Acorn Econet Fileserver

[Pete Turnbull]

On Nov 19 2005,  2:14, Tony Duell wrote:
> Are there any Econet enthusiasts here?

Yes :-)

> I've just bought most of an Acorn Econet fileserver (it's missing the
2
> floppy drioves and their cables, the mainboard and PSU look intact).
>
> The mainboard contains :
> 65C102 CPU
> 64K EPROM (2 off 27256). I've not tried to look at their contents yet

There are several versions of the firmware, each with its own little
idiosyncracies ;-)  One EPROM is the MOS and the other is the
fileserver code, as you might expect.

> 64K DRAM
> WD2793 disk controller (not what I'd expect from Acorn)
> 6522 VIA
> Real time clcok chip and backup battery
> TTL glue
> An Econet module (looks like the one used in a Master or Arc, the
type
> with the hardware collision detection). Oddly theres a 26LS30 on the
> mainboard, does this thing source the Exonet clock too?

Yes, it does, and it's a decent asymmetric clock.  It's supposed to
switch itself off (or actually, I suspect, not switch on at boot time)
if it detects another clock already on the wire.

> The PSU looks to be a normal switch-mode unit giving +5V and +12V
>
> On the back are the 5 pin DIN econet socket, a 26 pin header
identified
> as 'Printer' (presumably wired as a BBC micro printer port)

Yes, just as normal.

> and a 34 pin
> header. I am told this is to add a hard disk, and it looks similar to
a
> Beeb's 1MHz bus. I assume it takes the normal SASI host adapter and
ST506
> bridgboard (I have spares of those somewhere...)

Yes.

> On the front are 2 LEDs (power and mode) and what looks like a
> reflectiove optoswitch (why?)

The optoswitch detects whether the front panel is in the open or closed
state.  When closed, the box starts up as a server.  When open, it runs
in maintenance mode.  The plastic "hinges" were rather fragile and
frequently broke, leading sometimes to the loss of the cover.

> Can anyone tell me anything more about it, how to use it, what the
> intenral links do, etc?

I should have the manual somewhere.  You shouldn't need to change any
links.


-- 
Pete						Peter Turnbull
						Network Manager
						University of York