From e7350ccc3328c2fa1ca6d4011c80ae7f0372e575 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Andreas Baumann Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2018 09:52:20 +0100 Subject: some more fixes on the unisys article --- content/blog/retro-computing-unisys.md | 37 +++++++++++++++++++--------------- 1 file changed, 21 insertions(+), 16 deletions(-) diff --git a/content/blog/retro-computing-unisys.md b/content/blog/retro-computing-unisys.md index 5e342a2..8f697c5 100644 --- a/content/blog/retro-computing-unisys.md +++ b/content/blog/retro-computing-unisys.md @@ -15,39 +15,43 @@ The Unisys CWD-4002 came as a i486 DX/2, 66 MHz, 16 MB RAM and a 512 MB hard dri And fits under my monitor, together with a Aten KVM switch and an Alix 1.E minicomputer: -{{< figure src="/images/blog/retro-computing-unisys/unisys-CDW-4002-backside.jpg" title="Backside view" >}} +{{< figure src="/images/blog/retro-computing-unisys/unisys-CDW-4002-backside.jpg" alt="Backside view" >}} -Ok, I increased the memory to a wooping 32 MB. And I bought an -IDE/SD-adapter as the 512 MB hard disk is not enough for a basic installation -of Archlinux32 and I don't know how long the hard disk would work anyway. -And old hard disks are really noisy. +Ok, I increased the memory to a whooping 32 MB. And I bought an +IDE-to-SD-adapter as the 512 MB hard disk is not enough for a basic installation +of Archlinux32 and I don't know how long the hard disk would work anyway: -It contains an 8 GB SD card, I'm still wondering how many GBs the BIOS can -swallow. At least booting from within the first 2 GB with LBA adressing -seems to work: +{{< figure src="/images/blog/retro-computing-unisys/unisys-CDW-4002-sd-ide.jpg" alt="SD card in a SD/IDE-adapter" >}} -{{< figure src="/images/blog/retro-computing-unisys/unisys-CDW-4002-sd-ide.jpg" title="SD card in a SD/IDE-adapter" >}} +And old hard disks are generally really noisy. + +The SD-adapter contains an 8 GB SD card, I'm still wondering how many GBs the BIOS can +swallow. At least booting from within the first 512 MB over a Grub on DOS +seems to work. Also due to the 2 GB limit on LBA in the BIOS I fear some +old operating systems can only access the first 2 GB. With a Linux I may +be able to use the disk space above 2 GB. The motherboard is a "486-DBA", First International Computer. It's quite -a neat design enough room to add an IDE raiser for one small ISA card: +a neat design, enough room to add an IDE raiser for one small ISA card: -{{< figure src="/images/blog/retro-computing-unisys/unisys-CDW-4002-inside.jpg" title="Inside the CDW-4002" >}} +{{< figure src="/images/blog/retro-computing-unisys/unisys-CDW-4002-inside.jpg" alt="Inside the CDW-4002" >}} On the back size there is a paper attached which tells about all the jumpers you can play with: -{{< figure src="/images/blog/retro-computing-unisys/unisys-CDW-4002-schematics.jpg" title="Schematics of the board" >}} +{{< figure src="/images/blog/retro-computing-unisys/unisys-CDW-4002-schematics.jpg" alt="Schematics of the board" >}} -There is a built-in network card (NE2000 compatible, an Accton/UNISYS UK0022). +There is a built-in network card (NE2000 compatible, an Accton/UNISYS UK0022, +the chips says on the outside). The graphic card is a Cirrus Logic GD5424 which is pretty standard. -I had to put in a sound card, the box has a quite unique ISA-riser design +I also put in a sound card, the box has quite an unique ISA-riser design and due to it's size you have to use a later model of an ISA 16-bit sound blaster which is small enough to fit. I went with a Creative Sound Blaster Vibra 16XV CT4170: -{{< figure src="/images/blog/retro-computing-unisys/unisys-CDW-4002-soundcard.jpg" title="ISA 16-bit sound card, CT4710" >}} +{{< figure src="/images/blog/retro-computing-unisys/unisys-CDW-4002-soundcard.jpg" alt="ISA 16-bit sound card, CT4710" >}} Instead of repeating all information I found, I have made a list of interesting videos, globs, articles, forums and download locations. @@ -97,7 +101,7 @@ series on Youtube by Andres Ramos. I want to be able to boot a modern Linux kernel and distribution on it. Currently I'm working on a "port" of [Archlinux32](http://www.archlinux32.org) to the i486 architecture using the [crosstool-ng](https://crosstool-ng.github.io/) -toolchain. +toolchain (see [bootstrap32](https://github.com/archlinux32/bootstrap32)). The installation process has to be something over iPXE, as a 1.44MB floppy really doesn't hold a kernel 4.15.x anymore. iPXE itself will need some @@ -117,6 +121,7 @@ patching for i486 too. * [8 bit museum](http://museo8bits.com/wiki/index.php/Unisys_CDW5001): Though it's about the Pentium based successor, it's worth a look * [French blog](http://www.win3x.org/win3board/viewtopic.php?t=20276) * [Windows 3.11 software installation](http://stephan.win31.de/w31mm_d1.htm): in German +* http://blarg.ca/mini-486-pc/ ### Hardware -- cgit v1.2.3-54-g00ecf