GC1000 Bidding update

[Terry Perdue]

Barry and all,

I suspect that if, or when, the year is added to the WWV data string, it
will be done using previously unused bits so that current products should't
be affected, like when the second daylight savings bit was added about ten
years ago.

I'm pretty sure that the RS-232 chip and the clock chip are identical in the
GC-1000. (If Wayne still reads the mail here, maybe he'll reply.) Not that
it makes much difference if we can't read the uPs. I remember hearing that
Heath paid thousands of dollars for a piece of equipment to read and verify
3870s, and it wasn't made by Fairchild or Mostek. If we could read one, I
still have a handful of prototyping 3870s that take e-proms on their backs.

The GCW-1001 "Most Accurate Clock II" clock that I designed (with a 8051)
does have a simulator built in, and I could revise the code to add the year
bits when we find out the particulars, so that GC-1000s could be tested for
compatibility. But if it doesn't happen until next year, the GC-1000 owners
will have already found out whether there's a problem.

Terry
-----Original Message-----
From: Barry A. Watzman <Watzman at ibm.net>
To: HEATH at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV <HEATH at LISTSERV.TEMPE.GOV>; 'Terry Perdue'
<terryp at HALCYON.COM>
Date: Monday, April 19, 1999 9:21 PM
Subject: RE: GC1000 Bidding update


>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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