Excelan "Exos 203" qbus , Anyone have copies of Software & Drivers & MANUALS ?-)

[babydr]

Just been tagged by someone who has one of these quad paddle boards & to make it work IIRC , Excelan's Management software & Driver package is required .

Be interested in any of the OS's a qbus system PDP or MicoVAX + Particullarly configuration manuals .

Tia , JimL

 

[babydr]

Relpying to my own message ...
Configuring & Installing the card & Software is included in the document named
4200014-00_EXOS_8021_8032_TCP_RSX_Reference_Manual_Aug85.pdf
Since bitsavers file was reporting inaccessible I used archive.decromancer.ca .
There are other manuals there too . But no bleeping software .
Hth , JimL

 

[pbirkel]

Note that software would be in "bits" on Bitsaver: https://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/bits/Excelan/
Rather than: https://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/communications/excelan/
There is a a small amount of software there, but not what you're looking for :-{.

 

[dittman]

I had a QBUS EXOS card in a MicroVAX II running VMS years ago and as I remember it there were drivers and a couple of clients and servers. I had to write an lpd daemon so we could remote print.

When we upgraded VMS to 5.x the card was no longer supported and we ended up running Multinet instead. IIRC Multinet had drivers for the EXOS card.

 

[babydr]

@dittman , Thank you , OH that make my little VAXHeart palpitate !-)
JimL

 

[daver2]

I do have source code to drive the Exos 203 card, but they are for our own Operating System and I will not be able to release these without authorisation from the Company I work for. That will not be a 'quick fix'...

I could have a look through the source code to see what I could release - if that would help...

I do not have the Exos manuals any longer, but (in our own O/S manuals) there should be the hardware set-up that I may end able to provide you with (if that would help).

Dave

 

[babydr]

Hello Dave , Thank you for the offers , IF dittman's memory is correct I can use Multinet's TCP & at least get IP access .
Let us see what happens in the near future . Then if necessary
Also I have a request into NIH for a scan of a document that I ahave not seen on bitsaver's or else where ATM .
Tnx , JimL

 

[daver2]

Yes, I forgot to say that there was a TCP/IP stack available.

Dave

 

[pbirkel]

I do have source code to drive the Exos 203 card, but they are for our own Operating System and I will not be able to release these without authorisation from the Company I work for. That will not be a 'quick fix'...

I could have a look through the source code to see what I could release - if that would help...

I do not have the Exos manuals any longer, but (in our own O/S manuals) there should be the hardware set-up that I may end able to provide you with (if that would help).

Dave

As it happens I have the related EXOS 204 SPC-slot (quad height) module for Unibus, so would be interested in any information that you can share for that. Fortunately Bitsavers has two versions of the reference manual (4200009-00A_EXOS204_Mar85.pdf, 4200009-00B_EXOS204_Jun86.pdf), but that's it. I'm guessing that the 203 and 204 are functionally identical and circuit-wise only differ by a few details of the bus interfaces.

Can OP share a photo of his 203? Here's the layout for a 204:

 

[babydr]

@pbirkel , Just a Fyi , There are (afaict) seperate manuals but I am unable (atm) to see if they are only board level config differences . I've seen that board picture on bitsavers . And from what I can tell your layout is an earlier version .

 

[pbirkel]

@pbirkel , Just a Fyi , There are (afaict) seperate manuals but I am unable (atm) to see if they are only board level config differences . I've seen that board picture on bitsavers . And from what I can tell your layout is an earlier version .

Thank you for the photo. Completely different layouts, and the 203 has only a pair of DIP-28 PROMs whereas the 204 has four (two marked "Kernel" and two "User" -- presumably for "User-written protocol software or link-level drivers"). The 204 memory array appears to be twice as large as well. From the 204 reference manual:

"For users who wish to design their own software, the EXOS 204 provides the on-board,
EPROM-resident network executive NX 200, which includes a dedicated operating system
kernel and a network services manager. By design, NX 200 insulates user protocol
software from hardware implementation details. This approach simplifies software
design and facilitates portability to future products, which will take advantage of latest
hardware technologies."

On the 203 U56 is an interesting unpopulated footprint. Perhaps intended for some analog transceiver wizardry?