Eric's ANS 700 tinker log

[eric]

Some of you saw I picked up a ANS 700 with 200Mhz upgrade card a while ago for the very reasonable price of $60. This post is just me logging/sharing resources I've found and progress along the way of getting a machine up and running.

ANS came with a 4.1.4.1 install CD. I have so far been unable to find the 4.1.5 upgrade CD. The full 4.1.5 install CD is on the garden. https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/aix-apple-network-servers-v4141 but a burned CD is unreadable. Trying via BlueSCSI and worked with notes below.

BlueSCSI and disk emulation:

CD can not be booted from external db25 bus, put BlueSCSI in a sled with CD0 being the install media and HD1 being the drive.
Term power is not provided on the internal bus - you must use a berg to molex. Termpower is provided on the external bus.

Docs say you must switch the key to maintenance to boot from CD - I've never had to do this for either a real or BlueSCSI boot cd.

Software install

Choose all licensed software to avoid picking and choosing - you'll probably just want to play with it all.

Floodgap has a bunch of ANS AIX software archived - unfortunately only accessible via gopher - though https://gophie.org/ is working fine and I'm able to send it to my ANS via FTP.

GNU/Libs

https://gopher.floodgap.com/gopher/gw?a=gopher%3A%2F%2Fgopher.floodgap.com%2F1%2Farchive%2Fans-aixpdslib-aix-4

Install .tar.Z files

uncompresss file.tar.Z
mv file.tar /
tar -xvpf file.tar

Add /usr/local/bin to your path

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin

Games

gopher.floodgap.com/1/archive/aix-games

Floodgap also has a FAQ and Other Software page: https://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ans/

Doom

PSU

Unsure how to open to inspect - occasionally seems to go into a fault protection.
DO NOT remove the screws from the fans (only exposed screws on the PSU, the rest is riveted) - they have nuts on the back that will fall in and can not be replaced without opening the PSU (learned the hard way) - used those self tapping screws that normally are used on fans.

Power button on keyboard - oddly it has to be pressed for a few seconds or I get a quick power on and off (thought it was the PSU at first, still might be)


Openfirmware

Password is what you set the root password to.


Expand Drive Logical volume:

Get PPs’s
# lspv hdisk0
PHYSICAL VOLUME:    hdisk0                   VOLUME GROUP:     rootvg
PV IDENTIFIER:      002b5b4782f4a3b2         VG IDENTIFIER     002b5b4782f4a809
PV STATE:           active
STALE PARTITIONS:   0                        ALLOCATABLE:      yes
PP SIZE:            16 megabyte(s)           LOGICAL VOLUMES:  8
TOTAL PPs:          575 (9200 megabytes)     VG DESCRIPTORS:   2
FREE PPs:           64 (1024 megabytes)
USED PPs:           511 (8176 megabytes)
FREE DISTRIBUTION:  00..64..00..00..00
USED DISTRIBUTION:  115..51..115..115..115

# Expand root `/` partition by 127 PPs

# lslv hd4
LOGICAL VOLUME:     hd4                    VOLUME GROUP:   rootvg
LV IDENTIFIER:      002b5b4782f4a809.4     PERMISSION:     read/write
VG STATE:           active/complete        LV STATE:       opened/syncd
TYPE:               jfs                    WRITE VERIFY:   off
MAX LPs:            128                    PP SIZE:        16 megabyte(s)
COPIES:             1                      SCHED POLICY:   parallel
LPs:                128                    PPs:            128
STALE PPs:          0                      BB POLICY:      relocatable
INTER-POLICY:       minimum                RELOCATABLE:    yes
INTRA-POLICY:       center                 UPPER BOUND:    32
MOUNT POINT:        /                      LABEL:          /
MIRROR WRITE CONSISTENCY: on
EACH LP COPY ON A SEPARATE PV ?: yes

Extend logical volume
# extendlv hd4 127 # (128 total)

Math: 128 == PPs, 16 == PP Size, then convert to Mb, then to 512 blocks:
(128 * 16) pps in mb 2,048
2,048 * 1,048,576 = 2,147,483,648
2,147,483,648 / 512 = 4,194,304

Expand File System

# chhfs -a size='4194304' /


Expand /usr (hd2) by 200 to 239
extendlv hd2 200
(239 * 16) pps in mb 3,824
3,824 * 1,048,576 to kb
4,009,754,624 / 512 to blocks
7,831,552
chfs -a  size=‘7831552’ /usr

Expand /home (hd1) by 127 (max LPs) to 128
lslv hd1
extendlv hd1 127 (128 total)
(128 * 16) pps in mb 2,048
2,048 * 1,048,576 = 2,147,483,648
2,147,483,648 / 512 = 4,194,304
chhfs -a size='4194304' /home

X11 forwarding

Have an X server on your modern machine you'd like to display the remote app on. I used https://www.xquartz.org
on the modern computer type `xauth list` - grab the magic token for your ip or hostname.
on the ANS add the magic: `xauth add 192.168.3.207:0 . <magic token here>`
on the ANS add the remote display `export DISPLAY=192.168.3.207:0`
on the ANS add the remote x host `xhost +192.168.3.207`

now you can launch X11 apps via your xquartz terminal when telnet'd into the host, eg `xclock` or `netscape`

--- More edits/notes/cleanup as it happens ---

 

[ClassicHasClass]

The disc should have a ISO 9660 partition, so if you can't see that with it mounted (any system can read that part), then it may be a bad image.

You might find the LV expansion process easier with smit.

Are you actually running an AIX DOOM build on it? Quake should have a non-Ultimedia build you can try.

Gopher is a good fit for classic computing.

 

[joevt]

ROM version, checksum? MD5?
We have info for the ANS 500 but not the others.

 

[eric]

The disc should have a ISO 9660 partition, so if you can't see that with it mounted (any system can read that part), then it may be a bad image.

You might find the LV expansion process easier with smit.

Are you actually running an AIX DOOM build on it? Quake should have a non-Ultimedia build you can try.

Gopher is a good fit for classic computing.

It was just the old CDROM drive didn't read the disks - same image worked fine in the BlueSCSI.

I am reading docs on how to do it, looking at the commands smit spits out, and taking them and writing them down - I prefer the cli if it can be done.

I am going to try to get it to run, someone has the binaries for a RS/6000 - though missing some libraries locally and docs/cd's are sparse to find. I cant find the Ultimida CD. If you know where the non-Ultimedia port is please share!

Oh I dont mind gopher for "fun" but I'd like to mirror the site or grab 100's of files to extract on my modern computer to quickly look for files in tar's it's not as conducive as I currently have to click on each one.

ROM version, checksum? MD5?
We have info for the ANS 500 but not the others.

"ROM vers.1.1.22" I can grab the rest if you let me know how.

 

[eric]

Added notes on x11 forwarding via telnet

 

[joevt]

"ROM vers.1.1.22" I can grab the rest if you let me know how.

That's the same Open Firmware version as the ANS 500 but should check the entire thing to be sure.
To dump the ROM, you need a serial port connection from the modem port to a Mac or PC. Then you use Open Firmware on the ANS to dump the hex of the ROM.

Go to the first post of this thread and search for "rom dump"
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...l-work-in-a-beige-power-macintosh-g3.2303689/
#88 might be most relevant:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...eige-power-macintosh-g3.2303689/post-31329170

You need to boot into Open Firmware - hold Command-Option-O-F before the boot chime until you see the Open Firmware prompt in the serial port terminal program on the other Mac or PC.

The default bps might be 38400 bps (8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit - though 2 should work as well; no local echo). If you see garbled text, then change the baud rate and type some characters. Do this until the characters appear to be what you typed.

You should use 57600 bps.

" ttya:57600" io

If you want to use 57600 bps as the default, then you can do this:

setenv input-device ttya:57600
setenv output-device ttya:57600

An Open Firmware patch is required for 115200 and 230400 bps.

The following can dump the hex (doesn't include address or ASCII; adds a carriage return after every 128 hex digits):

100000 0 do ffc00000 i 4 * + dup 3f and 0= if cr then @ 8 u.r loop

It might take 24 minutes to finish.

For this command to work, the ROM needs to be already mapped into virtual memory address space. This is usually the case for Old World Macs so you don't need to worry about that.

dev /@0
.properties
...
translations            F0000000 00010000 F0000000 00000028 F0800000 00001000 F0800000 00000028 
                        F0C00000 00001000 F0C00000 00000028 F2000000 00010000 F2000000 00000028 
                        F2800000 00001000 F2800000 00000028 F2C00000 00001000 F2C00000 00000028 
                        F3000000 01000000 F3000000 00000028 F8000000 00001000 F8000000 00000028 
                        FF800000 00100000 00400000 00000010 FFC00000 00400000 FFC00000 00000000

You should see in the translations property an item for the ROM address range and size.
FFC00000 00400000 FFC00000 00000000
This says the ROM with physical address 0xFFC00000 and size 0x400000 is mapped to the virtual address 0xFFC00000 with the PPC wimg flags set to 0.

w___ = 0x40
_i_g = 0x28
__m_ = 0x10

 

[ClassicHasClass]

The ROM is indeed already mapped. The ANS 500 ROM can be trivially dumped with

h# ffc00000 h# 00400000

and then obviously processing the output. I did this at 19200 but I don't see why 57600 wouldn't work.

I am going to try to get it to run, someone has the binaries for a RS/6000 - though missing some libraries locally and docs/cd's are sparse to find. I cant find the Ultimida CD. If you know where the non-Ultimedia port is please share!

quake.sw.wimp (part of the tar) should not require Ultimedia. However, it probably won't run as well.

Which Doom build are you referring to specifically?

 

[eric]

quake.sw.wimp (part of the tar) should not require Ultimedia. However, it probably won't run as well.

After re-reading the readme/faq 3 more times (some gems in there ) for quake I did get it to work (no sound) without Ultimedia (though for archival sake Ultimedia CD should be archived somewhere!

Which Doom build are you referring to specifically?

The NCommander one in the video above for RS6000. I'm getting:

# bin/chocolate-doom
exec(): 0509-036 Cannot load program bin/chocolate-doom because of the following errors:
        0509-022 Cannot load library libpthread.a[shr_comm.o].
        0509-026 System error: A file or directory in the path name does not exist.

Also I am trying to build another project with their SDL1.2 compile lib but on that I'm getting

collect2: /usr/local/lib/libSDL.a: not a COFF file

That's the same Open Firmware version as the ANS 500 but should check the entire thing to be sure.

I'll get to this sometime later this week and share - I believe I have the necessary serial adapters.

 

[ClassicHasClass]

The Github site says that build is for AIX 4.3, so I'm not surprised it doesn't work. Making an ANS DOOM has been on my to-do list for awhile and maybe I should dust that off (it would also work with my ThinkPad 860 and my "800" if I ever get it booting from SCSI again).

I should note that Ultimedia will not fix the sound problem; there's no audio driver in AIX for the ANS sound hardware. But installing it will add the compatibility pieces and graphics updates should be faster.

 

[eric]

The Github site says that build is for AIX 4.3,

For some reason in my mind I read 4.3 as < 4.1.5 ha. Though he does use only gnu tools to build it, so it does seem like a possibility. I'm a bit confused by the github repo as the submodule is broken and I dont really see any patches for sdl1.2 (which i'd like for a different project as well)

I found someone with the upgrade CD so will upload that to the garden for completeness after testing.