[rescue] SPARCEngine 1E and VME Memory Boards

Mon May 23 20:53:15 EDT 2022

The 1E uses the SBus as it's main system bus, and uses the S4-VME chip 
to interface with the VME bus as an IO controller not as memory.

In regards to the connector, the P2 connector is the second (lower) 
connector on the VME backplane, the unused outer row of pins on the P2 
connector is used as the memory interface on the 1E. So the cable would 
be installed behind the backplane (like you would a paddleboard), while 
the pinout on the 1E's P2 is provided on the 1E manual, I don't have a 
copy of the 1E memory manual to find the pinout of the P2 connector on 
that (or the registers for the memory controller on board the memory 
expansion card). So to expand the 1E you will need a 1E memory card, and 
the correct backplane cable to connect them.

As for mapping generic memory cards, that will be quite tricky, while 
you can use the /dev/vmea32d32 interface to talk to it, to use it as 
memory would require modifying the OS and OpenBoot to add the correct 
ranges to the 'available' attribute. However it won't be cacheable and 
will hurt performance.

If any one has a copy of the 1E Memory board user manual that would be 
helpful.

So if you want to expand the memory on a 1E, you will have to find a 
memory board and create the special cable, I can only assume that it's a 
straight through cable, but besides from that I don't know the details.

Cheers,
Ethan

On 5/24/22 07:43, Richard wrote:
> Hi Ethan
>
> Thanks for that…..
>
> The sun 3e boards don’t have a special cable 
> https://shrubbery.net/~heas/sun-feh-2_1/Systems/Sun3/FEH3.enter.html I 
> have the 501-8031 . The Sun 4e memory boards don’t have any special 
> cable either 501-8042/501-8036/501-8060 
> https://oldcomputers-ddns.org/public/pub/rechner/other_hardware/sun/sparc_4-330/sun-4x.pdf . 
> They look very much the same :-/
>
> How would I map them manually? Any pointers/howto?
>
> FWIW in my SPARCStation 1 I have the SBUS memory expansion with a 
> special jumper cable. That won’t fit on this board.
>
> Cheers
>
> Richard
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On 23 May 2022, at 20:25, Ethan Hawke <ehawk at ember.systems> wrote:
>>
>> 
>>
>> Hey Richard,
>>
>> Unfortunately that is not how the 1E works. Only one of the special 
>> memory boards with the custom P2 cable will work.
>>
>> Do the sun 3e boards use a special cable or just the standard VME 
>> bus? If standard VME you can map them in manually but they will exist 
>> in IO (aka obio or "type 1") space and won't be cacheable.
>>
>> The custom P2 cable carries the remaining signals to detect memory 
>> space accesses similar to the 'SBus Expansion Connector" on SS1/SS2 
>> to use the special SBus memory boards.
>>
>> Sorry to disappoint,
>> Ethan
>>
>> On 5/23/22 17:29, Richard wrote:
>>> Sadly they are all I have…I was working on the theory that owners of 
>>> the 3/E would have upgraded to the 4/E without issue.
>>>
>>> Much like the 3/260 to 4/260 upgrade I did back in the day. Remove 
>>> old cpu board insert new COU board, install fresh OS and keep using 
>>> all the memory boards etc.
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>>> On 23 May 2022, at 17:11, Plamen Mihaylov 
>>>> <plamenspam at afterpeople.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> 
>>>> Hi Richard,
>>>>
>>>> Maybe there is incompatibility between 3E and 1E mem boards when 
>>>> they are stacked. Do you have 4E60-16 or/and 501-8060 to test ?
>>>>
>>>> Best regards,
>>>> Plamen
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, May 23, 2022 at 9:46 AM Richard <ejb at trick-1.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>     Hi Plamen
>>>>
>>>>     Manual indicates that multiple are supported
>>>>
>>>>     http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/sun/sparc/800-8137-02_The_SPARCengine_1E_CPU_Card_Users_Manual_Apr90.pdf
>>>>
>>>>     See pages 36 and 37…..
>>>>
>>>>     Richard
>>>>
>>>>>     On 23 May 2022, at 3:45 pm, Plamen Mihaylov
>>>>>     <plamenspam at afterpeople.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>     Hi Richard,
>>>>>
>>>>>     I don’t sparcengine 1E is designed to handle 2 memory boards.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>     Best regards,
>>>>>     Plamen
>>>>>
>>>>>     On Monday, May 23, 2022, Richard <ejb at trick-1.net> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>         Hi folks
>>>>>
>>>>>         Looking for some suggestions/guidance or help.
>>>>>
>>>>>         I am Looking to add 2x 4Mb Sun 3/E memory boards to the
>>>>>         SPARCEngine 1E.
>>>>>
>>>>>         I do note that these are memory boards from the Sun3/E but
>>>>>         am of the understanding that they will work.
>>>>>
>>>>>         Reading through the SPARCEngine manual I have added the
>>>>>         jumpers to my schroff Backplane to bridge slot 2 as this
>>>>>         is empty - the sbus video card occupies the slot.
>>>>>
>>>>>         Configuration is
>>>>>         Slot1: SPARCEngine
>>>>>         Slot2: jumpered and empty
>>>>>         Slot3: 4Mb memory bord jumpered for 4-8MB
>>>>>         Slot4: 4Mb memory bord jumpered for 8-12Mb.
>>>>>
>>>>>         Now on post I don’t see the extra 8mb.
>>>>>
>>>>>         Anyone got any ideas ? I read something about telling the
>>>>>         nvram about the VME cards but not familiar with that
>>>>>         process or how to do so.
>>>>>
>>>>>         Thanks in advance
>>>>>
>>>>>         Richard
>>>>>
>>>>>         Sent from my iPhone
>>>>>
>>>>>         _______________________________________________
>>>>>         rescue list -
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