Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!agate!bionet!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!dogie!indri!eta!nic.MR.NET!umn-d-ub!umn-cs!mmm!schultz
From: schultz@mmm.UUCP (John C Schultz)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.nsc.32k
Subject: Re: ICM-3216 questions
Summary: GNU EMACS will work, UofT will supply a port
Keywords: ICM, 32016, minibus, MBIC, graphics, x.25, ICM-332, expansion
Message-ID: <1253@mmm.UUCP>
Date: 15 Apr 89 02:05:15 GMT
References: <18414@gatech.edu>
Reply-To: schultz@mmm.UUCP (John C Schultz)
Organization: 3M Engineering Systems & Technology Lab, St. Paul MN
Lines: 85

In article <18414@gatech.edu> ken@gatech.edu (Ken Seefried III) writes:
>	What is the status of the ICM project at National (including
>	the later ICM-332?  (I am under the impression it is dead).

   The ICM project is pretty dead last I heard.  National kind of left
it to hang out and dry (Why I am not sure).  In my case it is a pretty
good reason not to consider using National stuff at work.

>
>	Is any ICM stuff still availible from National, like software,
>	memory boards, the ICM-SIO-M-8 eight serial I/O board, etc.?

I am trying to donate, to a charitable organization my ICM w 100 MB
disk. Are you a charitable organization and can you prove it to the IRS?

>	Is it availible elsewhere?  Anyone throwing one away...;')?

I didn't know they made a Ethernet controller - any software?

>
>	What is the status of the 'MiniBus' interface and the
>	ICM-MBIC-C MiniBus interface chip?  Are there Application
>	notes dealing with MiniBus interfacing? (I'll BUILD a graphics
>	board if I have to...;')
>

At one time I heard mention of a gate array which was supposed to make
the Minibus wonderful.  Never actually heard of silicon though.

>
>Other, related questions:
>
>	I understand that at one time there was (be still my beating
>	heart) a 4.2 BSD port to the ICM-3216 done by a Canadian
>	university (U of Toronto???).  What is the word on this??
>	Is there plans for 4.3?  Is there support for the ICM Ethernet
>	board (TCP/IP, etc.) in this Unix?

UofT will still supply a BSD 4.2 port as I found out a couple months
ago after about 2 years of trying.  The person who wrote it is no
longer at UofT but UofT is still willing to sell it for about $400.
Since it is a pretty stable product (as several people on the net have
said) buying it under these conditions would probably be OK (If you
want to sink more money into an ICM?)  I can't find the letter at the
moment but I can post the phone and/or mailing address when I clean my
desk off. :-)

>
>	Anyone running the GNU tools on an ICM board? (life wouldn't
>	be worth living without GNU Emacs) I guess this would be
>	either under System V.2, System V.3 (does this run? I know
>	National has it), Genix, or U of Toronto BSD 4.2.

I have ported GNU EMACS about 18.49 to the (very) raw SYS V.2.2
distribution from National.  I have rev B of the software which needed
the following hacks.

in m-ns16000.h:
#define SHORT_CAST_UG
#define NO_REMAP

and the most serious problem in malloc.c, get_lim_data(), was that
ulimit(3,0)  is brain dead (on my version) and I replaced it by 
        while (srk(128 * 1024) > 0)
          lim_data = sbrk(0);

My only comment was that SDB was at least up to debugging GNU EMACS
and introduced me to real symbolic debuggers.

>
>	...ken seefried iii
>	   ken@gatech.edu


Good luck and let me know if you are a non-profit organization.  

(P.S. My opinion of the ICM is that the CPU is fine (about a VAX 780
MIP) but the disk controller stinks.  Also I have gotten used to SUN 3
performance and SUNOS.  You can purchase later releases of the
software from National (rev H, I think), and while they recommend
hardware modifications, they probably aren't needed.)
-- 
 john c. schultz   schultz@3M.Com   ..!uiucuxc!mmm!schultz  (612) 733-4047
           3M Center, Bldg 518-1-1, St. Paul, MN 55144-1000
  The opinions expressed herein are, as always, my own and not 3M's.