmSadly, this seems to be some kind of non-standard motherboard, we'll see later when I'll pull it out to clone the HDD.DC1MC

author: Greybeard
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 07, 2020, 09:12:56 am
content: Quote from: nctnico on December 06, 2020, 09:28:46 pmAbout 25 years ago, I made an upgrade of my 486DX100 PC by using an AMD486-133, which uses internal clock multiplier 4x (33 MHz) instead of 3x of the original Intel 486DX100. I think I had to use a bigger heat sink for the AMD and reduced Vcore

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 07, 2020, 03:59:28 pm
content: I can confirm the AWG610 looks identical inside from the top. Same interconnect & power distro board, and same PC enclosure. But the CPU in the 610 is a Pentium.Be very careful making an image of the HD if the 520 is based on VxWorks as the 610 is. I don't think there is any way to re-install the OS and software if/when the drive(s) die or if you mung one. (The 610 has two drives; a 16MiB SSD, and an 8(?) GiB 2.5" spinning rust.)I'll be following closely if you decide to delve into imaging the HD(s).

author: YetAnotherTechie
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 07, 2020, 07:25:05 pm
content: Don't plug the drive(s) into an external enclosure and connect it to windows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Windows writes a test file to external storage when first plugged and ruins it for imaging.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 07, 2020, 07:32:45 pm
content: Quote from: Martin Hodge on December 07, 2020, 03:59:28 pmI will definitely delve into imaging, the device is too cool to have it disabled by a bad spinning rust.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 07, 2020, 07:35:18 pm
content: Quote from: YetAnotherTechie on December 07, 2020, 07:25:05 pmWell, if someone uses windows for imaging unknown disks it's kind of looking for it. Anyways since decades I'm using Linux and just have some windozian VMs around, so I will totally NOT use windows, dd and its bigger brother, ddrescue is all I need.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 07, 2020, 09:09:52 pm
content: OK, time for screwdriver driven brain surgery!!!The "brain", still in one piece, inside and out:The "brain case" the ISA back-plane, inside and out:

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 07, 2020, 09:20:07 pm
content: The ISA cards, in order of appearance (one per post, because for some reason I'm getting the message "Your attachments failed security check"):GPIB:

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 07, 2020, 09:20:44 pm
content: LAN card:

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 07, 2020, 09:27:42 pm
content: Disks card, yes there a two of them a 10MB SSD !!!! and some Hitachi rotating rust, more details in the imaging post:

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 07, 2020, 09:29:07 pm
content: And finally, the CPU card, that has all the peripherals that a 90ies PC has, two COM ports, one LPT, two floppy and one Master/Slave IDE interface, PS2 mouse and keyboard and of course the VGA output.The board is a "sandwich" of the actual CPU + cache memory, planted on some mezzanine connectors on the ISA carrier that has the chipset itself.It could be theoretically possible to replace the CPU card with a better one, but where t find it.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 07, 2020, 10:46:31 pm
content: Imagination time, first the rotating rust:scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access HITACHI_ DK226A-21 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2 CCSsd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0sd 6:0:0:0:  4221504 512-byte logical blocks: (2.16 GB/2.01 GiB)sd 6:0:0:0:  Write Protect is offsd 6:0:0:0:  Mode Sense: 28 00 00 00sd 6:0:0:0:  No Caching mode page foundsd 6:0:0:0:  Assuming drive cache: write throughsdc: sdc1sd 6:0:0:0:  Attached SCSI disk$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sdcDisk /dev/sdc: 2,1 GiB, 2161410048 bytes, 4221504 sectorsDisk model: DK226A-21Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytesSector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytesI/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytesDisklabel type: dosDisk identifier: 0x00000000Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type/dev/sdc1 * 63 4193279 4193217 2G 6 FAT16$ sudo dd if=/dev/sdc of=Hitachi.img password:4221504+0 records in4221504+0 records out2161410048 bytes (2,2 GB, 2,0 GiB) copied, 464,997 s, 4,6 MB/s$ sudo dd if=/dev/sdc of=Hitachi_1.img4221504+0 records in4221504+0 records out2161410048 bytes (2,2 GB, 2,0 GiB) copied, 465,083 s, 4,6 MB/ssha256sum Hitachi.imgbd0f260ec57ae7e11167c26b38d77c6f764bb462cf92fd08410fe69827d83803 Hitachi.img$ sha256sum Hitachi_1.imgbd0f260ec57ae7e11167c26b38d77c6f764bb462cf92fd08410fe69827d83803 Hitachi_1.imgAnd now the strange 10MB SSD, maybe the OS disk ?40794.939110] usb-storage 3-1:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected[40794.939660] scsi host6: usb-storage 3-1:1.0[40795.948226] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access AX-SSD-10M PQ: 0 ANSI: 2 CCS[40795.948750] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0[40795.949082] sd 6:0:0:0:  20480 512-byte logical blocks: (10.5 MB/10.0 MiB)[40795.949420] sd 6:0:0:0:  Write Protect is off[40795.949424] sd 6:0:0:0:  Mode Sense: 28 00 00 00[40795.949728] sd 6:0:0:0:  No Caching mode page found[40795.949733] sd 6:0:0:0:  Assuming drive cache: write throughBut here my luck is over, the DD or any other command trying to read form it just blocks, no error, nothing, do I have now a heavy brick or not, see tomorrow in the next episode, if there was some self-destroying disk or just not compatible with my JMicron PATA to USB reader, see in the next episodes.Cheers,DC1MC

author: madao
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 08, 2020, 05:27:00 am
content: Do you want swap this old 486 SBC with my SBC Board with Pentium 133?I have a running Board in similar format with Pentium 133 CPU.Interessing ?I'll take soon Photo of board.Greetingsmatt

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 08, 2020, 07:06:00 am
content: Quote from: madao on December 08, 2020, 05:27:00 amAbsolutely Matt, I would be very interested, now I want just to see if I just produced a heavy brick by trying to read the special 10MB SSD (hopefully not and it's just a retarded IDE password protection). But by any means, please post the pictures.Regarding the strange SSD, it has to be the most frigging expensive SSD in the world per megabyte, this is the one and only information I've found about it, on the IBM's Japanese site:https://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/printableversion.wss?docURL=/common/ssi/rep_ca/9/760/VLH98059/index.html&request_locale=en#LABEL_C11So if somebody has information about this strange 10MB !!! SSD animal:AX-SSD-10that cost a meager 56000 YEN !!!, I would be very interested to know about it.The other spinning rust HDD will be replaced anyways with another one, during the copying operation was making the old HDD noises, but let's see the SDD if it's worth decodingCheers,DC1MC

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 08, 2020, 08:59:58 pm
content: In case you don't already know, you can watch the instrument's boot sequence, and get into the BIOS settings, by holding in the button on the top board while pressing the power button. You can use this to set it to boot from floppy and then boot just about any floppy based DOS. Though I guess you'd need some kind of VxWorks boot floppy to do any kind of meaningful forensics on the drives. Hopefully these SSDs are set to read-only and will last many years. I'm eager to see if you're successful replacing the other HDD.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 08, 2020, 09:53:21 pm
content: Quote from: Martin Hodge on December 08, 2020, 08:59:58 pmHi Martin, thanks for the info, could you specify which button you actually refer, which top board ?Here I have disassembled the mystery IBM 10MB secure SSD and made a picture front/back of the PCB.For the 2GB klonker replacement I've bought one of these (I'm actually thinking to get more):https://www.ebay.de/itm/SSD-APACER-2GB-IDE-FLASH-THINCLIENT-HP-T5500-T5530-44PIN-POL-DOM-SSD-DISK-ON-CHI/324158549102DO NOT BUY THIS, IS TOO SMALLand one of these:https://www.amazon.de/-/en/44-Pin-2-5-Inches-Changer-Convertor-Adapter/dp/B003534VDQHopefully they will fit in the cage.I'm now really curious what king of military grade SSD is the 10MB disk, the board is clearly IBM and as we can see in the previous message the only thing I was able to find about it is a price change notice from IBM, from very expensive to ludicrous expensive.In the meantime, enjoy the pictures,DC1MC

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 09, 2020, 03:20:23 am
content: The button is on the A10 board. The board you labeled "top" in your images above, you can see it there. It points at a little hole to the left side of the chassis. You can press it through the cover with a long pen or pencil.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 09, 2020, 04:53:58 am
content: Quote from: Martin Hodge on December 09, 2020, 03:20:23 amEverything is clear now, thanks, I was wondering what purpose it has.

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 09, 2020, 05:33:39 am
content: Also check your front panel pcb for a SMT electrolytic near the Piezoelectric buzzer. This one leaked on my 610 and destroyed the pcb trace going to the front power button. That is how I got mine cheap, it wouldn't power on.In this pic I've already replaced the bad cap and run bodge wires to fix traces. The capacitor only runs the buzzer and I've never heard it being used.The trace right at the edge of the pcb, near the bad cap, happens to be the power button trace. The trace that runs alongside supplies 2KHZ square wave signal to the bell circuit. If you want to test that the bell still works, momentarily touch a 1k resistor between R90 and the nearby VCC test loop. You should hear a convincing 2KHz "DING" sound. Without the capacitor it sounds like "DIT".I only mention this because it's a neat little circuit worthy of study if one wants a half decent bell sound.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 09, 2020, 05:49:57 am
content: Quote from: Martin Hodge on December 09, 2020, 05:33:39 amThanks,a cleaning/removing of a small part trapped there that makes noise when shaked is on my todo list.

author: madao
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 09, 2020, 02:52:42 pm
content: Quote from: DC1MC on December 08, 2020, 07:06:00 amI didn't belive, it fit 100% in AWG520, because 14pole (?) connector to Board is special.My board is PENTIUM/6X86 PIA-460

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 09, 2020, 03:00:37 pm
content: Quote from: madao on December 09, 2020, 02:52:42 pmI'll give it a try, please PM with the price and I'll quickly reassemble my beast to see if it still runs and if you want to part with it I'll take it. Also if you don't have a replacement board for the AWG510 I can offer you my existing 486, if the new board fits and works. Please post a picture if possible.Cheers,DC1MC

author: madao
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 09, 2020, 04:32:02 pm
content: PM sendIf System has a Intel 486DX4 , then is upgrade possiblty marginal. (Pentium Overdrive is rare and expensiv)AMD 5x86-133 ist minor faster than Intel DX4-100. Reason: Intel DX4 is a heavy improvement 486.Improvement of Intel DX4 is not only 3.3V and 16kb L1. Also FPU and Intger-unit is better than old 486. Up to 10% faster at same clock.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 09, 2020, 06:34:28 pm
content: Quote from: madao on December 09, 2020, 04:32:02 pmHi Matt, PM replied, I don't actually know what species of 486 I have, for this I have to lift the cooler, but as I've said, out of curiosity, I want to see if it works with another board, the beast will stay anyways open until the 2GB SSD will arrive, I really want to get rid of the spinning rust, it makes strange noises, the 10MB secret SSD it's probably safe for a long while.So I'm waiting for an answer from you, today I'll go early to sleep, the clutch of my car failed and I've got a German price quotation that makes me wonder if it's not the time to get anotrer car, but with the ecologist on the rise one never knows what will be permitted to drive in the city in a coupe of years,So being a bit pooped I'll just read until sleeping.DC1MC

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 10, 2020, 06:11:51 pm
content: The 2GB SSD arrived very fast, now I have to wait for the gender changer.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 10, 2020, 07:41:04 pm
content: After I've found an adapter and being happy, then this happened, FRAK ALL THE STUPID SIZES !!!Original 2GB Disk: 4221504 512-byte logical blocks: (2.16 GB/2.01 GiB)New SSD: 4000752 512-byte logical blocks: (2.05 GB/1.91 GiB)Actual partition end:Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type/dev/sdc1 * 63 4193279 4193217 2G 6 FAT16Way after the last block of the small basterdsudo dd if=Hitachi.img of=/dev/sdcdd: writing to '/dev/sdc': No space left on device4000753+0 records in4000752+0 records out2048385024 bytes (2,0 GB, 1,9 GiB) copied, 425,544 s,4,8 MB/ssudo dd of=Hitachi_ver.img if=/dev/sdc4000752+0 records in4000752+0 records out2048385024 bytes (2,0 GB, 1,9 GiB) copied, 104,909 s,19,5 MB/sAt least the speed is not crappy, I have now to search a 4GB oneDepressed,DC1MC

author: capt bullshot
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2020, 09:23:32 am
content: Have you tried gparted or similar to resize that partition? A FAT16 partition shouldn't be a big deal for it.Not with the original disk, use an intermediate copy, then put that resized image onto the new SSD.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2020, 05:28:53 pm
content: Quote from: capt bullshot on December 11, 2020, 09:23:32 amIf the Winriver guys would have not perverted the FAT structure for the DOS filesystem would have been an excellent solution, but being @-locher they've created some mutant thing that shows as truly defective and gparded doesn't want to continue.I've found an old Linux driver to mount that perverted FS, but unfortunately for the kernel 2.8.something and doesn't compile anymore on newer kernelsIn the end I've got a 4GB CF card with adapter, let's see how this works.Cheers,DC1MC

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 11, 2020, 07:33:52 pm
content: It appears the SSD (drive C:) is a standard FAT partition. This would make sense as the BIOS would need something familiar to boot from. When booting from a DOS 6.22 floppy I can get a sane looking directory listing of C: (see img)A dir of D: (the rust) is barely legible though, which leads me to believe it's HRFS.

author: YetAnotherTechie
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2020, 07:44:51 pm
content: don't forget to check for te existence of HPA (host protected area) on the disks

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2020, 07:48:36 pm
content: Quote from: YetAnotherTechie on December 11, 2020, 07:44:51 pmDow does one check for this ?

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2020, 07:50:12 pm
content: Quote from: Martin Hodge on December 11, 2020, 07:33:52 pmThis is totally different from my rotating rust, what kind of DOS did you boot, is 6.22 OK ?DC1MC

author: YetAnotherTechie
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2020, 08:31:21 pm
content: Quote from: DC1MC on December 11, 2020, 07:48:36 pmI use MHDD from hddguru. Aparenlty is also possible with hdparm in linuxQuotetaken fromhttps://superuser.com/questions/642637/harddrive-wipe-out-hidden-areas-like-hpa-and-dco-after-malware-infectionIf enabled, max sectors and max physycal sectors will be different, i don't have a log here, but smartd might also tell you.(but not allow you to change it)I've never seen nor dealt with DCO mentioned in that page, but HPA was relatively common in 90/2000's for recovery tools/partitions in laptops,etc

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 11, 2020, 08:36:11 pm
content: Quote from: DC1MC on December 11, 2020, 07:50:12 pmYes 6.22, but the image I posted was from the SSD, not the HD.I've also successfully booted this 610 on freedos and a win98 boot disk. I think any floppy that will boot on a 486/pentium pc should boot on your 520. But you do have to go into the BIOS and change the boot order to "A then C". (Assuming your 520 has similar bios of course)

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2020, 05:35:08 pm
content: Quote from: Martin Hodge on December 11, 2020, 08:36:11 pmHmmm, so either the SBC has a bios password for the SSD, or is some strange timing problem that the SSD is recognized, but unreadable, with the IDE-USB adapter. Definitely I must boot it with a floppy to see if I see it on my side as well.The HDD has a "normal" boot sector and MBR, and I've found the User application that I've updated early in the HDD image content.I have had a terrible lack of energy today, mostly due to the gothic weather all day, but tomorrow I will try to reassemble it enough to boot and see what I'll find there.DC1MC

author: YetAnotherTechie
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2020, 07:27:24 pm
content: could it be that it's accessed by cyl-track-sector and not lba? in that case those parameters would be on the bios settings

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2020, 10:14:48 pm
content: So, being mortally boredand after drinking a can of "Crazy Wolf" (a even more toxic German version of "Red Bull", I've decided to reassemble provisionally the brain cage and first see if the device still works and then see if can get the SSD image out of it.- Step one, reassembly complete, device still works perfectly,.- Step two,to Martin Hodge, I've booted in the BIOS of the device and there is nothing special there, some Phoenix BIOS (see pictures). but it boots and the boot order can be switched to start from floppy, all OK, but which floppy ?!?- Step three: Find and make a bootable Linux floppy that has all the network drivers and could automatically load them, also must be a 1,44MB image, instead of the more usual 1,72MB. Why Linux, because Linux is the hornyest OS in the world, it mounts everything.Here we have Pocket Linux, perfect for this purpose:https://archiveos.org/pocket/Let's give it a try, it boots wonderfully, now let's find a keyboard, then a PS2 adapter, found, we can select on the startup menu "Manual Network Setup" and put something in the IP class of my shared network interface, done, ping traditionally yahoo.com, it launches mtr (a traceroute type utility) but it works like a charm. wonderful, but the old dd command on the floppy is a POS and doesn't do what the modern DD command does and also there is no place to actually copy the image, what to do, I have no other 2,5" IDE disk, kind of stuck, but hey, happy, happy, joy, joy, we have a ftp client !!!, one can do things using a ftp client!!!At least I can brutally mount the mystery SSD and see the same files as Martin H. :mount /dev/hda1 -o ro /mntAt this moment one can do als /mntand copy the files on another floppy (the boot floppy can be removed, as the Linux run entirely in RAM), but then I want the full SSD image, that is/dev/hda- Step four: Make a ftp server on my laptop running Linux Mint (or any other Ubuntu variant), in three simple steps:4.1)sudo apt install vsftpd4.2)sudo vi /etc/vsftpd.confand enable writing of files (delete the # in front ofwrite_enable=YESline), save and exit ( ESC, followed by:wq)4.3)sudo systemctl restart vsftpd- Step five, become überhacker, on the Pocket Linux console start the ftp command and when prompted input your user name and password.Yeah so what, b-but the/dev/hdais a special device file, you can't treat it like a normal file !!! You think so, we are überhackers here,let's try this eleet command:put "| cat /dev/hda" ssd_10mb.imgHey look, it worked, we can even try for the HDD (/dev/hdb) but since it was copied already, I leave this as an exercise for the people that want to have an image of the rotating rust without disassembling the device, VERY recommended to keep images of storage media, because when they're gone, is game over.So now we have a nice image, can we mount it with this Mint horny Linux ?!?!# los SDD_10MB.img/dev/loop0/mnt/loop0p1#ls -la /mnt/loop0p1total 7284drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 16384 Jan 1 1970 .drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Dez 12 22:49 ..-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 283008 Mai 10 2000 bootrom.sys-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 192 Dez 6 18:48 cal.dat-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 32 Jul 27 1998 delays.dly-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 6495984 Dez 6 18:29 pegasus-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 642448 Dez 6 18:27 pegasus.os-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1743 Jan 1 1996 setup.infAnd here we are, let's cat a file that may have some interesting stuff:# cat /mnt/loop0p1/setup.inf/* *//* setup.inf *//* build#971028a *//* *//* See document file in $PROJECT/doc/setup.inf for detail. *//* *//* drive definitions */c_drive = 0d_drive = 1axssd03 = 0axssd10 = 1dpra21215 = 2caviar1425 = 3dk224a14 = 4dk225a14 = 4dk226a21 = 5/* installation parameters *//* drive type */cDriveType = axssd10dDriveType = dk226a21/* install device */sysInstallDevice = 1 /* 0 for diskettes, 1 for network *//* os *//* sysInstallOsFrom: CHANGABLE, sysInstallOsTo: DON'T CHANGE */strcpy &sysInstallOsFrom, "/product/awg500/pegasus.os"strcpy &sysInstallOsTo, "/ide0/pegasus.os"/* user program *//* sysInstallUsrFrom, CHANGABLE, sysInstallUsrTo DON'T CHANGE */strcpy &sysInstallUsrFrom, "/product/awg500/pegasus"strcpy &sysInstallUsrTo, "/ide0/pegasus"/* network parameters, CHANGABLE */strcpy &sysInstallSelfIp, "3.22.99.3"strcpy &sysInstallHostIp, "3.22.104.1"sysInstallNetProtocol = 0 /* 0 for TFTP, 1 for NFS *//* operation parameters *//* system startup script, NEVER CHANGE */strcpy &sysStartupFile, "/ide0/setup.inf"/* load & initial state, DON'T CHANGE, but CHANGABLE only for debugging */usrBootLevel = 2 /* 0 for BOOT_DONTLOAD, 1 for BOOT_LOAD, 2 for BOOT_LOADGO */strcpy &usrLoadFile, "/ide0/pegasus"strcpy &usrInitDir, "/main/"strcpy &usrStartupFile, ""/* user program entry point, NEVER CHANGE */strcpy &usrEntry, "_usrProgramEntry"/* the end of information file */At the end, enjoy some not so greatCRT pictures with different phases described above, you will realize which is whichDC1MC

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 13, 2020, 01:20:50 am
content: Nice work! It looks like you got as far as one user on the Tek forums did with being able to get an image of both drives. He was never able to write those images to new drives and get them to work, though. Will be interesting to see your results with the 4gb drive you have on the way.I would be interested to see a dir listing of your 520s HDD using your linux floppy.

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 13, 2020, 03:58:30 am
content: For comparison, here's what DOS 6.22 thinks of the HDD in my 610 vs what the machine's own OS shows. (Looks like your 520 HDD is just fat16?)

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2020, 07:38:18 am
content: Quote from: Martin Hodge on December 13, 2020, 01:20:50 amI will give it a try, but AFAIK there is this perverted FAT filesystem, so probably nothing of value will be gained, but AFAIK, the files can be copied either on the floppy or on the NFS shares.On the other hand, I'll love if you can post the Tek forum thread dealing with this, looking in the setup.inf file I see a small list of disks:/* drive definitions */c_drive = 0d_drive = 1axssd03 = 0axssd10 = 1dpra21215 = 2caviar1425 = 3dk224a14 = 4dk225a14 = 4dk226a21 = 5/* installation parameters *//* drive type */cDriveType = axssd10dDriveType = dk226a21...I hope that they didn't lock the OS/data on the disk ID, this will be really a POS, but where is need (and IdaPro), there is a way.At least for the rotating rust, something must be done, this thing makes really scary noises on my device, and most likely on many others.Cheers,DC1MC

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 13, 2020, 12:25:18 pm
content: Here is the brief mention by "Carl M" his link to his previous message doesn't work.https://forum.tek.com/viewtopic.php?t=136866

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 13, 2020, 12:40:58 pm
content: I think this is the broken link. Carl M appears to be a Tek employee?https://forum.tek.com/viewtopic.php?t=136573Have you tried just creating a fat16 partition on your new, too small drive and plugging it in?

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2020, 02:06:58 pm
content: Thanks Martin for the hunting the Tek links, unfortunately I kind of fell the the good Carl it may be an excellent Tek but the subtleties of the IDE disks may have been a bit too much for him, especially the CHS vs. LBA layout.Some of the other guys tried to correct some of the things (especially regarding the bootrom.sys, that a a system file that must be indeed in a favorite place for the device to boot. like msdos.sys).And the good man thought that the OS is Linux. Also the doom and gloom that the files are not available anymore, they are, just not in a nice "click and create a disk" format. And by this I mean the updates from Tek could be used to restore a instrument with missing or fully bleached disks.EDIT: Small correction here, the latest OS update is just thepegasus.osfile out of the whole system, I'm looking for earlyer updates if they contain more.For this one just needs a program to create the disks properly, I may try to write one when I have the male IDE connector adaptor, because both the too small pseudo 2GB and the 64MB I bought for the 10MB replacement have female connectors, like usually DiskOnChip have:https://www.ebay.de/itm/224002102325So no instrument testing is possible until the adapters are arriving, I've desperately searched in my old junk box, but could not find any PATA disks left. In the mean time I'll try to focus on the Linux driver that I've found, once I'm able to read and write files, amkfs.vxfatutility should follow. there is no need to create a FAT16 partition, the actual VXEXT1 partition type shows as FAT12 and a FAT16 partition will most likely be ignored.Cheers,DC1MC

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2020, 03:06:35 pm
content: Just for the lolz I have tried to boot the images via QEMU, it worked nicely until of course they wanted to connect to the HW, but it confirmed that the FTP extracted SSD image was OK.Here is the command line and some screenshot:qemu-system-i386 -drive format=raw,file=SDD_10MB.img -drive format=raw,file=Hitachi.img

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 13, 2020, 05:03:44 pm
content: Very exciting. You are more advanced in the filesystem knowledge than I. So I will be quiet for now and follow your investigations.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2020, 05:29:52 pm
content: Quote from: Martin Hodge on December 13, 2020, 05:03:44 pmAbsolutely do NOT be quiet, but kindly please look over my shoulder!!!

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2020, 06:59:50 pm
content: And here we go, I've updated the Linux vxext driver to compile with current Ubuntu derived distributions kernels (5.4.x, I'm using Linux Mint) and we can have fun with the files on the miserable "extended DOS" partition:root@W540:/mnt/loop2p1# tree ..├── AW50P23├── AW50P40├── AW50S30├── cam_awg1.wfm├── cam_awg.txt├── cam_awg.wfm├── cam_scaled.wfm├── crank_awg.wfm├── crank_scaled.wfm├── LAUNCH~1.wfm├── *pagefile.dat├── startup.set├── T08_ATC.wfm├── T08_CLU.wfm├── T08_DBW.wfm├── TEK00000.BMP├── TEK00001.BMP└── user-setup└── cam-crank.set1 directory, 18 filesroot@W540:/mnt/loop2p1# ls -laR.:total 61572drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 32768 Jan 1 1970 .drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Dez 13 19:10 ..-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 6246947 Dez 6 18:16 AW50P23-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 6495984 Dez 6 18:26 AW50P40-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 642448 Dez 6 18:25 AW50S30-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 200044 Mai 18 2001 cam_awg1.wfm-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 121000 Mai 18 2001 cam_awg.txt-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 200044 Dez 6 2000 cam_awg.wfm-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 5000065 Dez 4 2000 cam_scaled.wfm-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 200044 Dez 6 2000 crank_awg.wfm-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5000065 Dez 4 2000 crank_scaled.wfm-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 800104 Dez 20 2002 LAUNCH~1.wfm-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Dez 13 16:48 '*pagefile.dat'-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2246 Dez 13 16:49 startup.set-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 15000306 Mär 13 2002 T08_ATC.wfm-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 7500305 Mär 14 2002 T08_CLU.wfm-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 15000306 Mär 14 2002 T08_DBW.wfm-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 153718 Jun 16 19:05 TEK00000.BMP-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 153718 Nov 5 00:19 TEK00001.BMPdrwxr-xr-x 2 root root 32768 Dez 4 2000 user-setup./user-setup:total 96drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 32768 Dez 4 2000 .drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 32768 Jan 1 1970 ..-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1843 Dez 4 2000 cam-crank.setIf anybody needs to recover the files from such a disk and has a image and/or the physical device, let me know, I can tutor you how to mount and read it. Partition creation and other stuff must come later, I'm a bit out of disks to experiment with, but a forum member promised to send me some old rotating rust for experiments.Cheers,DC1MC

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 13, 2020, 10:12:04 pm
content: Your machine must have a different nic than my 610. I can find no 'manual network setup" in the pocket linux menu.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 14, 2020, 04:02:05 am
content: Martin, could you post the boot messages pictures, to see if there is a network card detected ? We will find a newer boot disk.Or, if you have some picture of your card, we will find what is it.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 20, 2020, 11:37:38 am
content: FAILURE GALLERYSo finally everything arrived (adapters, cards, donated HDDs, etc.) and everything failed miserably, NOTHING, and I mean really nothing can be used to as the first IDE device with this perverted BIOS or board.Is not a question of strange CHS/LBA allocation, or something similar, NONE of the disks are detected, even the rotating rust ones, and booting form Linux floppy shows some kind of not ready errors, disk busy and other niceties.Besides getting a SD/IDE adapter, I've kind of exhausted all the available options, none of my CF/IDE adapters, in any configuration or position on the cable could be used, and none of the donated HDDs fared better.Also, to make this stuff more miserable, my old JMicron USB/IDE adapter started to have connector issues, due to extended usage and age, and the fancy INATECK Chinesium USB3 that I've bought as a replacement is a piece of garbage, the SATA port works, but not the IDE ports (both 40 and 44 pins).Right now I will try to see if at least the 2GB HDD could be replaced, but this is very frustrating, whet the hell they've screwed with that BIOS crap, and why, am I doing something wrong, or what actually happens there ?!?!?Any advice is strongly appreciated,DC1MC

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 20, 2020, 05:43:31 pm
content: VICTORY, I'VE GOT RID OF THE OLD CLUNKERS, YUPIEE!!!So earlier I was a really desperate, nothing was working, but persistence always pays in the end, so after solving some HW and PEBAK problems (the red wire on the cable is NOT the Pin 1 on the connector, is a lie !!!), here are the final results, for the Tektronix AWG520 both storage units could be fast and easy replaced with very cheap components, less the 30EUR if you buy locally and don't wait for China shipping.First the necessary materials:Dual CF card to 44pin P-ATA adapter:Germany (the one I've bought and used, 100% tested, and I will buy a couple more, very useful):https://www.ebay.de/itm/Inline-Schnittstellenkarte-IDE-6-35cm-2-5-Zoll-2x-CF-Karte-schwarz/373213052654China (not tested, but known brand)https://www.ebay.de/itm/Sintech-Dual-CF-UDMA-card-TO-2-5-44pin-IDE-adapter-with-case-as-SSD-HDD-ST4410/320967371513USA(not tested)https://www.ebay.de/itm/Dual-CF-UDMA-TO-2-5-Inch-IDE-Adapter-Card-with-Case/264038833295One no name 32MB card, one AGFA branded 2GB card, that was really 2GB, that is was able to load the HDD dump, these were some leftovers from cameras in my parts drawer, I did bought a 4GB one.So the first tests were really bad, while the cards were perfectly recognized in my USB reader, they were totally not seen by the AWG, not detected, nothing. I really lost some chest hairs on this (normal hair is reserved for work), wandering wtf they did to the BIOS and the PATA interface, after a lot of time I've discovered that at right at the startup, the LEDs of the adapter were blinking once, very short, and then they were staying ON, but neither the master or the slave disk were detected, and booting the Linux floppy was producing after a huge delay, just some time-out and busy messages.After I've read a bit more about the ATA 44pin interface, it seems that there are TWO 5V rails, one 5V digital and one 5V motor, usually connected together because nobody gives a frak about this, same on the bot CF-IDE adapters that I've had. I think Tek or Sony decided to be "klein­ka­riert" and use individual 5V rails or something and switching them one after the other, because there was a short pulse that most likely was disturbing the devices. Most likely the digital voltage was coming up, followed by the 5V for the motor, and when the motor rail was switched on it was "sucking" from the other rail when they were joined together in the adapter (most likely elcos charging).While considering to solder a monstrous 6,3 capacitor I've has a better look at the adapter, I have seen with the case on a non-populated jumper, labeled 3.3V/5V, a wire strap was soldered on 5V. Opening the adapter, I've seen that it has 3V3 LDO and, joy and happiness, some decoupling capacitors. So no need to solder stuff if those guys will hold the line a bit during the switching of the second rail.So the strap was moved to 3V3 position, the 32MB card was loaded with the original 10MB image, the 2GB card with the original HDD image, and BINGO, both of the cards were detected correctly by the BIOS and the device booted perfectly, the booting was successful and after an hour of torturing the filesystem (loading/deleting files, creating deleting directories, and so on) the conclusion was clear, it works and is super fast!!!So I did some other testing, the OS doesn't boot from the 2GB and the 4GB cards, the data disk could be either 2GB or 4GB, and it works, although only 2GB are usable, so I left the 2GB AGFA branded card in the final assembly.The original units were removed (I have kept the IDE cable with two connectors, didn't have the heart to cut the empty piece, I tucked it safely in between the boards) and the dual adapter fit perfectly in place of the SSD, the original disks were removed and are available for the interested, if one has such a compatible ABG and want to use original parts (especially the strange SSD).Bottom line, replacing the unit storage with modern CF cards was a 100% successful and now I can train/tutor anyone who wants to do a similar upgrade, don't hesitate to ask here.The next challenge is replacing the CRT with a nice LCD, but sadly both 7" screens that I've got are too big and don't fit in the frame due to those bloody side buttons, I may need to get a 5" one, because I've never seen a 6" LCD,If somebody knows a good source of 4:3 5" LCD (preferably 640x480 to use native resolution), available in EU, please let me know.In the end one more thanks to @Martin Hodge, @Matt and the other contributors for their advice, feedback and encouragement. Now please enjoy some pictures.Cheers,DC1MC

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 21, 2020, 06:54:30 pm
content: So today yet another LCD set arrived, this time 1024x768, but what the hell, still 4:3, the cool Realtek prescaler should be able to do it, isn't so ?!?!Let's open, oh crap, no cool Realtek chip just a lasered fake called SIXTHD HD1 like here:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/sixthhd-hd-1-mystery-chip/Oh well, epay complaint open, let's put 12V into the thing and see if it works, it works, let's test it with the AWG and see if the signal is recognized and how is the scaling working, OK, where is the VGA-VGA cable, I should have some around, double rotating stinky crap, I've throwed them away, must buy, scheiße, more delay, because I could not position the LCD in the support frame..I guess no one near Mannheim can give/lend me one ?OK, I'll use my frustration to demolish the front panel and try to extract the CRT frame and fit the LCD inside, here are some demolition pictures until I'm getting a VGA cable.Cheers,DC1MC

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 22, 2020, 06:14:07 am
content: This is dmesg. Photo of the NIC in next message because I must go to tablet to post it.Code:Memory: sized by int13 0e801hConsole: 16 point font, 400 scansConsole: colour VGA+ 80x25, 1 virtual console (max 63)pcibios_init : BIOS32 Service Directory structure at 0x000fdbc0pcibios_init : BIOS32 Service Directory entry at 0xf6ed9pcibios_init : PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xf713fProbing PCI hardware.Calibrating delay loop.. ok - 53.25 BogoMIPSMemory: 126912k/131072k available (776k kernel code, 384k reserved, 2112k data)Swansea University Computer Society NET3.035 for Linux 2.0NET3: Unix domain sockets 0.13 for Linux NET3.035.Swansea University Computer Society TCP/IP for NET3.034IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCPChecking 386/387 coupling... Ok, fpu using exception 16 error reporting.Checking 'hlt' instruction... Ok.Intel Pentium with F0 0F bug - workaround enabled.alias mapping IDT readonly ... ... doneLinux version 2.0.39 (root@grafit) (gcc version 2.7.2.3) #1 Thu Jan 17 14:30:56 CET 2002Starting kswapd v 1.4.2.2Serial driver version 4.13p1 with no serial options enabledttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550AttyS01 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550ARamdisk driver initialized : 16 ramdisks of 4096K sizehda: Solid State File, 15MB w/1kB Cache, CHS=246/4/32hdb: IBM-DBCA-203240, 3102MB w/420kB Cache, CHS=788/128/63ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44MFDC 0 is a post-1991 82077PPP: version 2.2.0 (dynamic channel allocation)TCP compression code copyright 1989 Regents of the University of CaliforniaPPP Dynamic channel allocation code copyright 1995 Caldera, Inc.PPP line discipline registered.3c59x.c:v0.99H 11/17/98 Donald Becker http://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/drivers/vortex.htmlarcnet.c: v2.56 96/10/18 Avery Pennarun <apenwarr@foxnet.net>arc0: Stage 3: No ARCnet cards found.Partition check:hda: hda1hdb: hdb1RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0VFS: Mounted root (minix filesystem).VFS: Disk change detected on device 02:00

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 22, 2020, 06:15:57 am
content: Looks similar to yours.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 22, 2020, 01:05:18 pm
content: Hi Martin, the network card looks indeed similar with mine, except for the main chip, where there are different strange IDs.Software-wise, the main difference during the boot is the line after...3c59x.c:v0.99H 11/17/98 Donald Beckerhttp://cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov/linux/drivers/vortex.html...I have the NE2000 compatible card module probe line:ne.c:v1.10 9/23/94 Donald Becker (becker@cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov)NE*000 ethercard probe at 0x300: 00 80 c8 7e 8c 7eeth0: NE2000 found at 0x300, using IRQ 10.Afterwards, it seems that everything is similar.I'm also seeing that you have a Pentium and a bit more memory, I was wondering if you could boot with a DOS network disk, like this:https://www.netbootdisk.com/and see if the card is recognized and eventually, if not, see if other drivers on the above site are suitable, once we have the model, I/O address and IRQ, it will be almost impossible to not be able to convince Linux to recognize it, and once we can boot Linux with network support, then the ftp trick should allow you to get images of your disks.I should be able to assist you very soon, but currently my device is in a bit of a "spread allover" stare, as you'll see in the next message.Cheers,DC1MC

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 22, 2020, 01:27:02 pm
content: So after rummaging a bit more in a well hidden junk box I've managed to find a VGA cableand I've thought to give it a try to my chinesium display.To my great amazement, it worked really nice (observe the pictures, the display protection foil is still on) and even if initially there was a shit to the left, there is a menu (among many) that allows a bit of shift.The scaler seem to scale pretty good, what worries me a bit is that the image area is really large compared with the display (normally a very good thing) and it may not fit in the window of both the metal frame and the front panel mask.In any case, this will have to wait until I kick out the whole CRT display assembly and make place for the LCD, maybe I can place it a bit recessed to increase the fov.Now I have to gather the energy to disassemble my improvised LCD setup and then evict the CRT assembly, btw if someone wants, or needs, a nice 12" CRT display (for vintage computer maybe, or strange clocks), I will soon have one available, or the poor guy will go to its reincarnation.Meanwhile, enjoy the pictures.Cheers,DC1MCP.S: This is the third try with the blood "security violation"

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 22, 2020, 07:18:41 pm
content: Another day, another sob story, that started very well but ended disastrously.So, after starting-up the LCD and getting nice results (see previous post), I've decided to evict the CRT and set-up the LCD display, even temporary, hell, I could even fix it with hot glue, if it works for iPhone, it should work for me as well.So I've removed the top inter-connect board (we'll be coming back to it and the J125 connector), the metal lid and the last to screws of the CRT, snapped a picture of the CRT nest, and told it: "You're leaving now mofo !!!"Said and done, here are some pictures of the CRT (a Tektronix original !!!), of the driving board and of the previous removed switching and interconnect board, the whole CRT assembly was feed via a flat cable connected to J125, a 16pin connector, the LCD controller needs 12V and the power supply connector goes first to the interconnect board and there is a 12V there, I think it should be capable to lend me few mA to power the whole assembly, and if there is no 12V on the CRT assembly connector there are some free pins, a bodge wire nicely routed under the PCB will not be a tragedy.But first let's see how to position the display, and then the disaster, that was waiting patiently, stroke like a Cobra, the bloody display won't fit, no way to set it up and not hit something, also the view port is way too small, the 7" shit in the documentation is a lie!!!I've had my Darth Vader moment and shouted NOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!, because even if I'll found a 5,6", it will be China and it will take AGES until it reach Germany and my vacation will be gone by then.So yeah, before letting you enjoy the pictures, including the emptiness of the former CRT place (I feel same empty inside ) a desperate appeal:Does somebody in Germany or close (CH,A,F...) have for sale or loan a 4:3 ratio 5,6 inch LCD with parallel or LVDS control with/without driver board, please PM urgently, your help is appreciated !!!This battle is lost, but the war continues,DC1MC

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 23, 2020, 05:27:39 am
content: Somebody better appreciate this because it took 5 hours to make and use that damn netbootdisk to find the NIC in the 610. The netbootdisk takes TEN MINUTES to decompress every boot! The 610 may have a Pentium, but it is apparently way underclocked.ACCTON EN166x MPX2 (ETHNE.DOS)IRQ = 0xFIOBASE= 0x0240Now, how is this applied to Pocket Linux?-edit-Don't use this disk, I believe it is not accurate. Keep reading

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2020, 09:36:33 am
content: Quote from: Martin Hodge on December 23, 2020, 05:27:39 amI quote a post form the old Puppylinux forum:http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=62030&sid=8e35c1cb25bf21e9089c56945b5b0bd8Google tells me that the Accton EN1660 is an NE2000-compatible ethernet device, for which the correct driver (module) will be "ne". Puppy has contained this driver since day one.But the issue here is whether the Linux kernel's ISA PnP routines can detect this device. First thing to try is to get into your bios settings, and set"PnP OS = NO".To cut a long story short, this will disable dynamic resource allocation by the operating system/bios, and set the IRQ and IO values to what is selected by the ISA card, itself. ie. there will usually be jumper-switches on the card which permit several different IRQ/IO values. Google tells me that the default values for the Accton EN1660 are IO 0x300 and IRQ 3.Now when you reboot you might be lucky to find that Puppy has automatically detected the device, and loaded the "ne" driver. The Network Wizard will confirm.But if not, the solution is to manually load the driver with the correct values:first make sure that the driver is unloaded:rmmod nenow load the driver with the correct values:modprobe ne io=0x300 irq=3In your situation Martin, that last line will be:modprobe ne io=0x240 irq=15Strike this, I've booted Pocket Linux in the emulator and the driver is compiled in the kernel, I'll have a look for another floppy distro that may have the driver as module or hack in the Pocket Linux.The problem is that IRQ 15 is usually used for the IDE controller and the NE2000 driver has flag it as "unsafe" and doesn't probe for it, it has to be explicitly give in the boot command line, like:ether=15,0x240,eth0Cheers,DC1MC

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2020, 03:33:09 pm
content: In related news, I've remembered about Martin's warning regarding the capacitor driving the buzzer on the front panel board, I've had a look and sheeeit !!!, the bastard was leaking and starting to corrode around.It has been replaced immediately, so one more time, if you have a similar AWG, don't forget to replace it. I've put a 33uF/63V instead of the original 33uF/35V.Also ordered the 5,6" display from china, the long wait has started, but hopefully maybe a forum member will see my pledge and lend me one before the recorded one comes.Enjoy some pictures with the desiccated corpse of the mofo elco !!!Cheers,DC1MC

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2020, 05:38:06 pm
content: And now the connector to the CRT board, DIL 16pin 0.1" header, J1251 = 24V, 2 = 24V3 = NC, 4 = NC5 = GND, 6 = GND7 = GND, 8 = Hsync(?)9 = GND, 10 = Vsync(?)11 = GND, 12 = GND13 = Video, 14 = Video15 = GND, 16 = GNDAll signals, except 8 and 10 are verified, later when I'll reassemble the device for the next test I'll measure them with a scope, electrically the are coming from 74HC244 buffer outputs, in series with a 33ohm resistor, personally I don't see what else could be, but I'll measure it anyway, in preparation of fixing the LCD control board in the cage.Cheers,DC1MCP.S. Got 5EUR back form the 8" LCD seller, not bad.P.S. 2: Edited to fit with Martin H. measurements, on my 520, I wasn't able to see the Hsync and Vsync signals, most likely a PEBAK.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2020, 07:21:26 pm
content: Quote from: Martin Hodge on December 23, 2020, 07:04:37 pmThe traces seem to have survived, personally, I prefer a "DIT", but I'm most happy that I didn't forget to look and replace it, because I'm getting allergic at disassembling it again, once I got the LCD installed that was it. Strangely enough, there were a lot of similar caps on the A10 board, none of them leaked so far, actually the larger ones are Nichicon, never seen in this format.What about your network experiments, were you been able to enter in the BIOS and disable the "Plug and Play OS", or is there any possibility to change the IRQ of the slot or card in "Advanced settings".Theoretically there is driver disk for this card, that even has configuration program to change IRQ and I/O, this could be a possibility as well or even getting another NE2000 compatible ISA card.For a few coins I've got myself a bunch of 16/32MB SD cards, if I'm getting completely bored until the new LCD arrives, I may try to use a SD to IDE adapter, the SD cards seem to be more available, the low capacity I mean.I even went to the Tex forums and put a pointer to this thread in old thread with the disks.I'm really curious if the new LCD will fit, I've found a place on top of the floppy drive where to put the control board of the LCD screen, it even has an IrDa interface, it will be cool to be able to use the small remote control.Cheers,DC1MC

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 24, 2020, 11:08:18 pm
content: I tried all the Accton configuration software I could find and none of it could find the card, so maybe it really is an NE2000 just with a weird IRQ/IO configuration. The bios was already set to "PnP OS=: no" and I tried setting all the pci slot irq configurations to disabled. Nothing worked. Aside from trying some kind of obscure, low-level EISA probing app I don't know what else to do.Since I have a working vintage pc with pata ports I'm going to try that way to image the drives.Merry Christmas

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 25, 2020, 01:26:13 am
content: I found a good bootable NIC configuration floppy that has loads of config programs from various vendors.https://archive.org/details/dos_network_card_config_softwareWith this I was able to scan for my NIC using several different NE2000 compatible utilities and they all report:IO 240IRQ 10MAC 00:80:C8:49:03:9E (MAC address lookup confirms this is a D-Link card.)Using the D-Link util on that disk I changed the IO-Base on the card to 300, like yours, which enables pocket linux to activate the nic! I can now continue with your procedure.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 25, 2020, 03:15:12 am
content: Quote from: Martin Hodge on December 25, 2020, 01:26:13 amHi Martin, these are excellent news, hopefully you'll get the disk images soon and from there on it will be a piece of cake to upgrade the storage, or so I hope.I was wondering if I should get myself some progressively large CF cards, like 64MB, 128MB, 256MB and so on, I'm really curious where is the upper limit for the OS disk, and if it's motherboard or software imposed, 32GB we know for sure that it works, most likely 16MB as well, and 2 and 4GB not, at least on my device.To celebrate your success story, I will power on my device later and measure the two uncertain signals on the CRT board connector, eventually, if I'll be in a good mood, even try to connect the oversized LCD to the signals from the CRT, to see if I can use the existing cable or I need to bodge the VGA cable on the A10 interconnection board. It's also a good moment to add the 12V wire, that I was talking about, to the empty pins of the connector.And speacking of celebrations, Merry Christmas, or your flavor of winter celebration, and a Happy New Year, to you, the topic contributors and to all forum members!!!Cheers,DC1MC

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 25, 2020, 07:52:05 pm
content: I did some oscilloscope probing, the Vsyn and Hsyn presumed signals are sitting at logic zero, unmoving and the composite signal is not detected by the LCD board (it seem the chip could only detect PAL and SECAM, not some generic composite signal).But I've observed that I can snuck the VGA cable trough the slit for the CRT cable, and the J127 has the signals to the external VGA connector, I can hook there and have a proper VGA signal, a bit annoying, but not so bad.Later I will edit this post with the measured signals on J127.Cheers,DC1MC

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 27, 2020, 03:34:38 pm
content: I had a probe of my 610 for video on J125.pin 8 is hsync, 10 is vsync. The photo below shows pin 8 on the top trace and pin 13/14 (video) on the lower. Pins 13/14 are tied together on the pcb reading 0 ohms between them. There is no composite signal I can find. Hsync appears to be ~31.5 KHz.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2020, 06:27:13 pm
content: Quote from: Martin Hodge on December 27, 2020, 03:34:38 pmHi Martin, thanks for the measurement, it seems that on 520 there is a bit of a difference, in my case indeed 13-14 were connected also together, and there was the composite (video only ?) signal. In any case, because my LCD RTD2660 adapter wasn't able to detect the signal (is not conforming to PAL/SECAM or NTSC standard and it seems that in the fw of the adapter, simple composite is not enabled, or I wasn't able to find it yet).So to keep things simple, I've switched to J127, that has all the necessary VGA signals.How's going with network card, were you been able to push it to a "sane" configuration ?Cheers,DC1MC

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 27, 2020, 09:44:48 pm
content: Yes I got my 16MB SSD imaged using your ftp method. Then set my nic back to it's odd config at base 240. The Tek software couldn't see the nic otherwise, but there were no errors. I did however use my old PATA equipped PC with an adapter to image the 3.25GB hdd. I wrote the image to a CF card and verified it works in place of the spinning rust in the 610. We really need a way to generate vxworks partitions though.How were you able to hack your kernel to read vxext? Did you use the jens-maus driver on github? I'm limited to 32 bit kernels on this old Pentium 4 and compiling a ko worked, but modprobe threw linker errors for an undefined division symbol and complained of "kernel taint" (using centos 7 minimal)Could you PM or post here your driver hacks?

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 27, 2020, 11:37:59 pm
content: Quote from: Martin Hodge on December 27, 2020, 09:44:48 pmExcellent news, I've also imagined the HDD via a PATA-USB adapter, the ftp method would have taken too long, but for somebody that is not yet ready to open the device and replace the drives, is an excellent method to be able to make backup copies of the drives content for future use. Because again, if the SSD dies, or gets corrupted, is game over.I'll post tomorrow morning the source code of the modified driver, but most likely it will not be useful on older kernels, but for modern ones. The original driver should actually work on Centos 7, the "Tained" message is harmless and stems from the driver maker not including some GPL license marker in the source code, so the "ideological purity" of the kernel is tained, go figure.The linker error, that's a bit strange coming after the module compiled without errors, usually after "make install" I do a "depmod -a" to have all de post-compile dependencies fixed. I think a Live CD of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS or Mint Tricia and the modified driver will make a better solution to this.The modified Linux device driver is able to read and write perfectly the loop mounted images AND the actual devices (I've used the actual HDD), as I don't have yet a method to create vxfat partitions from scratch, I did a trick, I've deleted all the files on a drive image, the copied the first 4MB of the image and use it as a "partition image" for a new drive, worked like a charm, and if is stupid and it works, then is not stupid.Sometimes a proper"mkfs.vxfat"should be done, but as I don't believe that the OS and the partition type will go higher than 2GB, I think this humble solution should suffice for most of the people.Cheers,DC1MC

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 28, 2020, 02:39:15 pm
content: Hi Martin, for some reason your latest post that I was going to reply has disappeared, I think is the second time when this happened.In any case I've attached the archive with the modified driver from Jens Maus, it seems that unfortunately the creator has lost interest in it, my attempts to contact him have failed, so I'm putting it here maybe it helps somebody with a modern distro (kernel 5.4+). On my Linux Mint Tricia (Ubuntu 18.04 based) it worked perfectly for reading and writing the files.Regarding the strange macro that fails in your situation, I did a bit of googling and naturally, is a RedHat specific "optimization" that found it's way in your Centos7 machine. Unfortunately I only have access to 64-bit Centos machines, so I could not debug it, but I've found it refereed many times in Internet, at one time was even impossible to build the kernel itself because of this macro missing. The preferred solution I thin was to insert a short assembly sequence to convince the compiler to disable that optimization, kind of messy, IMHO.Right now I have a fight with creating a programmer for the RTD2660 LCD boards because I have a feeling that I'll need it soon when the Chinese VGA screen will arrive, but mostly because one forum friend donated some 5" LCDs and their driver boards that may fit the bill for the screen replacement.Cheers,DC1MC

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 28, 2020, 07:30:05 pm
content: Quote from: DC1MC on December 28, 2020, 02:39:15 pmWrong_button_oh_noes = Attempt_edit(Fat_fingers, Tablet_keyboard, Old_age) ;Thanks for the source, it'll at least be educational.

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 01, 2021, 08:41:07 pm
content: I cannot get my 610 to recognize anything other than the included 16MB SSD connected to the IDE master. I investigated the power issues you talked about on your 520, but on the 610 the two 5v pins are tied together both on the motherboard and on the SSD. So not realizing I've never actually looked at the SSD, I took it out of the PC cage and look what I found.The BIOS config has no problem seeing whatever I plug in to the master and reading correctly it's CHS and size, but every OS I've tried fails to work with it.-edit-I don't know what I was doing wrong, but after trying again this is no longer an issue.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 01, 2021, 08:58:04 pm
content: Hi Martin, welcome in $current year!!!So IBM or whoever was producing this enormously overpriced SSD run out of SSDs and used my solution, but with a crappy PCMCIA adapter.OK, so let's see what did you put there, as you may remember, I've only got the OS to work with 32MB CF card, in that double adapter, nothing else was working. I do plan to try with higher capacities CF cards (I'm tracing some 64, 128 and 256MB on >:Dbay, let's see if I'll be able to get some).IMO, there are two ways to proceed:- Step one: check if a "normal" DOS works correctly, boot from a DOS floppy and try to fdisk/format the master device that you intend to use and try to boot form it, assuming of course that is recognized in the BIOS, initially try with single device, also check the master/slave/single configuration pins. The DOS should boot.- Step two: once you're sure that the you can actually boot something, dd the image to the new device and IMPORTANT, don't forget to run the command sync before ejecting the media that you intend to use.- Step three (optional): you can make an archive of the image of the OS disk, post it here or privately, and I will try to run it, both in simulator mode and on my actual device that is stil open and expects the LCD replacement of the CRT.Good luck and don't despair, it will work, and is nice that you've take a look, the PCMCIA card doesn't look too future proof to me, is a smart idea to be replaced, of the IBM Deathstar, I refrain from commenting.Cheers,DC1MC

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 02, 2021, 03:50:38 am
content: Definitely use an external monitor if you plan to do any OS hacking. Otherwise you will mistakenly think things have crashed when actually the system is just busy.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2021, 03:56:15 am
content: Quote from: Martin Hodge on January 02, 2021, 03:50:38 amAnd, did it work?

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 02, 2021, 04:00:15 am
content: So, yeah. Not very useful without a mouse, but we know other OS is possible. Going to reach for the stars and try win98 next.(This is on a 1GB IBM Microdrive through a cheap 1 socket IDE-CF adapter..)

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 02, 2021, 07:20:43 am
content: Windows 98 down. What's next? Really need a linux CLI though. The biggest hurdle is getting the install media connected/transferred/copied.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 02, 2021, 08:45:34 am
content: OK, this is perfect, that means hardwarewise you're set, now you need to choose a media for the OS, as I've said, I was only able to correctly boot the OS on a 32MB card (I will try with other sizes, but 2GB and 4GB were definitely not suitable for the OS, the data storage wasn't having any problems), and one for the data storage (most likely a 4GB card will be most happy to serve).And then get rid of the Deathstarand the strange OS contraption and that was it.I will keep mine open a bit longer, to replace the CRT as well, because I don't want to have a museum piece, but a useful device in the long run and that was it.Cheers,DC1MC

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 04, 2021, 09:05:15 pm
content: I have been successful replacing the spinning rust with a CF card, which is all I really care about. I used linux dd over PATA on a separate machine, the FTP method only succeeded in producing a workable empty vxfat partition, no files. The PATA method also copied the files, though that's not essential if one keeps backups of their files which is easy to do via the built-in FTP server or floppies.I don't want to replace the stock SSD with a CF card. I don't see the point. It's only used to boot the Tek software and occasionally store cal data. With no moving parts, and seldom being written to, it should last as long as the rest of the machine. (I tried, but only had a 512 MB card which didn't work.)Apologies for the Wild-Windows-Installing tangent. I should have made a separate thread. My motivation for all that was to see if Windows' Device Manager would reveal anything more about the hardware. Specifically that EISA card labeled "GPIB", which also contains the big CPLD that is the gateway to the AWG subsystem and the front panel.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 04, 2021, 09:46:41 pm
content: Hi Martin, congratulations for a job well done, now the generator will live a bit longer and maybe some others will find this thread and save their device. Is a pithy to scrap them because of these bloody disks.Regarding the OS disk, indeed the chance to have it defective is small, but better to make sure that this one could be replaced as well and have a safety copy of the software, then not having any, I see that you've already tried with a 512MB CF card for the OS, I've got locally a 64 and 256MB, just to use the time mine is open and test the highest capacity that can be used, expect news in a couple of days.Regarding the VXFAT partition image, the Linux driver really works OK on Ubuntu 18.04 and probably 20, if you're interested in the files in the partition, get a live CD and run it to get the files, the command to mount the image is in this thread as well.So now, all that remains is for my LCD to arrive and some tests with different sizes of CF.Cheers,DC1MC

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2021, 04:56:25 pm
content: As promised, a quick update regarding the size of the OS SSD (originally 10MB), I was able to test it with 16, 32 and 64MB, the 128MB boots and loads the first part of the OS (vxworks.sys, the one printing dots on the screen) and then reboots immediately and does this in a loop.I will not do any OS disk size testing anymore, I think 16, 32, 64MB CF, while not common, are and will still be available for a reasonable long period of time.Do take a backup of your OS and data disk as described !!!Cheers,DC1MC

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 09, 2021, 10:13:59 pm
content: Some forum member replaced the CRT on his Tek 540 scope, the mechanical part of the front panel is identical, so have a look here, while my similar conversion kit is slowly crawling to my place:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/tek-tds540-crt-to-lcd-conversion-experience/Cheers,DC1MC

author: Martin Hodge
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 20, 2021, 11:28:27 pm
content: (Months pass)Are you still planning to do the LCD replacement? Are you still waiting for it to arrive?

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2021, 01:19:49 pm
content: Hello Martin,the display arrived and was installed, it fits perfectly, as the procedure is 100% similar as in this thread that I've mentioned,https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/tek-tds540-crt-to-lcd-conversion-experience/I didn't want to abuse the eevblog forum server resources with more similar pictures, in the end it worked very nicely and I even put the gray contrast enhancing filter as a LCD protector, even if it took out a bit of the brightness.If you consider that it has some value I'll dig the pictures and post them.Cheers,DC1MC

author: tchiwam
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2021, 11:45:34 pm
content: And I am in the same boat here with a dead , white screen AWG520I dismantled it quite a bit to find a bastard PICMG /PC104+ ish type of CPU board with a ISA cage.Internal HDD being 32MB SSD ADTX AX-SSD-20032A , it shows some data with HexDump, but no known partition foundRemovable HDD 20GB Hitatchi IC25N020ATMR04-0 with 4GB Partition so I guess the OS supports 4GB fat partitionsI bypassed the CRT and connected directly to the VGA from the CPU and I get aMemory count 64MBBIOS screenthen:"Operating system not found"My guess is my MBR / partition is borked...Then made a dd image, then read in the Tek forum that I probably killed my chances to get it booting again....Now I did manage to recover my cal.dat and setup.inf files by mounting it fat16 with an offset using linux.parted and fdisk didn't want to find the partitions,testdisk worked and even found the partition bootable...I have an old HD where I'll dd the fixed image and give it a try....Oh well, will get there at some point.

author: tchiwam
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 28, 2021, 11:57:24 pm
content: One step forward, now I got to on the AWG520VxLd 1.2 No BOOTROM SYSIf I do the Qemu thing I get:qemu-system-i386 -drive format=raw,file=AWG520HD0.img -drive format=raw,file=AWG520HD1.imgSeaBIOS (version ?-20190711_202441-buildvm-armv7-10.arm.fedoraproject.org-2.fc31)iPXE (http://ipxe.org) 00:03.0 C980 PCI2.10 PnP PMM+07F922A0+07EF22A0 C980Booting from Hard Disk...VXLd 1.2 No BOOTROMSYS

author: tchiwam
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 29, 2021, 12:37:20 am
content: FYI My CPU card is a Pentium 133Transcend 64MB 144PManufacturer: HAGIWARAPN: HPU5810ADA133 TJI found some for sale at sub 100USD on far east sitesThey use a Xilinx for the PCI to ISA bridge on the adapter card. Would be fun to compare these cards.

author: tchiwam
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 29, 2021, 01:44:28 am
content: And I got it booted.... Now I have an error 5448 in Wave memory bank 1Thanks for the thread.Making sure the BOOTROM.SYS was at the right place with the attribute SYS seems to work... Well one or both was needed...

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 29, 2021, 04:52:06 am
content: @tchiwam - congratulations for revival, the Tek forum thread is depressing, (and incorrect as we have seen), only here you can find absolution.Don't worry about calibration data, they are rebuild every time you run the autocal, is not like other instruments where if a battery or memory dies, you're done.As I was lucky to have the rest of my hw in a good condition, I didn't have the opportunity to look further in the technical details, in your case I will start with inspecting the board and measuring the power supply for values and ripple.Don't forget the picturesand good luck !!!Cheers,DC1MC

author: tchiwam
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 29, 2021, 12:44:22 pm
content: I was looking at the CRT to LCD upgrade. If you check on the LCD connector of the CPU card you should find all the signals you need for the LCD. Usually the PICMG manufacturers put a default Video timing.Try to use those, if you are lucky you may even be able to run full digital from the CPU card. Or at least get good sync.Which kit did you finally go for ? It looks like the pixel rate is more than 640x480 .Something like 720x...or 800x600 < my guess since the output is VGASomething else I have on my board looks like a Ethernet 100B-T. Would be fun to use that PCI bus instead of the ISA card.I already checked the power rails and they are very good. When I was doing my investigation I removed the ACQ section and the 2 power connectors. Giving me more than 30 minutes before over heating.My guess is someone removed the tray and got the SSD corrupted.I ordered a Kingspec 64GB PATA 2.5" SSD. I already use that in my TDS694C and the max Partition size it 4GB there too.Just for giggles I will try 128MB on the CPU.

author: tchiwam
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 29, 2021, 12:48:33 pm
content: Working !

author: tchiwam
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 29, 2021, 01:54:30 pm
content: Cpu

author: tchiwam
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 29, 2021, 01:56:19 pm
content: Cpu back side

author: tchiwam
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2021, 05:03:56 am
content: OK, hmmmmmKingspec PA25-64 seems to refuse to be a slaveI tried all the jumper configI've made myself Cable select, 44 pin with pin 28 open and put the Kingspec in the middle and at the end,Always there as Master not matter what ... Unless someone has a trick to force that drive as Slave it is a no go for the AWG520 as a 2nd drive.It is recognised as Master, so a partition could be done to replace the 32MB one....

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2021, 09:29:43 am
content: Quote from: tchiwam on May 08, 2021, 05:03:56 amWhat about the original cable ? It should already be suitable, I didn't fiddle with jumpers or cables on my device.Cheers,DC1MC

author: tchiwam
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2021, 04:02:25 pm
content: Did you use a Kingspec PA25-XXMine is a Black boxAnd yes I did use the original cable.Did you leave the jumper on or off ?What model of Kingspec ?

author: lugaw
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2021, 03:02:18 pm
content: I have figured out how to use any drive for booting the system.I wrote the steps herehttps://github.com/nukem/Tektronix-AWG420-Support-FilesI had an AWG420 with a broken flash drive. In my search to make it work I found this codehttps://github.com/tpunix/vxworks-project/tree/master/vxsysthat can place a bootloader on a new drive and using FAT16 or FAT32 formats the AWGs uses FAT12 for the boot drive.The bootloader will load the bootrom.sys on a FAT16 or FAT32 file system. The hard part was compiling it on a DOS environment and I have uploaded the compiled vxsys.exe on github. You need a DOS environment to do all the format and bootloader install.I hope this can help someone.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2021, 03:23:38 pm
content: Quote from: tchiwam on May 08, 2021, 04:02:25 pmI've actually used two Compact Flash (CF) cards, one of 32Mb and one of 2GB, because I wasn't able to find any SSD so small. And at least in my situation, for the boot disk, everything bigger than 64MB would not boot.DC1MC

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2021, 03:25:45 pm
content: Quote from: lugaw on November 16, 2021, 03:02:18 pmHi, thanks for your good work, I wish I've had this when I was fighting with boot cards of few MiB !! because of this bloody WindRiver stuff,Cheers,DC1MC

author: lugaw
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2021, 03:30:57 pm
content: DC1MC thanks for the images you sent it really helped.Next thing I will try is to use just one flash drive to boot the AWG420 by partitioning it for boot drive and data drive. It originally came with just one 128mb flash drive option.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 16, 2021, 06:23:59 pm
content: Quote from: lugaw on November 16, 2021, 03:30:57 pmI've heard of 520 that were delivered with 1 drive as well, but most likely after they start die, when people were hammering the anemic drive, Tek smarted out and out added a rotating rust as well for data.Unfortunately due the incorrect belief propagated in the Tek forums that "once the drive is is dead, the device is gone" there are practically no drive images. I'm wondering who had the interest to have these rumors spread?Cheers,DC1MC

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2022, 08:39:24 am
content: Hi,I just picked up an AWG510 and I'm interested in doing the CF card mod.Is there some step by step instructions on how to create the disk images and copy them to the CF cards?I found the beeper capacitor in my unit is a little leaky too, so I'll have to clean that up as well..

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 06, 2022, 09:54:34 am
content: Quote from: TERRA Operative on April 06, 2022, 08:39:24 amHaaii, haaiii, there is, post #43!!!OK, so the situation is like this, my unit has the 10MB SSD and the 2GiB HDD, the 2GiB guy was copied 1:1 on an SD card of suitable capacity, there has been no problem as it was recognized immediately by one of the cheap IDE to USB adapter.The 10MiB one, well, that was a pain, while it was recognized by all my IDE adapters, it was not able to read on any of them, including an old laptop with dual IDE interfaces.In desperation, I have booted a linux floppy (VERY rare animal) and did some hackery explained in detail in #43.The images is attached to a message, so you could still try to use it, it will at least test your SD card as not many are recognized by the BIOS if the capacity is too big.Any specific issues, please ask here.Cheers,DC1MC

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 08, 2022, 01:30:00 am
content: Ok, parts are ordered and on the way.Now, currently trying to update to version 4.... I got the FTP transfer working and have the two files on the machine, but I can't find the menu option to actually run the update as per the manual..Is there a trick to it?I'm currently on Program Version: 1.6b and OS Version: 1.1

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 08, 2022, 07:32:01 am
content: Quote from: TERRA Operative on April 08, 2022, 01:30:00 amNot so fast nii-san, you need to do it in two steps, first the OS (1.6b is too old) and then the next OSand then the User Mode program.Or at least this is how it went on my 520.Here the excerpt from Readme.txt that was coming with update archive:4.Update the System Software (OS and User program)In this case, you must update both OS and User Programsimultaneously.4.1 Update the OS according to the dialog ofthe system software update menu of the AWGs.4.1-1.Select Update Program menu(UTILITY->System->Update SystemSoftware... ->Update OS...).Advance to the displayed disclaimer pushing OK when approving.Discontinue Cancel pushing when not approving.4.1-2.In the side menu of Drive.., select the drive which is transferredor copied by 3-1 or 3-2 and push OK.4.1-3.Select the module(aw50s30) from the file list and then push OK.The dialog of the confirmation is displayed before theupdating is done.After accepting it and pushing OK, the AWGs begins updating.Warning:Never turn off the power supply while executingthe update.4.1-4.When the message of the update completion appears, push OK.Then you should proceed to update the User Program (Step 4.2)4.2 Update the User Program according to the dialog ofthe system software update menu of the AWGs.4.2-1.Select Update Program menu(UTILITY->System->Update SystemSoftware... ->Update Program...).Advance to the displayed disclaimer pushing OK when approving.Discontinue Cancel pushing when not approving.4.2-2.In the side menu of Drive.., select the drive which is transferredor copied by 3-1 or 3-2 and push OK.4.2-3.Select the module(aw50p40) from the file list and then push OK.The dialog of the confirmation is displayed before theupdating is done.Where did it failed ?

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 08, 2022, 09:45:10 am
content: I don't have any option to select the 'Update System Software' that I can see, all I get is what's shown in the screenshot of my previous post, unless it's somewhere else in the menu system?I have both versions of the firmware as you used downloaded from the Tektronix website, so doing the update in steps is fine, I just can't work out how to actually start the update process.... Either my unit is different somehow, or I'm being dumb and can't see it.Help me obi-wan, you're my only hope!

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 08, 2022, 02:14:27 pm
content: Quote from: TERRA Operative on April 08, 2022, 09:45:10 amI did seem to remember that I had do do something on the secure menu, deleted and enabled some shite, I don't remember for sure, now I have the menu.

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2022, 06:50:23 am
content: Quote from: TERRA Operative on April 10, 2022, 06:23:28 amFirst of all, the Pocket Linux command running on the device is aFTP client,it will not work with Filezilla, that, AFAIK, is also a FTP client, you need aFTP server, if you can't be bothered to boot on some spare machine an Ubuntu Live CD of USB stick and do the post #43 stuff, you'll have to install a FTP server on the windozian machine:https://www.windowscentral.com/how-set-ftp-server-windows-10On the device running Pocket Linux you have to say:(ping it first to make sure is accessible, also check in the windozian firewall that the ftp incomming connections are allowed)then enter:ftp <your ftp server address>then you will be asked for the user name (case sensitive !!!)and the password, that you've selected when you've set up the FTP server.finally run the command:put "| cat /dev/hda" ssd_10mb.imgand that's it !!!As a plan B, I can give you my image (PM if you want it), the software seem to be compatible in between 520/510 and as a bonus, you'll have the update stuff installed.Cheers,DC1MC

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 10, 2022, 01:42:56 pm
content: Ok, I managed to find an old laptop. installed Linux Mint, and I got the 10Mb disk image.My setup.inf looks identical you yours earlier in the thread.Did you take an image of the other disk too? What command did you use to mount the drive?I triedmount /dev/hdb1 -o -ro /mntbut it said it couldn't find a valid MSDOS filesystem or root block and to specify the filesystem type.

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2022, 01:05:55 am
content: Alrighty, I have thismostlyfigured out.- Taking an image of the 10Mb SSD via Pocket Linux and FTP is all ok, and I am able to transfer that image reliably to a 32Mb CF card.- I have the Dual CF card to IDE adapter working perfectly in the AWG510 after swapping the voltage jumper to 3.3V as mentioned previously by DC1MC.- I am able to copy an image of the 2Gb disk provided by DC1MC to a 4Gb CF card (BIOS sees 4Gb, but the OS only sees the 2Gb partition as expected, no problems) and it works fine too.Now, my next problem...If I use my 10Mb SSD image, my machine boots perfectly BUT it is on OS version 1.x, so I can't upgrade to the latest OS as the option to upgrade is missing in the menu system (Instructions say to 'contact your Tektronix representative'... yay...)So I used a 10Mb SSD image from DC1MC that was taken from an AWG520 with the latest OS version, and while it boots and seems to work, I get a System error code of 2402 which is 'clock delay data checksum'.Running any combination of the factory reset/secure wipe/setting the RTC/etc does not seem to fix it. Also, the 2Gb disk used doesn't seem to have any effect on it too, so it's definitely something to do with the SSD image.I also tried reapplying the latest OS update over the top of the existing installation to no effect as well.So, at this point I can either have a machine with V1.x OS and no errors, or a machine running V4 and error 2402....I also need to image my 2Gb HDD, just for posterity, my curiosity, and so I can add the info to the step-by-step instructions I'm writing up that I'll post here when I have it all documented (mostly for my future reference but for others to benefit from too).I'm not sure if I need to install DC1MC's vxext_fs drivers in Linux Mint to image the HDD? (I amnotvery good with Linux at all....)Also, is it possible to expand the 10Mb partition to use the full size of the 32Mb CF card? Or does this not have any benefit or real reason to do anyway?

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2022, 03:01:47 am
content: Quote from: TERRA Operative on April 15, 2022, 01:05:55 amHi, let's put this in order, from the simplest, to the most complex:- HDD: you don't need any special Linux driver toimaginethe HDD, as log as is recognized by whatever adapter/interface you have, the imaging process is a one-to-one copy of the disk sectors, with total disregard of whatever partition or higher level organization is there.WORD OF CAUTION: Do NOT attempt to mount that disk, especially on windozian machine, that will recognize the "almost FAT" filesystem and offer to "repair" it, in the process destroying it fully.If you want to ACCESS the partition and rear/write/modify files there, you can either use the Linux vxWorks driver posted here, or use the NFS mount on the AWG, to my knowledge there is nothing important for the functioning of the device there, the calibration files that are recreated everytime you run the internal calibration process are actually stored on the SSD.Did you run the calibration already already ?- OS, that's the tough one, assuming that the issue is not some HW incompatibility that needs a trip to Tex laboratories to move a jumper or switch some bits in the configuration of the AWG boards, that probably means that there are some specific "markers" used by the OS application to recognize the HW, OR is there something on the SSD that is specific to the 510, so I suggest to look into the original SSD and list all the files there.There are two files of interest that may screw your device and have to be recreated:cal.datdelays.dlyThese are device specific and will ABSOLUTELY not work on your device, so mount your SSD card (this one should be mountable) and delete them, or alternatively run the calibration process, or even better, first delete them and then run the calibration process, of course after you've rebooted with the calibration files deleted.Now the ball is in your court, let us know how did the calibration process went.Cheers,DC1MCEDIT See if the above mentioned files are on your ORIGINAL SSD and copy them on the new OS SSD, it may even work, but I will still run the calibration.

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2022, 05:58:09 am
content: Cool, I assumed but wasn't sure about the drivers/imaging of the HDD.I'll give the imaging of it a go tonight to get a copy for my archivesI did read about the Windows thing so have kept both these disks well away from my Windows laptop.For the SSD, I did run the self-calibration after booting with your disk image and still had the checksum error.I'll check out the files and compare, and mix and match as you suggest, I suspect it might be something to do with the fact my unit is single channel compared to two channels on your unit..I'll attach the files here too later so you can take a look yourself too if you like.

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2022, 03:29:48 pm
content: I GOT IT WORKING!!!So, the trick was the delays.dly fileI re-imaged the SSD CF card with the AWG520 image so it was clean and fresh.As is, I was getting the System error 2402 - 'clock delay data checksum'So I went and deleted the cal.dat and delays.dly files and booted the AWG again and got two more errors:System: 2701 - 'Calibration data not found' (well yeah, I deleted it)Output: 7151 - 'CH1 10MHz filter' (as above)After running self calibration and diagnostic then a reboot the previous errors were gone, but I instead had a System error 2401 - 'Clock delay data not found'Hmm, so maybe the delays.dly file isn't re-generated with a self calibration...So I took the delays.dly file from my original SSD disk image and stuck it onto the CF card (and yep, it was missing since I deleted it, but the cal.dat file had been re-generated during the self calibration).I booted the machine and IT WORKS!!!! No errors!It looks like the calibration procedure in the service manual makes adjustments to the clock, so a missing file (i.e. faulty disks) could be re-generated, but a 'Performance Check/Adjustment Disk' (part number 063-2983-00) that was originally supplied with the AWG is needed, so now I'm on the hunt for one of those disks for future calibration/adjustment.....If we can find that disk, it would then be possible to revive a unit with completely trashed disk drives. All you should need is an SSD and HDD disk image, a couple CF cards, then perform the self calibration and full adjustment to re-generate the missing cal.dat and delays.dly files.Next step, run through the whole procedure from scratch and document it step by step to post here for future reference.And find that adjustment floppy....

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2022, 06:39:58 pm
content: Quote from: TERRA Operative on April 15, 2022, 03:29:48 pmBazaiii!!!Congratulations for a job well done, persistence paid off !!!Now I'm really curious what is in the calibration disk, some bootable stuff to do the adjustments or what ?Cheers,DC1MC

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2022, 06:41:20 pm
content: Ok, here are my instructions. it should bemostlycorrect....Big thanks to DC1MC and others for the info and help in this process!I have made these instructions a verbose step-by-step to make it easier for others following along as well as for me in the future because I forget everything...To perform the Compact Flash disk upgrade you will need the following items:- A PC running Linux (I used Linux Mint on an old laptop) connected to your local network and with internet access.- 1x 16, 32 or 64Mb CF card (No larger than this or it won't work!)- 1x 2 or 4Gb CF card (The machine will only see 2Gb maximum)- 1x CF to USB adapter- 1x 2.5" IDE to USB adapter- 1x Dual CF to IDE adapter (Looks like a 2.5" SSD/HDD sized box, holds 2 CF cards and converts them to a 2.5" IDE form factor)- 3.5" Floppy disk drive (I used a USB floppy drive)- 3.5" Floppy disk- PS/2 Keyboard- A long thin pokey thing to poke into the holes in the side of the Function Generator (I used a straw from a can of aerosol contact cleaner)- LAN cable connected to your local network- Soldering iron- Pocket Linux disk image (attached below)- Optional - 'ssd_10mb_500_v4.img' SSD image (if upgrading AWG510/520 software to v4, this file works for both model numbers) (attached below)I am assuming that all files described are in the 'home' directory on the Linux PC and unzipped if required.Also, doNOTplug these disks into a windows machine. They are VX Works partitions and while they are similar to FAT partitions, there are some incompatibilities that cause Windows to freak out a little and you risk corruption when windows tries to do windows things to the disks...You have been warned!1)Copy the Pocket Linux image to the floppy disk:With all extra disks and card readers disconnected from the Linux PC, type 'ls /dev/sd*' into the command line, this will list the currently connected disks.Plug the floppy drive in to the PC with the floppy disk inserted and run the command again, you will see an additional disk ID present.If it is the second disk connected to the machine, you will see '/dev/sdb' for example (ignore any trailing numbers, this indicates existing partitions which we don't care about).Now run the following command, where 'sd*' is the ID found in the previous step. 'sudo dd if=PocketLinux2.51-fix-4.bin of=/dev/sd* status=progress'2)Install the FTP server:In the command line, type 'sudo apt install vsftpd'Once installed, type 'sudo vi /etc/vsftpd.conf' and enable writing of files (delete the#in front ofwrite_enable=YESline), save and exit (Press the <ESC> key, then hold the <Shift> key then press <Z> twice.)Now type 'sudo systemctl restart vsftpd'3)Boot Function Generator to Pocket Linux:Attach the PS/2 keyboard and LAN cable to the Function Generator and insert the Pocket Linux disk into the disk drive.Poke the thin rod into the hole on the left side of the machine and gently find the button inside, keep depressed while you turn the machine on until text appears on the screen then press F2 to enter BIOS.Use the down arrow key to select the 'Boot Sequence' option and set it to '[A: then C:]' using the minus key or space bar.Use the right arrow key to select the 'Exit' menu and select 'Save Changes & Exit'.Pocket Linux should automatically boot from the floppy disk now.4)Set Function Generator Network settings:Select 'Manual Configuration' from the menu.Set the network settings as needed:- This Machine's IP: As needed (Choose your IP address)- Network Mask: As needed to match your network (Typically 255.255.255.0 etc)- Broadcast Address: Leave blank- Default Gateway: As needed to match your network (Typically 192.168.1.1 etc)- Name Server IP(s): Same as Default Gateway- Default Domain(s): Leave blankSelect 'OK' then 'Exit - Do not configure the network' to get back to the command prompt (we have made the settings so they will stick until reboot, regardless of what it says)You should see a message saying "This machine's IP is xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" and a command prompt.Check connectivity by typing 'ping yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy' (Where yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy is your Linux PC's IP address)Press 'Q' to exit ping back to command line.5)Copy SSD Disk Image:Mount the SSD by typing the following command 'mount /dev/hda1 -o ro /mnt'Connect to FTP server using the command 'ftp yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy' (Where yyy.yyy.yyy.yyy is your Linux PC's IP address)Enter the username and password (Typically the login username and password for your PC)Copy the SSD disk image across to the PC using the following command 'put "| cat /dev/hda" ssd_10mb.img'Once the transfer is complete, exit the FTP server with the command 'bye'Turn off the Function Generator using the rear panel switch and remove the Pocket Linux disk.6)Copy HDD Disk Image:To image the HDD, I found it's quicker to connect it directly to the PC due to it's size. (slow 10mbit/s LAN is ssslloooooww...)Remove the existing SSD and HDD from the Function Generator and attach the HDD to the PC with the IDE-USB adapter.Copy the disk image to the PC using 'dd if=/dev/sd* of=~/hdd_2gb.img' where sd* is the disk ID, using the 'ls /dev/sd*' command as before to determine the correct disk ID.7)Copy Disk Images to CF Cards:If not performing step (7a) below, simply run the following command with the smaller CF card connected to the PC with the CF to USB adapter. 'sudo dd if=ssd_10mb.img of=/dev/sd* status=progress' to copy the SSD image (Substitute 'sd*' with the disk ID using 'ls /dev/sd*' as before).7a)**OPTIONAL IF UPGRADING SOFTWARE TO v4**With the smaller CF card connected to the PC using the CF to USB adapter, type 'sudo dd if=ssd_10mb_500_v4.img of=/dev/sd* status=progress' to copy the v4 SSD image (Substitute 'sd*' with the disk ID from the previous step, ignore the number).When finished mount your old SSD disk image by double clicking on it in the in the file explorer and copy the 'delay.dly' file over to the SD card, overwriting the existing file.This file has a checksum applied, so it is specific to each machine. Using a delay.dly file from another machine will throw errors.If you are following this guide to replace dead disks and are unable to retrieve your original delay.dly file, you will need to perform a full calibration as described in the service manual to re-generate this file after completing all these steps.I have uploaded the required 'Performance Verification Disk' disk images needed to perform the calibration and adjustment to the relevant pages on Tekwiki:https://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/AWG510https://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/AWG610etcOnce the SSD CF card is imaged, remove it from the CF-USB adapter.Insert the 2/4Gb CF card into the CF to USB adapter and copy the hdd_2gb.img image file using 'sudo dd if=hdd_2gb.img of=/dev/sd* status=progress' (Substitute 'sd*' with the disk ID using 'ls /dev/sd*' as before).8 )Modify and install IDE-Dual CF Adapter:Open the case of the IDE-Dual CF adapter and remove the PCB.Move/re-solder the voltage jumper to the 3.3V position (the jumper should short pins 3 and 4 on the voltage selector jumpers, but double check just in case yours is different).Reassemble the adapter casing and plug the CF cards into the IDE-Dual CF adapter (SSD imaged CF card in Master position, HDD imaged CF card in the Slave position).Remove the existing SSD and HDD from the Function Generator and install the CF adapter assembly into the machine. Use the first connector on the cable, the second connector can be tucked away neatly.The red stripe on the cable should be towards the 3.3v/5v jumper end of the connector in the CF adapter.9)Set Disk Parameters in BIOS:Reassemble the machine, reconnect the PS/2 keyboard and boot to BIOS, again poking a thin rod into the hole on the left side as before.Select each disk in turn ('IDE Adapter 0 Master/Slave') and press <Enter> on 'Autotype Fixed Disk' to auto set the parameters.You can also set the boot order back to '[C: only]' too using the space bar.Exit saving changes and allow the machine to boot. You may see errors on boot. This is expected and if all went well, they should go away after step (10).10)Perform Calibration/Diag Routines:Let the machine warm up and perform a diagnostic test and calibration ('Utility' panel button > 'Diag' bottom button on screen > 'Execute Calibration' then 'Execute Diagnostic') to check it is all ok.11)Finished!:Reboot once more for good measure and it's all done!

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 15, 2022, 06:44:17 pm
content: Quote from: DC1MC on April 15, 2022, 06:39:58 pmI am a happy panda tonight!I wonder too, I guess it's as you say. Some sort of application that can write that delay.dly file as you run through the full calibration process.

author: strick
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 18, 2023, 03:01:40 pm
content: Hi,I recently bought a working AWG610 on Greedbay for a good price as it throwing a waveform memory error (5301) and found this message thread on the Tekwiki site.I've been trying save an image of the operating system using the bootable Linux floppy method and have been totally unsuccessful. I simply cannot get the network card to mount in either linux or any of the network floppy methods folks have used on this site.My network card is a Buffalo LGY-ISA-TR with a chip being a Davicam DM9008F. My searches for drivers has not been rewarding at all. I finally ordered a ISA network card (SMC Ultra) that is supposed to be compatible with the floppy Linux to be able to get the image. I loaded a 32-bit version of Linux Mint on a laptop and an old Pentium 4 desktop (with Pata capability)However, I fix TEK TDS500-700 and TDS5000 series scopes as a hobby and have all kinds of parts, including a conventional PATA to Travelstar disk (just like the one in the AWGs) adapter. Has anyone attempted to simply copy the image on the 64 Meg SSD just using an adapter or is the AWG bios required to be in the middle somehow?thanks,Strick

author: DC1MC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 20, 2023, 08:30:17 pm
content: Quote from: strick on July 18, 2023, 03:01:40 pmI did and as described in the earlier posts the (very early, super expensive and strange) SSD that holds the OS refused to be read with any adapter, including an old laptop with PATA interface booted from a CD. It just timed-out. In the original HW setting it was working OK, so I just copied as described.That doesn't mean that your device will behave the same and is worth a try with an adapter. Please keep us informed.Cheers,DC1MC

author: strick
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2023, 07:56:00 pm
content: After I obtained an ISA network card that Pocket Linux would recognize, I copied the SSD to the Linux Mint computer as directed.Then I used my adapter from a TDS5000 machine that converts from PATA to the 2.5 ide format (IBM TravelStar 44-pin with 5 volt power included) and copied the 3.25 GB main drive without issues.The Linux computer has an Intel D865 board with both PATA and SATA drive access. The boot drive is a SATA SSD. The adapter was attached to the first PATA connector. With the adapter and a drive inserted, the 3.25 TravelStar from the AWG610 came up as /dev/sda1 (the SATA was /dev/sdb with the Linux partition on sdb5). This was revealed using "sudo lsblk -f".When I rebooted the Linux Mint computer with the SSD (16MB) in the adapter the system again saw the drive as /dev/sda1 and I was able to copy it as directed.When mounted using the Linux system image mount tool, the directory looked the same and had the same sizes as the SSD files that were FTP'd over using the network.When I tested using "diff" and "md5sum" they indicated that the file transferred over the Lan was different that the one using the adapter directly connected to the Linux computer. Also, the file transferred via FTP was 16.1 MB while the disk copied file was 16.0 MBSo, I copied both files and looked at them using ExamDiff Pro on my Win10 machine and saw that the two images were quite different, but that parts were the same for much of the code. I'm still investigating, but it appears that the AWG may not mount the SSD totally sequentially.My next step is to get the mini-ide to CF adapter and a couple of 32 to 64 MB CF cards and see if either (or both) images actually work in the AWG...Strick

author: aeg
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: July 21, 2023, 09:27:23 pm
content: Your image is missing the MBR, try again from /dev/sda instead of /dev/sda1.

author: strick
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2023, 02:00:03 pm
content: Ah OK, thanks. I'll do it again. I've only used Linux a little and that was 25 years ago.I am also going to put the 3.2 GB image on an old TEK5054 drive and see if works properly. Meanwhile I'll order the ide to CF adapter and a couple of CF cards.I'll let you know how it goes...Strick

author: strick
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: July 22, 2023, 08:13:08 pm
content: Using /dev/sda vice /dev/sda1 did the trick. I reimaged both the SSD and the 3.2 GB drive. The SSD image was exactly the same as the one sent over via FTP. The 3.2 GB image was different, but my examdiff pro couldn't handle two 3.25 GB images to show the differences. Anyway, casual looks with a binary viewer showed that the initial part of the image was the same. So, I wrote the copied image to the TDS5000 drive and stuck it in the machine. The AWG610 booted normally and works as expected.So, the answer is: yes, both drives can be imaged using a pata to mini-ide adapter like the TEK one. I also showed that the menu showing "manual configuration" in Poxket Linux will not show unless the card is recognized, but that another ISA card that is supported can be used to get the images.Thanks to aeg for the suggestion about /dev/sda vice what I initially tried.Strick

author: sprit
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 15, 2023, 07:43:15 pm
content: Quote from: TERRA Operative on April 15, 2022, 06:44:17 pmHi Terra, wish you have a nice day.I have an AWG610 that is in version 2.3c. Now I want to upgrade to version 4.0, can I download the boot file and program files to 2 floppy drives and install from there? I tried FTP but I don't know anything about it, every attempt I made made it more confusing. I wonder if that is possible? Only version 4.0 does it support FG. Thank you very much. Sincerely,Jing Feng

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 16, 2023, 05:01:25 pm
content: v2.3 might let you update from within the AWG menu system, probably from the service menu or similar.I'm not sure if it can be split across two disks, I've never tried.If you pull the larger capacity HDD out of the unit and connect it to a PC (DO NOT!!!! connect the smaller capacity SSD disk to a Windows PC, you risk corruption of the disk!!) then you might be able to copy the firmware upgrade across and then install it from the AWG menu system.The service manual should have some info maybe. I have only upgraded my AWG510 using a new disk image from another instrument, so I've never run an update myself.

author: sprit
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 25, 2023, 03:48:30 pm
content: Hello, have a nice day!Today I just had time to "visit" that old awg610. After successfully installing nfs and downloading firmware from tekwiki onto the device, I encountered an "illegal file fomat" error that prevented me from updating the program from It. I tried 2 versions 2.3 and 4.0 and "put" those 2 files to the hard drive. Did I do something wrong? help me please.Sincerely,JingFeng