23 Jun
2005
23 Jun
'05
11:53 a.m.
Anyone got some space and 3 phase ?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=96944&item…
Dan
23 Jun
23 Jun
2:09 p.m.
On Thu, 2005-06-23 19:53:29 +0100, Dan Williams <williams.dan at gmail.com> wrote:
Anyone got some space and 3 phase ?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=96944&item…
I'd *love* to get this machine (trying to get one of those for about two
years), but shipping from UK to Germany would probably kill me :(
MfG, JBG
--
Jan-Benedict Glaw jbglaw at lug-owl.de . +49-172-7608481 _ O _
"Eine Freie Meinung in einem Freien Kopf | Gegen Zensur | Gegen Krieg _ _ O
fuer einen Freien Staat voll Freier B?rger" | im Internet! | im Irak! O O O
ret = do_actions((curr | FREE_SPEECH) & ~(NEW_COPYRIGHT_LAW | DRM | TCPA));
24 Jun
24 Jun
9:50 a.m.
On Thu, 2005-06-23 23:09:51 +0200, Jan-Benedict Glaw <jbglaw at lug-owl.de> wrote:
On Thu, 2005-06-23 19:53:29 +0100, Dan Williams
<williams.dan at gmail.com> wrote:
Well, I'm actually considering to bid on it. That is, I'm trying to
organize how to move the box over to Germany with a van or trailer.
Though, I need to get it, too...
MfG, JBG
--
Jan-Benedict Glaw jbglaw at lug-owl.de . +49-172-7608481 _ O _
"Eine Freie Meinung in einem Freien Kopf | Gegen Zensur | Gegen Krieg _ _ O
fuer einen Freien Staat voll Freier B?rger" | im Internet! | im Irak! O O O
ret = do_actions((curr | FREE_SPEECH) & ~(NEW_COPYRIGHT_LAW | DRM | TCPA));
Anyone got some space and 3 phase ?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=96944&item…
I'd *love* to get this machine (trying to get one of those for about two
years), but shipping from UK to Germany would probably kill me :(
18 Aug
18 Aug
1:54 p.m.
On Fri, 2005-06-24 18:50:06 +0200, Jan-Benedict Glaw <jbglaw at lug-owl.de> wrote:
There we are. The machine arrived at a friend's house today. He'll host
the machine for me, since I've got, um, erm, some problems finding a
good place in my basement.
On the first sight, the machine looks quite nice. Some scratches at it's
right side, but nothing major. After opening the box, there's some shite
dust (I guess it's from drilling holes into some wall...), but it's a
nice view. Two CPUs, as expected, three memory boards (I haven't noted
their part numbers, but from guessing their size from the used ICs,
they're 32MB each, so 96MB in total). One board (in the XMI cage) was a
T2027, which is a XMI-to-FDDI board. Nice :)
Two BI adaptors connect the two halves of the BI cabinet. 11 of its 12
slots are filled (two boards are the matching bus adaptors, so there are
9 "real" boards installed). I haven't in detail looked at the boards,
but the connectors on the back tell me, theres at least an async serial
board (-> 8 additional DB25 connectors), two BNC connector plates (CI?)
and the FDDI connector(s).
We first started to off-screw a lot of metal to redice it's weight. We
can now basically lift the machine with two people for some seconds, so
I hope we'll manage to get the machine down into the basement with four
men. Then some cleaning up, re-assembling.
How can test the five power supply units? Three-phase power is already
available, so is it okay to pull the cards and start the box or are
additional resistors (car lamps, ...) needed?
MfG, JBG
--
Jan-Benedict Glaw jbglaw at lug-owl.de . +49-172-7608481 _ O _
"Eine Freie Meinung in einem Freien Kopf | Gegen Zensur | Gegen Krieg _ _ O
f?r einen Freien Staat voll Freier B?rger" | im Internet! | im Irak! O O O
ret = do_actions((curr | FREE_SPEECH) & ~(NEW_COPYRIGHT_LAW | DRM | TCPA));
On Thu, 2005-06-23 23:09:51 +0200, Jan-Benedict Glaw
<jbglaw at lug-owl.de> wrote:
VAX 6000-320
I'd *love* to get this machine (trying to get one of those for about two
years), but shipping from UK to Germany would probably kill me :(
Well, I'm actually considering to bid on it. That is, I'm trying to
organize how to move the box over to Germany with a van or trailer.
Though, I need to get it, too... 
2:22 p.m.
>>>> "Jan-Benedict" ==
Jan-Benedict Glaw <jbglaw at lug-owl.de> writes:
Jan-Benedict> ...One board (in the XMI cage) was a
Jan-Benedict> T2027, which is a XMI-to-FDDI board. Nice :)
Ha, I had forgotten that ever shipped. I suspect that's not a common
board at all. Of course, finding anything to plug it into isn't easy
anymore...
paul
19 Aug
19 Aug
6:13 a.m.
On 8/18/05, Paul Koning <pkoning at equallogic.com> wrote:
Aren't there some FDDI-SCSI converters? I bought one from ebay (HSD 5 or 10?)
>>>> "Jan-Benedict" == Jan-Benedict Glaw <jbglaw at
lug-owl.de> writes:
Jan-Benedict> ...One board (in the XMI cage) was a
Jan-Benedict> T2027, which is a XMI-to-FDDI board. Nice :)
Ha, I had forgotten that ever shipped. I suspect that's not a common
board at all. Of course, finding anything to plug it into isn't easy
anymore...
paul
6:50 a.m.
9000 VAX wrote:
On 8/18/05, Paul Koning <pkoning at
equallogic.com> wrote:
Aren't there some FDDI-SCSI converters? I bought one from ebay (HSD 5 or 10?)
You might be talking about DSSI, not FDDI. FDDI is a type of LAN.
Fiber Distributed Data Interface. Not really used for storage.
Peace... Sridhar
>>>>"Jan-Benedict" == Jan-Benedict Glaw <jbglaw at lug-owl.de>
writes:
Jan-Benedict> ...One board (in the XMI cage) was a
Jan-Benedict> T2027, which is a XMI-to-FDDI board. Nice :)
Ha, I had forgotten that ever shipped. I suspect that's not a common
board at all. Of course, finding anything to plug it into isn't easy
anymore...
6:54 a.m.
>>>> "9000" == 9000 VAX
<vax9000 at gmail.com> writes:
9000> On 8/18/05, Paul Koning <pkoning at equallogic.com> wrote:
> >>>>> "Jan-Benedict" ==
Jan-Benedict Glaw <jbglaw at lug-owl.de>
> writes:
>
Jan-Benedict> ...One board (in the XMI cage) was a T2027, which is a
Jan-Benedict> XMI-to-FDDI board. Nice :)
> Ha, I had forgotten that ever shipped. I suspect
that's not a
> common board at all. Of course, finding anything to plug it into
> isn't easy anymore...
9000> Aren't there some FDDI-SCSI converters? I bought one from ebay
9000> (HSD 5 or 10?)
FDDI to SCSI? Not 100% impossible but it seems unlikely. FDDI is a
network interface, similar to 100BaseT (but much more complex for no
benefit).
You can run IP over it, of course. And then you could run iSCSI, if
you don't mind the slow performance. But FDDI was obsolete long
before iSCSI came out. So an FDDI to SCSI converter would have to be a
proprietary hack.
paul
7:06 a.m.
Paul Koning wrote:
Jan-Benedict> ...One board (in the XMI cage) was a
T2027, which is a
Jan-Benedict> XMI-to-FDDI board. Nice :)
No benefit? I get much better transfer rates through regular FDDI than
I do through *switched* 100Mbps ethernet. I have a DEC GIGAswitch, and
let me tell you that switched FDDI is *extremely* fast.
That's not even talking about fault-tolerance.
> Ha, I had forgotten that ever shipped. I
suspect that's not a
> common board at all. Of course, finding anything to plug it into
> isn't easy anymore...
9000> Aren't there some FDDI-SCSI converters? I bought one from ebay
9000> (HSD 5 or 10?)
FDDI to SCSI? Not 100% impossible but it seems unlikely. FDDI is a
network interface, similar to 100BaseT (but much more complex for no
benefit). You can run IP over it, of course. And then you could
run iSCSI, if
you don't mind the slow performance. But FDDI was obsolete long
before iSCSI came out. So an FDDI to SCSI converter would have to be a
proprietary hack.
Obselete? It's still very much used in places where fault tolerance is
important.
Peace... Sridhar
7:43 a.m.
>>>> "Sridhar" == Sridhar Ayengar
<ploopster at gmail.com> writes:
Sridhar> Paul Koning wrote:
Jan-Benedict> ...One board (in the XMI cage) was a T2027, which is a
Jan-Benedict> XMI-to-FDDI board. Nice :)
> >> Ha, I had forgotten that ever shipped. I
suspect that's not a
> >> common board at all. Of course, finding anything to plug it
> into >> isn't easy anymore...
>
9000> Aren't there some FDDI-SCSI converters? I bought one from ebay
9000> (HSD 5 or 10?)
> FDDI to SCSI? Not 100% impossible but it seems
unlikely. FDDI is
> a network interface, similar to 100BaseT (but much more complex
> for no benefit).
Sridhar> No benefit? I get much better transfer rates through
Sridhar> regular FDDI than I do through *switched* 100Mbps ethernet.
Sridhar> I have a DEC GIGAswitch, and let me tell you that switched
Sridhar> FDDI is *extremely* fast.
FDDI and 100BaseT are the same speed given equally competent
implementations.
Sridhar> That's not even talking about fault-tolerance.
Ethernet and FDDI both offer fault tolerance. They do it in different
ways, but they both can do it.
Having spent several years in the FDDI ANSI committee, I know all the
"why FDDI is better" FUD. It doesn't hold water. And it certainly
doesn't justify the absolutely mindboggling complexity of FDDI
compared to Ethernet.
> You can run IP over it, of course. And then you
could run iSCSI,
> if you don't mind the slow performance. But FDDI was obsolete
> long before iSCSI came out. So an FDDI to SCSI converter would
> have to be a proprietary hack.
Sridhar> Obselete? It's still very much used in places where fault
Sridhar> tolerance is important.
You're thinking about the U.S. Navy? I heard from them a few years
ago when they realized that FDDI was dead, dead, dead, and they had to
look for alternatives, because new FDDI hardware could no longer be
obtained anywhere.
paul
8:17 a.m.
Paul Koning wrote:
It's all over IBM's internal network NOC's. I seem to remember one of
the larger ISP's fairly near here still using it in their NAP. I could
probably find out who, if necessary.
That, and this is classiccmp. Old != obselete.
Peace... Sridhar
FDDI and 100BaseT are the same speed given equally
competent
implementations.
With 100BaseT using an MTU of 1500, and FDDI using an MTU of 4478? I
don't believe there's a standard for jumbo frames on 100Base-T.
Sridhar> That's not even talking about
fault-tolerance.
Ethernet and FDDI both offer fault tolerance. They do it in different
ways, but they both can do it.
Having spent several years in the FDDI ANSI committee, I know all the
"why FDDI is better" FUD. It doesn't hold water. And it certainly
doesn't justify the absolutely mindboggling complexity of FDDI
compared to Ethernet.
Take a bunch of SAS CDDI cards, plug Cat 5 into them, plug other end
into concentrator. Voila. Done. Where's Need to run it a couple miles
down the road? No problem. Not everything has to be backbone dual
counter-rotating rings with trees.
That, and now that the hardware is out of fashion, it's a lot cheaper.
I have some GigE and some FDDI running over fiber between buildings here
at work, and the GigE's redundant failover capacity often takes special
hardware ($$), and often doesn't work as well.
> You can
run IP over it, of course. And then you could run iSCSI,
> if you don't mind the slow performance. But FDDI was obsolete
> long before iSCSI came out. So an FDDI to SCSI converter would
> have to be a proprietary hack.
Sridhar> Obselete? It's still very much used in places where fault
Sridhar> tolerance is important.
You're thinking about the U.S. Navy? I heard from them a few years
ago when they realized that FDDI was dead, dead, dead, and they had to
look for alternatives, because new FDDI hardware could no longer be
obtained anywhere. 
2:20 p.m.
Having spent several years in the FDDI ANSI committee,
I know all the
"why FDDI is better" FUD. It doesn't hold water. And it certainly
doesn't justify the absolutely mindboggling complexity of FDDI
compared to Ethernet.
For what it is worth, we (ANS) found FDDI to be really rather more
bulletproof than Ethernet, even when we moved major POPs from live FDDI
rings to FDDI stars.
Smooth as silk, actually.
William Donzelli
aw288 at osfn.org
7:23 a.m.
Paul Koning wrote:
There's usually FDDI stuff all over ebay at any given moment. The Cisco
WS-C1400 is pretty popular.
Peace... Sridhar
>>>>"Jan-Benedict" == Jan-Benedict Glaw <jbglaw at lug-owl.de>
writes:
Jan-Benedict> ...One board (in the XMI cage) was a
Jan-Benedict> T2027, which is a XMI-to-FDDI board. Nice :)
Ha, I had forgotten that ever shipped. I suspect that's not a common
board at all. Of course, finding anything to plug it into isn't easy
anymore... 
18 Aug
18 Aug
3:10 p.m.
How can test the five power supply units?
I don't think there are any load boards for either the
XMI or the BI bus - I presume that's because there is
no need for them.
The PSU regulating modules are clearly visible at the
back. They can source a considerable current (300A
springs to mind) so if you really do want to stick
voltmeter probes there you'll want to make sure you
have no rings or other metalwork anywhere and you
must replace the protective plastic covers when you
are done. That large a current will do very nasty
things even though it is only low voltage.
Three-phase power is already available, so is it okay
to pull the cards and start the box or are additional
resistors (car lamps, ...) needed?
I'm reasonably sure I've powered up an empty VAX 6000
box before now with no ill effects. (Empty apart from
the console tape etc.). I also recall that there are
other power connectors around for various add-ons
(you could add RA7x disks to later cabs) so you
might be able to provide a load that way if you
find it does need one.
If you hunt around on the web you can find various
people who have done a 1-phase conversion on the
box - they probably have experience of what you
need to do to test the PSU.
There's lots of documentation on http://vt100.net/manx.
Look for any VAX 6000 docs and any KA62-KA66 docs.
Anything with XMI in the title should be useful too.
I used to support the drivers for the DSB32 and
DMB32 so once you get around to trying those out
I may be able to provide some hints.
Antonio
arcarlini at iee.org
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.10.12/75 - Release Date:
17/08/2005
10:48 p.m.
On Thu, 2005-08-18 23:10:10 +0100, Antonio Carlini <a.carlini at ntlworld.com>
wrote:
If you hunt around on the web you can find various
people who have done a 1-phase conversion on the
box - they probably have experience of what you
need to do to test the PSU.
Well, information is sparse. I've heared rumors there's one HOWTO
including more detailed description and (especially) some images, but
I've got three-phase power around, so I can use it (after throwing away
the original 25A plug and substituting it with a 16A version which is
more common in private buildings...)
There's lots of documentation on
http://vt100.net/manx.
Look for any VAX 6000 docs and any KA62-KA66 docs.
Anything with XMI in the title should be useful too.
Already printed everything 6000 specific out; didn't yet dig for XMI
documents.
I used to support the drivers for the DSB32 and
DMB32 so once you get around to trying those out
I may be able to provide some hints.
...for which operating system? NetBSD?
MfG, JBG
--
Jan-Benedict Glaw jbglaw at lug-owl.de . +49-172-7608481 _ O _
"Eine Freie Meinung in einem Freien Kopf | Gegen Zensur | Gegen Krieg _ _ O
f?r einen Freien Staat voll Freier B?rger" | im Internet! | im Irak! O O O
ret = do_actions((curr | FREE_SPEECH) & ~(NEW_COPYRIGHT_LAW | DRM | TCPA));
19 Aug
19 Aug
11:27 p.m.
On Thu, 2005-08-18 22:54:08 +0200, Jan-Benedict Glaw <jbglaw at lug-owl.de> wrote:
On Fri, 2005-06-24 18:50:06 +0200, Jan-Benedict Glaw
<jbglaw at lug-owl.de> wrote:
On Thu, 2005-06-23 23:09:51 +0200, Jan-Benedict
Glaw <jbglaw at lug-owl.de> wrote:
VAX 6000-320
> > >
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=96944&item…
There we are. The machine arrived at a friend's
house today. He'll host
the machine for me, since I've got, um, erm, some problems finding a
good place in my basement.
Last night (09:00 to 04:00) we re-assembled all the parts, checked
cabling again, took off all boards and gave it a first run (without any
load). The fans went on, power distribution module's LEDs, too.
As the next step, I re-inserted one of the CPU modules and one memory
module. Tadaa! Nothing explodes, just seems to work. We'd watch the LED
showdown while the CPU was running it's self tests.
Insert 2nd CPU module and the other two memory boards, power on, nada.
Both CPUs toggle between error 1 and error 6. After checking some
combinations, one of the -3- 32MB modules seems to be broken. (Maybe I
killed it? :-( ) FDDI card also came up in the next step.
Then we inserted the XMI-BI modules (as well as both BI adaptors on the
BI side) and two additional modules. Works. Then all the rest (except
the faulty memory module). Doesn't work. One of the XMI-BI adaptors (XMI
side) didn't come up. After cleaning contacts once more and some
remove/insert cycles, it's up again. Also, all cards of the BI side are
properly reported. Unfortunately, I haven't logged the console session,
but here's from pure memory what this machine consists of:
- 2x KA62 CPUs
- 1x FDDI adaptor (for XMI bus)
- 2x working 32MB memory, one 32MB module is faulty
- 2x XMI-BI adaptor pairs
- 2x DEBNI
- 2x CI
- 1x DMW32 (?) --> connects to a printer port, a number of async ports
and one sync port
- 1x TK70 controller
- 1x TOYsomething (cannot correctly remember it's name, nor if/where
backplane cables were wired to or what it could be used for)
- 1x USV battery pack (seems non-working at the moment, at least one
fuse is broken)
It's somewhat sad that one of the memory modules is faulty, but overall,
after some cleaning, the machine is in quite good shape. It came with a
piece of paper with a printed gravestone: 1989-2003. It's really a nice
beast. With as much disassembly as possible, we were able to get it down
into the basement with four people. But let me tell you: we were quite
sweaty when we had out final touchdown...
Some words to the faulty memory module. I would have expected that, as
long as a working module is there, one faulty module should just result
in an error message in the POST stage. But unfortunately, the machine
really hung during the extended self-test phase. Within 15min, it didn't
manage to finish and continue. During this time, either the bottom-mose
LED (1) or the two above (2+4=6) were lid. Does this ring any bells?
Maybe the module isn't all that bad, but only some cold solder marks?
MfG, JBG
--
Jan-Benedict Glaw jbglaw at lug-owl.de . +49-172-7608481 _ O _
"Eine Freie Meinung in einem Freien Kopf | Gegen Zensur | Gegen Krieg _ _ O
f?r einen Freien Staat voll Freier B?rger" | im Internet! | im Irak! O O O
ret = do_actions((curr | FREE_SPEECH) & ~(NEW_COPYRIGHT_LAW | DRM | TCPA));
20 Aug
20 Aug
1:41 a.m.
On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 08:27:08 +0200
Jan-Benedict Glaw <jbglaw at lug-owl.de> wrote:
but here's from pure memory what this machine
consists of:
I am green with envy! ;-)
Do you have disks?
I have a SCSI-HSC-to-CI controler and drive canisters (all 19", may fit
into the VAX 6000 main cabinet) waiting for a good home that can make
use of it. This way you can use "normal" SCSI disks on your VAX.
I can also throw in a DEC DEFPA PCI FDDI card, that is supported by
Linux and *BSD...
--
tsch??,
Jochen
Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/
3:10 a.m.
On Sat, 2005-08-20 10:41:19 +0200, Jochen Kunz <jkunz at unixag-kl.fh-kl.de> wrote:
On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 08:27:08 +0200
Jan-Benedict Glaw <jbglaw at lug-owl.de> wrote:
/me is somewhat proud :)
but here's from pure memory what this machine
consists of:
I am green with envy! ;-) Do you have disks?
Nope. ...and I'm not all that sure what I'll do right now with the box.
I have a SCSI-HSC-to-CI controler and drive canisters
(all 19", may fit
into the VAX 6000 main cabinet) waiting for a good home that can make
use of it. This way you can use "normal" SCSI disks on your VAX.
That's a nice offer, thanks. Maybe I'll talk you into this.
I can also throw in a DEC DEFPA PCI FDDI card, that is
supported by
Linux and *BSD...
All the fun will start somewhen in the next week. Then, Michael and me
will have some relais in place to allow remote power control. My first
action will probably be to get a Linux kernel running on it. (I did
start some coding last night (couldn't resist :-) but it's not yet
working. Seems the stack pointer isn't correctly set, so it goes to
paradise as soon as the first pushl is done...) Then I'll need to get
the DEBNIs under control to allow NFS root. I haven't yet played a lot
with NetBSD (only installed it on a 4000/90 for a test), but I think
I'll load it on some more machines and study it (esp. the VAX part).
That'll probably help getting SMP support :) As far as I know, this is
the very first SMP machine available to us few Linux developers.
(Side note: the location where the machine is hosted (the infamous,
non-existing Bielefeld in NRW, Germany) will allow for some developer's
meetings, so once we cleaned up the basement a bit, we can have hacking
sessions. If anybody knows some cheap location that's offering some more
space in NRW, please speak up. Some EUR are probably available to rent a
larger room or small flat for http://lug-owl.de/ .)
MfG, JBG
--
Jan-Benedict Glaw jbglaw at lug-owl.de . +49-172-7608481 _ O _
"Eine Freie Meinung in einem Freien Kopf | Gegen Zensur | Gegen Krieg _ _ O
f?r einen Freien Staat voll Freier B?rger" | im Internet! | im Irak! O O O
ret = do_actions((curr | FREE_SPEECH) & ~(NEW_COPYRIGHT_LAW | DRM | TCPA));
21 Aug
21 Aug
10:38 a.m.
On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 12:10:24 +0200
Jan-Benedict Glaw <jbglaw at lug-owl.de> wrote:
My first action will probably be to get a Linux kernel
running on it.
Linux? How disgusting. ;-)
I haven't yet played a lot with NetBSD (only
installed it on a 4000/90
for a test), but I think I'll load it on some more machines and study
it (esp. the VAX part).
IIRC NetBSD/VAX has some initial bis of VAX6000 support...
--
tsch??,
Jochen
Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/
23 Aug
23 Aug
9:53 p.m.
Wow, what a great collection of hardware! I'd really love to find one
of those machines some day. I wrote part of the console firmware for
the 6200's and 6300's.
Selftest runs initially using RAM in the System Support Chip on the CPU
board. At some point though, the CPU's need to communicate through
memory to run extended selftest. It sounds like that's where you're
seeing the failure. I don't remember what those LED codes
mean...hopefully you can find some documentation.
Just to be sure. you might check the memory interleave configuration
from the console. With 3 modules, you might have to
set them all
non-interleaved.
It might be difficult getting NetBSD running on that system since DEC
was particularly paranoid about giving out the programming details for
hardware in those days. At least you have DEBNI's (which were reliable,
unlike the earlier DEBNA's).
Oh, and just to tie this into another thread...much of the VAX 6000
series console firmware was written in BLISS-32 :-) BLISS could do
JSB/RSB subroutine linkage, which was useful, since the firmware had
only 1 Kbyte of RAM available for variables and stack. There were also
some truly amazing macros that generated the parse tables for the
command language.
Good luck!
Gary
24 Aug
24 Aug
12:21 p.m.
New subject: VAX 6320 inventory, and faulty memory module
On Sat, 2005-08-20 08:27:08 +0200, Jan-Benedict Glaw <jbglaw at lug-owl.de> wrote:
There we are. We're still working on remote power switching, but I just
had some spare minutes as well as console access. Here are details of
my box:
-------------------- >8 ==============================================
F E D C B A 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 NODE #
A A . A . . M M . . . . P P TYP
o o . + . . + + . . . . + + STF
. . . . . . . . . . . . E B BPD
. . . . . . . . . . . . + + ETF
. . . . . . . . . . . . E B BPD
. . . . . . . . . + + + . + + . XBI D +
. . . . . . . . . + . + . + + . XBI E +
. . . . . . A2 A1 . . . . . . ILV
. . . . . . 32 32 . . . . . . 64 Mb
ROM = 4.1 EEPROM = 2.0/4.B SN = GA84900275
>> SH ALL
Type Rev
1+ KA62B (8001) 8002
2+ KA62B (8001) 8002
7+ MS62A (4001) 0002
8+ MS62A (4001) 0002
B+ DEMFA (0823) 0514
D+ DWMBA/A (2001) 0002
E+ DWMBA/A (2001) 0002
XBI D
1+ DWMBA/B (2107) 000A
2+ CIBCA-B (0108) 41C1
4+ KLESI-B (0103) 0006
5+ DMB32 (0109) 210B
6+ DEBNI (0118) 0300
XBI E
1+ DWMBA/B (2107) 000A
2+ DEBNI (0118) 0300
4+ CIBCA-B (0108) 41C1
6+ TBK50 (410E) 0250
Current Primary: 1
/NOENABLED-
/NOPRIMARY-
F E D C B A 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 NODE #
. . . . . . A2 A1 . . . . . . ILV
. . . . . . 32 32 . . . . . . 64 Mb
/INTERLEAVE:DEFAULT
/SCOPE /SPEED: 9600 /NOBREAK
English
XMI:D BI:6 08-00-2B-14-79-2E
XMI:E BI:2 08-00-2B-15-89-75
INFO /R5:00000110 /XMI:D /BI:6 ET0
V61 /XMI:E /BI:4 /NODE:00000304 DUC
STB /R5:E0000000 /XMI:E /BI:4 /NODE:00000304 DU17
DEFAULT /XMI:E /BI:4 /NODE:00000304 DU8C
CONV /R5:00000001 /XMI:E /BI:4 /NODE:00000304 DU17
V71C /R5:00000001 /XMI:E /BI:4 /NODE:00000304 DU96
V61C /R5:00000001 /XMI:E /BI:4 /NODE:00000304 DUC
V71 /XMI:E /BI:4 /NODE:00000304 DU96
V62 /XMI:E /BI:4 /NODE:00000304 DU8C
V62C /R5:00000001 /XMI:E /BI:4 /NODE:00000304 DU8C
Y97 /R5:00000001 /XMI:E /BI:4 /NODE:00000304 DU64
============================= 8< -------------------------------------
With the faulty module installed, the initial selftest outputs this and
hangs afterwards:
-------------------- >8 ==============================================
F E D C B A 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 NODE #
A A . A . M M M . . . . P P TYP
o o . + . + + + . . . . + + STF
. . . . . . . . . . . . E B BPD
============================= 8< -------------------------------------
When it hangs, the CPU modules flip between twe LED states: 1 (bottom
LED on) and 6 (2nd and third LEDs on). Is there documentation available
about the meaning of these?
MfG, JBG
--
Jan-Benedict Glaw jbglaw at lug-owl.de . +49-172-7608481 _ O _
"Eine Freie Meinung in einem Freien Kopf | Gegen Zensur | Gegen Krieg _ _ O
f?r einen Freien Staat voll Freier B?rger" | im Internet! | im Irak! O O O
ret = do_actions((curr | FREE_SPEECH) & ~(NEW_COPYRIGHT_LAW | DRM | TCPA));
1:07 p.m.
New subject: [LV] VAX 6320 inventory, and faulty memory module
On Wed, 2005-08-24 21:21:05 +0200, Jan-Benedict Glaw <jbglaw at lug-owl.de> wrote:
Two network interfaces. I think getting the XMI bus under control isn't
all that hard. Also, I don't fear the BI bus at the moment. However, I
cannot find useful documentation for the DEBNI. So does anybody have
some docs for it around? ...or shall I try to disassemble it's firmware.
Since the box can boot off it, the required bits should be there.
I also found some comments that the software interface of the DEBNI is a
lot easier to use than that of the DEBNA, the previous version of this
card. (Rumors are that it's only a different ROM, so you can easily
upgrade a DEBNA to a DEBNI).
MfG, JBG
--
Jan-Benedict Glaw jbglaw at lug-owl.de . +49-172-7608481 _ O _
"Eine Freie Meinung in einem Freien Kopf | Gegen Zensur | Gegen Krieg _ _ O
f?r einen Freien Staat voll Freier B?rger" | im Internet! | im Irak! O O O
ret = do_actions((curr | FREE_SPEECH) & ~(NEW_COPYRIGHT_LAW | DRM | TCPA));
>> SH ALL
XBI D
6+ DEBNI (0118) 0300
XBI E
2+ DEBNI (0118) 0300
4:12 p.m.
New subject: [LV] VAX 6320 inventory, and faulty memory module
Two network interfaces. I think getting the XMI bus
under control isn't
all that hard. Also, I don't fear the BI bus at the moment. However, I
cannot find useful documentation for the DEBNI. So does anybody have
some docs for it around? ...or shall I try to disassemble it's
firmware.
I have not yet found exactly the right manual for the DEBNI but
I think I remember seeing some stuff buried in some other
manual.
The XMI Adapters handbook has a bunch of useful XMI stuff.
EK-640EB-MG (VAX 6000-400 Options and Maintenance) has a bunch
of other useful stuff.
EK-640EB-TM (VAX 6000-400 Technical User's Guide) has even more stuff.
The DEBNI installation guide has some sparse register documentation,
but not a great deal of it.
I'm not sure that all of these made it to Manx so if
you cannot find any of them, give me a shout and
I'll put them up for FTP (and try and get them to Manx).
I also found some comments that the software interface
of the DEBNI is
a
lot easier to use than that of the DEBNA, the previous
version of this
card. (Rumors are that it's only a different ROM, so you can easily
upgrade a DEBNA to a DEBNI).
My recollention is that the orignal DEBNA tried to be both
a TK50 (TK70?) controller and an ethernet controller and was
somewhat unsuccessful in one or both roles! The functionality
was then split out into two cards. Quite how these cards
relate to the original DEBNA is something I've forgotten.
But if you come across DEBNA info it will probably help
with the DEBNI.
Antonio
--
Antonio carlini
arcarlini at iee.org
4:19 p.m.
New subject: VAX 6320 inventory, and faulty memory module
When it hangs, the CPU modules flip between twe LED
states: 1 (bottom
LED on) and 6 (2nd and third LEDs on). Is there documentation
available
about the meaning of these?
EK-624EA-MG-001 VAX 6000 Models 300 and 400 Service Manual
should help. Again, if it's not on Manx, let me know
and I'll dig it out.
My memory tells me that there are some restrictions
about what goes where on the XMI bus, but I've not looked
at the manual lately so I don't remember precisely
what they are.
One suggestion would be to take the working config
(with just the one memory board) and swap the
suspect memory board for the good one. If that fails
then you have a bad memory board taking out the bus.
Antonio
--
Antonio carlini
arcarlini at iee.org
10:24 p.m.
New subject: VAX 6320 inventory, and faulty memory module
The output from the failure case shows that the memories passed their
onboard selftest and moved on to the CPU/Memory Interaction tests.
If I decoded the LED's correctly the failure codes correspond to
T0008 Write Buffer Switch and Purge Test
T0013 Hit on Disabled Tag Store Test
That doesn't ring any bells for me.
Try just a single CPU, the suspect memory board, and the 2 DWMBA/A's on
the bus. If it fails, move the memory board to a different slot (a bad
slot will cause hangs). If it still fails, then you have a bad board
(I'd guess a broken XMI interface given the test failures above).
BTW, the only XMI config rules I remember are:
1. CPU start in the lowest numbered slot and go up.
2. DWMBA/A's go in the highest numbered slot and go down (must be one
installed).
3. Memory can go anywhere in between.
re: DEBNI
The DEBNI probably supports MOP boot (the DECnet boot protocol) and MOP
console in firmware. There were just a few register bits that needed to
be set to trigger a boot (assuming you could find MOP server code around
somewhere). That was definitely true of the DEBNA.
I vaguely recall that someone at CMU might have done a DEBNI driver for
Mach (not for the VAX, but for the DECsystem 5800, which used the same
I/O gear). But, they might never have had permission to release it.
/gary
26 Aug
26 Aug
8:06 a.m.
New subject: VAX 6320 inventory, and faulty memory module
Gary L. Grebus wrote:
re: DEBNI
The DEBNI probably supports MOP boot (the DECnet boot protocol) and MOP
console in firmware. There were just a few register bits that needed to
be set to trigger a boot (assuming you could find MOP server code around
somewhere). That was definitely true of the DEBNA.
There is actually a bit of variety in open-source or otherwise available
MOP server software around today.
Peace... Sridhar
8:56 a.m.
New subject: VAX 6320 inventory, and faulty memory module
>>>> "Sridhar" == Sridhar Ayengar
<ploopster at gmail.com> writes:
Sridhar> Gary L. Grebus wrote:
> re: DEBNI The DEBNI probably supports MOP boot
(the DECnet boot
> protocol) and MOP console in firmware. There were just a few
> register bits that needed to be set to trigger a boot (assuming
> you could find MOP server code around somewhere). That was
> definitely true of the DEBNA.
Sridhar> There is actually a bit of variety in open-source or
Sridhar> otherwise available MOP server software around today.
Yes, and the MOP protocol spec is available on the net. (I can help
with questions; I owned that spec for a while.)
paul
6824
days inactive
6888
days old
27 comments
9 participants
participants (9)
-
a.carlini＠ntlworld.com -
aw288＠osfn.org -
glg＠grebus.com -
jbglaw＠lug-owl.de -
jkunz＠unixag-kl.fh-kl.de -
pkoning＠equallogic.com -
ploopster＠gmail.com -
vax9000＠gmail.com -
williams.dan＠gmail.com