13 Dec
2004
13 Dec
'04
12:14 p.m.
Tony replied to my comments about the HP BPC processor in the 9845:
Perversely the I/O processor in my 9845 seems to have many more
connections than the one in the 9825.....
I haev one of those. I don't think it's
the same device -- exactly -- as
in a 9825, it appears to have more connections for a start. It is almost
certainly the same architecture, though.
The full processor is a three-chip hybrid. But in some cases they
use only the main processor chip. That's what's in the 9872, and IIRC
the I/O processor of the 9845.
Although the 9825 and 9835 use the three-chip hybrid, it may be a
different version than the one that serves as the system CPU in the
non-bitslice version of the 9845.
Regarding my comments on the bit-slice processor:
Sometime, sure. They're soldered in IIRC which makes things a little more
of a pain (but not impssible). The main ROMs are socketed, but are
somewhat strange in that they contain address (?) latches. Well, put it
this way. The buses of the 9845 processors are multiplexed address and
data (like a 9825, not suprisingly), there are no address latches on the
memory boards.
-tony
I have that. It's 3 PCBs with a little
backplane on top to link them
Knowing how thorough you normally are with these things, I don't need
to make any special requests about your reverse-engineering effort.
But if at all possible, could you please dump the PROMs of that
processor assembly?