Date   : Mon, 06 Mar 2006 23:28:55 +0000
From   : Fragula <fragula@...>
Subject: A reel of fluorescent yellow thin coax!,

Phil Blundell wrote:

> Long time indeed.  I guess I did desert for a while, but... came back.
The inexorable pull of a machine with some forward thinking.

> Glad to hear that you found Cambridge amusing; give me a call if you
> ever find yourself in these parts again.
Will do!

  Canada was good fun too, if a
> touch on the rural side.
You got to try moose jerky? I love the stuff.


> Heh, good point.  I guess a fallback position if you can't find the
> password would be to locate the password file on the boot disk using an
> ADFS disk editor on some other machine.
Pop it in a linux box and hexdump /dev/fd1 :-)

 > You need some version of DFS to make the Tube work but, AFAIK, it
> doesn't really matter which one.  Personally I'd fit separate ROMs for
> DFS and ENFS (I don't think there was ever an ANFS release for the B),
> but if sockets are at a premium - and you don't need 1770 support - then
> a DNFS with DFS1.20 and NFS3.60 would be fine too.
It needs ADFS+1770 for the 80186 etc. I'll have to fit that and NFS.. I
think I have 3.60 on a ROM someplace.

 > No idea to be honest.  But, according to the scanned schematics, it
> looks like the Master 512 used a 10MHz 80186 with 150ns DRAM.  So I
> guess you ought to be fine at anything up to about 12MHz with your 120ns
> parts.
Hmmm. I reckon...(sticks hand in hat and pulls out).. 16Mhz "in spec",
(changing the CPU for the -16 variant, then poss. 20 at a push. But
that's all kinda rule of thumb, there is a way to work it out properly.
I just havent' found it yet.

> Which reminds me, I should redouble my efforts to find some RAMs to go
> in my 80286 board.
>  Does anybody know what devices are needed there?
Let me know when you find out, and I'll look in my RAM box.

If its 32x41256-12 (i.e. 36 including parity, if fitted) then Ive got a
set arriving here in a few weeks. I might defer to your 286's greater
need. I was thinking of doing a 1M stack and clock on the 80186, but its
not urgent, and I can get another 16 -15's without too much trouble to
make up the RAM.

Cheers!

M.