PExProjRedux

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Amazingly enough, when the 68kMLA Awards - All Time Favourite Forum Moments? thread was posted, I had already ordered an early birthday present for myself . . . and the prototype PEx MoBo I got from the somewhat ill fated Big@$$BoxLotConsortium™ operation.

I got a Crescendo/PCI G3 500 MHz for my 9700 ProtoBoard and it arrived this morning! [] ]'>

I had already removed the 9500 MoBo and PSU from the PlasticDrawerHack™ and installed the PEx board and the freakin' humongous 9600 PSU I bought for it in the 9500's place. There's usually a madness to my methods, but I turned that around, for once,and put some method into this madness by putting the two PSUs in the cases where they'd actually FIT!

The two MoBos are pretty much interchangeable, but I mounted the PEx board in the Plastic Drawer with a lot more precision and adequate standoff support for my final run at getting that *^%*&^^#%^ sucker running! [}] ]'>

So far not much good has come of it, but I have just begun to hack! I'll be posting some piccies and details of what's been discovered soon. [] ]'>

 

[iMac600]

Ahh, the Macintosh PowerExpress. One of my favourite prototype systems to come out of Apple. Shame so many of them in the wild are incomplete (and even those rare few never made it outside the USA), but just having one of those boards would be brilliant, imho. I'll watch this thread closely, I just hope when you say you "have just begun to hack" you don't mean anything irreversible... :-x

 

[CJ_Miller]

I have always wanted one of these myself, so I can enthusiastically wish you the best of luck with it! It must be exciting.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Thanks for the well wishes, comrades. I think I've finally come up with a new approach to the seemingly insoluble PExBootProblem!

I have a friend at work who's working on his degree in Computer Science and I've offered him one FabHack of his choice in return for help on this latest attempt to scale the PEx summit. I've got PLCC ROMs that'll bring the system up to the Boot Chimes level with the 9500 card or my 30 day trial limited SonnetTech Crescendo PCI/G3!

I'm going to have him look at coding a bootstrap routine (on the model of a system level batch file) that'll go on a new ROM SIMM PCB along with PLCC sockets for my two PLCC ROMs. The new ROM SIMM (?) Card's PCB layout and the enabling system level hackage would then be copyrighted, and the new ROM SIMMs could then be offered for sale (with said PLCC Sockets shipped empty [}] ]'> )

The aim of this project is to force the PEx MLB/PLCC ROM, semi-booted system, to load the Sonnet PCI/G3's Drivers from another ROM. Then more code on the new ROM SIMM is intended to persuade the driver enabled Crescendo to poll the I/O Bus's Floppy/SCSI/IDE subsystems for media and then to load the OS.

Hopefully, at this point, OS 9.x will look for the on-board ROM on the ATI Video Card for its default resolution driver. This, in theory, will also poll whatever else is on the PCI Bus and any other extensions required for whatever else I want to do with the infuriatingly obstinate ProtoMacPOS.

This may stretch beyond the 30 day test period, but I know the G3 card enables the ATI Video Card on the "9500 Control System" in the same configuration that the PEx won't.

We'll see! }

Worst case scenario (excluding total failure ) ) will be to buy a SonnetTech I/O card and have the PCI/G3 bang the snot out of THAT sucker until OS 9.x loads from one of the freakin' I/O Card's ports and then shoves OS 9.x down said ProtoMacPOS's throat, or alternately, up any other available port of entry! [}] ]'>

MuaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =8-D

:approve:

BTW, before I start Googling, does anybody know if Apple ever published a PCI Architecture version of the NuBus Architecture level Designing Cards and Drivers for the Macintosh Family Hardware Third Edition sitting on my shelf?

< Dashes for home to see if there's a PCI section in DCaDftMFH3e >

< folds laundry >

< 8-o remembers to check for . . . nope, PCI isn't in the index :-/ >

< Dashes back to the coffee shop for caffeine, lunch, and WiFi >

Nope no PCI, just NuBus and all the PDS cards in that tome.

If there's no book in print, does anybody know on which developer CD such info might reside?

 

[iMac600]

In regards to the Designing Cards and Drivers book, perhaps this may be of some use?

http://developer.apple.com/legacy/mac/library/documentation/Hardware/DeviceManagers/pci_srvcs/pci_cards_drivers/Designing_PCI_Cards_Drivers.pdf

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

iMac600 shoots . . . HE SCORES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Many thanks comrade, now I'll just have it laser printed & bound!

BTW. the multi-page 'fritter thread's been converted to .TXT, but so far, it's only been edited down to 108 pages!!! 8-o

That beauty is destined for my Hackin'Shelf too! } )

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I think that these are the "before" pics of the 9500 rev. JunkDrawerHack™ that's now got the PowerExpress ProtoBoard and the much larger 9600 PSU mounted in it. The 9500 "Control" MLB is back where it belongs, in its internal Plastic POS chassis/frame . . .

. . . I am reasonably certain that the metal case parts went away in the "Storage Room Loss Fiasco." :-/

The 9500 boots up just fine with the PCI Crescendo G3 that WAS slated for the PEx "Experimental" MLB now enshrined in the PlasticPOS JunkDrawerHack™ for easier access. I'll post more "after" pics of the new PEx rev. of the drawer.

I've got a "new" Processor Card for the PEx waiting at the Apartment Complex Office for me to pick up!

 

[beachycove]

Could that be the solution to one of our member's computer-under-the-bed conundrum? Does it come, perchance, with little wheels?

Truth be told, I have to confess that I rather like it, not least as somewhere around here I have in a box (that's as in, a cardboard box on a shelf) all the internal parts of one of the higher-end Umax clones, but I have no case for it. I wonder....

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Thanks, I rather like the concept myself, I can store the entire project in the chest of drawers and pull it out every so often to hook it up just to hear those great PEx startup chimes!

The next step will be to shoe-horn a PowerBook shelf into it so I can pop up the LCD and try:

OpenFirmware . . . using a serial connection to a terminal programme on another mac, as the default output was via the serial/printer port, rather than onscreen.

I've never had the time or inclination to start playing around with that approach, but maybe it's time to start . . . right after I finish editing the 'fritter thread info on the process down to an acceptable book size/format along with the rest of the PowerExpress threads for printing and binding!

At that point I can outfit a Chest-o-DrawersHackStation™ on wheels with all my reference materials, a Surge Protector/Power Center and one of my galvanized sheet metal work surfaces on top in order to hand this recalcitrant POS off to my IT Student friend at work to play with . . .

. . . and I can relax back into hardware hackin' where I belong! :b&w:

As a side note: I picked up the new PExProc at the office and it's running as happy as a clam in my 8500! If and when this PExPOS reaches operational status, it'll sport a Sonnet PCI G4-800/1M Crescendo and be a beast of a 9700 PowerExpress! [] ]'>

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I've sourced an empty, parted out, 9600 case for my PEx Mobo and 9600 PSU from a guy on eBay.

I'm hoping for a pair of ROMs and a ROM DIMM to be made available for testing, hopefully allowing me get this PExPOS to boot and enable me to extract the contents of my partial ROM setup or ship it if they won't work with the ROM DIMM to add to the slowly growing PEx ROM collection.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Still waiting on word regarding the PEx ROM Conundrum . . . :?: . . . but meanwhile, back at the banana ranch . . .

iMac600, thanks for the link to:

Designing PCI Cards and Drivers for Power Macintosh Computers

Revised Edition

Revised 3/26/99

But now I'm wondering if there is another book (.PDF actually) probably called something like:

Designing Cards and Drivers for Power Macintosh Computers

. . . that would bridge the gap between DPCICardaDfPMCre.PDF and the 68k NuBus Architecture oriented DCaDftMFH3e covering the NuBus Architecture PowerMacs, PowerBooks & Duos.

Has anyone seen such a .PDF anywhere?

 

[techknight]

No, and actually I am sort of on the hunt for that stuff myself.

I bought the designing nubus cards on amazon. but its missing schematics/detail of the SCSI card that i was primarily targetting.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Don't you just LOVE the way Apple danced around the issue of actually spec'n ANY of the card examples by doing a bit of all of them!

Diaboical B@$^@*!$ NEVER gave away even a chip of ice in the winter!

 

[Gorgonops]

The next step will be to shoe-horn a PowerBook shelf into it so I can pop up the LCD and try:

OpenFirmware . . . using a serial connection to a terminal programme on another mac, as the default output was via the serial/printer port, rather than onscreen.

I've never had the time or inclination to start playing around with that approach, but maybe it's time to start . . .

You mean you've had that thing all this time and *never* tried looking at Open Firmware? Eeek.

It would be most ironic if all it ended up taking to get that thing to boot is the Open Firmware equivalent of "press any key to continue"...

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

YUP!!!!!! )

By doing the "wait and see" routine, I found out that I need the ROM SIMM to boot Mac OS on it!

Besides, I've got hacks-in-progress waaayyyyy older than the PExProject! )

A couple of the guys are noodling out how to reproduce the Low Level Boot PLCC ROMs like the ones I have and the ROM SIMM. I'm waiting for a SIMM/PLCC set to be shipped to me. Then I can do a ROM Dump of my PLCCs if it'll boot with just the working SIMM added to it.

At that point I'll feel comfortable shipping the PLCCs from my MoBo if it'll boot up with the new set installed, in the case that I can't use the Working SIMM with my PEx Board's PLCCs.

I know my PEx board works, every once in a while I play with it just to hear those great PEx Boot Chimes! :approve: