Farallon ETHERMAC LC NSC w/NuBus drivers in the SE/30 PDS?

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Dunno where this one will lead, but gotta give it a shot. So many folks have been asking about the prospects of doing something like this for so many years that it has to be tried. maceffects has placed two of his Farallon NICs into my grubby little paws, so it's time for a bit of olde schoole wire wrapping fun.

The 68030 LCIII PDS version of this diagram has been kicking around here and there in different projects for years. This time it's been dumbed down to the bare essentials of its 68020 LC PDS origins:



View attachment RosettaCache-01-002.PDF

The signal known as /SLOTIRQ in the LC docs is better described as /SLOTIRQ.E in the expanded 32-bit 68030 PDS LCIII update of theLC PDS. We've been talking on and off about prospects for using it on an available interrupt on the 68030 PDS of the SE/30 and IIsi. That NMRQ line bit in the signal description makes me wonder if there's another pin on the 030 PDS? /NuBus might work where the /IRQ lines may not?

Is the 12V line on the LC PDS to power a FDD on a IIe Card's octopus cable or might the NIC need that voltage as well?

Any help with proofing the signal map would be much appreciated. I found one boo-boo, but proofreading your own work is just oxymoronic. :

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

View attachment Perf-00-000.PDF

 

[NJRoadfan]

Its doubtful an Ethernet card needs -12V. Even if it does, its easy enough to pull off the power supply.

 

[Bolle]

+12V however might be needed to power the transceiver if you have a BNC or (A)AUI connector on there.

 

[maceffects]

Its only an RJ-45 connector on these cards, so if the extra power isn't applicable to those it may not be relevant.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Yeah, the other one I have here has unimplemented components for ThinNet just like like your Farallon NICs. I'll be buzzing for connections for 12V just out of curiosity, but I'm going ahead and hooking up 12V in any case. At first I thought +12V might only be for powering the FDD on the IIe Card's breakout cable. Transceiver power makes sense.

There's no -12V connection on the LC PDS, so no NIC nor any other LC Slot Card have need of it, but you got me curious:

View attachment 12609

-12V is not on the extended LCIII slot either. What the heck uses uses that voltage? Is it for differential signalling?

I've got a nice piece of perf board here with copper pads on one side and grid lines for 5x5 contacts on the other. It's thin enough for me to wire wrap the protruding soldertails of connectors I had on hand so all the parts are in place. Had it set up in the chassis unencumbered bench setup for the SE/30 and all looks good. I'll probably make a thin plexi carrier board to bolt the RCPII/IIsi, Farallon NIC and perf board up together for a unitized assembly for installation and as a support base for doing the dirty deed with the wire wrap tool. Tested wrapping the short pin protrusions and there's no problem with a single layer wrap. Should be fun!  []

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Here are some pics of the test setup. Thought it best to get it documented before the project crashes and burns. Dunno if this is the first time an LC NIC has been fitted to the SE/30 PDS, but once I've wire wrapped it we'll see what happens. (crosses fingers)







I've got a couple of days off to work up the wrap templates. They'll be laser printed, rubber cemented to poster board, cut to fit and then bolted up to to either side of the perf board. One side keyed for wrapping and the other keyed for testing the connections. I'll see if I can get any of the wrapping done before I'm off again next Monday/Tuesday, but not likely. The only component yet to be fitted is the header block on the reverse side so swapping the address jumper can be swapped around without removing the board assembly.

edit: decided to go ahead and test the rig in the SE/30 right off the bat to avoid any complications the faster clock of the IIsi might induce. KISS, the less variables the better.

One additional question for you boffins: should I keep all the wires the same length (meandering) or is it safe to keep the wrap neat by using length appropriate wires? The card should be running off C16M in the IIsi, but I'm wondering there might be a problem with a IIsi clocked to 25MHz?

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Finished off the physical setup for the attempt, realized the shots above are a bit cluttered so:



Outside the box.



Closeup view of cards w/address jumper detail.



Inside the box.



Closeup of cards



Connectors-HotGlueMess/FUGLY Side up!

You can see the joint between the two sections of EuroDIN-96 I hacked together to make a EuroDIN-120-M for the 030 PDS passthru just above the vertical blob that covers the near side of the joint. I found enough 4-40 Nylon to bolt everything up and make standoffs for card support and base for the wire wrapping process. Now that the headers and standoffs are in place I can do my wrap and test diagrams. The only soldering I need to do is to tack the base of the headers to the copper side of the perf board. At the same time I'll loop the wire for /SLOTIRQ.E on the NIC around the headers and pass it thru the board to be wrapped to that pin.

@Bolle haven't heard from you. Should I keep all the wires of equal length or is it OK to go for a much neater olde schoole wrap like they did when they didn't have to worry about latching higher frequency signals? 25MHz is as fast a system (overclocked IIsi) as this thing could be installed in, but I don't think even that should matter? The NIC itself will be running off C16M in the IIsi, no? What clock do these things run off in an LCIII or Quadra 630? I'll have to look it up, but can't imagine it's not off the 16MHz reference clock. :huh:

 

[beachycove]

Could that Supermac card serve an actual function if this works, or must it just serve as a pass-through?

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

It's a passive RA Adapter for using the SE/30 Version of one of my VidCards in a IIsi. I've switched over to it from the Pivot Card to comply with the KISS principal now that I'm tilting straight at the SE/30. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but this it does work out the carrier card will look a lot like a wrong Angle Hacked ASANTE NIC, an artistic interpretation with a neat twist or three. []

Just finished my wrap map and I'll double check everything later after I get something to eat.

View attachment PERF-00-01.PDF

Gotta figure out the longest wire and start stripping matching color coded lengths. I'll just bolt a clear plexi cover plate to the thing to contain/protect the mangy KynarCritter at some point.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

View attachment Perf-00-002.PDF

View attachment Perf-CMP-00-002.PDF

View attachment Perf-00-002-Duplex.pdf

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

View attachment Perf-00-010-Duplex.PDF

 

[maceffects]

Wow, exciting things are happening!  

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

It was exciting yesterday, today it was mostly a PITA finding errors in graphics right after I posted, correcting them and trying to edit the corrected versions in within the time allotted. Didn't make it, but the only one that really matters is that last .PDF so I can give it a good going over at work. I'll check it again in the morning before work. Things sometimes look very different there for some reason. They almost always look different just by posting images here for study as opposed to trying to proof my work while in AI. Whatever works I guess. :/

edit: forgot to mention I cut all the wires to length and got the orange ones stripped for the data bus. I'll be doing that during downtime at work as well. Less than eighty to go  .  .  .

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

View attachment Chassis-Bezel-020-0.PDF

 

[maceffects]

This is so cool, I am thinking whatever adapter card is made would have a PDS pass-through too. 

View attachment 26974

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

View attachment Solid_Chassis-Adapter_Study.PDF

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Got tired of thinking and curled up at the Illustrator Workstation for a bit of fantasy downtime:



View attachment ADAPTER-GAMMA.PDF

This is the only way I can figure out to get all my goodies in the box with an LC NIC. Radius Color Pivot SE/30 goes on top, it's the same max board form factor as that grayscale unicorn thing and plenty good enough for me. There's maybe just enough clearance for the Video Out Connector behind the LC NIC. Dunno, the ferrite ring on that sucker is BIG. Conversion to an IDC DA-15 Connector/Ribbon Cable setup for any VidCard should be no problem if spacing is too tight. I think it's a nice touch to have the LED activity light hoisted up the flagstaff next to a WiFi Antenna inside a clear case if it all works out.

Can anyone think of a Card for the SE/30 that has a huge breakout board besides a NIC? NIC/Accelerator/VidCard is the only SE/30 expansion upgrade path I've seen since the gamba day. Is there anything else to consider?

@Bolle will the overhang of my P33 clear a RA connector for the LC NIC as positioned above? The drawing is based on your interpretation of the DiiMO adapter. The existing outline is there in black.

Playtime over. :mellow:

 

[Bolle]

Gonna build something from cardboard to verify if an LC card will fit there. Can’t tell from the top of my head.