Date : Sun, 16 Aug 2009 19:58:41 +0100
From : mfirth@... (Michael Firth)
Subject: Plans for the Econet Island @,Acorn World 09?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rob" <robert@...>
To: "BBC micro mailing list" <bbc-micro@...>
Sent: Sunday, August 16, 2009 7:14 PM
Subject: Re: [BBC-Micro] Plans for the Econet Island @,Acorn World 09?
> On 16/08/2009, Michael Firth <mfirth@...> wrote:
>> Perhaps a better option might be to get several people to donate some
>> kit for the caver demo. Then we just need one person who understands it
>> to set up the server and test it with one client.
>>
>> I'm happy to donate 2 of my 4 beebs to the cause, but I'm not sure I'd
>> want to permanently ring fence all of my setup.
>
> Beeb wise, I've just done a quick count and, not counting fileservers, I
> have
> 2 Masters fully working on the econet (one with replay, co-pro and GoMMC)
> 2 Model Bs, econetted
> 1 German Model B, econetted.
> 1 Model B, econetted, but with dodgy (composite) video - not checked RGB
> yet
> 2 Masters without econet, but I do have modules I can fit in them.
>
> Plus
> 1 Model B without econet, and PSU in bits. Issue 4 PCB
> 1 Master needing new batteries, and with dead keys,
>
> oh, and an A3000, vertical only mouse, no econet fitted.
>
> I didn't realse I had so many .. lol...
>
I think that will make plenty in total :-)
> I'll need around four machines & fileserver for the BBS, the rest are
> available for the Island -I'd allocated the more interesting Replay
> Master and German B, but can bring the other two Masters, plus
> modules, if we're short for Cave.
>
> It sounds as if there is ony room for eight machines in-use if Dave's
> two-per-table is all the way around.
>
> I'd suggest the fileservers are put in the middle, behind or under the
> desks, hopefully where they will not be kicked. - can we fit a table
> in the middle, Dave?
>
> That leaves four machines for Cave and four more general spaces.
>
If the total on the Econet island is only 8, then having 4 dedicated Cave
machines seems a bit much, given that there is also the Econet Atom which
will take one of the remaining 4 places due to being a curiosity.
With only 3 spaces, there isn't likely to be much room for showing BeebEm
plus some traditional BBC Stations. Certainly the A3020s / A5000 are likely
to have to be relegated to an inaccessible location as 'server only'.
I guess if we don't make the Cave network seperate then we could perhaps
have something along the lines of 2 permanent Cave clients, with some of the
other BBCs able to run as additional clients if they're not needed / wanted
for
something else.
What does everyone else think?
> I'd think it would be better to get some variety of machines on there
> - if we use Bs and Masters for the cave setup, that pretty much
> handles vanilla versions of those models... I thnk Dave wanted a
> BeebEm or two somwhere too... I'll have one on the BBs table, but
> another on the Island might be of use.
>
If I can get BeebEm for Linux talking AUN in time*, I'll be able to have my
Netbook running BeebEm talking to my A3020, which could be a small
station in addition to the 8.
I guess the question then is whether we need to join the two AUN Ethernets
together.
> Other suggestions?
>
>>
>> If you want the caver network to be seperate, I'll bring along my Econet
>> cables, clock and terminators, and they can provide the cabling for it.
>
> yes please, if everybdy brings what they have, there's less chance of
> running into trouble due to forgotten items, breakdowns, etc..
>
I'll put as much stuff in as I can fit then, but all my bits are home-brew,
due
to never having had access to any 'official' Econet clocks / terminators /
cabling.
They seem to work fine for me though, on my bridged over CAT5 network,
which I expect is at least as long as anything as will be built at the show.
Regards
Michael
* currently the code compiles, but the machine I was trying it on last week
was
failing with a "Can't find a free station ID" message. Hopefully that will
be easy
to fix, then it will be down to seeing if the Linux machine can see the
A3020.