[comp.sys.nsc.32k] ETH532 ???

david@marvin.jpl.oz.au (11/19/90)

ETH532 ???. And I thought pc532 was it !. 

Did I miss the ETH532 when I was away for a day, or is this something I dont
know about (!!!). Or was this the project name of the pc532 before the first
hardware :-)  What gives ?

..........................................................
"You learn a lot as you go thru life,
 but not usually what you expected"
..........................................................
David Magnay				mail	david@marvin.jpl.oz.au
Boral Elevators				was: Johns Perry Lifts
45 Wangara Road, Cheltenham 3192	phone	(03) 584-3311
Victoria, Australia			O/seas	+61 3 584 3311

george@wombat.bungi.COM (George Scolaro) (11/19/90)

[In the message entitled "ETH532 ???" on Nov 19, 20:23, david@marvin.jpl.oz.au writes:]
> 
> 
> ETH532 ???. And I thought pc532 was it !. 
> 
> Did I miss the ETH532 when I was away for a day, or is this something I dont
> know about (!!!). Or was this the project name of the pc532 before the first
> hardware :-)  What gives ?

You must of blinked.

The ET532 - Ethernet 532 is a plug in card for the PC532. It connects via
the expansion SCSI bus. It also has a 50 pin scsi header and power supply
connector for stand alone use (i.e. via a different SCSI based machine).

32GX32/32532-20MHz
1 or 4 Mbytes of DRAM (via fast page 256Kx4 or 1Mx4 dips)
1 Boot EPROM
1 1024bit EEPROM (for ethernet address etc)
It has 16 serial ports (rs232 buffers are on a daughter card).
1 DP8490 SCSI interface
1 8 bit expansion connector (for other stuff)
1 Ethernet interface using the NSC DP8390 etc chipset. Supports thick
 ethernet and cheapernet (thin coax).

The board is designed and routed. It has never been built. All that is
required is a reasonable number of people to want it (reduce the PCB NRE etc)
and it is ready to fab. The design is based upon the PC532 and an ethernet
design I've already done - so even though it would be a prototype run I have
very high confidence in the design. Maybe a cut and jump or two though...

best regards,

-- 
George Scolaro
george@wombat.bungi.com                [37 20 51 N / 122 03 07 W]

news@daver.bungi.com (11/25/90)

Here's my 2 cents:
> [In the message entitled "ETH532 ???" on Nov 19, 20:23, david@marvin.jpl.oz.au writes:]
> > 
> The ET532 - Ethernet 532 is a plug in card for the PC532. It connects via
> the expansion SCSI bus. It also has a 50 pin scsi header and power supply
> connector for stand alone use (i.e. via a different SCSI based machine).
> 
> 32GX32/32532-20MHz
> 1 or 4 Mbytes of DRAM (via fast page 256Kx4 or 1Mx4 dips)
> 1 Boot EPROM
> 1 1024bit EEPROM (for ethernet address etc)
> It has 16 serial ports (rs232 buffers are on a daughter card).
> 1 DP8490 SCSI interface
> 1 8 bit expansion connector (for other stuff)
> 1 Ethernet interface using the NSC DP8390 etc chipset. Supports thick
>  ethernet and cheapernet (thin coax).
> 
> The board is designed and routed. It has never been built. All that is
> required is a reasonable number of people to want it (reduce the PCB NRE etc)
> and it is ready to fab. The design is based upon the PC532 and an ethernet
> design I've already done - so even though it would be a prototype run I have
> very high confidence in the design. Maybe a cut and jump or two though...
> 
George, this seems like a lot of hardware.  IMHO all we really need is a 
very simple, cheap ethernet interface so we can run Amoeba and connect with
other systems running Minix.  Having a second 532 will increase the cost and
introduce all kinds of interprocessor communication delays, etc.

Now I can see a need for 16 port serial boards, etc.  However, for myself,
I'd prefer a simple design for these too, and I'd prefer they be on a separate
board from the ethernet.

One place I would like to see a second CPU would be on a graphics board.
Ideally this would be a simple board with a CG16 and the RGP chipset.  Les
Wilson at National can give a simple schematic for an X-terminal coprocessor
board.  I would be more than happy :-D to assist with the serious (ahem)
software development.

uunet!virtech!rickr

max@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (Max Southall) (11/25/90)

What kind of PCB design tools are being used for this project? We have
some here that might be of use for other projects still just a gleam
in the eye...

rjk@sequent.com (Robert Kelley) (11/30/90)

> 
> What kind of PCB design tools are being used for this project? We have
> some here that might be of use for other projects still just a gleam
> in the eye...
> 

Could you please describe your PCB design tools?