12 Jan
2002
12 Jan
'02
4:48 a.m.
On Fri, 11 Jan 2002 10:21:25 -0500 (EST) Pat Finnegan
<pat(a)purdueriots.com> writes:
By looking at mine, I can tell it uses a VGA monitor,
and has 1M of
RAM (upgradable to 5M with SIMMs I have laying around here). Oh yeah,
it looks to be a 20MHz 80286 also.
Yeah, that's the later version. I seem to recall that they didn't make
too
many of those. . . .
I still have a
copy of 3+Share (and 3+Start) around here
someplace . . .
That would be nice if you could find it. However, I won't hold my
breath for it. After attempting to hook an old floppy drive up to it's 34pin connector, I realized it was definately designed
for something
else
(one orientation froze the box, the other shorted out
the power supply
:-( )
Yow! DOes the thing still light up? I never did fighre out what that
connector was for.
I'll take that into consideration. Thanks for the
help!
Sure. Mebbe I'll have to dredge up my copy of 3+Share . . .
Jeff
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12 Jan
12 Jan
7:06 a.m.
On Sat, 12 Jan 2002 jeff.kaneko(a)juno.com wrote:
That'd be _very_ cool. Again, much thanks.
-- Pat
On Fri, 11 Jan 2002 10:21:25 -0500 (EST) Pat Finnegan
<pat(a)purdueriots.com> writes:
Yah, it still 'starts up' as much as possible. I'm about to stick a
2-channel scope on that to see if I can decipher the connector. If not,
I'll hook it up to one of Purdue's $5k 'logic analyzers' eventually...
I _want_ to do something with it. At a minimum, I would like to put minix
on it and use it as a serial/network (color) text terminal. If I can
extract useful signals off of the 34pin connector, maybe I can end up
hooking up a floppy controller or a boot-rom for it so it'll be able to
netboot using bootp&tftp or something...
Here's my prelim analysis after taking the cover off:
1) 80286 processor, ??MHz (don't want to scrape the thermal paste off the
processor.
2) '286 Pheonix BIOS EPROM
3) Some 3com "6063-06 WYL" EPROM. I'm guessing the net-boot firmware.
4) Nat'l Semi 8390 ethernet controller IC
5) 1M of on-board 100ns DRAM
6) (C) Paradise '88 PVGA-1A
7) 256k of video ram (120ns DRAM)
8) a programmed 8742 marked "6062-03ARW" keyboard controller?
9) DE-9P serial, DB-25P serial, DB-25F parallel, DIN-5S keyboard,
BNC/AUI network connectors, 15pin VGA connector,
40pin 80287 coprocessor socket, 4x30pin SIMM sockets
10) pc speakers, assorted other stuff.
As soon as i clear my bed of parts from a dead RL02, I'll try hooking a
scope up to this thing and figuring it out. I'll probably determine what
the second ROM is for (either 'other' 8-bits of ROM, or custom stuff) by
seeing what happens when i un-socket it, and go from there.
I still have a copy of 3+Share (and 3+Start)
around here
someplace . . .
That would be nice if you could find it. However, I won't hold my
breath for it. After attempting to hook an old floppy drive up to it's 34pin connector, I realized it was definately
designed for something
else (one orientation froze the box, the other shorted out the power
supply :-( )
Yow! DOes the thing still light up? I never did fighre out what that
connector was for.
I'll take
that into consideration. Thanks for the help!
Sure. Mebbe I'll have to dredge up my copy of 3+Share . . .
Jeff
3:22 p.m.
On Sat, 12 Jan 2002, Pat Finnegan wrote:
Yah, it still 'starts up' as much as possible.
I'm about to stick a
2-channel scope on that to see if I can decipher the connector. If not,
I'll hook it up to one of Purdue's $5k 'logic analyzers' eventually...
Have you tried connecting it to the network with a sniffer running to see
how it tries to load its boot image?
Here's my prelim analysis after taking the cover
off:
2) '286 Pheonix BIOS EPROM
3) Some 3com "6063-06 WYL" EPROM. I'm guessing the net-boot firmware.
4) Nat'l Semi 8390 ethernet controller IC
Well, from the looks of it, it has a typical 286 era bios with a network
boot rom as the second rom. The 839x series network controllers are very
common, and most everything supports them. Have you had a look at the
Etherboot project's website? http://etherboot.sourceforge.net/ Version 4.6
and earlier supports 286 hardware. If the second rom is indeed a feature
rom for netbooting, you could simply replace it with one you create with
etherboot and a programmer.
-Toth
5:10 p.m.
On Sat, 12 Jan 2002, Tothwolf wrote:
What you have said is basically what I was planning to do. Unfortunately,
after careful analysis of the screen printing next to the chips ("odd" and
"even" is printed there), I've determined that it won't be quite that
easy. I'm thinking about dumping the rom images and replacing part of it
if possible. I was hoping to use etherboot, but I'm not sure if I'll be
able to get it onto the system easily. Perhaps I can use the 34pin header
for that?
-- Pat
On Sat, 12 Jan 2002, Pat Finnegan wrote:
I've learned from somewhere (perhaps an earlier message on classiccmp)
that it uses its own proprietary protocol. Anyways, I'll have to hook my
10BaseT MAU up to it so I can connect it to my network.
Yah, it still 'starts up' as much as
possible. I'm about to stick a
2-channel scope on that to see if I can decipher the connector. If not,
I'll hook it up to one of Purdue's $5k 'logic analyzers' eventually...
Have you tried connecting it to the network with a sniffer running to see
how it tries to load its boot image? Here's my
prelim analysis after taking the cover off:
2) '286 Pheonix BIOS EPROM
3) Some 3com "6063-06 WYL" EPROM. I'm guessing the net-boot firmware.
4) Nat'l Semi 8390 ethernet controller IC
Well, from the looks of it, it has a typical 286 era bios with a network
boot rom as the second rom. The 839x series network controllers are very
common, and most everything supports them. Have you had a look at the
Etherboot project's website? http://etherboot.sourceforge.net/ Version 4.6
and earlier supports 286 hardware. If the second rom is indeed a feature
rom for netbooting, you could simply replace it with one you create with
etherboot and a programmer.
-Toth
5:35 p.m.
On Sun, 13 Jan 2002, Pat Finnegan wrote:
What you have said is basically what I was planning to
do. Unfortunately,
after careful analysis of the screen printing next to the chips ("odd" and
"even" is printed there), I've determined that it won't be quite that
easy. I'm thinking about dumping the rom images and replacing part of it
if possible. I was hoping to use etherboot, but I'm not sure if I'll be
able to get it onto the system easily. Perhaps I can use the 34pin header
for that?
So there are 2 roms, odd/even, one being the Phoenix bios, and the other
labeled with a 3com number?
It could be the odd/even labeling isn't accurate. I've see a few boards
labeled like that where the silk screening didn't reflect what the chips
really did. I have no idea if this unit used odd/even roms, however. What
sizes are the chips? That might help determine what 3com did. Did you
already try booting it with the 3com chip pulled?
I almost wish I had one of these to play with myself :)
-Toth
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days inactive
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4 comments
3 participants
participants (3)
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jeff.kaneko＠juno.com -
pat＠purdueriots.com -
tothwolf＠concentric.net