[rescue] SBUS Efficient Networks Inc fiber network adapter on a Sparcstation 4

Wed Feb 28 14:12:27 EST 2024

Note that they switched to i960 and later x86 SCPs in the asx-200bx.  The
original model is not so common in comparison to the bx, not sure if the
latter uses VME either will have to take a closer look at mine some time.

These Fore/Marconi/Ericsson switches are pretty nice and can be outfitted
with Gigabit Ethernet or multiport Fast Ethernet in addition to various ATM
PHYs.

On Wed, Feb 28, 2024 at 9:14 AM Patrick Giagnocavo via rescue <
rescue at sunhelp.org> wrote:

> How easy is it to put a stock SunOS on the ASX200?  Could keep an eye out
> for one ... will it take more than 16MB of RAM?
>
> Cheers
>
> Patrick
>
> On Wed, Feb 28, 2024 at 2:35 AM Skeezics Boondoggle via rescue <
> rescue at sunhelp.org> wrote:
>
>>
>> On Tue, 27 Feb 2024 17:58:02, Kenneth Seefried wrote:
>>
>> [...]
>>> ATM is one of the very few network technologies I *never* say "I should
>>> pull together the parts to build a network to play with".
>>>
>>>
>> This made me laugh, because I wholeheartedly agree... having kinda done
>> exactly that "back in the day."  Not really on purpose, though. :-)
>>
>> A couple of decades ago (ouch) a friend gave me a pile of old ATM gear
>> that was being decommissioned from a lab at the grad school where we
>> worked.  They'd done a bunch of research on streaming video (late
>> '90s/early '00s) and QoS atop IPv4 and ATM (probably LANE, can't recall the
>> details now).  I picked up a couple of Fore Systems switches and several
>> Fore Sbus and EISA cards.  (They'd been using HP9000/700 series with ATM
>> and cool Parallax XV700 video overlay cards for their testing -- naturally
>> I snagged a 735 and the 755 as well!)
>>
>> I was surprised to learn that the ForeRunner ASX200 is actually a small
>> rack-mountable 3-ish slot VME cage with a SPARCengine as the management
>> card! The internal disk drive (!!) in one of the ForeRunners was bad, so I
>> rebuilt it (sanely -- Fore's default installation was bonkers) and still
>> have some transcripts:
>>
>> [...]
>> ok banner
>> SPARC CPU-3CE, No Keyboard
>> ROM Rev. 2.10.1, 16 MB memory installed, Serial #764843.
>> Ethernet address 8:0:20:b:ab:ab, Host ID: 800babab.
>>
>> ok boot disk
>> Boot device: /iommu/sbus/espdma at 4,8400000/esp at 4,8800000/sd at 3,0   File
>> and args:
>> root on /iommu at 0,10000000/sbus at 0,10001000/espdma at 4,8400000/esp at 4
>> ,8800000/sd at 3,0:
>> a fstype 4.2
>> Boot: vmunix
>> Size: 1933312+470824+761352 bytes
>> PAC ENABLED
>> SunOS Release 4.1.3F (ASX_200) #740: Tue Jul 7 17:16:14 GMT-0400 1998
>> Copyright (c) 1983-1992, Sun Microsystems, Inc.
>> cpu = SPARC,CPU-3CE
>> mod0 = TI,TMS390S10 (mid = 0)
>> mem = 16004K (0xfa1000)
>> avail mem = 11436032
>> entering uniprocessor mode
>> Ethernet address = 8:0:20:b:ab:ab
>> espdma0 at SBus slot 4 0x8400000
>> esp0 at SBus slot 4 0x8800000 pri 4 (onboard)
>> sd0 at esp0 target 3 lun 0
>> sd0: <Quantum GoDrive GLS127S cyl 675 alt 2 hd 9 sec 41>
>> audio0 at obio 0x300000 pri 13 (sbus level 7)
>> SUNW,bpp0 at SBus slot 4 0xc800000 pri 3 (sbus level 2)
>> ledma0 at SBus slot 4 0x8400010
>> le0 at SBus slot 4 0x8c00000 pri 6 (onboard)
>> VME0 at SBus slot 0 0xfe00000 and obio 0x380000
>>   FORCE SPARC CPU-3CE (Rev. 0.3)
>>   FORCE Solaris 1.1F CPU-3CE VME Driver (nexus & memplus) Version 1.0
>>   Master Window: 0x10000000-0x1fffffff (a32map=0x1)
>>   Slave  Window: 0x0-0xfffff (slavemap=0x80)
>>   A16 Mail Box: 0x0 (mbox=0x0)
>>   VME Interrupt Level Enable: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,  (intenable=0xfe)
>> [...]
>> asx200 login: root
>> Last login: Fri Sep 10 01:22:10 on ttya
>> SunOS Release 4.1.3F (ASX_200) #740: Tue Jul 7 17:16:14 GMT-0400 1998
>> asx200# df
>> Filesystem            kbytes    used   avail capacity  Mounted on
>> /dev/sd0a              43958   15241   24322    39%    /
>> /dev/sd0g              43958   36291    3272    92%    /usr
>> /dev/sd0f              13783     104   12301     1%    /var
>> asx200# ifconfig -a
>> le0: flags=63<UP,BROADCAST,NOTRAILERS,RUNNING>
>>         inet 192.168.1.199 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
>>         ether 8:0:20:b:ab:ab
>> asx0: flags=862<BROADCAST,NOTRAILERS,RUNNING>
>>         inet 1.1.1.1 netmask ff000000 broadcast 1.255.255.255
>>         ether 0:0:0:0:0:0
>> qaa0: flags=60<NOTRAILERS,RUNNING>
>>         ether 0:0:0:0:0:0
>> [...]
>>
>> IIRC, it was basically a stock SunOS 4 install, plus the usual custom
>> kernel config to add Fore's drivers, startup scripts, and patches; the
>> utilities were in /atm/bin but there was a menu/shell thing for management
>> atop the Unix CLI.  I learned enough about it to be dangerous, with an SS20
>> and the two HPs eventually talking to the switch and making the lights
>> blink furiously as I pushed some big files around to see how it stacked up
>> against FDDI or FastEthernet.  Good times.
>>
>> So for a while in the early Noughties my home network comprised a small
>> FDDI ring for NFS traffic into my old Netapp F330s and Sun4 servers, the
>> three aforementioned ATM clients hanging off the ForeRunner, thick-, thin-
>> and twisted pair 10Mbit Ethernet hubs and switches connecting my older
>> 32-bit NeXT, Sun, Tek, SGI, DEC and PERQ workstations, FastEthernet
>> backbone tying all that to my Cisco switch cluster for the higher-end
>> Sparcs and desktop daily drivers, Gigabit Ethernet (fiber and TP) to my
>> F700 and F800 Netapps and the Ultras, 7Mbit ADSL line to the outside, a
>> 1Mbit Farallon "homeline" Ethernet to my upstairs tenant, and even a UUCP
>> feed over an old 33.6Kbaud fax modem for a small NNTP feed and to connect
>> my mom's NeXT to her Postscript service bureau.  I'm sure at one point or
>> another I employed smoke signals, avian carriers, sneaker net with
>> floppies, a station wagon full of magtapes, two cans with a string... and
>> of course, throw in an obligatory ISDN jab here too.
>>
>> It was the "standing up in a canoe" of home networking setups, to be sure.
>>
>> But if that ATM kit hadn't been free, I definitely would never have gone
>> out lookin' for it! :-)
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
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