Re: HPPA support for IGNITE-UX install discs

[Keith Monahan]

Helge,

Thanks for looking a this!

Responses in-line


On 9/21/2020 10:46 AM, Helge Deller wrote:

> The 9000/779 seems to be like an RDI PrecisionBook:
> https://www.openpa.net/systems/rdi_precisionbook.html
> which is quite similiar to a B160L.
>
> There is even an entry for your logic analyzer:
> https://www.openpa.net/systems/hp_16600_16700_logic_agilent.html

I haven't heard of those precisionbooks! Portable HP-UX. Pretty cool!

My conversations with Paul W over there at the beginning of the year led 
to the creation of that page. He did all the hard work, I provided a 
minor correction here or there.

> In qemu the B160L emulation isn't complete yet.
> The SCSI disc is emulated by a "virtual built-in" PCI SCSI card, while
> the original B160L has a NCR 53C710 SCSI chip internal in the LASI 
controller.
> Additionally the LASI emulation isn't complete either.

Thanks for this.

I have another project I'm working on that is semi-related. The 
NCR53C710 megacell as implemented in LASI is limited to 5MB/s. This 
logic analyzer has no (physical) PCI slots, but has TE/AMP connectors 
that are electrically PCI. I'm attempting to make a small adapter that 
will convert that AMP to a standard 32-bit white PCI slot. The first 
thing I'd like to do is try a 53C875E card.....to increase disk speeds.

There's a card that sits on that same bus which is wired directly to a 
chip's PCI interface.....so I'm pretty sure this is the case.

I'm also pretty sure it's DINO that's bridging the processor/GSC bus to 
PCI and exposing it on these connectors.

I've created a breakout board that takes the TE/AMP connector and 
provides 20-pin connectors for a termination adapter to attach, which 
then goes to a(nother) logic analyzer.

> My assumption is, that your Install CD for the analyzer will only detect
> real LASI/53C710 chips and ignore the virtual PCI card. That's why it 
doesn't
> detect any discs.

Right. I wonder if it's simply the matter of drivers. Do you know if 
this scan is actually "ioscan -C disk" ?

Here's the ioscan from the actual hardware

no_hostname:/> ioscan
H/W Path    Class                   Description
===============================================
            bc
8           bc                      Pseudo Bus Converter
8/0             ba                  PCI Bus Bridge
8/0/15.0              instrument    PCI(103c1650)
8/16            ba                  Core I/O Adapter
8/16/0             ext_bus          Built-in Parallel Interface
8/16/1             audio            Built-in Audio
8/16/4             tty              Built-in RS-232C
8/16/5             ext_bus          Built-in SCSI
8/16/5.0              target
8/16/5.0.0               disk        codesrc         SCSI2SD
8/16/5.6              target
8/16/5.6.0               disk        codesrc         SCSI2SD
8/16/5.7              target
8/16/5.7.0               ctl        Initiator
8/16/6             lan              Built-in LAN
8/16/7             ps2              Built-in Keyboard/Mouse
8/16/10            pc               Built-in Floppy Drive
8/16/10.1             floppy        HP_PC_FDC_FLOPPY
8/24            graphics            Graphics
8/27            unknown
62          processor               Processor
63          memory                  Memory


>>>         * Scanning system for IO devices...
>>> NOTE:    There were no disk devices found during the scan.  Make sure
>>> that the
>>>           destination disks are connected and powered on.  You may 
choose to
>>>           scan for more disk drives from next menu on the console.
>>> WARNING: Could not verify access to LAN interface: 8/0/1/0
>>> ERROR:   could not find source device 8/0/0/0 in ioscan output
>
> That's strange.... I think 8/... might be LASI.
>
> Maybe it's possible to install HP-UX from another install CD and
> install the Analyzer packages afterwards?
>
> Helge
>

Well it likely is. What I'm trying to do, however, have a sandbox that 
very closely matches the LA that I can play around with, reset, break, 
try again, and so on. There's other ways of accomplishing this, but most 
involve physical hardware, re-burning SD cards, time, presence, and so on.

For my purposes, I don't know how much the LA's HP-UX installation 
matches a standard one. And having the LA software might be nice as well.

For what it's worth, and I'm guessing you guys also have the bug --- 
there's just something about taking a 25-year old CD, popping it in 
software on a modern computer, and duplicating the experience. The mix 
of old and new just does it for me! Hard to explain, but it's just so cool!

Thanks
Keith