Anyone Else Have an Apple C.A.T. (TechStep Precurosr)?

[jajan547]

Hello everyone I don't know if most of you have heard of the Apple C.A.T. Diagnostic Tool, it was issued form Apple in the mid to late 80's and was used to diagnose and fix computers such as the Macintosh Portable, 128k, 512k(e), Plus, SE, SE/30, ii, iix, iicx, and iici (there may be more I am unaware of). This was the precursor to the Apple TechStep. This is an awesome tool, the two cards you see are the SCSI LoopBack (most of you may be familiar with this card) and the Macintosh II Master Card (hadn't heard too much of this), the Macintosh II Master Card is to be used with the Macintosh II family/lineup and of course I had to save that ROM image which I've included below for you all. I've attached some photos of what all is included and any comments, suggestions, or feedback is greatly appreciated. I want to also give a huge thank you to @Jockelill for finding this and working out a great little transaction, he has also uploaded the Floppy images to Macintosh Repository (LINK HERE) and was also kind enough to scan all of the paperwork (LINK HERE) that came with this kit.

Photos Below:

 

[splorp]

This is absolutely new to me. And I’ve been collection Apple prototypes for years. Nice nab.

 

[jajan547]

Thank you came all the way from Sweeden and looks to have come with a ton of extra disks, I’ve been playing around with it and it’s very accurate.

 

[jajan547]

Here's what happens I used a Macintosh Plus as the Test Station and and an SE/30 with a logic board that has an error as the UUT or Unit Under Test.

 

[retr01]

Why is nothing coming up on the SE/30 to test it?

 

[jajan547]

Why is nothing coming up on the SE/30 to test it?

I'm happy you brought that up, with the AppleCAT two floppies (for example) are used one is MacTest SE/30 this floppy would go in the SE/30 we are testing, it is our UUT (Unit Under Test) the other floppy AppleCAT would be inserted in our Test Station (Can use Macintosh Plus, SE, or SE/30). The MacTest troubleshoots on the SE/30's side for errors. The AppleCAT troubleshoots the SE/30 using the Test Station and to do this you must turn on the UUT and wait 5-8 seconds then using the programmers switch you hit the interrupt button giving the SE/30 the screen you see. From here you are now able to start diagnosing the UUT with the Test Station using the AppleCAT floppy. In this particular case before the screen you see it found an error on one of the ports and as such told me to reinsert the new logic board and test, hence the screen you see.

 

[retr01]

Thank you, @jajan547, for the clear explanation.

 

[retr01]

Say, isn't this something we tinkerers can emulate? Just need the cables and the programs, right?

 

[jajan547]

I believe so yes, but there may be more to the picture.

 

[Kai Robinson]

There's at least 5 PAL's on there that would have to be reversed in order to be able to think about reproducing that NuBus card

 

[jajan547]

There's at least 5 PAL's on there that would have to be reversed in order to be able to think about reproducing that NuBus card

Maybe you guys wanna reverse engineer it

 

[Jockelill]

I examined the cards quite extensively when I had the set here, and the little card is basically just a few connectors on a simple two layer card, the cables are fairly standard or at least with still available connectors. The Nubus card is a bit trickier of course, but it’s basically just a lot of logic gates on a two layer card. I think it should be fairly strait forward to do it. And yes! I totally support the idea !

the origin of this kit is from a an retired apple tech here in Sweden. He had tons of diagnostic tools/documentation that he has sold off during the last year. Unfortunately I missed his tech step, but it’s in good hands with another guy here in Sweden. The apple cat is too special for my own usage, but I have to say that’s it’s still one of the coolest Macintosh things I’ve had in my hands!!

before I sent it to @jajan547, I made images of all the floppies, scanned all the documentation and also took pictures of the cards and cables. All that is on Macintosh garden. My intention was that it one day should be reverse engineered. My own circuit board design skills are limited, so I think they’re other people much better prepared for the task.

 

[jajan547]

I absolutely intend to send this off to work with someone to reverse engineer