Trash80toHP_Mini
NIGHT STALKER
LOL! Sounds like RaspberryPi in an 030 PDS slot.
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Mac SE/SE/30 Ethernet Card Recreation
- Thread starter IlikeTech
- Start date
techknight
Well-known member
Sort of but I dont think the ARM can manipulate the bus and decode it fast enough, probably have to shoehorn some buffer memory and an FPGA in the middle. Not sure though.
Another way to do it is the 030 I think can handle 8, maybe 16 coprocessors. I forget its been awhile since I have looked at the datasheets.
the ARM could emulate a co-processor and execute the 68882 instruction set, on top of a few "extended" instructions that do other things that we write drivers for. ;-)
Those instructions would execute at the full speed of the ARM. Cool thing about that, is tune the Retro68k compiler with the "extended" instruction set, make a modern browser and compile it with those instructions, and the browser would actually run comfortable.
But hey, I am way out there at this point.
Another way to do it is the 030 I think can handle 8, maybe 16 coprocessors. I forget its been awhile since I have looked at the datasheets.
the ARM could emulate a co-processor and execute the 68882 instruction set, on top of a few "extended" instructions that do other things that we write drivers for. ;-)
Those instructions would execute at the full speed of the ARM. Cool thing about that, is tune the Retro68k compiler with the "extended" instruction set, make a modern browser and compile it with those instructions, and the browser would actually run comfortable.
But hey, I am way out there at this point.
Last edited by a moderator:
Trash80toHP_Mini
NIGHT STALKER
The 68030 socket is a lot more conducive to smaller scale protoboarding playtime of this sort than the buffered PDS with its gifrigginnormous 120 pin connector. I've been thinking that wedging an Ethernet card in at the CPU socket level would be best for a ground up build.
That brings me to an interesting question. The SE/30 ROM is based on the IIx ROM as is the IIcx ROM. I wonder if they killed support for more than three interrupts at the CPU level in ROM or left it alone? Might they have content with hardware level emasculation, pruning the I/O map back to just three places wired to an interrupt? CPU socket hackery beckons on so many levels. [}
]
That brings me to an interesting question. The SE/30 ROM is based on the IIx ROM as is the IIcx ROM. I wonder if they killed support for more than three interrupts at the CPU level in ROM or left it alone? Might they have content with hardware level emasculation, pruning the I/O map back to just three places wired to an interrupt? CPU socket hackery beckons on so many levels. [}
]
Trash80toHP_Mini
NIGHT STALKER
New one popped up on the eBay radar this morning: https://www.ebay.com/itm/192569736434
Looks like a very early NIC with all or almost all standard, discrete components. Looks like a pair of ROMs for a CPU on the PDS card?
Another large IC on the that may be a standard part of some kind?
Standard part on the breakout board seems more likely to me, but that's a WAG. Discrete GAL/PAL DIP ICs (labeled) on the PDS card might be individually brute forced?
Dunno, all guesswork on my part, but this one looks like it might be fully reverse engineered whereas later boards with VLSI ASICs on board are impossible to fathom. Tall order to acheive that goal, but having a fully documented reference design with existing (available?) drivers would seem to be the holy grail for this project.
Just sayin' . . . :blink:
Looks like a very early NIC with all or almost all standard, discrete components. Looks like a pair of ROMs for a CPU on the PDS card?
Another large IC on the that may be a standard part of some kind?
Standard part on the breakout board seems more likely to me, but that's a WAG. Discrete GAL/PAL DIP ICs (labeled) on the PDS card might be individually brute forced?
Dunno, all guesswork on my part, but this one looks like it might be fully reverse engineered whereas later boards with VLSI ASICs on board are impossible to fathom. Tall order to acheive that goal, but having a fully documented reference design with existing (available?) drivers would seem to be the holy grail for this project.
Just sayin' . . . :blink:
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jamesmilne
Active member
With the help of my friend Mark from work, who has done the board design & layout, I've started work on a modern replacement 030 PDS Ethernet card based on the Microchip LAN9218. I'm working on writing the driver. There is already a LAN92xx-series driver in the Linux kernel, so we've got something to work with.
The LAN9218 is designed for integrating with a 32-bit MCU bus, so the board is pretty simple. We've taken the pseudo-slot design route, so there will be a ROM on there with at least a description ROM. I may even be able to shoehorn the driver in there too.
We're at the point of getting some prototype boards made. I'll post once we have a few working boards and have made some progress on talking to it from System 7 :-D
The one downside is I'm not sure there is any available documentation on writing network drivers for A/UX, so it may be tricky or impossible to get that running with this card, but hopefully System 7.5 with MacTCP & OpenTransport will be possible.
The LAN9218 is designed for integrating with a 32-bit MCU bus, so the board is pretty simple. We've taken the pseudo-slot design route, so there will be a ROM on there with at least a description ROM. I may even be able to shoehorn the driver in there too.
We're at the point of getting some prototype boards made. I'll post once we have a few working boards and have made some progress on talking to it from System 7 :-D
The one downside is I'm not sure there is any available documentation on writing network drivers for A/UX, so it may be tricky or impossible to get that running with this card, but hopefully System 7.5 with MacTCP & OpenTransport will be possible.
jamesmilne
Active member
I have been considering Wifi, but no designs yet. There are loads of Wifi modules/chipsets, but most have an SPI interface. That requires more advanced logic to interface with the 68k bus, compared to the LAN9218 which basically just needs wired up.
Small FPGAs are pretty cheap these days. I'm interested in designing something FPGA-based next that can go into the PDS slot. That could interface with SPI devices, which is also basically what an SD card is.
Small FPGAs are pretty cheap these days. I'm interested in designing something FPGA-based next that can go into the PDS slot. That could interface with SPI devices, which is also basically what an SD card is.
techknight
Well-known member
Or do the bridge idea where everything appears "integrated" via driver.
Trash80toHP_Mini
NIGHT STALKER
10/100! Very, very cool!
techknight
Well-known member
Here you go trash:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Creative-Solutions-BXW-1-Apple-Macintosh-SE-30-PDS-Prototyping-Card/183277126820?hash=item2aac2b04a4:g:Bh4AAOSwxQJbJXFY
That ones right up your alley.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Creative-Solutions-BXW-1-Apple-Macintosh-SE-30-PDS-Prototyping-Card/183277126820?hash=item2aac2b04a4:g:Bh4AAOSwxQJbJXFY
That ones right up your alley.
Trash80toHP_Mini
NIGHT STALKER
8-o
