>> ...so I think the Console SLU is the problem,
one needs a decent
>> documentation for the rtVAX300 that includes the programming manual
>> for the SLUs [...]
>> As long as I'm not finding a person
that's a little bit involved in
>> VAX Assembler and is using NetBSD on VAXen, my trip ends here.
Somehow, I think this list should have no trouble turning up VAX geeks.
I know VAX assembly language well and machine language moderately
myself, even.
> If the rtVAX ROM console is 'close enough'
to a normal VAX then it
> may be a simple case of adding its boardtype to the switch
> statement.
Depends on the hardware. I gather from the discussion that there are
multiple different types of rtVAX. The KA620 uses the same console as
the KA630, which is accessed from software with mtpr/mfpr to/from four
registers, two status and two data; the underlying UART hardware is
either hidden by glue hardware or custom (well, unless there's a UART
chip that happens to match, which there might be - see below). Things
most UARTs set in software, like baud rate, are set by hardware
(there's a rotary switch on the KA6[23]0 cab kit for speed).
I don't think that The KA630 code will work, (ok,
maybe for the
loader) since the KA630 is using standard SLUs like the PDP11s.
I'm not sure what "standard SLUs" means across different architectures
and buses and such. The standard PDP-11 SLU, to the extent that there
is such a thing and to the extent that the info I've found is accurate,
is a subset of the VAX console: the status bits that both machines have
have the same values in their registers, and the VAX MTPR/MFPR
registers correspond 1:1 to the PDP-11 SLU registers (the PR numbers
are even in the same order as the PDP-11 addresses). So if there's a
chip designed for a PDP-11 SLU, it may well be what the KA620 and/or
KA630 uses.
None of the UART chips I am (even vaguely) familiar with, like the
8530, fit this description. However, a serial line such as the VAX
uses is not a complicated device; I could probably put one together
from discrete logic in no more than an hour or two. It
could very well
be just a small section of one of the custom chips involved.
And, of course, rtVAXen other than the KA620 (the KA620 is considered
an rtVAX, is it not?) may well use something else. It's not clear to
me exactly which model this thread is talking about.
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