19 Nov
2005
19 Nov
'05
11:49 a.m.
On Nov 19 2005, 2:14, Tony Duell wrote:
Are there any Econet enthusiasts here?
Yes :-)
I've just bought most of an Acorn Econet
fileserver (it's missing the
2
floppy drioves and their cables, the mainboard and PSU
look intact).
The mainboard contains :
65C102 CPU
64K EPROM (2 off 27256). I've not tried to look at their contents yet
There are several versions of the firmware, each with its own little
idiosyncracies ;-) One EPROM is the MOS and the other is the
fileserver code, as you might expect.
64K DRAM
WD2793 disk controller (not what I'd expect from Acorn)
6522 VIA
Real time clcok chip and backup battery
TTL glue
An Econet module (looks like the one used in a Master or Arc, the
type
with the hardware collision detection). Oddly theres a
26LS30 on the
mainboard, does this thing source the Exonet clock too?
Yes, it does, and it's a decent asymmetric clock. It's supposed to
switch itself off (or actually, I suspect, not switch on at boot time)
if it detects another clock already on the wire.
The PSU looks to be a normal switch-mode unit giving
+5V and +12V
On the back are the 5 pin DIN econet socket, a 26 pin header
identified
as 'Printer' (presumably wired as a BBC micro
printer port)
Yes, just as normal.
and a 34 pin
header. I am told this is to add a hard disk, and it looks similar to
a
Beeb's 1MHz bus. I assume it takes the normal SASI
host adapter and
ST506
bridgboard (I have spares of those somewhere...)
Yes.
On the front are 2 LEDs (power and mode) and what
looks like a
reflectiove optoswitch (why?)
The optoswitch detects whether the front panel is in the open or closed
state. When closed, the box starts up as a server. When open, it runs
in maintenance mode. The plastic "hinges" were rather fragile and
frequently broke, leading sometimes to the loss of the cover.
Can anyone tell me anything more about it, how to use
it, what the
intenral links do, etc?
I should have the manual somewhere. You shouldn't need to change any
links.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
20 Nov
20 Nov
12:55 a.m.
On Nov 19 2005, 2:14, Tony Duell wrote:
Excellent. And as you saw, Lee Davison pointed me at your last reply to
my question a couple of years back...
Are there any Econet enthusiasts here?
Yes :-) > The mainboard contains :
[...]
64K EPROM (2
off 27256). I've not tried to look at their contents yet
There are several versions of the firmware, each with its own little
idiosyncracies ;-) One EPROM is the MOS and the other is the
fileserver code, as you might expect. An Econet
module (looks like the one used in a Master or Arc, the
type
with the hardware collision detection). Oddly
theres a 26LS30 on the
mainboard, does this thing source the Exonet clock too?
Yes, it does, and it's a decent asymmetric clock. It's supposed to switch itself off (or actually, I suspect, not switch
on at boot time)
if it detects another clock already on the wire.
I would guess, without any evidence, that it detects the lack of clock
using the same method that a Beeb uses to display the 'no clock' message
and then enables the internal clock if necessary.
and a 34 pin
header. I am told this is to add a hard disk, and it looks similar to
a
Beeb's 1MHz bus. I assume it takes the normal
SASI host adapter and
ST506
bridgboard (I have spares of those somewhere...)
Yes. On the front
are 2 LEDs (power and mode) and what looks like a
reflectiove optoswitch (why?)
The optoswitch detects whether the front panel is in the open or closed
state. When closed, the box starts up as a server. When open, it runs
in maintenance mode. The plastic "hinges" were rather fragile and
frequently broke, leading sometimes to the loss of the cover. Can anyone tell me anything more about it, how to
use it, what the
intenral links do, etc?
I should have the manual somewhere. You shouldn't need to change any links.
No, probably not, but you know I am curious about such things anyway...
-tony
6985
days inactive
6986
days old
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