Re: mac68k LC-PDS EtherNet support?

Michael wrote:
> 
> Does anyone have PDS-slot EtherNet running on a 68k Mac? (particularly
> the Quadra 605/LC 475/Performa 475 platform?)
> 
> I see that "LCPDS ethernet cards" are listed under "Unsupported devices"
> on the FAQ page ("68K Hardware Support":
> <http://www.openbsd.org/mac68k.html>).  However, that same page also
> tells me that my hardware lacks support for the "adb subsystem," but my
> ADB keyboard is working just fine, so i figure that the FAQ is
> out-of-date and not to be trusted entirely.

well, we have a distinct lack of HW running OpenBSD/mac68k to play
with.  I can tell you about the Quadra 610 and the Quadra 650 (work
fine), the Quadra 950 (doesn't work), and the Centris 660AV and Quadra
840AV (oh so close to looking like they work...but don't do
networking).  I also know that last I looked, my LCIII and IIsi were
no longer booting OpenBSD, but the testing process is painful enough,
I haven't looked recently.

> Meanwhile, over on the "OpenBSD 68k Mac Tips" page
> (<http://www.jagshouse.com/openbsd68k.html>) i find info similar to the
> aforementioned page, but notice that the "LCPDS ethernet cards" clause is
> missing.

No idea why someone else does or doesn't have something on their web
site.  They are the ones to ask...

> Now my PDS EtherNet card is based on the Sonic chip, and i have read in
> that not all Sonic chip based EtherNet cards are supported, so i figure
> this could be the problem.  Will an Asante PDS EtherNet card solve the
> problem?

Why are you asking?  Why not plug it in and find out?

Before OpenBSD/mac68k quit working on my LCIII, I had spotty success
with a couple LCPDS cards -- One worked, but reported a MAC address of
0:0:0:0:0:0.  I think the other one worked, too...don't recall the
details any more...
 
> If PDS slot EtherNet cards truly aren't supported, why?  

Same reason anything else is supported -- or not supported.  Because
someone who cared and had the knowledge and info did (or didn't) write
the driver.  Building a kernel on a fast Mac68k takes most of a day. 
You don't get to test too many things in a week...

> And what would
> it take to get it running?  Otherwise, what are my options?  NetBSD?
> Linux?  

Maybe, but this is the wrong place to ask. 8-)

> Modify the OpenBSD kernel?  

Go for it! 8-)

> Since i'm trying to make this machine
> into a web/mail server box, EtherNet is kinda important to me!

OUCH.

You do realize the performance (or lack of) of these machines, right?

Would it work as a mail and web server?  Well...yes, and probably just
fine for very light duty, but these are basicly single tasking
machines.  Network and disk I/O is so innefficent, the system is
unresponsive when touching the network or disk.  Oh, and the time
clock stops when touching network or disk...when doing a build, I've
seen Quadras loose 20-30 minutes an HOUR.

Check this out:
  PID USERNAME PRI NICE  SIZE   RES STATE WAIT     TIME    CPU COMMAND
  111 sshd       2    0  376K 1408K sleep select   0:28 44.43% sshd
16084 root      61    0 1300K 2244K run   -       19:19 43.70% ssh

Those were the first two lines from top...the processor showed 0.0%
idle.  At that moment, I was using scp to transfer some files from
this machine off-site (btw, that was capped at a 128kbps uplink by my
ISP...and the processor was STILL busy), and I was starting an ssh
terminal session using ssh2.

It took about 50 seconds to get a "login:" prompt using ssh2.  Of
course, this machine was busy...scp'ing data at 128kbps (using ssh1).
For that reason, I don't use ssh2 with the Quadras (other than to
demonstrate how slow they are).  Before that, I tried a ssh1 login,
"login:" prompt came up quickly, but the rest of the login process
took almost 20 seconds.  These are painful machines to work with... 
Assuming you have a 128k uplink on a DSL or cable modem on a
low-volume site, it probably would run mail and web services
fine...but maintaining it might be...painful.  

As you indicate you have the machine running OpenBSD, plug in your NIC
and find out if it works.  If it does, send in a dmesg (send me a
copy, too), if it doesn't, you know the answer to your question.

If you don't have the NIC, for the expense and effort of finding and
getting one, you could buy a 486/66 that would run circles around a
Mac68k.  

Nick.
-- 
http://www.holland-consulting.net