Anyone have a list of the differences?
Thanks
I guess NeXT never published the changes on the firmware revisions?
Quote from: "da9000"I guess NeXT never published the changes on the firmware revisions?
Looks like so. It would be cool to found a history. And to add a question: in the german mag NeXT2You i have read something about Beta ROMs higher than v74. I assume no one have one?
After some search on the Web and in my slab and Cubes :
EPROM - DATE - Type of computer - Frequency
0.8.30 1988 Cube 68030 25Mhz
0.8.31 1989 Cube 68030 25Mhz
1 1989 Cube 68030 25Mhz
1.1 1989
1.2 1989
2.1 1991
2.2 1991
2.4 v65
2.5 v66 Cube 68040 25MHz
3.0 v70 Station Turbo Color
3.3 v74 Station Turbo Color
I would like to have a copy of a recent EPROM ;)
My most recent is 2.5 v66... And, It appears that with possible to boot on CDROM (with NeXT Cube) with 3.x EPROM version...
Quote from: "emond"After some search on the Web and in my slab and Cubes :
EPROM - DATE - Type of computer - Frequency
0.8.30 1988 Cube 68030 25Mhz
0.8.31 1989 Cube 68030 25Mhz
1 1989 Cube 68030 25Mhz
1.1 1989
1.2 1989
2.1 1991
2.2 1991
2.4 v65
2.5 v66 Cube 68040 25MHz
3.0 v70 Station Turbo Color
3.3 v74 Station Turbo Color
I can add from one of my NeXTs
3.1 v71 1992 Turbo ROM
But the question was about a history/changes
Quote
I would like to have a copy of a recent EPROM ;)
My most recent is 2.5 v66...
This is the most recent for non-Turbo chipsets.
QuoteAnd, It appears that with possible to boot on CDROM (with NeXT Cube) with 3.x EPROM version...
If you have a Turbo board in your cube you can use the v74, with the "normal" board the v66
OK, you guarantee that the 3.x version EPROM do not working on 68040 25Mhz ?
Too bad, I have 1 slab 68040 and 3 cube's (1x 68030 25Mhz and 2x 68040 25Mhz) not Turbo Cube 68040 33Mhz :(
Quote from: "emond"OK, you guarantee that the 3.x version EPROM do not working on 68040 25Mhz ?
No, i have never tested it by myself so i can't "guarantee" anything.
Can you make a copy of the EPROM ?
Send me the bin file, and I recopy it my side to a new EPROM to make the test ?
@Emond:
Thank you for posting the list and your web research. Even though we don't know the changes between the various ROMs, it's good to have a list of the versions someplace.
One small addition: my 2.4/v65 is from 1991 and a 25Mhz (nonTurbo) Cube:
http://picasaweb.google.com/adonisoamigas/MyBlackBeautyMyPrecious/photo#5039088087633274242Quote from: "Andreas"
I can add from one of my NeXTs
3.1 v71 1992 Turbo ROM
Andreas, is that a Mono-TurboStation or Color-TurboStation?
And a couple of questions, which I have a feeling Andreas is best suited to answer:
1) Is there a program that will allow us to dump the (binary) ROM contents to a file?
2) What's the size of the ROM contents (not the EEPROM chip): 256KB, 512KB, more?
Thanks guys
EDIT: heh, I just noticed Emond also asking for making a copy/dump of the ROM contents :)
Me, to read/write Eprom (or other) I use Conitec Galep III, it is a universal programmer made in Germany ;)
http://www.conitec.com/hardware/epages/galep3.htmThe NeXT EPROM it's 64KB - TMS 27C512 (in 28 DIP package) for old revision (68030) but 128KB - TMS 27c010 (in DIP 32) in last revision from the 68040...
Quote from: "emond"Me, to read/write Eprom (or other) I use Conitec Galep III, it is a universal programmer made in Germany ;)
http://www.conitec.com/hardware/epages/galep3.htm
The NeXT EPROM it's 64KB - TMS 27C512 (in 28 DIP package) for old revision (68030) but 128KB - TMS 27c010 (in DIP 32) in last revision from the 68040...
Hi Emond, I'm looking for a software program to dump the contents of the ROM (as I don't have an *PROM reader/writer).
As for the size, 64KB and 128KB... Not bad. I guess disassemly is do-able at some point. Now if we could only find the changelogs...
So nobody knows of any tools to dump the ROM contents? If you do, please tell us :)
Now, irregardless of that, I believe I've found a source for this information. I'm going to work on getting it. I'm not sure what documents and what they contain exactly, but I was told that they have details about the ROM revisions. Keeping fingers crossed...
Quote from: "da9000"So nobody knows of any tools to dump the ROM contents? If you do, please tell us :)
No clue how to dump. I'm using also the way to remove the ROM and place it in a bunrner to read the content or burn a new one.
BTW, i have also succesfully used the 29xxx-types, they are erasable in burners instead the 27xxx types with light
Quote from: "da9000"
Andreas, is that a Mono-TurboStation or Color-TurboStation?
You can exchange the ROMs in every machine, the only restrictions i know are: the v66 and lower are for non-Turbo chipsets and the v71-4 are for Turbos.
I gotcha, Andreas. When I have some time I'll ask you to place the binary file someplace for I can look inside of it.
In the mean time, I'm wondering: does the ROM get mapped to a certain address range in the computer's memory space? In most computers it does. For example, on IBM PCs the ROM ("BIOS") gets mapped to 0xF0000-0xFFFFF if my memory serves right. On the Amiga it's mapped to 0xF00000-0xFFFFFF.
Quote from: "da9000"I gotcha, Andreas. When I have some time I'll ask you to place the binary file someplace for I can look inside of it.
In the mean time, I'm wondering: does the ROM get mapped to a certain address range in the computer's memory space? In most computers it does. For example, on IBM PCs the ROM ("BIOS") gets mapped to 0xF0000-0xFFFFF if my memory serves right. On the Amiga it's mapped to 0xF00000-0xFFFFFF.
I suspect it must and since NS/OS gives you a /dev/mem you should be able to use dd to dump the area of memory once you find it. [You can find lots of exmaples of using dd on /dev/mem from google]
-Mike
Quote from: "mgtremaine"
I suspect it must and since NS/OS gives you a /dev/mem you should be able to use dd to dump the area of memory once you find it. [You can find lots of exmaples of using dd on /dev/mem from google]
-Mike
It would be very easy indeed (I'm familiar with dd, only need to find out the starting/ending location of the ROM) if indeed it was mapped in the RAM address space. As far as I know that is what /dev/mem points to. So /dev/map will allow legal access to memory from the 0th byte to RAM_SIZE byte, but not beyond that, and typically ROMs are placed at the end of the machine addressable space, or not contiguously with the RAM.
It's also possible that it's not mapped to the normal address space, but is accessed somehow else (port I/O for example). Unlikely, but possibly. I'm still learning about the NeXT architecture. I'll poke around more when I have some more time. For now I'm trying to collect as much useful info as possible :)
Quote from: "da9000"
It would be very easy indeed (I'm familiar with dd, only need to find out the starting/ending location of the ROM) if indeed it was mapped in the RAM address space. As far as I know that is what /dev/mem points to. So /dev/map will allow legal access to memory from the 0th byte to RAM_SIZE byte, but not beyond that, and typically ROMs are placed at the end of the machine addressable space, or not contiguously with the RAM.
It's also possible that it's not mapped to the normal address space, but is accessed somehow else (port I/O for example). Unlikely, but possibly. I'm still learning about the NeXT architecture. I'll poke around more when I have some more time. For now I'm trying to collect as much useful info as possible :)
The nekochan the community had/has a dumping project for all the SGI ROM's [ofcourse the SGI PROM has a dump/fill command so it is easy] but if you want to see a examples of byte swapping/endianess and using strings to read out some of the text in the ROM searching their boards might help.
I diffenetly think we should be able to get the ROM out somehow, next time I boot up my nextstation I'll poke around as well.
-Mike
I'll keep it in mind and take a look at their forums when I start poking around. Thanks Mike.
Since I can't resist fiddling :lol:
On my turbo color slab
dd if=/dev/mem of=test.bin bs=512
produced
-rw-r--r-- 1 root 131072 Apr 24 13:17 test.bin
And when you strings test.bin
you see some lovely stuff like
NeXT ROM monitor commands:
p inspect/modify configuration parameters
a [n] open address register
m print memory configuration
d [n] open data register
r [regname] open processor register
s [systemreg] open system register
e [lwb] [alist] [format] examine memory location addr
ec print recorded system error codes
ej [drive #] eject optical disk (default = 0)
eo (same as above)
ef [drive #] eject floppy disk (default = 0)
c continue execution at last pc location
b [device[(ctrl,unit,part)] [filename] [flags]] boot from device
S [fcode] open function code (address space)
R [radix] set input radix
Notes:
So I'd say it is there and /dev/mem , and it might just be only the ROM, they are 128K ROM chips right?
-Mike
Woa, that's strange indeed! Yes, from what you're getting it seems that's the one, and as the others pointed out they're either 64KB or 128KB chips! I was basing my assumption on other Unixes, such as Linux, which use /dev/mem to point to the RAM address space. Strange indeed. Always a good time to learn! I'll try to find some time to fiddle around with it too :)
Quote from: "mgtremaine"
So I'd say it is there and /dev/mem , and it might just be only the ROM, they are 128K ROM chips right?
You are right. you can compare it with this:
http://freenet-homepage.de/a_berger/images/rom/next_v74.binhttp://freenet-homepage.de/a_berger/images/rom/next_v66.binYou should also read this thread for the differences in the beginning of the ROM (MAC Adresse and CRC-sum)
http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11
Quote from: "Andreas"
You should also read this thread for the differences in the beginning of the ROM (MAC Adresse and CRC-sum)
http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11
Thank you Andreas, I had not seen that thread in the forums.
Quote from: "Andreas"
You are right. you can compare it with this:
http://freenet-homepage.de/a_berger/images/rom/next_v74.bin
Pretty much the same. I did a diff -a nextrom_v74.bin next_v74.bin and there is only 1 line that comes back as different [Probably the mac address]. I can post my ROM if it would help anyone.
-Mike
Quote from: "mgtremaine"
Pretty much the same. I did a diff -a nextrom_v74.bin next_v74.bin and there is only 1 line that comes back as different [Probably the mac address]. I can post my ROM if it would help anyone.
http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11
I received a mono NextStation (non-turbo) with ROM 3.1 v71. Everything I see online about this version suggests it's strictly for the turbo models, but my system seems to be running properly. Comments?
If you have 72pin simm ram you have a down-clocked turbo motherboard.