help: IMS B004 Evaluation Board connectors.
ejb
I have recently acquired a B004 however it is without any of the
jumpers on the back of the card and sadly I have no manual. Which I am
picking is why when I start an iserver under DOS/Linux/Windows (yes I
have tried all three O/S's) it comes back and says it can't find the
card (at least it was consistent ;-) ).
What I need to know or get the information about is what needs to be
connected to what at the back of the card.
I have been through RAM's site as well as some of the other well known
sites and to be honest cannot find much information about this card
beyond the obvious.
Whole scanned manual would be fantastic but if only have some notes
then this will have to do.
Any help appreciated, even if its a "on mine I have the following
connected and it does this for me"
regards
Richard
ejb at fastmail.fm
rmee...@olf.com
I have the B004 manual. I am assuming when you mean "back of the
card", you are referring to the card bracket. The reason why I ask is
that according to the manual, there are no jumpers on the "back side"
of the card. I really dont have much time for me to scan the whole
book, but I will try to scan several of the pages to help you set up
the board. I will try to do it as soon as I can. Its tax season as
well as tons of work at school and at work :-(
Cheers,
Ram
ejb
Thanks for the quick reply.
>rmee...@olf.com wrote:
> Hi Richard,
>
> I have the B004 manual. I am assuming when you mean "back of the
> card", you are referring to the card bracket.
Sorry, yes by the back of the card I meant the card bracket that pokes
out of the back of the PC once inserted.
> The reason why I ask is
> that according to the manual, there are no jumpers on the "back side"
agree :-)
> of the card. I really dont have much time for me to scan the whole
> book, but I will try to scan several of the pages to help you set up
> the board.
The relevant pages on how to set it up would be fantastic particularly
the hardware configuration wrt the 2x 22 PIN connectors and the 1x
10pin connector. What has to be connected to what and what they are
would be great.
>I will try to do it as soon as I can. Its tax season as
> well as tons of work at school and at work :-(
Respect your time and effort. Appreciate the time of year as well.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Ram
Thanks in advance.
BTW I am nearing the completion of designing a stackable card in which
to put T4/T8 with a small amount of memory (1-4M). So once I have this
link card up I hope to be able to test the design of my new board. The
idea was to create a bit of hardware to put some spare T4's to good
use. If it works and there is interest I might release it as a project
or do people think I am wasting my time? Something in me says its kind
of odd to create hardware for an out of production and increasingly
rare chip....then again it is fun.
Richard
Mike
>BTW I am nearing the completion of designing a stackable card in
>which to put T4/T8 with a small amount of memory (1-4M).
Where will your card fit in?
>or do people think I am wasting my time? Something in me says
>its kind of odd to create hardware for an out of production and
>increasingly rare chip....then again it is fun.
There are only 2 things to say for a
one-man-spare-time-hardware-and-software-transputer-developer:
Yes it's funny and really amazing what you can realize with x-times
30MHz and
It's so relaxing, not to run in the mainstream, with his daily
improvements and changes in there GHz Boxes ;-)
BTW: That 1x10pin connector sounds like a address-decoder for the lower
10 addresslines. In the early days, only 10 of the 16 bit's io-space
where decoded. On the other side, i don't think that the addressdecoder
decode even A0. As you see, I can't really do anything for you, maybe
later if the worst comes to the worst and you have to search the
B004-IO-Base with debug.com ;-)
dave
<snip>
> BTW I am nearing the completion of designing a stackable card in which
> to put T4/T8 with a small amount of memory (1-4M). So once I have this
> link card up I hope to be able to test the design of my new board. The
> idea was to create a bit of hardware to put some spare T4's to good
> use. If it works and there is interest I might release it as a project
> or do people think I am wasting my time? Something in me says its kind
> of odd to create hardware for an out of production and increasingly
> rare chip....then again it is fun.
>
> Richard
>
Go for it.
Do we need a Wiki site yet?
ejb
Hi dave
To be honest I am currently trying to workout what would be the best
sort of memory to connect to the T, 41256 etal are just too hard to
find. I was thinking 30pin SIMM as they are cheap and readily
available....anyone got any other suggestions that might be simpler
still. This is the final bit to add before the schematic is complete
and I can look at board layout, fab and test.
As a taster the vision goes like this; if you think of a single
smallish board about the size of a CD case with the T4/8 in the middle,
clock circuit, link buffers, memory bank (TBC) and 4 RJ45 plugs for the
links and 2 RJ45 for other things like power up and down then you get
the basic idea. To stack I was thinking of using 3/4" standoffs in each
corner and then using mini CAT5 patch leads as a simple way to be able
to connect multiple boards together.
Would be interested to know what others thought of the idea.
So to answer someone elses question it won't fit in anything commercial
:-)
Yes being a 1 person dev shop, with family and a full time job that
isn't EE means that development does take time so please be patient. To
give an indication its taken 12mths to get this far but now I have the
B004 I have a reason to finish it and test.
Cheers
Richard
Steve Ghee
this was specifically designed for transputer hardware modules.
-steve
"ejb" <e...@fastmail.fm> wrote in message
news:1112688133.2...@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
afh
> To be honest I am currently trying to workout what would be the best
> sort of memory to connect to the T, 41256 etal are just too hard to
> find. I was thinking 30pin SIMM as they are cheap and readily
> available....anyone got any other suggestions that might be simpler
> still. This is the final bit to add before the schematic is complete
> and I can look at board layout, fab and test.
I'd say no to the 41256s, that's too many chips - use 1Mx16 chips etc.
>
> As a taster the vision goes like this; if you think of a single
> smallish board about the size of a CD case with the T4/8 in the middle,
> clock circuit, link buffers, memory bank (TBC) and 4 RJ45 plugs for the
> links and 2 RJ45 for other things like power up and down then you get
> the basic idea. To stack I was thinking of using 3/4" standoffs in each
> corner and then using mini CAT5 patch leads as a simple way to be able
> to connect multiple boards together.
>
> Would be interested to know what others thought of the idea.
I'd say look into the TRAM format. I've thought about this many times
and I honestly can't think of anything better. And there's nothing quite
like
a stack of TRAMs :)
>
> So to answer someone elses question it won't fit in anything commercial
> :-)
I don't think there are many/ any commercial applications for the poor
tranny,
it's just down to us mad buggers to keep the memory alive.
>
> Yes being a 1 person dev shop, with family and a full time job that
> isn't EE means that development does take time so please be patient. To
> give an indication its taken 12mths to get this far but now I have the
> B004 I have a reason to finish it and test.
>
> Cheers
>
> Richard
>
Regards
Anthony
ejb
is that I don't have any hardware that supports them.
So it was kind of a "if I have to start from scratch because the only
readily available bits of hardware are the T4/T8's then what
would/could be put together ?" kind of scenario.....
Also the complete lack of a cross bar chip meant that in order to play
with different topology configurations I needed to be able to repatch
so being a network kind of person the CAT5 or similar approach seemed
like a good choice.
Do you have a part number for the 1Mx16 chips that you're
recommending?
Maybe I'm mader than I thought ;-)
Richard
rmee...@olf.com
dave wrote:
> Do we need a Wiki site yet?
Funny you ask. I am so tempted to convert my website over to a wiki
site. Everyone can contribute to its growth. What do you guys think?
Maybe I should start small and only enable a small portion of it. The
only problem is I dont want to open it to the world (too much power,
and too much abuse). Dont want any porn or other junk added into it...
Cheers,
Ram
afh
and I'm guessing what you and many of us really want to do is put
lots of transputers together and run lots of scalable occam programs ;)
How about this - a simple standalone TRAM motherboard (with it's own PSU)
to connect to your B004? Otherwise we're talking ISA/PCI cards...
I'm thinking simple, anyone can build it i.e. double sided pcb
No C004 (unless someone decides to fpga one) - hardwired links (manually
make the
connections) and/or copy the B008.
Now you can design/ build your own TRAMs.
These are just suggestions - probably a not too dissimilar path from one I
would take
if I had time.
Here's a link,
http://www.alldatasheet.co.kr/datasheet-pdf/view/SAMSUNG/KM416V1204BJ.html
Would be nice to have our own website ....Ram? :)
Cheers
Anthony
"ejb" <e...@fastmail.fm> wrote in message
news:1112696575.9...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
dave
No Ram. I think your site is good as it stands. The wiki site would be
to mount/upload transputer schematics, code, muse, fpga bits etc.
Possibly even a sub site of yours.....
rmee...@olf.com
afh wrote:
>
> Would be nice to have our own website ....Ram? :)
>
Well, I'll do it. I will go ahead and take a look to see how we can
set up a Wiki site on www.classiccmp.org/transputer. I'll create
another section for Wiki submissions. It will take some time though as
I dont know how to set up a wiki and its tax season :-(
Cheers,
Ram
dave
> Had thought about using the TRAM format but the big
> issue that I have is that I don't have any hardware
> that supports them.
>
and I have never seen a B004 card. I started with B008s. Doesn't the
B004 take trams??
> So it was kind of a "if I have to start from scratch
> because the only readily available bits of hardware
> are the T4/T8's then what would/could be put together ?"
> kind of scenario.....
>
I downloaded a small reference design for a tram schematic some years
back. Ram may have one in the datasheet section (it is extensive).
> Also the complete lack of a cross bar chip meant that
> in order to play with different topology configurations
> I needed to be able to repatch so being a network kind
> of person the CAT5 or similar approach seemed like a
> good choice.
>
Never having seen a B004, I can't say. However, traditionally you
populated your B00x cards with numerous trams. Then your ISA ports with
the numerous B00x cards.
After designing your topology on paper you could interconnect the trams
(transputer links) using 2inch jumper cables at the ISA card face plate.
Links could handle upto 30cm over PCB and upto 10m series resistor to
match transmission line impedance.
-------------------
IMHO: making a passive ISA backplane should be easier that making a
fresh transputer board/card. Less fun though!! :-)
dave
Steve Ghee
"dave" <da...@dave.dave> wrote in message
news:d2u8do$mor$1...@newsg4.svr.pol.co.uk...
> It just dawned on me: I've worked with Transputers for the last 11 years
> and I have never seen a B004 card. I started with B008s. Doesn't the
> B004 take trams??
no. the B004 is tranny, memory, link adapter. thats it.
pre-dates the TRAMs by a year or so
here's a picture of a B004 and a TRAM
http://www.goot.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
ejb
dave wrote:
> ejb wrote:
> > Had thought about using the TRAM format but the big
> > issue that I have is that I don't have any hardware
> > that supports them.
> >
> It just dawned on me: I've worked with Transputers for the last 11
years
> and I have never seen a B004 card. I started with B008s. Doesn't the
> B004 take trams??
the tram is a fantastic idea and maybe just maybe I have stolen a
little of its design ideals such stackability, modularity and put it
into something I can get access to and doesn't need anything more in
the way of hardware than what I can get my hands on via ebay which is
mainly T4/8's.
>
> > So it was kind of a "if I have to start from scratch
> > because the only readily available bits of hardware
> > are the T4/T8's then what would/could be put together ?"
> > kind of scenario.....
> >
> I downloaded a small reference design for a tram schematic some years
> back. Ram may have one in the datasheet section (it is extensive).
Now that would be interesting regardless
>
> > Also the complete lack of a cross bar chip meant that
> > in order to play with different topology configurations
> > I needed to be able to repatch so being a network kind
> > of person the CAT5 or similar approach seemed like a
> > good choice.
> >
> Never having seen a B004, I can't say. However, traditionally you
> populated your B00x cards with numerous trams. Then your ISA ports
with
> the numerous B00x cards.
>
> After designing your topology on paper you could interconnect the
trams
> (transputer links) using 2inch jumper cables at the ISA card face
plate.
I am seeing a similarity but I'm picking this is driven by the
Transputer ethos itself.
>
> Links could handle upto 30cm over PCB and upto 10m series resistor to
> match transmission line impedance.
>
> -------------------
>
> IMHO: making a passive ISA backplane should be easier that making a
> fresh transputer board/card. Less fun though!! :-)
Interesting idea. I was just thinking of stacking them up like mini sky
scrapers start a new sky scraper when it starts to wobble too much ;-)
rmee...@olf.com
Dont want the IRS on my tail!
Cheers,
Ram
rmee...@olf.com
domain thanks to the author. There is still some stuff I need to add.
THe problem was that it was originally designed on a MAC. So, I used
basilisk MAC emulator to convert the files to PDF (highly recommended).
If you need the raw MacDraw/MacWrite files let me know. Its in the
spec section under Smalltalk Computing.
As for the B004, it is "typically" a single transputer board. In fact,
the reference INMOS B004 was just a single transputer B004. See
http://www.goot.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk (Steve Ghee's website). BTW, he
wrote the INMOS B004 tech notes! Microway and CSA both designed
B004-compatible boards with multiple CPUs (as did majority of the other
transputer vendors) which were non-tram based.
Once I get some free time, I am planning on getting the ArsTech USB2ISA
board working with the transputers. Probably use a CSA TEK as the
initial transputer board to communicate through the USB bus. I'll let
you guys know my results. I picked one of these boards on EBay a few
months ago. I also picked up a PCMCIA prototype board on ebay as well.
Might try getting a PCMCIA-based Link adapter going too. But, that is
probably in the distant future...
Cheers,
Ram
Kryten
> To be honest I am currently trying to workout what would be the best
> sort of memory to connect to the T, 41256 et. al. are just too hard to
> find. I was thinking 30-pin SIMM as they are cheap and readily
> available....anyone got any other suggestions that might be simpler
> still. This is the final bit to add before the schematic is complete
> and I can look at board layout, fab and test.
> As a taster the vision goes like this; if you think of a single
> smallish board about the size of a CD case with the T4/8 in the middle,
> clock circuit, link buffers, memory bank (TBC) and 4 RJ45 plugs for the
> links and 2 RJ45 for other things like power up and down then you get
> the basic idea. To stack I was thinking of using 3/4" standoffs in each
> corner and then using mini CAT5 patch leads as a simple way to be able
> to connect multiple boards together.
I would suggest:
- 100 mm card width (so it can slot into racks/cases for Eurocards)
- 100 x 100 mm is about CD case sized
- 2 mm clearance on slotting edges (so wear does not damage tracks/parts)
- 0.1" grid for connectors
- 0.1" grid matches /Eurocard proto-boards for cheap prototyping
- 2x10 connectors plug directly into HP logic analyser connectors
- standoffs to be 0.8" minus PCB thickness ~1/16"
(Eurocard case slots are on 0.2" pitch, card slots on 0.8" pitch)
I made these and other suggestions for this board:
http://www.howell1964.freeserve.co.uk/logic/burched/fpga_devkit_b5.htm
and everything worked out as planned.
It slides into off the shelf eurocard housings, mates with common
protoboard, and so on.
Actually, why not make your board mate with the BurchEd FPGA kit?
You can download the mechanical details at
http://www.howell1964.freeserve.co.uk/logic/burched/b5_mech.pdf
You mentioned that you have no reconfigurable crosspoint switch.
That would be trivial for an FPGA to do.
And easier that messing around with loads of RJ45 cabling!
Besides, at some point you will want your transputer board to do something
more than send data through an RS232/USB port. If you can mate it with an
FPGA board then you can give it a keyboard/mouse port and video/audio
output.
BTW I would also suggest using the tiny DIMM DRAM modules as used by
laptops.
Yes they are expensive, but the premium you pay for these will pay you back
in being able to fit your project in a small self-financed board.
Cheers
K.
dave
Thanks.
dave
The BurchED cards are value for money compared to their competitors, but
without a finished Transputer core (VHDL or Verilog) $236 is quite a
wedge of cash. IMHO: ejb is better off home brewing with present kit.
dave
<snip>
> Sadly the B004 doesn't take TRAMs. Don't get me wrong I actually think
> the tram is a fantastic idea and maybe just maybe I have stolen a
> little of its design ideals such stackability, modularity and put it
> into something I can get access to and doesn't need anything more in
> the way of hardware than what I can get my hands on via ebay which is
> mainly T4/8's.
>
> Interesting idea. I was just thinking of stacking them up like mini sky
> scrapers start a new sky scraper when it starts to wobble too much ;-)
>
I like it! You could use nylon standoffs to stabilize the stack and a
12" house fan to cool it. No, but seriously it would work: The first
homebrew Three dimensional Stacked stacking parallel processor.
My ideas are less grand (All OpenHardware/Core):
USB transputer link interface
SD/MMC/CF FAT16/32 Transputer network boot (on Tram)
DDR Tram update (cheap and readily available memory)
Blackfin Tram (don't ask why)
C67xx Tram (don't ask why)
Budget graphics Tram (ebay is way too expensive)
Budget Ethernet 10/100/? Tram
Fiber Optic Tram (project on paper. Stuck at 100Mbps, want Gbps)
WiMax Tram (yer right!!)
bit later on:
SD/MMC FPGA boot (Someone did part of this already)
FPGA Tram
FPGA Transputer
FPGA + FPGA Transputer on one Tram
pipe dream:
Occam IDE: X, Win32, Java based. Compile -> T4/T8/CLR/bytecode
Budget 256 core FPGA Transputer network
:-}
Kryten
> Kryten wrote:
>> Actually, why not make your board mate with the BurchEd FPGA kit?
>> You can download the mechanical details at
>> http://www.howell1964.freeserve.co.uk/logic/burched/b5_mech.pdf
> The BurchEd cards are value for money compared to their competitors, but
> without a finished Transputer core (VHDL or Verilog) $236 is quite a wedge
> of cash. IMHO: ejb is better off home brewing with present kit.
I said his board should be able to mate with the BurchEd FPGA board,
so that it can use the FPGA for various fun things.
I did not say he should implement the Transputer core in FPGA,
though of course this might be done one day.
K.
afh
"dave" <da...@dave.dave> wrote in message
> ejb wrote:
[snip]
> My ideas are less grand (All OpenHardware/Core):
> USB transputer link interface
...almost got a USB1.1 interface to work last year, had to drop it because
of other commitments
> SD/MMC/CF FAT16/32 Transputer network boot (on Tram)
> DDR Tram update (cheap and readily available memory)
...did a VHDL transputer SDRAM interface a while back, simulated ok.
> Blackfin Tram (don't ask why)
...hmm yes, also have a bunch of sharcs somewhere
> C67xx Tram (don't ask why)
...ditto
> Budget graphics Tram (ebay is way too expensive)
...thought about this one too - either xilinx job or epson (prefer xilinx)
> Budget Ethernet 10/100/? Tram
...and this one using SMSC chips
[snip]
> bit later on:
> SD/MMC FPGA boot (Someone did part of this already)
> FPGA Tram
...yup thought about this too!
> FPGA Transputer
I would love JJ to finish this :)
> FPGA + FPGA Transputer on one Tram
>
> pipe dream:
> Occam IDE: X, Win32, Java based. Compile -> T4/T8/CLR/bytecode
> Budget 256 core FPGA Transputer network
>
> :-}
Yup I like it! The Java bit especially.
I would love a transputer based single board computer (TRAM )
A really good port of the GCC suite - (yeah, yeah I know - I've googled this
soooo many times)
And just for the hell of it - linux :)
My problem is I have too many transputers and not enough hardware.
It's just that I have little or no time to do any of this stuff.
So they remain just pipe dreams!
Anthony
rmee...@olf.com
several implementations already on my website), but the fundamental
problem with GCC is that it really is meant for a register-based CPU
unlike the transputer. Most of the implementations use some of the
internal cache as registers. I thought and thought about this to the
point that it wasnt really worth it (ducking from all the outcries).
I was thinking more of getting LCC or VBCC (see
http://www.compilers.de/vbcc.html) ported to the transputer. Also, how
much interest is there for a C++ compiler for the transputer?
As for Linux, thought about that too and it is possible (yes, I know
there is no MMU). See http://www.uclinux.org. As for an Occam IDE.
Can you say Eclipse. I am in the process of finishing up the alpha
part of my "Universal Transputer Driver" system to get B004-based
transputers running under Windows 95/98/SE/ME/NT/XP/2003. The project
involves creating drivers for a wide range of transputer hardware.
Things that are lined to be done are:
1) B004-based transputer board support
2) ArsTech USB2ISA-based driver support (for driving transputers across
the USB bus)
3) SBS/Bit3 VME-to-PCI bus based driver to access VME-based transputer
hardware on a PC
4) IMSB300-based drivers
5) Parsytec-based drivers for BBK-S4 and BBK-SCSI
6) Performance Tech VME-to-SBUS based drivers for Sun Workstations
The first release is targeted for B004-based transputers (which is what
most people have). It will involve the release of transputer.dll which
will be linked up via a JAVA-based transputer interface for future JAVA
integration. I have been in talks with Elcom about releasing their
WServer to the public domain and I have made some progress. My
intentions were to use this as the basis of an eclipse plugin for
transputer development. Following this release would be a
transputer.dll that uses Julian Highfield's emulator to run transputer
code. This way the iserver/afserver/etc would be generic and
switching between different implementations would be a matter of using
a DLL...
Again, this all involves time and it might just end up as a "pipe
dream"...
Cheers,
Ram
dave
<snip>
>>Budget graphics Tram (ebay is way too expensive)
>
> ....thought about this one too - either xilinx job or epson (prefer xilinx)
Epson!!?! Can you say more?
<snip>
>>FPGA Transputer
>
> I would love JJ to finish this :)
>
Me too!
<snip>
>>pipe dream:
>>Occam IDE: X, Win32, Java based. Compile -> T4/T8/CLR/bytecode
>>Budget 256 core FPGA Transputer network
>>
>>:-}
>
> Yup I like it! The Java bit especially.
> I would love a transputer based single board computer (TRAM )
> A really good port of the GCC suite - (yeah, yeah I know - I've googled this
> soooo many times)
> And just for the hell of it - linux :)
Do you mean embedded Linux on T4/T8 arrays (I thought Helios was
preferred) or PC Linux support for B00x cards etc?
> My problem is I have too many transputers and not enough hardware.
Don't dump them just yet.... Support hardware is coming and you'll be
able to just Plug and Play.
> It's just that I have little or no time to do any of this stuff.
IMHO: Modernizing this technology should give more time to developing
transputer applications and less wasted time making legacy kit function
with today's dev environments.
> So they remain just pipe dreams!
Hey welcome to the club.
> Anthony
>
>
dave
<snip>
> As for Linux, thought about that too and it is possible (yes, I know
> there is no MMU). See http://www.uclinux.org.
Problem is Eclipse has an IBM slant (development, ownership etc). While
I trust big blue (IBM) over big red (Microsoft), I must be sure that the
code I produce is mine or free (open free, not cost free). Anyway, I am
still reading their licenses.
<snip>
> 1) B004-based transputer board support
> 2) ArsTech USB2ISA-based driver support (for driving transputers across
> the USB bus)
> 3) SBS/Bit3 VME-to-PCI bus based driver to access VME-based transputer
> hardware on a PC
> 4) IMSB300-based drivers
> 5) Parsytec-based drivers for BBK-S4 and BBK-SCSI
> 6) Performance Tech VME-to-SBUS based drivers for Sun Workstations
Ram your hardware collection sounds huge. Got a spare VAX 11/780 or 8650
lying around?
>
> The first release is targeted for B004-based transputers (which is what
> most people have)....
<snip>
> This way the iserver/afserver/etc would be generic and
> switching between different implementations would be a matter of using
> a DLL...
I was considering updating iserver to support my USB2.0 transputer link
interface and adding .NET and/or Java functionality.
Nme. God Bless.
rmee...@olf.com
dave wrote:
> rmee...@olf.com wrote:
> <snip>
> > As for Linux, thought about that too and it is possible (yes, I
know
> > there is no MMU). See http://www.uclinux.org.
> > Can you say Eclipse.
> Problem is Eclipse has an IBM slant (development, ownership etc).
While
> I trust big blue (IBM) over big red (Microsoft), I must be sure that
the
> code I produce is mine or free (open free, not cost free). Anyway, I
am
> still reading their licenses.
>
Yes I do agree, but it is probably one of the best integrated IDE out
there with folding support. Rolling out your own will just take too
much time whereas adding a plugin to Eclipse will solve the problem...
> <snip>
>
> > 1) B004-based transputer board support
> > 2) ArsTech USB2ISA-based driver support (for driving transputers
across
> > the USB bus)
> > 3) SBS/Bit3 VME-to-PCI bus based driver to access VME-based
transputer
> > hardware on a PC
> > 4) IMSB300-based drivers
> > 5) Parsytec-based drivers for BBK-S4 and BBK-SCSI
> > 6) Performance Tech VME-to-SBUS based drivers for Sun Workstations
> Ram your hardware collection sounds huge. Got a spare VAX 11/780 or
8650
> lying around?
>
I dont think it is large. I have a SUN workstation (Ultra2 Enterprise
with Dual 300Mhz processors) which houses a BBK-S4 Sbus transputer
card. I am in the process of getting a BBK-SCSI as well. I also have
a rack-mounted PICMG PC . The rack-mount has 20 slots which includes a
PICMG-based Dual 1Ghz processors. ISA-based transputers reside in that
box (2 B008s and 1 B009). Also in that box is a PCI-based TMB17
transputer tram motherboard, a dual cardbus PCI card which currently
contains a sundance PCMCIA Link adapter card. The SBS/Bit3 card also
resides on this computer which will be connected to a 5-slot VME
Chassis (which is currently offline) holding some IMSB014/TMB014/TMB015
VME-based transputer boards. The ISA-based B008s are going to be
connected to a second 20-slot ISA-only rack with about 10 B008s
(currently offline as well). This doesnt include the 4-slot ISA case
which I am planning on using for the ArsTech USB2ISA card for
experimentation. There exists a IMSB300 in the office which I havent
brought home yet, dont know what to say to the misses ;-) As for a
VAX, dont have one. This is the extent of my PC / Sun hardware. I
figured I would try to support as much transputer configurations as I
could (or have space for)...
> >
> > The first release is targeted for B004-based transputers (which is
what
> > most people have)....
> <snip>
> > This way the iserver/afserver/etc would be generic and
> > switching between different implementations would be a matter of
using
> > a DLL...
> I was considering updating iserver to support my USB2.0 transputer
link
> interface and adding .NET and/or Java functionality.
>
I can send you the work-in-progress drivers (or load it on the
website). Its just a DLL at this point and will work with any
B004-compatible transputer. I really like the way Elcom did their
server. Each host communication layer (iserver/afserver/CIO) is
implemented as a DLL. The transputer communications
layer is also a DLL. The server just hosts the IO and the Windows API.
If I was going to do this from scratch, I would have created a more
generic windowing API and probably use JAVA (and/or .NET) for the
application itself. With a generic windowing API for the transputer,
the code will run under Linux/Windows/Solaris. The JAVA-based iserver
will automatically handle the IO communications. No more
big-endian/little-endian, 16-bit vs 32-bit, etc.
Ram
alan garrett
You designed the B004 and you know that that isn't a picture of a B004,
merely someone else's rip off of it.
Alan
"Steve Ghee" <stev...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:hfy4e.32847$C12....@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
LNRC
Unfortunately, a cheap copy is all I could get my hands on - I dont have
access to a proper INMOS B004 for some proper pictures (B00-H00).
Anyway, it was Andy Ratbag who designed the B004 - my role was merely to
make it work ;)
i.e. rev it and all the other gubbins needed for getting it into mass
production. 1985 seems such a long time ago now.
Anyway, great to hear from you Alan. You still in Bristol?
I'll bet the TRAM pictures brought back memories / nightmares!?
-steve
"alan garrett" <al...@agsite0.flyer.co.uk> wrote in message
news:ZNednU0oYaa...@giganews.com...
Andy Rabagliati
> news:hfy4e.32847$C12....@fe1.news.blueyonder.co.uk...
> >
According to alan garrett <al...@agsite0.flyer.co.uk>:
> Now come on Steve.
>
> You designed the B004 and you know that that isn't a picture of a B004,
> merely someone else's rip off of it.
On
http://www.goot.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/b4prepro_1b.jpg
It does say Copyright Inmos 1985. I think, as the page says, it is an
early prototype of the B004.
Cheers, Ratbag.
LNRC
the Microway board is the copy/rip-off
-steve
"Andy Rabagliati" <an...@wizzy.com> wrote in message
news:d4r2ao$123$1...@ctb-nnrp2.saix.net...