6 Sep
2016
6 Sep
'16
12:23 p.m.
Greetings;
My googlefu is failing me and I was wondering if someone might be able to
help me identify one of the boot ROMs present in an M9312 bootstrap/term
board. The board has three ROMs, an RX01 (042130), an RX02 (042131) and
then a mystery code - 043127.
The M9312 ROM identification table does not list this ROM code - I suspect
it _might_ be for a DSD combined 8" drive and Winchester disk box, but I'm
under the impression this would appear as a DU device, and attempting to
boot from DU gets an ILL CMD, suggesting otherwise. I tried all of the
other possible mnemonics listed in the M9312 manual, so it doesn't appear
to piggy-backing on any of those either.
My thanks;
- JP
7 Sep
7 Sep
2:55 a.m.
On 9/6/2016 9:23 AM, JP Hindin wrote:
Greetings;
My googlefu is failing me and I was wondering if someone might be able to help
me identify one of the boot ROMs present in an M9312 bootstrap/term board. The
board has three ROMs, an RX01 (042130), an RX02 (042131) and then a mystery
code - 043127.
The M9312 ROM identification table does not list this ROM code - I suspect it
_might_ be for a DSD combined 8" drive and Winchester disk box, but I'm under
the impression this would appear as a DU device, and attempting to boot from
DU gets an ILL CMD, suggesting otherwise. I tried all of the other possible
mnemonics listed in the M9312 manual, so it doesn't appear to piggy-backing on
any of those either.
My thanks;
- JP
Octal word 042130 decodes as ascii "DX", which is the M9312 boot mnemonic
for
the RX01 drive/RX11 controller combo.
Octal word 042131 decodes as ascii "DY", which is the M9312 boot mnemonic for
the RX02 drive/RX211 controller combo.
Octal word 043127 decodes as ascii "FW", which is not a standard M9312 boot
mnemonic. Probably a third party manufacturer custom boot prom.
FYI the above octal words are programmed in the first word of each boot PROM, so
they are accessible at locations 773000,
You can find program listings and hex PROM images of all the known M9312 devices
here: http://www.ak6dn.com/PDP-11/M9312/, including the DX and DY PROMs.
Don
2:58 a.m.
On 9/6/2016 11:55 PM, Don North wrote:
On 9/6/2016 9:23 AM, JP Hindin wrote:
Whoops I sent before finishing this line:
FYI the above octal words are programmed in the first word of each boot PROM, so
they are accessible at locations 773000, 773200, 773400, 773600 as 18b UNIBUS
address.
Don
Greetings;
My googlefu is failing me and I was wondering if someone might be able to
help me identify one of the boot ROMs present in an M9312 bootstrap/term
board. The board has three ROMs, an RX01 (042130), an RX02 (042131) and then
a mystery code - 043127.
The M9312 ROM identification table does not list this ROM code - I suspect it
_might_ be for a DSD combined 8" drive and Winchester disk box, but I'm under
the impression this would appear as a DU device, and attempting to boot from
DU gets an ILL CMD, suggesting otherwise. I tried all of the other possible
mnemonics listed in the M9312 manual, so it doesn't appear to piggy-backing
on any of those either.
My thanks;
- JP
Octal word 042130 decodes as ascii "DX", which is the M9312 boot
mnemonic for
the RX01 drive/RX11 controller combo.
Octal word 042131 decodes as ascii "DY", which is the M9312 boot mnemonic for
the RX02 drive/RX211 controller combo.
Octal word 043127 decodes as ascii "FW", which is not a standard M9312 boot
mnemonic. Probably a third party manufacturer custom boot prom.
FYI the above octal words are programmed in the first word of each boot PROM,
so they are accessible at locations 773000,
You can find program listings and hex PROM images of all the known M9312
devices here: http://www.ak6dn.com/PDP-11/M9312/, including the DX and DY PROMs.
Don
11:31 a.m.
On 9/6/16 11:55 PM, Don North wrote:
Octal word 043127 decodes as ascii "FW",
which is not a standard M9312 boot mnemonic. Probably a third party
manufacturer custom boot prom.
It's probably for an SMS "FW" Floppy/Winchester.
That would be a good one to preserve.
http://bitsavers.org/pdf/sms/qbus/3000632E_FWT0100_FWT1100_Winchester_Flopp…
though I see in the manual it also had a Unibus as well as Qbus interface.
11:57 a.m.
On Tue, 6 Sep 2016, Don North wrote:
On 9/6/2016 9:23 AM, JP Hindin wrote:
It didn't even occur to me that this was octal encoded ASCII, this is
great, thank you. As Al suggests, it is going to an SMS device, so it
looks like we've got a winner.
I managed to get an RX01 (although it's an RX02 box, took me a while to
figure that one out) hooked up with what are supposed to be bootable
disks, but I get a Boot Error each time - so I think I have something
probably off in the hardware, but in _theory_ the SMS is supposed to have
a bootable OS image on its Winchester from the 1990s, so that might be
interesting...
Thanks all!
- JP
Greetings;
My googlefu is failing me and I was wondering if someone might be able to
help me identify one of the boot ROMs present in an M9312 bootstrap/term
board. The board has three ROMs, an RX01 (042130), an RX02 (042131) and
then a mystery code - 043127.
The M9312 ROM identification table does not list this ROM code - I suspect
it _might_ be for a DSD combined 8" drive and Winchester disk box, but I'm
under the impression this would appear as a DU device, and attempting to
boot from DU gets an ILL CMD, suggesting otherwise. I tried all of the
other possible mnemonics listed in the M9312 manual, so it doesn't appear
to piggy-backing on any of those either.
My thanks;
- JP
Octal word 042130 decodes as ascii "DX", which is the M9312 boot
mnemonic for
the RX01 drive/RX11 controller combo.
Octal word 042131 decodes as ascii "DY", which is the M9312 boot mnemonic for
the RX02 drive/RX211 controller combo.
Octal word 043127 decodes as ascii "FW", which is not a standard M9312 boot
mnemonic. Probably a third party manufacturer custom boot prom.
FYI the above octal words are programmed in the first word of each boot PROM,
so they are accessible at locations 773000,
You can find program listings and hex PROM images of all the known M9312
devices here: http://www.ak6dn.com/PDP-11/M9312/, including the DX and DY
PROMs. 
7:35 a.m.
On Sep 7, 2016 1:08 AM, "JP Hindin" <jplist2008 at kiwigeek.com> wrote:
Greetings;
My googlefu is failing me and I was wondering if someone might be able to
help me
identify one of the boot ROMs present in an M9312 bootstrap/term
board. The board has three ROMs, an RX01 (042130), an RX02 (042131) and
then a mystery code - 043127.
The M9312 ROM identification table does not list this ROM code - I
suspect it
_might_ be for a DSD combined 8" drive and Winchester disk box,
but I'm under the impression this would appear as a DU device, and
attempting to boot from DU gets an ILL CMD, suggesting otherwise. I tried
all of the other possible mnemonics listed in the M9312 manual, so it
doesn't appear to piggy-backing on any of those either.
My thanks;
- JP
Most ROM part numbers for the 9312 end in A9. I suggest you're looking
up the wrong numbers. I have a list on my site, but the following is more
comprehensive:
http://www.ak6dn.com/PDP-11/M9312/
Bill
2947
days inactive
2948
days old
5 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
-
aek＠bitsavers.org -
billdegnan＠gmail.com -
jplist2008＠kiwigeek.com -
north＠alum.mit.edu