GC1000 Bidding update

[Barry A. Watzman]

The GC-1000 clearly has the potential to succumb to the Y2K bug.  Without the source code for the F8, it's impossible to predict what will happen when the WWV signal begins transmitting a date in the next century.  The only other option would be a "WWV signal simulator", and I am not aware that such a beast exists.

My hope is that the time display will continue to function correctly.

Terry, my recollection is that the RS-232 F8 contained only the RS-232 code and that the original F8 still did the clock.  Wayne Wilson, who was more intimately involved with the GC-1000 [he was the architect, product manager and is named in the patents, but he did not write the code] is with Tandy in Fort Worth, perhaps he would know.

Barry Watzman


----------
From:  Terry Perdue [SMTP:terryp at HALCYON.COM]
Sent:  Monday, April 19, 1999 9:14 PM
To:  HEATH at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV
Subject:  Re: GC1000 Bidding update

The processor is the 3870 single-chip F8. It is possible to read the
internal ROM, but only with special equipment, as timing was very critical.
I believe that the RS-232 uP was the same identical part, and contained the
code for the both the clock and the serial interface. (Sounds like this is a
case of not being Y1.998K compliant.)

Terry
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Morris <morris at COGENT.NET>
To: HEATH at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV <HEATH at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV>
Date: Sunday, April 18, 1999 11:41 PM
Subject: Re: GC1000 Bidding update


>I can guarantee it's not - at least in the RS-232...
>I forget - does it display the year on the front panel?
>
>I rememberer seeing a note on a unix newsgroup years ago
>that when you hook the GC-1000 to a server (requiring the
>optional RS-232 kit) and use it to set the server time
>that you should use a certain driver on it, as that
>driver masks off the year bits so they are ignored.
>I did a little research and discovered that the year bits
>are sourced off a set of dipswitches and not the radio
>signal - as I recall the unit will go up to 1998...
>
>Maybe the unit can be hardware-modified to decode the
>actual transmitted year bits and send them to the RS-232,
>but not having a manual I have no way of knowing.
>If it's in the microprocessor, we may be screwed - Heath
>was big on the Fairchild F8 line for a while, and I no
>longer have access to the development system (even if there
>was a way to read the program out of one of those chips).
>If it's not a F8 family chip then maybe there's a chance...
>
>Mike WA6ILQ
>
>At 09:14 PM 04/18/99 -0500, you wrote:
>>One has to hope that thing is Y2K compliant, huh?
>>
>>:D
>>
>>Buzz, ke0ms
>
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