14 Feb
2002
14 Feb
'02
3:55 p.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave McGuire" <mcguire(a)neurotica.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2002 09:10 PM
Subject: Re: SUN-3 floating point info wanted...
Well, the drives that belonged to this computer never made it east from New
Orleans when my brother lugged it back, so checking /usr/lib isn't as easy
as it sounds. :)
All I need at the moment is something I can punch in via the monitor to
verify it gets four from two and two. I can't even seem to locate an
instruction list to hand-assemble something! :(
On February 14, Robert Schaefer wrote:
> Hi! I'm looking for info on the SUN-3 floating point accelerators like
the
> FPA, and FPA+. Programming info, header files,
maybe even the libraries
if
they're
avaliable.
Under SunOS4, and perhaps previous versions, there are FPA libraries
in /usr/lib. There are three separate math libraries if memory
serves...one for soft floating point, one for 6888[12] fp, and one for
use with the FPA. I don't remember what they're called, but if you
look at the files in /usr/lib it should be obvious.
Since those libraries are part of the standard SunOS distribution,
studying the SunOS source code should allow one to glean all the
programming info.
FPAs are neat. If I recall correctly they use Weitek WTL1164 and
WTL1165 chips. Very nice. :-)
Yah, I hope to put it to good use. Do you know if more than one can be used
at once?
> Also, before I pop in to motorols.com, does anyone have a quick little
> snippet of code to excersize a 68882? I just upgraded my SUN-3/280 to a
> '882, and I want to verify that everything's working right before I
solder
in some
sockets and start playing with the clock.
Also under SunOS4, there's a program called "mc68881version" or
something very similar. That'll tell you what rev your 68881/68882
is, and I seem to remember it saying something about performance also,
but it's been a very long time since I last messed with this and I may
not be remembering that part correctly.
-Dave
Bob
--
Dave McGuire
St. Petersburg, FL "Less talk. More synthohol." --Lt. Worf