(last updated: 08-Aug-2016)
OS Loaded into 2MB Flash Memory card, allowing self-contained boot
29-Mar-2006
The terminal server package arrived today from eBay seller "XXXXX". It was well packaged.
31-Mar-2006
I quickly vacuumed the unit all over, while I had the vacuum going with other stuff.
Just for fun, I opened up the unit. The four screws securing the top cover were in all the way, but not cinched up tight, so I hope this isn't an indication that someone else was poking around inside, maybe trying to troubleshoot serious problems. What I see inside looks good with no apparent problems. Looks like the system is centered around a 68000 CPU, and it has two banks of two 30-pin SIMMs. I don't know how much RAM it really has. More checking required.
I'll set this aside for now.
08-Apr-2006
Just for grins, I decided to plug this thing in. When I had the cover off, I could see that it has a very good switching power supply and that there were no large capacitors that I could reform. So, I turned it on.
The fan powered just fine, and the front panel cycles through some kind of self-test boot sequence. Of course I don't have anything set up for it to boot from yet (it uses BOOTP and TFTP), but it looks like it's alive and concious.
13-Apr-2006
Today, I received some RJ45 to DB25 converters from Jameco. I was successful at wiring one up, so that I could talk to this unit via HyperTerm on my PC. During the past week, I have downloaded and read some of the manuals for this unit, and mapped out a cabling scheme.
By using a standard Cat5 ethernet cable (which is just an 8-to-8 conductor straight-through cable with RJ45 connectors) as the connecting cable from this terminal server and the RJ45-DB25 adapter, I determined that the adapter wiring should be thus:
MAXserver RJ45 - DB25
Port Cat5 cable Wire Pin
--------- ---------- ---- ------
RNG/CTS 1 1 - 1 Blue 5 CTS
DTR 2 2 - 2 Orange 20 DTR
XMT 3 3 - 3 Black 2 XMT
XMTGND 4 4 - 4 Red 7 GND/nc*
RCVGND 5 5 - 5 Green 7 GND
RCV 6 6 - 6 Yellow 3 RCV
DSR/DCD 7 7 - 7 Brown 6 DSR
RTS 8 8 - 8 White 4 RTS
* without soldering there is no way to connect the red wire to ground, but the adapter works fine without it.
Wired this way, the adapter is set up as another DTE unit, so to connect to the PC port I needed to use a null modem cable/adapter. This should be good going forward, and I'll probably construct the other RJ45-DB25 adapters this same way.
Of course, I could construct the adapter so that *it* acts as the null modem cable, but then I might have to fight hard to get the DB25 gender changed. Using a cross-over Cat5 cable would introduce the null-modem connections, too. Anyway, the adapter cabled this way worked well enough to allow me to communciate with the terminal server, and will probably work just fine with a minicomputer port. I'll try that too.
In the meantime, I'll start the configuration of this terminal server using my PC.
The manuals that I found online indicated that to get into ROM setup mode, the RESET button should be pushed, once to get all the front lights lit, and a second time, holding it in, until after the sequence of 16-to-1-to-16 light sequence is done and just 14,15, and 16 are lit. Then RESET can be released.
At that point, by pressing RETURN a few times, the terminal server will print some ID text. There is no prompt, but by typing 'ACCESS
14-Apr-2006
During the past few days, I downloaded some operation software and documents from:
- http://www.gno.org/~gdr/xyplex - http://service.mrv.com/support/support.cfm?pt=8&pd=729&dt=dc
With a usable cable now constructed, I read through the documentation and learned how the system boots the OS.
It can use BOOTP and TFTP from unix/linux, which is what I tried to use. I have a spare Debian "woody" box running on my Ricon 386 box, so I installed the BOOTP and TFTP packages. I modified the default path for TFTP from /boot to /boot/maxserver and copied these files, from the gno.org website, into that directory:
- flshupg.txt - mcffs1.sys - xpcs00s.sys
The above OS file, xpcs00s.sys, is v6.0.2 for 3MB or higher MAXserver.
With that in place, I enabled BOOTP and TFTP on the MAXserver via the ROM configuration menu, and powered the terminal server off, then on.
It booted!
On my Aero laptop, via the cable that I made on the 13th, I was able to attach to the MAXserver and login.
15-Apr-2006
Via ebay, I now have two 2MB Flash Memory PCMCIA cards that should work for storing the Xyplex OS. This way, I won't be dependent on an external boot server.
First, I had to get to the privileged state for my session. Looking through the documentation shows that I should type:
SET PRIVILEGE
and enter the password:
SYSTEM (default, but changeable)
Now, I'm in the privileged state, and proceed with my configuration.
The first thing I want to do is get the OS over to the Flash Memory card. Unfortunately, everytime I tried to reference the card in any way, I kept getting this error:
-786- Memory Card Feature disabled
I scanned all of the documentation that I have downloaded but could not find a list of error messages or any reference to enabling or disabling the memory card. Blast!
Finally, thanks to the google newsgroup archive I found:
- http://groups.google.com/group/alt.comp.dcom.sys.xyplex/browse_thread/thread/a997ee392994ff48/b872ebb7ba67b61f?lnk=st&q=xyplex+card+%22-786-%22&rnum=1#b872ebb7ba67b61f
Here, I found the 'magic incantation' of "DEFINE MANAGER LOAD ENABLE" which is the command to enable the flash card. Then I have to reboot. With this command accepted I tried "FORMAT CARD" and it worked! (Thanks to those that have come before on the newsgroups!)
Now, let's try to copy the OS file to the card...using:
SET SERVER GET CARD LOAD FILE "XPCS00S.SYS" IP ADDRESS 192.168.1.31
And it worked!
Using INITIALIZE, I rebooted the terminal server, after disconnecting the ethernet cable. Sure enough, it booted from the card! I'm no longer tied to the Linux server to serve as my boot server source.
I wasn't able to telnet to the system, until I set the subnet mask to *not* be automatically configured:
DEFINE IP SUBNET MASK AUTOCONFIGURE DISABLE
Now I can connect via the LAN.
20-Apr-2006
After fiddling with the system for the past few days, I think I've finally determined the key configuration element that let's me telnet into a particular serial port on this thing. It's too bad that the documentation doesn't have a collection of scenarios with appropriate configuration settings for each. I read through both the Basic Configuration and the Advanced Configuration Guides, and still had no clue how to set the terminal server up for inbound internet traffic connecting to specific serial ports. After a page-by-page reading of most of the Commands Reference Guide manual, I think I have enough information to get this system up and running. Whether I need to do more in the realm of security and limiting unauthorized access is still to be examined.
Anyway, here is the single, key setting to allow network Telnet traffic to a port:
DEFINE/SET PORT n ACCESS REMOTE
This makes the port accessible to an inbound Telnet session at the IP address of the server on port 2000+(n*100) by default, i.e., 192.168.1.9:2100 for serial port 1.
This is *the* command that makes it work.
There are a few other commands that are useful, to limit session times, and idle logouts, and set the telnet port number:
DEFINE/SET PORT n IDLE TIMEOUT minutes DEFINE/SET PORT n LOGIN DURATION minutes DEFINE/SET PORT n TELNET REMOTE port_number
There are undoubtedly other valuable settings, but these are the few that I've determined are useful. As I get to actually deploying this terminal server with my systems, then I'll do a bit more investigation, but for now this is finally (after days of tinkering) a good start, and enough to actually get the desired functionality!
21-Aug-2009
Trying to finally use this terminal server with my MicroVAX II, and I can't quite figure out how to enable a port to be used as the VAX's console. It took me a long time to figure out how to get into the console port (via telnet) so that I can examine and change, if necessary, various port configuration parameters.
First, to get into this unit's console 'port' I have to telnet to port number 2000:
$ telnet 192.168.1.9 2000#access ## type 'access
' which won't echo Xyplex>
So, now I'm in, at last. Just a reminder, here is the layout of IP/ports:
192.168.1.9 ## this is the system's configured IP address192.168.1.9:2000 ## terminal server's console 'port'
192.168.1.9:2100 ## 1st serial port 192.168.1.9:2200 ## 2nd serial port 192.168.1.9:2300 ## 3rd serial port ... 192.168.1.9:3600 ## 16th serial port
Some interesting tools are the SHOW command and it's subcommands. For example:
Xyplex> SHOW PORT n
will describe the current settings for any port, 0-16 (0 being the 'console').
Xyplex> SHOW PORT ALL
will give a summary of status on all ports (1-16).
Xyplex> SET PRIVILEGE Password: SYSTEM
gives admin privileges. Then:
Xyplex>> SET PORT n CHARACTER SIZE (8|7) Xyplex>> SET PORT n PARITY (EVEN|ODD|NONE)
will configure the port the way it needs to be. It should already have AUTOBAUD enabled, so that the speed parameter is set after the connection is made.
12-Jul-2014
With RSTS/E 7.0.7 installed on my PDP-11/23+, which has 2 SLUs on the CPU board, and then 4 more SLUs on each of two DZV11 modules, I have a system with 9 (or 10) serial ports for active terminals. Time to put the terminal server to work!
I discovered that the way I built the male-DB25-to-female-RJ45 adapter way back in 2006 is built without null modem wiring. I am able to use that adapter now, as long as I use a female-to-female DB25 null modem adapter too. What I really need then, are not male DB25-to-RJ45 adpaters, but female ones which would allow a direct connection to the PDP-11 ports without null-modem and gender adapters. The wiring up of these new adapters, with null-modem connections, should be:
MAXserver RJ45 - DB25
Port Cat5 cable Wire Pin
--------- ---------- ---- ------
RNG/CTS 1 1 - 1 White 4 RTS
DTR 2 2 - 2 Brown 6 DSR
XMT 3 3 - 3 Yellow 3 RCV
XMTGND 4 4 - 4 Green 7 GND
RCVGND 5 5 - 5 Red 7 GND/nc*
RCV 6 6 - 6 Black 2 XMT
DSR/DCD 7 7 - 7 Orange 20 DTR
RTS 8 8 - 8 Blue 5 CTS
* without soldering there is no way to connect the red wire to ground, but the adapter works fine without it.
Wired this way, the adapter is set up as a DTE unit, so to connect to the PDP port I do NOT need to use a null modem cable/adapter. The wiring handles the null-modem connections already..
01-Sep-2014
After receipt of ten black RJ45-to-DB25 female adapters arrived from Digikey a week ago, it is time to assemble one and test it with the DEC PDP-11/23+. First I reviewed the previous 'gray' male adapter and learned that the wire positions and colors are identical between the two.
Based on this and prior research with the 'gray' male adapters, I wired up the first black female adapter using the following connection:
MAXserver RJ45 - DB25
Port Cat5 cable Wire Pin
--------- ---------- ---- ------
RNG/CTS 1 1 - 1 White 5 CTS
DTR 2 2 - 2 Brown 20 DTR
XMT 3 3 - 3 Yellow 2 XMT
XMTGND 4 4 - 4 Green 7 GND
RCVGND 5 5 - 5 Red 7 GND/nc*
RCV 6 6 - 6 Black 3 RCV
DSR/DCD 7 7 - 7 Orange 6 DSR
RTS 8 8 - 8 Blue 4 RTS
* without soldering there is no way to connect the red wire to ground, but the adapter works fine without it.
After assembling the first adapter I fired up the PDP-11/23+ and booted RSTS/E 7.07 for some testing. I have this installation of RSTS/E is sysgen'd to support all of the 11 SLU ports available on the machine. This way I can test the connector not only on the console port but on the other DLV11-E and DZV11 serial ports.
Yes! It works using a simple straight-through Cat5 ethernet cable between this terminal server and the PDP-11 using the new black adapters. No null-modem adapter required, nor a gender changer. This is just what I needed to put my PDP-11s and VAXen on my local network, at least via the serial ports.
25-Jun-2016
This unit fails to start up. I can get into the ROM configuration mode (press reset; release; press reset and hold until '14 15 16') and can configure these parameters, but still the unit fails to load its OS from the flash CARD.
I opened the unit, remove the EPROMs from their sockets and reinstered them. These EPROMs are labeled 'SC 4300-G' and 'SC 4301-G'. (pictures) No change.
I removed the memory SIMMS and reinserted them. No change.
A difference noted between this unit and my working #2 unit is this unit, when powered, will go through the countdown sequence 16-to-1 then the RUN light flashes and that's it. I never see the LAN light as expected, nor do I ever see the yello CARD light flash at all. I have confirmed that the 2MB IBM PCMCIA flash card is functional by booting my #2 unit with it.
So, it would seem that the boot up sequence is not even proceeding to the 'download' portion of the code. I'm not sure what the trouble is. The unit in this state is alive enough for me to proceed with a ROM configuration using an attached terminal, but I can't get the thing to boot its OS, not from the CARD anyway.
Next step would be to set up TFTP server and see if this unit will netboot, but I'm doubtful because the LAN light doesn't illuminate, again suggesting the boot firmware is stuck.
Well, the problem is discovered, if not resolved: this unit's BNC connector side of the ethernet circuitry is faulty and the unit doesn't 'see' the network unless connected via the AUI connector. The unit (and the same is true with my #2 unit) will not 'boot' the OS unless it detects a network link. So, from now on, this unit must be connected using the AUI connector, not the BNC connector. Other than that, it works fine.
Copyright © 2006-2025 Jared Blaser. All rights reserved.