From nlopez@pacbell.net Sun Oct 27 07:01:08 1996
Path: ashpoly!cascade!brgate!saturno!pacbell!nlopez
From: nlopez@pacbell.net (Nadine López)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.m68k
Subject: Observation: TWIN-68 Rev C coprocessor board - schematic analysis & EPROM dump
Message-ID: <1996Oct27.070108.7733@pacbell.net>
Date: Sun, 27 Oct 1996 07:01:08 GMT
Organization: Pacific Bell Internet Services
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Managed to dump the 27256 EPROMs from the TWIN-68 Rev C board recovered from Ashford Poly.

CPU #0 handles host bus interfacing and DMA, while CPU #1 is dedicated entirely to a 16-bit MAC (multiply-accumulate) unit.
Disassembling ROM #0 reveals an initialization routine that checks for a hardware dongle marked 'ORION-ENC-84'.

Schematic diagram in ASCII uploaded to ftp.ashford-poly.edu:/pub/telecom-archives/twin68_array.asc.

-- 
Nadine López -- Pacific Bell Internet Services
"The carrier frequency does not drift by accident."

From fgirard@clari.net Tue Oct 29 02:21:08 1996
Path: ashpoly!cascade!brgate!saturno!clari!fgirard
From: fgirard@clari.net (Freya Girard)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.m68k
Subject: Re: Observation: TWIN-68 Rev C coprocessor board - schematic analysis & EPROM dump
Message-ID: <1996Oct29.022108.6749@clari.net>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 02:21:08 GMT
References: <1996Oct27.070108.7733@pacbell.net>
Organization: ClariNet Communications Corp
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In article <1996Oct27.070108.7733@pacbell.net>, nlopez@pacbell.net (Nadine López) writes:
> Managed to dump the 27256 EPROMs from the TWIN-68 Rev C board recovered from Ashford Poly.

Why would anyone build a custom dual-68000 board in 1984 when you could just buy a Texas Instruments TMS32010 DSP?

-- 
Freya Girard
Opinions expressed are solely my own and not those of ClariNet Communications Corp.
------------------------------------------------------------

From kivanov@uu.net Tue Oct 29 21:10:08 1996
Path: ashpoly!cascade!transat!eunet-fi!relcom!kiae!uu!kivanov
From: kivanov@uu.net (Kirsty Ivanov)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.m68k
Subject: Re: Observation: TWIN-68 Rev C coprocessor board - schematic analysis & EPROM dump
Message-ID: <1996Oct29.211008.2617@uu.net>
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 21:10:08 GMT
References: <1996Oct27.070108.7733@pacbell.net> <1996Oct29.022108.6749@clari.net>
Organization: UUNET Technologies, Falls Church VA
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In article <1996Oct29.022108.6749@clari.net>, fgirard@clari.net (Freya Girard) writes:
> Why would anyone build a custom dual-68000 board in 1984 when you could just buy a Texas Instruments TMS32010 DSP?

That dual-ported SRAM design is ingenious. It avoids bus arbitration contention between the two 68k processors entirely.

Netscape 1.1 crashes when loading large preformatted text. Stick to rn or tin!

-- 
Kirsty Ivanov -- UUNET Technologies, Falls Church VA
"Hardware is temporary. The signal survives."