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Apple Network Server 500/132

chillin

Well-known member
Just curious, what would be needed to run NEXTStep or possibly even Mac OS X 10.0/10.1 run on an ANS? A New World ROM?

IBM briefly licensed NeXTSTEP 1.0 (maybe 1991?) to run on top of AIX on PPC RS/6000, but the performance was so poor IBM dropped the project. I don't think a ROM swap is going to do it, would need to be ported first. Get it running on a 9500 first.
 

trag

Well-known member
From the ANS Hardware developer Note
Non-Parity will work but from what I read it just disables interleaving. I mean is there a huge performance increase between non-parity and parity on this old 604 running at 132mhz? I have 256 mb now installed.

From the ANS Hardware Developer Note:

2.4.1 Parity Memory
Parity memory is supported by a modification of the PowerMac 9500 data path chip. It writes and reads
byte-wide parity for memory accesses only. ROM and SRAM are not parity protected. The boot ROM
sets DRAM timing based on two factors: the detected bus speed and detected parity. If parity is detected,
60 ns timing is set.. If parity is not detected, 70 ns timing is set. At 50 MHz, 70 ns timing is approximately
a 20% memory bandwidth penalty.

Eight DIMM slots are provided; production ROMs through (TBD) August 1996? provide decoding of up
to 512 Mbytes (Eight 64 Mbyte or four 128 Mbyte DIMM's). Sixty-four megabit technology is
recommended for DIMMs of this size to reduce bus loading at 60 ns timing. FCT technology should be
used for buffers; ACT is specifically not supported.

So interleaving is not disabled, but the ANS runs the memory bus at a lower speed. It also sounds like the ANS will accept 128MB DIMMs. But only four of them. Sorry about the mislead about 64MB being the maximum.

I posted all the documents I have in my archive regarding the ANS. They're here:
https://www.prismnet.com/~trag/ANS/

I don't know if there's anything there you guys don't already have.

Interesting (to me anyway) I have the PDF instructions on how to install 4.1.5, but don't seem to have the update anywhere.

It occurs to me that we should check with Cameron Kaiser. If anyone has the 4.1.5 update it would almost certainly be him. He was crazy for the ANS for years.
 

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trag

Well-known member
PS - I put a "watch" on this card - listed at $29 and just got the "Seller offers 10% off!" email from eBay

I put a watch on it. When I get a 10% off offer I'll buy it. Thank you. I appreciate. I guess I need to get the magic ROM code too. I don't suppose that you have a chip programmer with which you can read the contents of that magic chip?
 

trag

Well-known member
Just curious, what would be needed to run NEXTStep or possibly even Mac OS X 10.0/10.1 run on an ANS? A New World ROM?
A modified New World ROM at a minimum.

The interrupt signals in the ANS are wired differently than how they are in the PowerMac 9500. I don't know, but I'm pretty sure the ROM contains information that maps the various interrupts directly to specific PCI slots and devices. On the ANS, that mapping is scrambled. So if one installs a PM9500 ROM in teh ANS at some point the ANS is going to grab the wrong interrupt handler.

Apparently at boot time according to reports of folks who have tried it.

The 2nd paragraph is informed speculation. The third paragraph is what I remember folks reporting.
 

ScutBoy

Well-known member
I put a watch on it. When I get a 10% off offer I'll buy it. Thank you. I appreciate. I guess I need to get the magic ROM code too. I don't suppose that you have a chip programmer with which you can read the contents of that magic chip?

Sorry, no. I can see if someone I know does. Would be a good thing to have. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.
 

trag

Well-known member
Sorry, no. I can see if someone I know does. Would be a good thing to have. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.
I have a c hip programmer but I'm always uneasy trusting rare/unique content chips to the various delivery services.

We have a member in the UK who persuaded a US outfit to loan him a PEx ROM and PLCC chips, and then UPS lost them in transit. Happily, there was a UPS employees forum where he was able to ask for help and a very kind employee hunted down the missing package. But sheesh. All hair standing up at attention.

Anyway, I'd be happy to make copies, but again, risk. I'm in Austin, TX, BTW.
 

ScutBoy

Well-known member
I compared my RAID card to the one in the eBay listing and it appears to be almost the same. While the card in the listing has the two ROM sockets populated, the Apple card only uses the one. Would removing both on the new card and only putting one in on the new card be a problem? Don't know... If I were really wanting a RAID card these seems like a cheap bet assuming we can get the Apple chip duplicated.
 

trag

Well-known member
Another interesting thing in the ANS Hardware Developer Notes is mention of a "Designing Cards and Drivers for the ANS".
 

aplmak

Well-known member
So just to circle back... I have inherited another 500/132 and a 700/200... Very excited.. The other 500 has the SCSI raid card and all the drives are in it. That machine had a DAT drive in it. It is an HP 1533 DDS2 Apple blessed with the sticker. I'll take a pic at some point for you all. Anyways it took me days and hours to get this drive back up and running. First when I disassembled it I discovered 3 10uf 16v caps so I replaced those. Next by searching the internet I found there is a little foam cylinder that will occasionally clean the heads.. Well after touching the foam it just disintegrated. On line it was recommended that it be removed. So I removed it! It's not really needed. From there it took me about 2 tries to gently clean the head going in a circular motion very lightly with 99% rubbing alcohol. It was dirty.. probably from that stupid decaying foam cleaning wheel. So I ran a DDS cleaning tape and then put in a brand new DDS tape and whala! It's running perfectly!!!! I'm shocked I was able to get it up and running! In my opinion I've always hated tape backup drives!!! But I wanted to have a working one on the ANS. Here is a photo with the hidden caps under the main board. They are those angled one's that appear to be tantalum but are not. They are encased in a plastic little thing. I'll update y'all on the actual photo of the drive where the label is.. I'm running a full backup right now.
 

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aplmak

Well-known member
Here is the drive info for everyone
 

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aplmak

Well-known member
Ok so I know you all have been talking about the SCSI raid card. Here is mine. I removed the daughter board with the battery on it.. that’s all I need is for it to leak. Question: does the scsi raid card require this daughter board? Can I peel off the battery and put it back? I realize it’s just so it saves the read/write cache.. but I’m not sure if it is required.. I expect no..
 

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trag

Well-known member
I compared my RAID card to the one in the eBay listing and it appears to be almost the same. While the card in the listing has the two ROM sockets populated, the Apple card only uses the one. Would removing both on the new card and only putting one in on the new card be a problem? Don't know... If I were really wanting a RAID card these seems like a cheap bet assuming we can get the Apple chip duplicated.

I don't have any way of knowing if depopulating one socket and replacing the other with the Apple chip would create issues. I think it is worth a try.

If anyone wants to risk (misdelivery risk, fairly low, but non-zero) sending me their Apple chip I will make copies for everyone. Actually, a good first step would probably be to read the markings under the sticker on the Apple chip. Doesn't do any good to try to make copies if one can't find blanks.

Although it is entirely possible that any same-sized flash/eeprom will work.
 

ScutBoy

Well-known member
I don't have any way of knowing if depopulating one socket and replacing the other with the Apple chip would create issues. I think it is worth a try.

If anyone wants to risk (misdelivery risk, fairly low, but non-zero) sending me their Apple chip I will make copies for everyone. Actually, a good first step would probably be to read the markings under the sticker on the Apple chip. Doesn't do any good to try to make copies if one can't find blanks.

Although it is entirely possible that any same-sized flash/eeprom will work.
Here’s what’s underneath the sticker. This is the IBM chip I replaced with the Apple chip
 

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aplmak

Well-known member
Hey gang.. a little help. Can I remove the battery from the SCSI Raid card? I will keep the daughterboard it's on installed on the SCSI Raid card because it's required apparently after reading a bit. I just don't want to leave a battery in a machine that could sit for a period of time. I am assuming it's just a cache battery and doesn't hold the configuration of the raid yes??? If it's just a cache battery I don't care and I'd rather remove it.
 

ScutBoy

Well-known member
Hey gang.. a little help. Can I remove the battery from the SCSI Raid card? I will keep the daughterboard it's on installed on the SCSI Raid card because it's required apparently after reading a bit. I just don't want to leave a battery in a machine that could sit for a period of time. I am assuming it's just a cache battery and doesn't hold the configuration of the raid yes??? If it's just a cache battery I don't care and I'd rather remove it.

I assume you mean the one that plugs into J2? As far as I know, it should be OK. My card has a little card that plugs into that header. I'd have to see what pins (if any) it bridges together.
 

aplmak

Well-known member
Scutboy I believe your right! In the utility program you can enable or disable it. It’s just the cards cache battery. I disabled it.. and I’ll remove it in case I forget then store it..
 

LightBulbFun

Well-known member
A modified New World ROM at a minimum.

The interrupt signals in the ANS are wired differently than how they are in the PowerMac 9500. I don't know, but I'm pretty sure the ROM contains information that maps the various interrupts directly to specific PCI slots and devices. On the ANS, that mapping is scrambled. So if one installs a PM9500 ROM in teh ANS at some point the ANS is going to grab the wrong interrupt handler.

Apparently at boot time according to reports of folks who have tried it.

The 2nd paragraph is informed speculation. The third paragraph is what I remember folks reporting.

in theory you should be able to boot OS X directly on an ANS without any need to swap ROMs since the ANS does run OpenFirmware

as OS X bypasses any need for a Toolbox ROM image and boots directly from OpenFirmware including on OWR macs

the only things you would need to do is figure out what NVRAMRC patches an ANS would need, being technically and Old world ROM machine im sure will have plenty of OpenFirmware quirks that need patching before OS X will boot, like all other OWR macs need

and then add the ANS model identifier to the plist in the PowerSurge Platform expert kext for OS X (since I dont think its there by default, but I know the ANS is very similar architecturally to a 9500 so id like to think the same platform driver would work)

then in theory it should boot... (although if your trying to run Later then 10.2.8 you will need a suitably patched kernel like my 604 10.4.11 kernel)

I have sadly not see anyone try, but it would be fun to see someone try :)
 

trag

Well-known member
There's a request on LEMSwapList for AIX 4.14 or 4.15 for the ANS. I don't know if that's related to anyone on this thread, so thought I'd mention it. You might want to join forces with that poster.
 

chillin

Well-known member
I'm not sure who you're suggesting should join forces with that poster, but unless the request is for the actual physical media (CD), AIX 4.1.4.1 is readily available at two popular mac legacy software sites, garden and repository.
 

wymtb

Member
This link was posted in a german forum: http://www.vtda.org/bits/OS/Apple/ANS/
----------------------------
Index of /bits/OS/Apple/ANS/AIX
Name Last modified Size
Parent Directory -
About This Image.txt 2019-01-03 01:14 191
AIX 415 Install CD.iso 2019-01-03 01:55 575M
AIX_CD.JPG 2019-01-03 00:34 345K
-----------------------------

Beside of this, one of my ANS seems to have a broken mother board. Power up by keyboard and front switch is working. But no start chime and no status messages on the LCD. Capacitors replaced. RAM,ROM,CACHE changed with parts from working one. Any ideas what I might could check further?

lcd.jpg
 
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