Convergent MiniFrame (Help)
Eric Porter
I got suggested I repost here. So.....
I recently aquired a convergent miniframe. It cost almost nothing and
figured it would look nice sitting under the table below my 7300 :-).
I am told the beast worked the last time it was turned on. Unfortunatly
the previous owner has removed the hard disk, the disk drive cables,
and lost the O.S. disketts.
Could someone please help me with the folowing:
1) What do i need to cable the hard disk, and floppy disk? Anything
strange (twists in the cable etc). The motherboard has 4 connectors
(none seem to be marked) wich is for the hard drive/floppy ?
2) Can someone help my track down Unix, C, or Diagnostics?
(I would like to start with the diagnostics.)
Oh the model number is CG-150 (if that matters)
Thanks in advance
Eric Porter
------
Eric Porter uunet!grout!ejp
Thad P Floryan
{Subject: Convergent MiniFrame (Help)}
e...@grout.HP.COM(Eric Porter) in <1990Jun13.235306.1062@lsw!grout!ejp> writes:
I recently aquired a convergent miniframe.
...
I am told the beast worked the last time it was turned on. Unfortunatly
the previous owner has removed the hard disk, the disk drive cables,
and lost the O.S. disketts.
...
The Miniframe is also known as (repackaged as) the Motorola 6300, and it's
logically the same as the AT&T UNIXPC (aka 3B1 aka PC7300 (which is also known
as Convergent's S50 box)).
Re: 1) What do i need to cable the hard disk, and floppy disk? Anything
strange (twists in the cable etc). The motherboard has 4 connectors
(none seem to be marked) wich is for the hard drive/floppy ?
Look at the motherboard. The edge having the connectors looks like so:
+----[20-pin]----[20-pin]----[34-pin]----[34-pin]----------+
| |
(A) (B) (C) (D)
(A) is the data bus to/from the second HD
(B) is the data bus to/from the first HD
(C) is the data/control bus for the floppy drive. Standard pinouts; straight
through to the floppy drive (which, by the way, is DS/QD with STANDARD
media (not IBM-type hi-density); the PROPER floppy is, for example, a
Verbatim DataLife 2S/4D, 80-track, 96TPI, quad-density, soft-sectored,
with hub-ring, product code MD 557-01).
(D) is the daisy-chainable control bus for the hard drives. The ribbon cable
simply goes to each HD in turn with the last HD being the only one with
the resistor termination pack. No funny twists are required assuming you
know how to set the drive-select jumpers on each HD's logic/control PCB.
The HDs need to be MFM ST-506 with 17-sectors/track, with up to 16 heads and
1024 cylinders MAX. If you swap the WD1010 for a WD2010 (which is a plugin
socketed swap), you can go beyond 1024 cylinders (like for a Maxtor XT2190).
Re: 2) Can someone help my track down Unix, C, or Diagnostics?
(I would like to start with the diagnostics.)
Wellllll, you can run either the latest CTIX (from Convergent) or Motorola's
FE07 or FE08 software releases. And you can run anything from the UNIXPC
that doesn't used the shared libraries; don't expect to run the 3B1's kernel
due to the weird formatting of the HD required for the "download area" for the
RS-422 console terminal.
I have a diagnostics disk that you're welcome to for the cost of mailing, but
I strongly urge you to contact Convergent (on First Street in San Jose, CA) to
see about getting a CTIX license and software for use on your system if you
wish to pursue the (arduous) task of bringing it up from scratch. I do NOT
have CTIX nor am I familiar with that software product, but I'd be willing to
help you with any HARDWARE questions you have re-building your system since
it's otherwise identical to the Motorola 6300/6350.
Thad
Thad Floryan [ th...@cup.portal.com (OR) ..!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad ]
Brian Rice
>{Newsgroups: comp.sys.att}
>{Subject: Convergent MiniFrame (Help)}
>e...@grout.HP.COM(Eric Porter) in <1990Jun13.235306.1062@lsw!grout!ejp> writes:
> I recently aquired a convergent miniframe.
> ...
> I am told the beast worked the last time it was turned on. Unfortunatly
> the previous owner has removed the hard disk, the disk drive cables,
> and lost the O.S. disketts.
> ...
>The Miniframe is also known as (repackaged as) the Motorola 6300, and it's
>logically the same as the AT&T UNIXPC (aka 3B1 aka PC7300 (which is also known
>as Convergent's S50 box)).
Um... well the UNIXPC _was_ modeled after the mini, but be they are different.
>Re: 2) Can someone help my track down Unix, C, or Diagnostics?
> (I would like to start with the diagnostics.)
>Wellllll, you can run either the latest CTIX (from Convergent) or Motorola's
>FE07 or FE08 software releases.
[...deleted stuff]
Unfortunately Convergent no longer supports the MiniFrame so I don't know
if you can get the software you're looking for. Maybe the Motorola stuff
Thad refers to is still current?
Brian Rice
Technical Support
Convergent
...ctnews!tsmiti!bri
Edward DeHart
>
> Could someone please help me with the folowing:
>
> 1) What do i need to cable the hard disk, and floppy disk? Anything
> strange (twists in the cable etc). The motherboard has 4 connectors
> (none seem to be marked) wich is for the hard drive/floppy ?
I used hard disk cables for a PC on my Miniframe. Nothing strange and no
twists. I found them at a Hamfest for $4.
If you open the case, looking into the right side or where the disk drives
should be, from left to right, the first connector is for hard disk #1, the
next is for hard disk #0, the next is for the floppy, and the last is for
both hard drives.
If you are only planning to use one hard disk, install drive #0. Almost
any st-506 drive will work. I would suggest at least 40 megabytes.
Ed DeHart (e...@sei.cmu.edu)
(deh...@darth.pgh.pa.us)
(uunet!apexepa!darth!dehart)