Re: QVSS wscons driver

[Cory Smelosky <b4%gewt.net@localhost>]

On Mon, 5 Jan 2015, Dave McGuire wrote:

> On 01/03/2015 09:25 PM, Charles Dickman wrote:
> > I spent some of the Christmas break from work writing a wscons driver
> > for the QVSS (VCB01) video controller. qv.c in the NetBSD source tree
> > is ancient (from Ultrix?), so it was pretty much useless for anything
> > but a hardware reference. The video portion is based on the smg driver
> > and serial port/keyboard on the dz driver.
> >
> > The board is split into two devices: wsdisplay attaches to qv for the
> > video portion and wskbd attaches to lkkbd attaches to qvaux for the
> > keyboard portion.
>
>  Very nice work.  This is great to see.  Thank you!

Wish I had a VCB01...only have a busted VCB02. :(

> > The mouse is similar, but I don't have a DEC serial
> > mouse. You can see the boot messages below.
>
>  No mouse?  Send me your shipping address in private mail.

Have spare keyboard too?  The connectors are a pain to fit the flatflex 
cables in to.

> > Not sure if anybody else has the hardware to run it, but I can share.
> > It would be cool to get it into the NetBSD source tree, but it needs
> > some test and polish.
>
>  Hardware to run it?!  Jeeze.  There are four or five such systems
> within half an hour's drive of here (at different places) and probably
> twenty machines here at my place. =)

I have all but the VCB01...right down to a working (and sharp!) monitor.

> > It may be academic now, but I have a few questions:
> >
> > Are there schematics for this board? Google failed me here.
>
>  I haven't seen them online.  I *might* have them on paper.  I will
> have to dig.

Paul Anderson MIGHT have them somewhere, i'll ask about his schematics 
stash next time I contact him.

> > I'm using this with a KA650 processor, does the KA650 support the
> > VCB01 as a console?  It doesn't do it automatically with what I have
> > here.
>
>  I think it should, but I'm pretty sure the only framebuffer I've ever
> used with a KA650 is a VCB02 so I can't say for certain.  What release
> of firmware do you have on your KA650, is it possibly an older one?

Was it possible to upgrade the ROM easily?

>  I know lots of stuff was added to the KA650s ROMs after they were
> introduced, and I know the very early KA650 ROMs were little more than
> the KA630 code re-jiggered to run on a KA650.  Dusty memories suggest
> the KA650 was rushed to market before it was quite done; maybe the
> earlier ROM code didn't do VCB01s.

IIRC i have images of both on my fileserver.

>                 -Dave

--
Cory Smelosky
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