Subject: 6809 Board ID, take 2...

From: Roger Merchberger <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon Mar 10 21:17:00 2003

Awrighty... I have pix on the web now... for those who aren't graphically 
challenged, here's the directory:

http://www.30below.com/~zmerch/6809

and a quick directory listing, with a comment of each:

6809board_1.jpg          10-Mar-2003 22:00  269K - Big pic of entire board
6809board_1_s.jpg        10-Mar-2003 22:04   64K - Same pic as above, but small
6809board_end.jpg        10-Mar-2003 22:04   28K - End pic showing ports & logo
6809board_silkscreen.jpg 10-Mar-2003 22:05  8.0K - Small pic showing silkscreen

--

I didn't take a picture of the back - there was nothing of consequence that 
I could see - no parts or silkscreen... but if anyone needs a pic of it, 
lemme know.

The system this came out of was an AT&T "StarSystem" - a 386 clone w/10Mbit 
ethernet, VGA & the usual stuff on the mobo... I may spark up the system 
tomorrow, just to see what kind of schtuff might still be on the HD...

Anyway, if anyone's got a clue, I'd be most appreciated!
Thanks,
Roger "Merch" Merchberger

---

From: Ethan Dicks <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon Mar 10 21:38:00 2003

--- Roger Merchberger <[email-masked]> wrote:
> Awrighty... I have pix on the web now... 

> The system this came out of was an AT&T "StarSystem" - a 386 clone
> w/10Mbit ethernet, VGA & the usual stuff on the mobo... I may spark up
> the system tomorrow, just to see what kind of schtuff might still be on
> the HD...

We had several of these when I was at Lucent (c. 1997-1999).  We shut
them down because we were told there were Y2K problems with the version
of UNIX on them.  I personally never worked on one.  I was the Solaris
dude in a sea of NCR boxes.  I have no idea what the StarServers did
there, except to assume it was related to factory use/label printing/etc.

Sorry I can't give you specifics.  I might have an 8-port card or two
out of one - PLCC 8530 chips and a high-density cable (two?) to an
RJ-45 harmonica.  At one time, I had delusions of putting them into 
an ISA-based UNIX system, but now I'd probably just use a terminal
server.

-ethan

---

From: "Stuart Johnson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon Mar 10 21:43:00 2003

----- Original Message -----
From: "Roger Merchberger" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2003 9:10 PM
Subject: 6809 Board ID, take 2...

> http://www.30below.com/~zmerch/6809
<SNIP>
> Roger "Merch" Merchberger

From the picture of the board profile I see 4 Rockwell modem chips. From the
rail end I see 4 RJ11 ports. I would label this a as a "smart" 4 port modem
card. No doubt some of the chips are ram and there is at least one rom chip
with the stored code for the embedded processor. The 2 Toshiba chips
(TC55257BPL-85) near the middle of the board are static RAM

Stuart Johnson

---

From: Roger Merchberger <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon Mar 10 23:19:00 2003

>(TC55257BPL-85) near the middle of the board are static RAM

Yes, 64K worth, more than enough to run OS-9 Level 1.... which is what I 
was wondering about... if this was an OS-9 ISA board. I know they *existed* 
but didn't know if one fell in my lap.

There is no ROM onboard ( unless it's disguised *very* heavily... ;-) so it 
must load whatever code runs on the 68B09 from the main system.

[[ the thread entitled "Re: Please help with Board ID" is also about this 
board & has a list of other chips on the board... ]]

This came in with (2) AT&T 3B2/EXP machines (according to one website I 
found, they're roughly equivalent to a 3B2/1000 Model 70) 22Mhz AT&T CPU, 
with MMU & math coprocessor. The one that didn't boot had 1 16Meg RAM card 
in it... wonder what that cost back in '90 (when the machine was built)!!! 
The other successfully booted into Unix, but we had no root password, so 
that's as far as we got...

If it's just a glorified StarLan network adapter, then I think I'm better 
off keeping it for parts for my CoCo... -- unless I could find memory maps 
& other info on it... then it might be fun to tinker with...

>Stuart Johnson

Thanks!

---

From: [email-masked] (Tony Duell)
Date: Tue Mar 11 17:35:00 2003

> >From the picture of the board profile I see 4 Rockwell modem chips. From the

The list of chips given yesterday included 4 oiff 65C51s. Those would be 
likely to be Rockwell, but aren't modem ICs -- they're async serial port 
chips. Are there some other Rockwell chips too?

-tony