On Oct 7, 19:08, Tony Duell wrote:
> >
> > On Oct 5, 18:20, Tony Duell wrote:
> > Ideally, twisted quad stranded with an overall screen and stranded
> > drain wire, but Cat 3 or better is fine so long as you have the
fifth
>
> RIght. And presumably you can 'get way' with more on shorter
networks.
Indeed. I once ran a whole classroom (about 16 Beebs, I think) using
cables made up of a short length, about 6", of thin screened 4-core
with a DIN inline socket on one end, the other end going to a DIN plug
to which I also soldered a longer (3'-6') length of the same wire,
ending in another DIN plug. A daisy-chain of those worked fine at full
speed. Later Econet starter kits used Y-adaptors (3 DIN sockets in a Y
shape) and low-cost DIN cables (as often used for low-end MIDI systems,
cassette recorders, etc).
> > Level 2 Filserver -- runs on a Beeb with a 6502 Second Processor,
uses
>
> > Level 3 Fileserver -- runs on a Beeb with Beeb with a 6502 Second
> > Processor, ADFS, and a 10MB or 30MB winchester. The winchester is
>
> I do have a 6502 second processor, so these are possible...
>
> Does it _have_ to be the 10 or 30 Mbyte unit? What about a 20Mbyte
ST225,
> for example. The Acorn hardware certainly supports that.
No, I don't remember ever trying to install one on a 20MB or any size
other than 10MB or 30MB, but I don't see any reason to suppose it might
not work. You just partition the disk in the propotions you want for
ADFS and Econet FS, and then install the fileserver software.
> > partitioned, and the Econet Fileserver partition has a unique
> > filestructure. Needs a dongle, which is also a TOD clock. Most
> > dongles are now dead (and weren't Y2K compliant) but there's a
patch >
> What fails in them, or isn't it known?
*I* don't know, but I'm sure someone does. You might find something
from Google. I *think* there may be a battery of some sort, but that's
not the whole problem.
> > The A/B/B+ interfaces are a bag of components.
>
> Ohterwise known as 'there are spare spaces on the PCB for the Econet
> components, get soldering' :-)
There are a couple of tracks to cut/jumper on some PCBs, but basically,
yes.
> > The System one is a Eurocard, the Atom one is a plug-on
>
> One of my Atoms has the genuine Atom interface, another has a System
> Econet card hooked up to the expansion bus (which is basically
compatible
> with the System bus).
Very nice :-)
> The B+ (in the ACW) has PCB positions for the collision-detect
comparator
> chip, etc, but they're not fitted....
It's worth doing.
> I think the Acorn clock and terminator share the same PCB, just with
> different components fitted.
The old ones do, yes. One of mine has both sets of components, you'll
not be surprised to hear.
> Incidentally, if you use Acorn hardware throughout, do you need 3
> 'veroboxes' -- a clock and 2 terminators?
See above :-) In theory, yes, but on a very short net, you might not
even need the second terminator.
> If you use SJ, I assume you use the clock and 2 terminator plugs.
Yes, though it doesn't matter which clock you mate with which
terminators.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
Received on Tue Oct 07 2003 - 15:09:44 BST