4 ms·
Ethernet was invented for the Alto, so it was the first machine to boot over Ethernet. (I don't know if any other machines did network boot earlier, using other
by kens 10y ago
Ethernet was invented for the Alto, so it was the first machine to boot over Ethernet. (I don't know if any other machines did network boot earlier, using other networks.)
One entertaining thing about Alto boot: you could select a different boot address (i.e. boot something different) by pressing various keys at boot time. Each key controlled a different bit, so you would press many keys at once. This was called "nose boot" since you might need to use your nose to press a key if you ran out of fingers.
The Alto clock is 5.88 MHz, so the signals aren't as high frequency as modern computers. We could probably get crisper signals with better probing, but since we just want to see the signals, the quality isn't too important.
- MrBuddyCasino 10y agoSo ctrl+alt+del did have some precedent... Good luck with the restoration effort, tracing the instructions using a logic analyzer seems like a daunting prospect, especially with such an arcane instruction set. Thanks for the detailed articles, it is much appreciated!
- joezydeco 10y agoMan, doing that digital work with a scope can be painful at times. I'd really recommend a Saleae Logic here to scope out your digital lines. You probably don't need the high-level protocol decoding at this point, but for capturing longer blocks of data with a great interface you can't beat this tool. https://www.saleae.com/ https://www.saleae.com/
- kens 10y agoWe (i.e. Marc) have a fancy HP logic analyzer with many, many input lines, so the plan is to use that next session. (Not that I have anything against the Saleae system.) I expect that once we can trace the executing code, we'll be able to figure out the problem quickly.