HSC-5100 Computer
Com,HeritageSystems@Product,HSC5100
<Shofar Identity="Com,HeritageSystems@Product,HSC5100" Updated="2024-04-24T05:06:24" Initial="2009-06-16T12:04:23" ShofarNexus="1990-08-12" xmlns="http://ShofarNexus.com" Title="HSC-5100 Computer"> <Fact> <Fact Key="_Book"> <Fact Value="/Product,HSC5100"/> <Fact Value="/Product,HSC5100+1"/> <Fact Value="/Product,HSC5100+2"/> <Fact Value="/Product,HSC5100+3"/> <Fact Value="/Product,HSC5100+4"/> <Fact Value="/Product,HSC5100+5"/> <Fact Value="/Product,HSC5100+6"/> <Fact Value="/Product,HSC5100+7"/> <Fact Value="/Product,HSC5100+8"/> </Fact> </Fact> <Glob> <Glob Key="_Flyer"> <Glob Key="_Flyer_Caption"> <Glob Build="_Site~_Home~Markup,Flyer_Body"/> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Row,80x45,Thumb,Title~Markup" Path="Site~Product,HSC5100"/> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Table,5x~Markup"> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Cell,160x90,Thumb,Label~Markup" Path="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100+1"/> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Cell,160x90,Thumb,Label~Markup" Path="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100+2"/> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Cell,160x90,Thumb,Label~Markup" Path="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100+3"/> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Cell,160x90,Thumb,Label~Markup" Path="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100+4"/> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Cell,160x90,Thumb,Label~Markup" Path="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100+5"/> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Cell,160x90,Thumb,Label~Markup" Path="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100+6"/> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Cell,160x90,Thumb,Label~Markup" Path="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100+7"/> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Cell,160x90,Thumb,Label~Markup" Path="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100+8"/> </Glob> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Table,10x~Markup"> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Cell,80x45,Thumb~Markup" Path="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100-1991-06-06"/> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Cell,80x45,Thumb~Markup" Path="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100-1991-07-16"/> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Cell,80x45,Thumb~Markup" Path="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100-1991-12-11"/> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Cell,80x45,Thumb~Markup" Path="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100-1992-07-01"/> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Cell,80x45,Thumb~Markup" Path="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100-1993-04-16"/> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Cell,80x45,Thumb~Markup" Path="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100-1993-08-13"/> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Cell,80x45,Thumb~Markup" Path="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100-1993-10-14"/> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Cell,80x45,Thumb~Markup" Path="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100-1994-11-10"/> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Cell,80x45,Thumb~Markup" Path="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100-1994-12-13"/> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Cell,80x45,Thumb~Markup" Path="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100-1995-04-10"/> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Cell,80x45,Thumb~Markup" Path="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100-1995-05-02"/> <Glob Build="Core~_Core,Cell,80x45,Thumb~Markup" Path="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100-1995-05-08"/> </Glob> </Glob> </Glob> </Glob> <Markup> <Markup Key="Article"> <Layout Key=".White_Space_Wrap td" Show="Markup_Class_Build=White-Space:Normal;"/> <Row> <Cell> <Table> <Row> <Cell Text="The HSC-5100 computer was quite a powerful embedded computer for 1990. It had a total of a megabyte of memory during the time when the typical PC had the same."/> </Row> <Row> <Cell Text="The HSC-5102 was a complete computer with the HSC-5100 PCB mounted on a metal panel with a power supply and a 640x480 monochrome LCD on the other side and a touch panel. The package was then mounted on sock knitting machines. The computer was connected via ten conductor ribbon cables to I/O cards to interface to the mechanics of the knitting machine"/> </Row> <Row> <Cell> <Table Class="Dump_Table White_Space_Wrap"> <Row> <Cell Text="Pre-USB" Style="Width:128px;"/> <Cell Text="To communicate with the I/O cards an optically isolated serial interface was developed. It communicated at 2M bits per second. The I/O card would hold in a reset state when the clock from the computer was not present keeping the machine in a safe state. Much of the architecture used is now seen in the ubiquitous USB interface."/> </Row> <Row> <Cell Text="Programmable I/O"/> <Cell Text="The I/O cards used LCAs (Logic Cell Array) that were programmed at startup time. This allowed for the design to be updated in the software."/> </Row> <Row> <Cell Text="Flash Memory"/> <Cell Text="Flash was new technology and only starting to take part of the optically erasable or one-time programmable memory market. The program could be updated via the network."/> </Row> <Row> <Cell Text="Optical Network"/> <Cell Text="The machines were in a harsh environment and we developed a fiber optic network using plastic fibers. We could monitor the machines, update the software, and update the sock patterns and programs over the network."/> </Row> <Row> <Cell Text="LCD controller"/> <Cell Text="VRAM (Video RAM) and an LCA was used for the display controller. Black, white, and grey was achieved by modulation techniques on a display that was black and white only."/> </Row> <Row> <Cell Text="Touch Panel"/> <Cell Text="The touch panel used an 8 bit analog to digital converter which allowed us to resolve a 256 by 256 grid. However, with numerous issues to resolve and limited processing time to allocate to the touch panel, we had an 8 by 8 grid in software."/> </Row> <Row> <Cell Text="Diagnostic LEDs"/> <Cell Text="A virtual trademark of our projects was the cluster of four red and four green diagnostic LEDs. After all, looking at a computer does not let you know if it is running unless there is something that shows activity. At power on a dance would occur that would show the self-test progress. During operation each LED would blink in sequence to show that the system was actually running. Errors would flash an error code."/> </Row> </Table> </Cell> </Row> </Table> </Cell> </Row> </Markup> <Markup Key="_Flyer"> <Markup Key="_Flyer_Caption" Show="Build_Glob_Children~Markup~~Glob,_Flyer,_Flyer_Caption"/> </Markup> </Markup> <Image> <Image Key="Full" Alias="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100+1~Image,Full"/> <Image Key="Poster" Alias="Site_Template~Product,HSC5100+1~Image,Thumb"/> <Image Key="Thumb" Alias="This_Branch~Image,Poster"/> </Image> </Shofar>
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