[Techtoolslist] B&K Precision 560A IC Tester software

[Chris Rinewalt]

Hello all,
Today I posted the AK560A user software (well, mostly, see my posts in the
link for full details) and manual for the B&K 560A programmable IC tester
on KLOV:
https://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=465817

I attached the software in that post, so if you are not a member, you can
download it here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dFHKnb43KXoDsg1Jxzso0qxNNBGhgLrR

 For posterity (in case the forum ever goes down), here is a cut and paste
of my posts:

Offered up is the much rumored AK-560 (well... pretty much, see below)
software for creating IC test patterns for chips not included in the
standard BK-560 library and the equally important manual. I have tested the
software and found that I could only get it to work in DosBOX. I have other
B&K software from the same period that I was able to get to work through a
DOS window in WinXP, so I'm not sure why this wouldn't. But setting up
DosBOX to work was easy, and I only had to add one line to the config file.
I have not tried this with a USB->serial adapter, so if you do, please post
here with the results.

Download the manual here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1bo...EBG9PTv9SkxN8g
<https://drive.google.com/open?id=1boncY6v16zEgZWbv32EBG9PTv9SkxN8g>

Now the bad news.... I could not get the software to work with the original
BK-560. I tried and tried and it consistently errored out at the download
portion of the instruction. As I have read, the BK-560 serial is 300 baud
standard. I set that baud rate in the software options and had the above
error. When I set it to anything more than 300 baud, I couldn't even get
past the Port On instruction. I never bothered to check, but now I am
wondering if there is a DIP or something inside the 560 which allows for
setting a higher baud; something to think about for those of you with one.
Perhaps the change in the program software from the 560 to 560A required a
change in the AK software as well, I cannot say. Sorry, Tennessee.

So, the astute will immediate notice that the main menu actually shows the
software named for the Pro-Line PL 5010, rather than 560A. I received this
software with a purchase of a B&K Pro-Line PL 5010 IC tester. This tester
actually preceded the BK-560A, but has extra features that were not
incorporated until the release of the BK-560B (if it was ever actually
released). See next post for more info.

I was told by the seller that they had the manuals/extras for this machine,
but after 6+ months(!) of back and forth, I was never able to get any of
them. So I had to order a photocopy of the AK-560A manual and luckily the
instructions appear to be the same, as even the program's help files didn't
get me very far. So no original manuals for this software/unit, but somehow
I did end up with a working MicroConcepts BoardWalker 103 with manuals!?

(next post)

>From what I have been able to gather, sometime after Maxtec purchased B&K
from Dynascan, they annouced the new ProLine series of equipment, which
were to be more advanced testers. I don't know why the $3500 (MSRP) BK-560
was not considered "pro level", but I guess that is marketing at work. I
found info on three testers that were produced under the Pro-Line nameplate
by B&K in 1991/92, the PL 5000, the PL 5010 and PL 5030. The PL 5000 was a
crazy $15,000 PC based machine that, from the info I found, incorporated IC
testing like the 560/5010 machines, along with analog signature analysis
(5030, see below), wrapped up in a fancy software with a bunch of other
features for guided fault testing on 48 channels. It could use the captured
information to create a schematic of the PCB components based on the nodes
detected by the software... fancy stuff.

The PL 5030 was an analog signature analyzer (like a Huntron Tracker or
BK-540/545) but required an interface with a PC.

(see attached grabs from contemporaneous magazine adverts and check out an
article featuring this equipment in Electronic Servicing & Techonology's
Sep 1992 issue, pg 8).

So, sometime in 1991 B&K released the PL 5010 and for some unknown reason,
ceased production sometime in 1992 when/after the BK-560A was released (I
cannot find a firm date). The PL 5010 has all the features of the 560A, but
adds a selectable baud rate for a PC interface, the ability to the run self
test without power cycling the unit, out of circuit IC auto ID for TTL/CMOS
chips and a logic monitor mode. These features were claimed to be
incorporated into the 560B (see image found on an old B&K reseller website
which appears to be a scan from a catalog, but it showed the 560A machine,
just like the archive page on B&K's website), but I've not seen
confirmation that it was ever released. If you examine the 560A ROM code,
you'll notice it mentions both 'Logic Probe Mode' and 'AUTO ID'. Perhaps a
560A can be modified to run those modes or maybe it's just a carryover from
the PL 5010 software? The library software is the exact same between the PL
5010 and 560A (verified with a hex editor file comparison), which was
pretty much the same as the final known 560 library (except for 28 pin
EPROMS). That may not be suprising, as I'm not sure how many, if any, new
TTL/CMOS/memory DIP ICs were released after the early 1990s.

That's about all I know about these machines. If anyone else has additional
info, please share.