Date   : Thu, 12 Feb 2004 12:20:03 -0000
From   : "Chris Jones" <chris@...>
Subject: Re: Hello, and ARM second processor

Jules wrote:
> On Thu, 2004-02-12 at 09:34, Chris Jones wrote:
> > In amongst the junk was something which I understand is a bit special:
an
> > Acorn ARM Evaluation System, which got me excited about its historical
> > interest, especially as many of the projects I get involved with these
days
> > seem to involve ARM processors.
>
> That's a very nice find. Out of interest, what's the serial number? I
> don't think we've ever found anything that implies more than 50 or so
> were made.

I'm not sure of the serial number - there are no labels on the outside of
the unit, but assorted ones inside. The most likely-looking one says 00037
or something. I'll try and take a picture and put it on the web. The
daughterboard which fits into the connector in the middle (which I assume,
having seen a fuzzy photo somewhere, is more RAM) is missing, sadly.

> Strange thing to be thrown out; I would have thought all the units left
> were now in the hands of private collectors.

It was picked out of a skip (with permission). It looked like there had been
a whole lab cupboard's worth of gear disposed of. I think we snarfed all the
unusual stuff, hopefully, given the limited time and space available.

> ...
> Check the obvious stuff inside the unit - PSU voltages, fuse etc.
> I've got a dump of the monitor eprom if yours turns out to be toast.

Thanks, that might be useful. I had a quick poke around with the scope last
night. The address lines on the EPROM seem to be counting continuously,
which IMX on other machines often indicates a duff boot rom. I will
investigate more carefully. I did try swapping out the Tube ULA with a known
working one, since it happened to be socketed, but that didn't make any
difference.

> ...
> I don't know of a schematic for them; if you find one please let me
> know. And don't go throwing it out again if it's busted... :-)

No way! Even if it never works again, it represents the "missing link"
between the Acorn machines of my youth and the ARM hardware which dominates
the embedded world today. I reckon the whole story is The Cambridge
Phenomenon's greatest computing legacy.

Chris