Date : Fri, 25 Dec 1998 10:55:36 -0000
From : "Thomas Elliott" <teejay@...>
Subject: Re: Hard Drives+Networking
-----Original Message-----
From: Jonathan Graham Harston <jgh@...>
To: bbc-micro@... <bbc-micro@...>
Date: 23 December 1998 17:04
Subject: [BBC-Micro] Hard Drives+Networking
>> Message-ID: <001f01be1e82$b5d0e2e0$1400a8c0@...>
>
>"Thomas Elliott" <teejay@...> wrote:
>> I have the chance of getting hold of a 20mb drive for a BBC, and
>> wondered if it would go on the Master or not. It already had ADFS, and
>> from what I can gather, you just plug it into the 1mhz bus and go! Is
>> this true? Do I need any other special software?
>
>The hard drive plugs into a SCSI interface/host board, and /that/ plugs
>into the 1MHz bus. Usually, the host board is inside the large box that
>the hard drive was mounted inside for the 8-Bit machines. These boxes
>tended to be the full width of a Master and about 3 inches tall.
Well, from what I can tell (ive got it now) this is an mfm drive and
controller, with a miniscribe hdd unit, all in a box about the size of an xt
full size hdd. It's connected to my master now, and working fine!
>The firmware to control a hard drive is built into ADFS. On startup it
>prods where the controller should be, and if it finds one, allows you
>access it.
Yes, that seems to be true, but another point that puzzles me, when the hdd
goes in, it becomes drive 0, and the floppy that was 0 becomes 4. This is
fine except for when I want to use double sided discs or a dual floppy. Any
thoughts?
>> Also, the master and one of the beebs (actually a b+128) have econet
>> interfaces. Is there any way in which these can be used, or is the
>> cable/clocks/software to do so not available?
>
>The cable is easy to get hold of. Clocks can be built or obtained
>second-hand or from some suppliers. Software... well, what software do
>you want? If you want shared file serving, you'll want a file server;
>either a dedicated unit (I swear by SJ MDFS), or software running on a
>BBC/Master (ties up a machine).
Ok....
>Having a network isn't just about fileserving. Clients (the stations on
>the network) can communicate with each other. See Talker (Arcade Area 72)
>for an example or pier-to-pier communication.
Should that be peer? :)
>All the communication
>control software is contained in the NFS rom. The NFS contains Econet
>hardware drivers, the NetFS filing system, and the NetPrint printer
>channel, which work together in the folloing way:
>
> NetFS NetPrint
> (a filing system) (a printer channel)
> | |
> uses uses
> | |
> +--->Network Driver<---+
> |
> v
> Econet Hardware Driver
> (only driver supplied in BBC/Master NFS Rom)
>
>The Archimedes can also use Ethernet network drivers and I have been
>working on SerialNet network drivers that use the Serial port.
>
>> Could someone give me a quick run down on how econet works, and what I
>> would need to implement it.
>
>Do you mean how econet works, how networking works, or how NetFS works?
>They are all seperate, but connected subjects.
Basically, how econet machines are set up, and how the fileserving works.
Also, what topology does it use. This may sound simple to you, but im new to
acorn networks. (PC networks are a doddle, i have a network at home, and I
help at school)
>I'll trawl through some of my files and put something together relavant.
Thanks.
>--
>J.G.Harston (JGH BBC PD Library) 70 Camm Street, Walkley, SHEFFIELD S6 3TR
>jgh@... --- BBC+Master / Z80+6502 / CoPro+Tubes / Econet+SJ
>Devolution / Transport / Planning / Highways ---- Focus Editor for Walkley
>Walkley Ward Website: http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~amilton/walkley.htm
>Death->By-Election->Lots of work->Arrgghh!!->Slow Email Replies->Sorry->:)
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