4 May
2019
4 May
'19
10:29 a.m.
Hi,
On 5/3/19 3:22 PM, Pete Turnbull via cctalk wrote:
Anyone know much about early MIPS workstations?
I'm trying to get a
MIPS RS2030 to boot, without much luck so far. It goes through the
selftest but stops with the internal LED display at "5" accompanied by
a continuous beep.
Known problems:
- The Dallas DS1287 battery is flat; I can hack a 3V lithium onto that.
I assume it should still work to some extent
even if the contents are lost?
I have the same problem with a cloned MIPS machine, a Sumitomo
Sumistation SP300. The biggest problem with my machine is that the
NVRAM holds the ethernet address. If it goes flat, there seems to be
no way to reprogram the NVRAM. If you find any solution for this,
please tell me.
Aside from the now broken ethernet, the machine works fine. It?s a
25MHz R3000 with 32MB RAM. The box runs SEIUX, something like
Risc/os 4 in SVR3 mode with extra japanese localization, but adapted
to the hardware.
Some people said that some of the old MIPS machines used a M48T02
NVRAM and that you could plug the NVRAM in a SPARCstation to restore
the ethernet address. So far, I have found no mentioning of the DS1287.
A special problem with my machine is that most parts are soldered,
including the NVRAM.
Dennis
13 May
13 May
2:40 p.m.
On 5/4/19 10:29 AM, Dennis Grevenstein via cctech wrote:
I have the same problem with a cloned MIPS machine, a
Sumitomo
Sumistation SP300. The biggest problem with my machine is that the
NVRAM holds the ethernet address. If it goes flat, there seems to be
no way to reprogram the NVRAM. If you find any solution for this,
please tell me.
You might be able to take the fake nvram data from the simulation in MAME
I'm about to try that this week since I got in the NVRAM and video cable.
14 May
14 May
7:25 a.m.
> I have the same problem with a cloned MIPS
machine, a Sumitomo
> Sumistation SP300. The biggest problem with my machine is that the
> NVRAM holds the ethernet address. If it goes flat, there seems to be
> no way to reprogram the NVRAM. If you find any solution for this,
> please tell me.
Is the NVRAM A ST Microelectronics TimeKeeper or Dallas module or
something else?
--
: Ethan O'Toole
8:38 a.m.
On 5/14/19 7:25 AM, Ethan O'Toole wrote:
Is the NVRAM A ST Microelectronics TimeKeeper or
Dallas module or something else?
It is a DS1287
The issue is finding out what the contents should be, since it isn't
documented in the surviving manuals.
Some of this was figured out in getting the 2030 to run in MAME and there
is a guess at the correct contents as a rom image there.
If you have the original timekeeper part, the unique part of the
machine's ethernet address is written on a label on top of the part.
8:55 a.m.
It is a DS1287
The issue is finding out what the contents should be, since it isn't
documented in the surviving manuals.
If the MAC address is the only concern, you could fuzz it. Write a pattern
into the chip then if the systems prom monitor or BIOS shows the MAC
locate it. It's probably at the beginning of the chip :-)
--
: Ethan O'Toole
15 May
15 May
1:54 a.m.
Interesting with those MIPS workstations.
Does the firmware (PROM) have any interesting commands?
Like 'pr_tod', 'init_tod', 'init' and so on?
found a PROM monitor reference in http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/mips/
On Tue, May 14, 2019 at 10:50 PM Ethan O'Toole via cctech
<cctech at classiccmp.org> wrote:
--
mvh
Torfinn
It is a DS1287
The issue is finding out what the contents should be, since it isn't
documented in the surviving manuals.
If the MAC address is the only concern, you could fuzz it. Write a pattern
into the chip then if the systems prom monitor or BIOS shows the MAC
locate it. It's probably at the beginning of the chip :-)
--
: Ethan O'Toole
2052
days inactive
2063
days old
5 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
-
aek＠bitsavers.org -
dennis.grevenstein＠gmail.com -
ethan＠757.org -
tingox＠gmail.com