Date   : Wed, 27 Jul 2005 15:13:46 +0200 (BST)
From   : Johan Heuseveldt <johan@...>
Subject: Re: Econet-Ethernet bridge

Hi Eelco,

On Wed 27 Jul, Eelco Huininga wrote:

> > (the PRM refered to is part 5 (not 5a), which is from 1994;
> >  the AUN Manager's Guide (File Server Level 4) is from 1992)
> 
> I'd definitely need to spend some time studying these articles some day :-)
> Do you know where I can find them?

See later, at the bottom of this message

> > Please note it was already mentioned that a system with both 
> > Econet and Ethernet can function as a fully fledged Gateway system. 
> 
> I assume you're talking about the Archimedes/RiscPC Econet modules. Since I
> don't have one of these machines (yet) I don't have any experience with
> this. But then again, it wasn't my intention to set up a machine as a
> gateway.

To clarify, machine up to A5000 (incl), uses (in principle) the same econet
board, that fits in all of them starting from the Master. I think the are
slight differences, and selling them could be still machine specific.

The boards for the Master have longer pins, then the one for Archie & A5K. No
problem to put an Master Econet card into a Archie/A5K, but a podule card
just above that will make (just) physical contact from its underside of the
PCB to the top of the Econet card. So I assume that there must be official
versions for the Archie/A5K as well with shorter pins.

Of course historical awareness would prohibit cutting these pins. :-))

An A3020/A4000 has a special version in layout, The pins seem to be located
in the same place, but the is a bit longer with smaller width.
I'll need to check on that to be sure.

The Risc PC is a complete different design. The NIC connector is ready
for all kinds of network cards. Ethernet, for example, is the normal
use for it. The design uses a 3x16 connector (DIN 41612 family).

> > I could be missing a point or two (or even more) on these 
> > Econet/Ethernet discussions, but if you are unaware of the above,
> > then it  seems a waist of efforts, time and money to continue. Or is
> > it indeed  intentional, and some of you DO want to invent one of the
> > Acorn wheels again, just  for the sake of fun, which, by itself, is of
> > course a valid enough reason! :-)
> 
> Indeed I'm doing this for fun! What I'd like is to have a stand-alone
> device like a router/switch etc. so I don't have to 'sacrifice' an
> Archimedes/RiscPC.

Good point!

> > The draw back of it all, however, is a lack of possible 
> > interest, making
> > the project too expensive if you count upon a certain amount 
> > of orders.
> 
> I've had this idea of an Econet-Ethernet gateway for some time now. Not
> because I'd want to sell them and make profit out of them,

I defenitely wasn't thinking you want to make some bucks out of it.
But if you like participation from others to cover the costs, then this
should be taken into account, that's the only intention I had in mind.
Apologies if it sounded otherwise.

> but merely for fun and 'to see if it can be done'. Now I find that more
> people are interested in building an Econet-Ethernet bridge, which is
> great, since we now can share ideas and thoughts. Don't know about others,
> but my intention is that when the device is ready, the schematics/PCB
> layout/documents should be available to the general public. If anyone then
> feels like selling pre-built devices, go right ahead, but that's not my
> intention...

Initial costs for PCB manufacturing, can be quite expensive. If several
people are going to produce the PCB by third party, will make every PCB
more expensive, then it necessarily should be.

> > Everything an application finds a need for.
> > 
> > If you have the PRMs, wether in real paper, or just in some electronic
> > form (HTML/PFD) I can give you some locations to get at.
> > Allthough I seem to be sitting on my writer's chair today, it would be
> > a bit too much to discuss it here from the beginning!
> 
> Do you know where I can find them on the net?

I think they are only available for 'RISC OS Foundation' subscribers.
Perhaps you can take a look at the RISC OS web site, in particular for
support of RISC OS versions before 4.

  <http://support.riscos.com> and
  <http://acorn.riscos.com>

but checking myself this morning, I haven't found anything yet.


greetings,
Johan

-- 
Johan Heuseveldt <johan@...              >
  aka  waarland

  The best place is a Riscy place
 
Being natural is simply a pose.