Date: Mon, 5 Aug 96 05:56:08 EST From: Dwight McKay (The Moderator) Reply-To: Suns-at-Home@net-kitchen.com Subject: Suns-at-Home Digest V9 #28 To: Suns-at-Home-List Suns-at-Home Digest Mon, 5 Aug 96 Volume 9 : Issue 28 Today's Topics: Help with Sun 4/280 SLC/ELC video problems (long) slip/ppp software for sunos 4.1.3 (2 msgs) using a sun type 4/5 keyboard with a pc +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Submissions: suns-at-home \ | | Requests: suns-at-home-request > @net-kitchen.com | | Archives: suns-at-home-archives / | | WWW Archive access: http://www.net-kitchen.com/~sah | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 05 Aug 1996 17:50:36 -0500 From: Dan Lees Subject: Help with Sun 4/280 To: Suns-at-Home@tigger.net-kitchen.com Alright, I'm having trouble getting my 4/280 to boot after installing mini-root. I have OS 4.1.1 on 1/2" tape. Here's the details: VME Chasis: Slot 1 - 4/200 CPU Slot 2-4- 8mb RAM cards (Sun manufactured) Slot 5 - ALM-2 Board Slot 6 - 32mb SNX2RAM board (Clearpoint manufactured) Slot 7 - AVIV Xylogics 753 controller Slot 8 - Xylogics 1/2" Tape controller My two CDC Sabre drives (9702 1.2gb's) are configured. The first (and the only one of consequence at the moment) is configured as such: 1632 cylinders - 15 heads - 83 sec/cyl (predefined type) a - root 0 - 26/0/0 b - swap 26- 103/0/0 c - whole disk 0 - 1632/0/0 d - var 129-26/0/0 e - home 155-834/0/0 g - usr 989-643/0/0 I booted from the 4.1.1 OS tape (b xt(0,0,0)), paritioned the SMD as such, labeled it, and then what looked like successfully installed the mini-root to the Sabre drive (drive # xd4). However whenever I try to boot from the Sabre drive now (b xd(0,10,1) -sw), I get the following error: Bus Error at Virtual address 0x00300E8B (Physical Address 0xFFFFEE8B) with PC 0xFFe95DEC. A TIMEOUT error was detected. Type 2. I have no installation manuals, so I am at an impass. I do not know what is causing this error. One other error that pops up on me at times also is when in the boot menu (promt ">"), sometimes when I go for the menu ("?"), I get this error: Memory alignment error with PC 0xFFE8DAFC. Instruction "0xD6070000". I ran the machine booting in diagnostic mode and it reported no errors. I'm dumbfounded over here, so I need some help. I did have a backplane configuration manual, so I got the card order from there, the only discrepcancy I can find is in the Clearpoint memory card manual, they say to have all RAM go from slot 6 left (aka 6,5,4,3) where as the Sun backplane manual says to have RAM in 6,4,3,2 and put the ALM-2 in 5. Someone please help me out, I would like to get this machine running already. Thanks for your time. Dan Lees ATLANTIS - ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 4 Aug 96 10:00 PDT From: bkis@island.net (Jonathan Thornburg) Subject: SLC/ELC video problems (long) To: suns-at-home@tigger.net-kitchen.com I have a Sparcstation ELC (4/25) which is developing video problems. The monitor (17" mono) is the SLC-style shiny-faceplate kind, not the ELC-style matt-finish kind, so I presume the machine started life as an SLC (4/20), but had its processor board swapped to an ELC before I bought it. I don't know whether such an SLC-to-ELC upgrade involves swapping the analog video board as well. The sticker under the SLC/ELC adjustable-tilt mounting says (among other things) Model No: 17SMM3 Part No: 570-1057-02 Rev: E2 Manufactured: JULY 1990 The frame buffer is the usual Sun "bwtwo" unaccelerated 1152x900 monochrome (1 bit/pixel) one. The video problems have developed gradually over the last 6 weeks or so. To describe them, I'll use X-windows-style (x,y) pixel coordinates with (0,0) the top left corner of the frame buffer, x increasing to the right, and y increasing down. The basic problem is that "flyback lines" have appeared near the top of the screen imaage. These are narrow (about 1 pixel wide) lines overlaying the normal screen image. A typical one would run from approximately (0,15) (15 pixels down from the top left corner) to (1151,5) (5 pixels down from the top right corner). Despite being slightly sloped, these lines show *no* "staircase" pixel aliasing. The flyback lines' number and position are temperature-sensitive: when I first turn on the computer, there are perhaps 10-12 of them, starting with the top one I described above, the next running parallel to this about 6 pixels lower (i.e. from (0,21) to (1151,11)), the next running parallel another 6 pixels below that, etc. As the system warms up, the entire pattern smoothly shifts upwards, the top lines disappearing off the top of the displayed image. When the system is fully warmed up, there are anywhere from ~8 lines for an ambient temperature of 15C (60F), down to only 1 line at 25C (77F), and only part of one line just barely visible at 27C (81F), which is the hottest it's been since the problem first appeared. The top few pixel rows of the frame buffer aren't displayed properly, rather they're "reflected" onto the flyback lines. That is, suppose there are N flyback lines currently visible. Then the N+1st row of pixels in the frame buffer (y=N) is the top of the normally-displayed image. The top N rows of pixels of the frame buffer (y=0 to N-1) aren't displayed directly on the monitor, but are instead displayed as the flyback lines: the top (y=0) row of pixels displays as the lowest flyback line, the y=1 row of pixels displays as the next higher flyback line, and so on down to the y=N-1 row of pixels, which displays as the highest flyback line. Black pixels display as black on the flyback lines, but white pixels display as "whiter than white" on the flyback lines, as if the flyback-line intensity were adding to the regular-image intensity at that screen location. Given all this description, ... - Is this a common failure mode for SLC/ELC frame buffers and video circuitry? - If I don't do anything about it, will the problem just gradually get worse (like it does in cooler weather), or is a sudden catastrophic failure likely? - Is the problem fixable at finite cost? - If so, what components need adjustment or replacement? - (How) can I, or more precisely my service technician, get circuit diagrams for the SLC/ELC video circuitry and/or frame buffer? - Any other useful tips or things my technician should watch for? I'll post a summary of any useful replies I get. Thanks 2^20, - Jonathan Thornburg (personal E-mail) - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 19:31:17 -0700 (PDT) From: David Wolfskill Subject: slip/ppp software for sunos 4.1.3 To: Suns-at-Home@tigger.net-kitchen.com >Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 12:45:23 -0500 (CDT) >From: aqn@tivoli.com (Andy Nguyen) > I run Sun OS 4.1.3 on my Sun 3/60 at home. I have ppp-1.1 running. > I could not get ppp-1.2 to work so I never upgraded. I'm using ppp-2.2 on my 3/60 (4.1.1_U1, which is the latest OS from Sun that I know of that supports the 68k).... > Installing ppp-1.1 requires changing several system include & config > files and re-generating the kernel, then rebooting with the new > kernel. 2.1.2 & 2.2 both use modload; works quite nicely. I put a copy of ppp-2.2.tar.gz up in ftp.best.com:/pub/dhw; have fun. >Andy Nguyen \ aqn@tivoli.com \ Tivoli Systems, Austin, TX \ 512.436.8229 > I still miss Charles Wang, but my aim is getting better. :-) [I spent about 12 years as an MVS systems programmer, so I can appreciate that.... dhw] david -- David H. Wolfskill david@dhw.vip.best.com - ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Jul 1996 11:12:02 -0700 From: ead@ixian.com Subject: slip/ppp software for sunos 4.1.3 To: People, Andy Nguyen to : ] >what can you suggest, for a sunos 4.1.3 needing slip/ppp software. ] ] I run Sun OS 4.1.3 on my Sun 3/60 at home. I have ppp-1.1 running. ] I could not get ppp-1.2 to work so I never upgraded. ] ] Installing ppp-1.1 requires changing several system include & config ] files and re-generating the kernel, then rebooting with the new ] kernel. I'm running SunOS Release 4.1.1 (GENERIC SMALL) on my SPARCstation 1 and have a shell account at my service provider. I'd like to emulate a ppp connection. My understanding is that I can emulate a ppp connection by running slirp(1) on the remote host, my service provider's host, and any ppp software on the local host, my SPARCstation 1. If this is true, is there any ppp software that will run on my SPARCstation 1 whose installation *will not* require me to regrind my kernel? I do not have SunOS distribution media, and cannot afford to corrupt my kernel. Advice welcomed. Thank you, Eric De Mund http://www.ixian.com/ixian/ead/ - ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Aug 96 15:25:33 JST From: Nick Gianniotis Subject: using a sun type 4/5 keyboard with a pc To: Suns-at-Home@tigger.net-kitchen.com The subject line says it all. I know the PC and Sun keyboard interfaces are grossly incompatible (I have the pinouts), but has anyone ever managed to cobble up a working solution? Whether it's some kind of obscure converter box product or a home grown hack, I'd be interested in hearing about it. Many thanks, Nick - ------------------------------ End of Suns-at-Home Digest ******************************