NetBSD/luna68k Information

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DIP switch #2 is not used for any purpose.

ROM monitor commands are not like those found in popular UNIX boxes.

[ ... more info, differences between models ... ]

Here is an example of netbooting:

>k
ctlr: dk  et
host: omron        [enter]
sver: servername   [enter]
fnam: server:/vmunix  lala:netbsd.aout
>g
text(1585988)+data(0)+bss(72780) 
>x
[ Kernel symbol table missing! ]
Copyright (c) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,
    2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
    The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.  All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 1982, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1993
    The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
 ...

For the ROM monitor prompt '>', type the following hexadecimal address;

>4101ffe0[enter]
  4101FFE0: 30 30 30 30 30 41 30 32 *00000A02*
>[enter]
  4101FFE8: 34 33 30 46 00 00 00 00 *430F....*

in this example, the station address is 00:00:0A:02:43:0F.

Some older models do not store the station address in CPU ROM, but in NVRAM storage (found in V4.02 ROM monitor dated Oct 12 1988). See also next section.

The LUNA are equipped with the infamous (non)volatile timekeeping RAM Mostek 48T02. Like for Sun3s and SPARCstations, the backup battery wears out and eventually loses its contents. Whenever the LUNA ROM monitor detects the situation, it initializes the NVRAM with factory default values. A Dead NVRAM is cumbersome for daily operations because there is no way to automatically boot NetBSD/luna68k at powerup; you have to boot the machine in ROM monitor mode and enter the boot commands by hand, specifying explicit boot configuration every time.

Diagnostic Start....nvram initialize.
No problems in hardware
OMRON WS Monitor Ver4.22 (Thu Jul 27 11:45:42 1989) - 0x01000000 bytes of memory
"BSD Monitor-mode"
>

If you see the ROM monitor message shown above on powerup, the NVRAM battery is gone and the contents have been initialized with factory default values. To learn about the dead NVRAM syndrome, please refer to Frequently Asked Questions about Sun NVRAM/hostid.

Older models have Ethernet station address in the ENADDR environment variable. If the NVRAM wears out, the ROM monitor resets the value to 0:0:0:0:0:0, and the ROM monitor will refuse to netboot before until a valid address is set.

The author succeeded in installing new DS1642-70 NVRAM. The PROM detected it and initialized ("kick-start") the timekeeping circuit automagically. I purchased it from a Dallas Semiconductor credit card sale representative. The price was $16.89 on Jan 4 2000.

The LUNA is equipped with one 3.5" 'half height' hard disk drive made by either Conner, Fujitsu or Hitachi. They are slow and small disks of at best 172MB or 270MB capacity. It's a good idea to replace these low capacity drives with high capacity faster drives.

Remove the top cover first. It has one screw on the back. Remove the metal sheet on top, which also has one screw. Then, remove the side covers; look for one screw on the back of each one. The front bezel might be secured with screws on both sides. It has three leads on the top. Unlock them gently from metal notches, release the top first, then remove the bottom end.

The tape and disk unit forms a block secured by a metal lead on the top. Loosen the lead and slide the block to front end gently. When you got a little space, release the power and SCSI cables on the back. Pay attention to avoid finger injuries due to the low quality metal work.

The ROM monitor requires the disk drive to have SCSI ID #6. The disk drive may be at the end of SCSI cable or not. The LUNA requires at least one SCSI termination. Without a SCSI termination, the system won't be able to run.

The LUNA uses obscure serial connectors inherited from the old deskside VME machine design. It's close to impossible to obtain genuine cables, and the connector parts are very hard to find in market. See Tadashi Okamura's post for details.

The LUNA is equipped with an external SCSI connector. It's a micro DB50 connector, looks like the so called 'SCSI-2 connector' commonly found in any modern UNIX boxes, but it has a different gender! You can replace it by decomposing parts from a PC SCSI assembly; micro DB50 connector on ISA/PCI metal plate with 50-pin flat cable connector on back side. The item is available at conventional PC shops.