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Dear List!

We badly need your help because at the moment our Jeol JCXA 733 (Superprobe)
EPMA instrument at the Institute for Geochemical Research, Hungary cannot be
controlled by its original computer interface for some time.
It had originally been equipped with a DEC PDP-11 minicomputer but in 1996 we
replaced the PDP with a PC [Z.Valkai, L.Varga: PC interface for an old-fashioned
EPMA, proc. of EMAS'96, 2nd Regional Workshop on Electron Probe Microanal. of
Materials Today - Practical Aspects, 19-22 May 1996, Balatonfüred, Hungary,
p.71-72 (poster session)].
Our solution was based on a special ISA card developed by my colleague. This
card is connected to the UNIBUS lines so that the PC could play the exact role of
the PDP. After working for some 15 years this system is out of order now.
The Superprobe can still be controlled manually when the three state switch on
the operation console is in LOCAL mode.
My colleague has investigated the PC card and fixed some errors of the card.
However, the system still does'nt work under computer control. We suspect that
something went wrong in the operation control and interface (OCX) unit.
This unit is located in a big rack under the X-ray counting system, made by ORTEC.
The PDP computer used to be under these units in the same rack.
Please let us know if you have the circuit diagram of the OCX unit. We would
also appreciate any ideas to revive our system.
With my best regards:

Laszlo Varga, computer programmer

P.S. I am sending this message to the microscopy and to the EPMA lists at the
same time so I would like to apologize to those of you who receive it twice.