18 Aug
2005
18 Aug
'05
8:30 p.m.
I've found all of those cards fairly often on
ebay. FDDI cards go for
cheap. I have loads of them.
Are we talking about the same cards? The ones I am referring to are known
as "F960", "H960", "E386" and so forth. The first letter
refers to the
interface (FDDI, HSSI, Ethernet, and so forth) and the number indicates
the processor. A stripped down AIX ran on these cards (yes, AIX on a
80386 - deal with it) to perform the routing. The host RS/6000 basically
just did housekeeping.
The FDDI and HSSI cards (I don't think) ever became a real product, with
less than 300 or so made. The V.35 and Ethernet cards did, and pop up from
time to time (they were used in a specially badged RS/6000-320 called a
<mumble> Network Processor).
William Donzelli
aw288 at osfn.org