[rescue] 360 from Nuremberg

[Mike Ross]

On Thu, Jun 6, 2019 at 9:31 AM Phil Stracchino <phils at caerllewys.net> wrote:

> On 6/5/19 5:19 PM, Mike Ross wrote:
> > Well I need two things, one rather rare, one almost extinct:
> >
> > - A Sun machine to use for a front-end for the Connection Machines, a
> > SPARCserver-630 would be ideal since I know one has been used for this
> job
> > elsewhere.
> > - The special VME board, made by TMC, that allows the above machine to
> act
> > as a front-end!
>
>
> I imagine that VME board is going to be the really tough one.
>

'Really tough' barely begins to describe it. There is one - ONE - known to
exist on this planet, and it's in the SPARCserver-630 that is part of a
complete, 'should be working' CM-200A system at the Musee Bolo in
Switzerland.

It's possible the board from that machine may be physically or functionally
reverse-engineered, or cloned - I have some heavyweight assistance in this
project! But much better if I could scare up another board of course. Which
is unlikely but not impossible; the front-end Sun may have been retained
and repurposed by whatever institution owned the CM after the CM itself was
scrapped or otherwise taken away, and then sold or ended up in the hands of
a hacker, collector, or a Sun dealer,

This is the board in question:

https://twitter.com/eruptionchaser/status/980231562506641411

Critically, the Swiss museum also have all CM-2 software on the disks from
the SPARCserver-630 - and that's the the only copy of the software known to
exist! Without it, it's a boat anchor. They're in the process of imaging
all those disks.

Mike

http://www.corestore.org
'No greater love hath a man than he lay down his life for his brother.
Not for millions, not for glory, not for fame.
For one person, in the dark, where no one will ever know or see.'