[SunRescue] OPUS Systems SPARC-like PC-thingy
Pullig, Bruce A.
Bruce.A.Pullig at usa.conoco.com
Wed Jun 21 14:41:01 CDT 2000
Have you got any pictures? I'd like to see it.
Bruce Pullig
UNIX/NetWare Support
CSC Midland, Texas
(915) 686-5517
ETN: 644-5517
bruce.a.pullig at usa.conoco.com
bpullig at csc.com
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Matthew Haas [SMTP:wedge at onlineimage.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2000 10:14 AM
> To: SunRescue List
> Subject: [SunRescue] OPUS Systems SPARC-like PC-thingy
>
> Good morning,
>
> I've come across a rather unique item in my PC encounters... because of
> my love and appreciation for Sun and the SPARC platform, I recognized this
> and saved it from inevitable doom (being used for scrap metal). The more I
> look at it and muse about what it could be, the more I get ideas on what
> I'd like to do with it... but a few big questions remain in my way, and
> I'm hoping that someone on this list has at least come in contact with
> such a thing, or knows where I could find out more about it.
>
> The device is actually an assemblage of 3 cards... stacked double (as far
> as PC terms go)-- one plugs this thing in a PC motherboard... the top-most
> card has a 16-bit ISA connector, bottommost has an 8-bit ISA connector.
> The third card is dangling off the back of the bottommost card, connected
> by a series of SBUS connectors, which form the connection between the
> whole thing.
>
> The top-most card (with 16-bit ISA) is hosting a lot of the motherboard
> features of a SPARC:
>
> QuickLogic pASIC QL12x16-OPL84C (integrated circuit)
> STP2001QFP NCR 89C105 (integrated circuit with a Sun logo on it)
> NVRAM with a label of:
>
> 132037
> Hostid 800203c5
> Ether 00:80:f1:02:03:c5
>
> PROM with a label of:
>
> LX-II 2.15a
> (c)1994 Sun Micro
>
> An SBUS connector suitable for an add-on SBUS card.
>
> On the outside edge of this card (facing out the back of the PC) are a
> UTP connector, SCSI-2, and minidin-8
>
> The card has header pins for an AUI (in addition to the UTP), as well as
> the usual Parallel, internal SCSI, and floppy connectors.
>
> What I thought was a little cool was the designation for the minidin
> port... there are 5 groups of headers on this board, labelled:
>
> TTYB AUDIO MINI-DIN KB/MS TTYA
>
> There is a header cable, connecting from MINI-DIN to KB/MS, indicating
> that in whatever configuration this device was last used, a Sun-compatible
> keyboard was used on the Mini-Din-8 port.
>
> There is also a 3-pin jumper labelled "PC" and "SA"... it was set to
> "PC"... which I'd gather to mean PC, and "SA" perhaps SPARC
> Architecture... but that's just a guess.
>
> There are some red indicator LEDs at the top of the board.. one perhaps
> indicating power (as in the external of a SPARC case) and then 4
> indicating diagnostic LEDs. (labelled AT, SLOT, SCSI, and ENET).
>
> There's a selectable dip switch labelled I/O Addr.
>
> Company markings include:
>
> OPUS I70
> COPYRIGHT (c) OPUS 1994
> SBI PART 02000163
>
> That is by far the busiest card... the bottom-most card has the video,
> containing an IC with "Bt" on it, like the one's I've seen on CGSixes and
> the like. There are two VGA plugs.. one labelled "VGA IN" and "OUT"
>
> Company markings include:
>
> 303-0037-001 REV A
> OPUS SYSTEMS 1992
>
> The other card contains the CPU and memory modules... 8 72-pin SIMM
> slots, segmented off in pairs, and I got it with pairs of SIMMs in the
> first and third banks.
>
> It has what appears to be a SPARC CPU with a mounted circular heatsink
> (similar to the SPARC 10 type?) as well as a fan next to it, which also
> seems Sun-issue to me.
>
> Company markings include:
>
> 303-00043-003 REV A
> REV A (checked with an X) SN "PA-132039" (hand-written)
>
> And what I believe to be the OPUS logo (circle with 8 pie shaped wedges)
> appear in various places on all the boards.
>
> This came out of a Pentium (or PPro)-based DELL or NEC desktop server. I
> do not know anything else about it.
>
> What I'd like to do, is take my trusty ol' 486 and run 2 PCs in one :)
> (PC running Linux/i386, and the SPARC-card running something else...
> perhaps NetBSD or OpenBSD, if the hardware is similar enough, otherwise
> the SunOS or Solaris it was designed for). But that's just what I'd like
> to do with it, I don't know if it can actually be done.
>
> So, if anyone has any idea of what this thing is, how to set it up and
> use it, I'd greatly appreciate it. I've tried it in a PC... when I set it
> for "SA" I seem to get the most activity, on "PC" it seems not to do
> anything... I didn't have a decent monitor to get any confirmed results,
> though.
>
> Thanks, and sorry for being so long...
>
> ----|||-------------------------------------------------------------
> - ||| Atari 8-bit! Star Wars * SPARCbook 3GX * SUMMER!! -
> - ||| 400/800/XL/XE Battlestar: Galactica * SPARC * Linux -
> - | | | | | 2600/5200/7800 StarRaiders * StarTrek * Galaga * SCSI -
> - || | || Lynx/Jaguar NetBSD 1.4.2 * Descent * Voltron * UNIX -
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>
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