Posted 2023-10-28 | Back to blog index
Meet the Human Test (ヒューマンテスト)
Ran across this odd device at HARDOFF and snapped a shot. Went to my favorite haunt for a drink that evening and discussed it with a friend who works the bar there, and she got really excited to play with it so I went back the next day and picked it up
Together we couldn't find a single mention on this device online by name or the HARD OFF label 「診断機」, which intrigued me. There's also no reference to a manufacturer on or in the device
It's a “15 questions” personality test device, which is used to playfully quiz on different aspects of your personality or suitability for careers.
As this was meant for adult-oriented establishments like bars, it has a lot of racy topics to choose from aside from some more normal ones.
Before I drop it off at the bar, I need to clean it up (look at the mold on that screen, ew!) but also satiate my curiosity of what this runs on.
As many would have guessed, this baby runs off a Z80 - a Hitachi HD64180RP8.
The support chips are:
* Two NEC D8255AC-2 PIO chips, I guess for the keyboard input and display output?
* 256 Kbit (32 KByte) of Static RAM in a Toshiba TC55257BPL-10
* NEC D24C1000C-1 Kanji Mask ROM for displaying Japanese text (or should I say 漢字ロム)
* Two Toshiba TC57512AD-15 512 Kbit (64 Kbyte) EPROMs with the data/code
Date codes on the chips are from 1989 which dates the machine.
The display is a generic Epson EG2402S / P-300013900 board with a 240×64 STN LCD panel. Apparently this board was also used in industrial control equipment and you can still find (overpriced) NOS or recycled replacements on Aliexpress.
This one is suffering a bit from polarizer delamination and tunnel syndrome, but that's only noticeable when you're looking at it from off-axis.
The display has date codes from 1991 so quite a bit newer than the main board!
The Human Test now has a home at my friend's bar
