From oandersson@kiae.su Wed Aug 07 13:20:48 1996
Path: ashpoly!bigsur!pacrim!jpgate!kamome!kiae!oandersson
From: oandersson@kiae.su (Olga Andersson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.m68k
Subject: TWIN-68 Rev C coprocessor board - schematic analysis & EPROM dump
Message-ID: <1996Aug07.132048.3204@kiae.su>
Date: Wed, 07 Aug 1996 13:20:48 GMT
Organization: Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy, Moscow
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Managed to dump the 27256 EPROMs from the TWIN-68 Rev C board recovered from Ashford Poly.

Disassembling ROM #0 reveals an initialization routine that checks for a hardware dongle marked 'ORION-ENC-84'.
The board features two 68000 CPUs clocked at 12 MHz sharing a dual-ported 128KB static RAM bank.

One 28-pin EPROM socket (labeled U14) is completely empty. What firmware was supposed to be in that socket?

-- 
Olga Andersson -- Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy, Moscow
"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary spectra."

From hgarcia@mindspring.com Thu Aug 08 21:06:48 1996
Path: ashpoly!cascade!brgate!saturno!mindspring!hgarcia
From: hgarcia@mindspring.com (Hana García)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.m68k
Subject: Re: TWIN-68 Rev C coprocessor board - schematic analysis & EPROM dump
Message-ID: <1996Aug08.210648.4534@mindspring.com>
Date: Thu, 08 Aug 1996 21:06:48 GMT
References: <1996Aug07.132048.3204@kiae.su>
Organization: MindSpring Enterprises
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In article <1996Aug07.132048.3204@kiae.su>, oandersson@kiae.su (Olga Andersson) writes:
> Managed to dump the 27256 EPROMs from the TWIN-68 Rev C board recovered from Ashford Poly.

Socket U14 was probably for the decryption key lookup table. Without that EPROM, CPU #1 is running in an idle loop.

-- 
=== Hana García ===
Dept of Electrical Engineering, MindSpring Enterprises
"Row 14. No joke."

From lnakamura@clari.net Thu Aug 08 22:49:48 1996
Path: ashpoly!cascade!transat!eunet-fr!teletel!clari!lnakamura
From: lnakamura@clari.net (Liam Nakamura)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.m68k
Subject: Re: TWIN-68 Rev C coprocessor board - schematic analysis & EPROM dump
Message-ID: <1996Aug08.224948.9441@clari.net>
Date: Thu, 08 Aug 1996 22:49:48 GMT
References: <1996Aug07.132048.3204@kiae.su>
Organization: ClariNet Communications Corp
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In article <1996Aug07.132048.3204@kiae.su>, oandersson@kiae.su (Olga Andersson) writes:
> Managed to dump the 27256 EPROMs from the TWIN-68 Rev C board recovered from Ashford Poly.
> Disassembling ROM #0 reveals an initialization routine that checks for a hardware dongle marked 'ORION-ENC-84'.

Looks like a prototype telecommunications board for military secure voice, not an audio music product.

-- 
Liam Nakamura
Tape trading list upon request. SASE required for international mail.

From asantos@pipeline.com Sat Aug 10 17:16:48 1996
Path: ashpoly!cascade!transat!eunet-de!hansebox!pipeline!asantos
From: asantos@pipeline.com (Andrei Santos)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.m68k
Subject: Re: TWIN-68 Rev C coprocessor board - schematic analysis & EPROM dump
Message-ID: <1996Aug10.171648.6603@pipeline.com>
Date: Sat, 10 Aug 1996 17:16:48 GMT
References: <1996Aug07.132048.3204@kiae.su> <1996Aug08.210648.4534@mindspring.com>
Organization: The Pipeline Internet Network
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In article <1996Aug08.210648.4534@mindspring.com>, hgarcia@mindspring.com (Hana García) writes:
> Socket U14 was probably for the decryption key lookup table. Without that EPROM, CPU #1 is running in an idle loop.

Marcus Hale designed the TWIN-68 board before he disappeared. That's why his initials are on the PCB silkscreen.

-- 
Andrei Santos -- The Pipeline Internet Network
"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary spectra."