Betr.: Acorn Econet

From: Rob O'Donnell <classiccmp.org_at_irrelevant.fsnet.co.uk>
Date: Tue Oct 7 16:00:33 2003

At 19:15 07/10/2003 +0100, Tony Duell wrote:

> > Personally, I just got a pile of chassis-mount sockets, stuck them on a
> > box, and wired the backs all together in parallel. Aformentioned 5-pin
> DIN
>
>OK, sounds simple enough. I assume you could add the termination
>components directly on the back of the sockets too...

I assume so .... I had made up the "bunch of resistors" version which I
just plugged in the end sockets.



> > male-male leads went from a socket to a BBC Econet interface. A
> terminator
>
>Do I have to use the twisted pair cable for the drop leads, or can I get
>away with, say, audio cables?

I am sure that most of the leads I used in the past were audio leads ...
I've certainly used them for that as well...! Specifications are
wonderful things, but you can get away with murder in practice. We're not
talking UDMA 166 here ... :-)



> > plugs into each end one, and a clock somewhere else.
> >

Just while I think about it. The clock box I still have is a modified
acorn active terminator - even says that on the outside, with a sticker
over it. Circuit board inside is obviously dual purpose, but the clock
circuit is a bodge - a 555 floating in mid-air, with a few discrete
components, and eventually some bits making their way to the circuit board
to connect up...

I ran about eight machines in my bedroom on all this once.. four user BBS,
multi-user games, etc.. those were fun days :-)


> > Software wise, I should have somewhere the BBC fileserver software for
> > running on a BBC B micro, with or without hard disc, but in both cases it
> > needs a second processor (or use a Master 128 with the built in 65C102
> co-pro).

>I do have the 6502 second processor somewhere (in fact the only one of
>the 4 Acorn ones that I am missing is the 32016 one).
>
>-tony

I've not got one of those either ... indeed, only got a 6502, and the ARM..

gosh, it's a long time since I had the econet running... I used it with an
Amcom 10Mb hard disc, btw, so the L3 fileserver will obviously work with
other drives (to answer a q in another post).

Maybe when I'm rich, I'll have the room to set all this stuff up again...

Rob
Received on Tue Oct 07 2003 - 16:00:33 BST