10 Mar
2003
10 Mar
'03
12:29 p.m.
Just had a bunch of "stuff" dropped off at the store, not the least of
which 2 AT&T 3b2/EXP boxen with 5.25" floppies & several RJ-type ports in
the back, and we also got a x86-based AT&T box (386, methinks) and in it
there is an 8-bit board with the follwing markings:
"TIL-XPC" and "TIL SYSTEMS LTD. XPC91 REV 2.0"
It's got 4 RJ45 ports (I'm guessing RS-232, from all the 1488's &
1489's...) 4 R6551's, an MC68B54 & an MC68B09EP... Is this just a 4-port
serial board with the 6809 playing traffic cop, or is it an "elusive" OS-9
- based SBC?
If it's the former, not any great shakes to me (tho I might keep it just in
case I need replacement parts for my CoCos...) but if it's the latter...
I'll be looking for some software... ;-)
Thanks for any help,
Roger "Merch" Merchberger
--
Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- sysadmin, Iceberg Computers
zmerch(a)30below.com
What do you do when Life gives you lemons,
and you don't *like* lemonade?????????????
10 Mar
10 Mar
5:53 p.m.
Just had a bunch of "stuff" dropped off at
the store, not the least of
which 2 AT&T 3b2/EXP boxen with 5.25" floppies & several RJ-type ports in
the back, and we also got a x86-based AT&T box (386, methinks) and in it
there is an 8-bit board with the follwing markings:
"TIL-XPC" and "TIL SYSTEMS LTD. XPC91 REV 2.0"
It's got 4 RJ45 ports (I'm guessing RS-232, from all the 1488's &
1489's...) 4 R6551's, an MC68B54 & an MC68B09EP... Is this just a 4-port
serial board with the 6809 playing traffic cop, or is it an "elusive" OS-9
- based SBC?
I doubt it's the latter :-(. It sounds like a mult-port serial card (the
4 off 6551s...). The oddity is the 68B54. That's a synchronous serial
chip, used for some low-cost networks like Acorn's Econet (and for other
things of course). I wonder what it's doing here....
-tony
6:55 p.m.
Rumor has it that Tony Duell may have mentioned these words:
I wrote before that...
I know -- I'll be able to put up pix tonite, but here's a little more info
that "makes one wonder..."
It's got 64K of RAM -- not sure why a multiport board would need that much
"oomph..." ;-) and it's got 4 or 5 PALs (I think... they've got labels
on
them ["XPC U23" is the label of one - the labels correspond to the
silkscreen of the sockets]) I didn't want to peel the labels, altho I don't
mind -- I'd rather see things work, than labels stay in place... ;-)
It's also got 2 single-hex-digit rotary dial switches [0-F] not sure what
those would be used to select... Not that many DMA channels in an AT class
machine, unless it needs 2 IRQs? (They're pointing to 5 and 6, currently)
Also, there are 3 1488's and 3 1489s, so maybe the first port isn't RS232?
Dunno...
Oh, and the card's a full length, or damn near, anyway... ;-)
Anywho, I'll write back when I have pix... Tony - is there any format of
pictures you can view, or are you text-only? I have some software that can
spit out IFF (Amiga, isn't it?), SUN, SGI & Targa...
Thankz,
Roger "Merch" Merchberger
--
Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- sysadmin, Iceberg Computers
zmerch(a)30below.com
What do you do when Life gives you lemons,
and you don't *like* lemonade?????????????
"TIL-XPC" and "TIL SYSTEMS LTD.
XPC91 REV 2.0"
It's got 4 RJ45 ports (I'm guessing RS-232, from all the 1488's &
1489's...) 4 R6551's, an MC68B54 & an MC68B09EP... Is this just a 4-port
serial board with the 6809 playing traffic cop, or is it an "elusive" OS-9
- based SBC?
I doubt it's the latter :-(. It sounds like a mult-port serial card (the
4 off 6551s...). The oddity is the 68B54. That's a synchronous serial
chip, used for some low-cost networks like Acorn's Econet (and for other
things of course). I wonder what it's doing here....
11 Mar
11 Mar
4:48 p.m.
It's got 64K of RAM -- not sure why a multiport
board would need that much
Perhaps it's (also?) some kind of custom network card. That could explain
the 6854 and the RAM.
"oomph..." ;-) and it's got 4 or 5
PALs (I think... they've got labels on
them ["XPC U23" is the label of one - the labels correspond to the
I guess the product is called the 'XPC' then. The 'PC' part would appear
to be obvious...
silkscreen of the sockets]) I didn't want to peel
the labels, altho I don't
mind -- I'd rather see things work, than labels stay in place... ;-)
It's also got 2 single-hex-digit rotary dial switches [0-F] not sure what
those would be used to select... Not that many DMA channels in an AT class
Network address?
machine, unless it needs 2 IRQs? (They're pointing
to 5 and 6, currently)
Also, there are 3 1488's and 3 1489s, so maybe the first port isn't RS232?
Dunno...
You can't conclude that. There are 4 independant driver or receiver
circuits in each chip. It could easily be 3 per external connector. These
connectors have 8 pins, right? In which case, one has to be signal
ground. I could well believe 3 outputs (TxD, RTS, DTR, say) and 3 inputs
(RxD, CTS, DSR (or DCD)) for each port.
Oh, and the card's a full length, or damn near, anyway... ;-)
Anywho, I'll write back when I have pix... Tony - is there any format of
pictures you can view, or are you text-only? I have some software that can
My PC is still text-only. I have access to a Mac, but transfering stuff
onto it is a pain. So I probably can't easily view the pictures (and I
probably couldn't deduce that much from them anyway).
-tony
7974
days inactive
7975
days old
3 comments
2 participants
participants (2)
-
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
zmerch＠30below.com