H8 Computer booting CP/M over the Internet!
Norberto Collado
As the Z80 V3.x board has the option to boot two different monitors by means of a jumper, today with Douglas help I burned a second image into the ROM to enable the MMS monitor which supports network boot. Douglas was able to modify the MMS monitor to support the WIZNET controller. I was able to boot CP/NOS over the network into Douglas’s server. It worked beautifully.
Also with his help, I was able to setup my iMac to allow the H8 to boot from my private network. It is really very, very fast booting of the network drive at 2MHz. Also, booted CP/M3 from my network as well. No need to boot CP/M3 from my Z67.
After configuring the Wiznet controller we can basically operate the H8 with three modules; Z80 V3.x, 512KB MMU, and Wiznet network controller.
Did a lot of testing and I’m happy with the outcome! See attached pictures along with my H8 debug system configuration using the XPORT controller to bring the H8 console serial port over the internet.
Thanks,
Norberto
Glenn Roberts
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Douglas Miller
We haven't really started fully exploring the possibilities for network booting. I was originally envisioning recovery (loss of harddisk or accidental destruction of boot sectors), and as Norberto mentioned the ability to use "diskless" computers. But I just thought of another possibility: stand-alone utilities - diagnostics and (other) recovery utilities. For example, one could "Boot WW-0:dsktest" (provided those utilities are written, or converted to boot image format).
As Norbert also mentioned, the NVRAM chip must get the WIZNET
configuration written to it before we can use this. This need only
be done once, but that currently requires booting CP/M from
somewhere in order to run the utility. Although, it is possible to
write the configuration into the NVRAM chip on a different
computer, and then move (and even ship) the NVRAM chip to the
diskless computer. Maybe someone will even put a ZIF socket in
their H8-SPI board and provide this as a service. Or there is an
interface that can be purchased for programming these chips on a
modern PCs. We also might want to explore other ways to do that,
perhaps having some extra/expanded ROM code (i.e. like modern PC
BIOS setup options).
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Douglas Miller
Another netboot idea I have, which I'm keen to try out, is a
"core dump" facility. It should be possible, when a system hangs
or crashes, to RESET and "Boot WW-0:dump" and save off the memory
image to the server. It won't be perfect, as we won't have CPU
state and some small part of memory will get trashed by the ROM
and dump program, but it's better than what we have now. And for
CP/M3 we should get everything, since the TPA is not in bank 0 and
the trashed memory area is not used by the OS.
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norberto...@koyado.com
Once we get the board demand, I can program the NVRAM chip to be send along with the network board if needed. I like the idea of having an expanded BIOS setup menu if possible.
I will need the following information for the WIZNET network controller:
IP ADDRESS:
GATEWAY IP ADDRESS:
SUBNET:
MAC ADDRESS: Note: As the Wiznet does not have a MAC address, you can buy a cheap USB to network controller to copy from or if you have an old network card not in used to copy such information as well.
SOCKET 0 IP ADDRESS & PORT #: Note: This is the IP address of your Linux HOST system, in my case my iMac with the PORT number.
See attached picture of my setup and NVRAM content in hex.
Thanks,
Norberto
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Paul Birkel
It sure would be nice if us H89 folks had a way to join in the fun!
Am I the only one with nose pressed to the window, staring at the sweets in the shop :->?
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Douglas Miller
We are planning to bring WIZNET and the 512K RAM (and more) to
the H89. Glad to hear there's at least one person interested. It's
a bit trickier, but I think doable. The idea is to allow the same
software to run on either platform.
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Paul Birkel
A laudable goal. Thank you :->. Objective: Christmas 2020!
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Norby
Joseph Travis
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