Siemens Nixdorf RM400 Model 05
(not too sure about the exact model)
Last updated: 16.09.2003

[SNI RM400 with case opened]



Trivia This lovely boxette has a rather average history, except that we did derive the root password for the installed operating system from the website of her former owner. This particular RM was used as central processing unit for close to all computing needs in an environment with about 35 concurrent users.

Bascially the poor thing was used as an emulator for a complete Nixdorf Quattro 8870/Business Basic environment. The emulation was accomplished by the use of X-Basic (Cross-Basic), which, of course, has been removed from the box.

Needs If you're in a position to hand out a complete Sinix-N installation set (including a valid license), we'd like to kindly ask you to give us a call or send us some mail in order to have a chat about the details.

Do you know this RM400 model ? What's its exact model number ? Any documentation left ? Software ? Any hints ? Come on, it's not that hard to write some mail, and help us waste some more time on this great piece of hardware.

Some firmware/sash update for fixing bootp would be wonderful.

dksetup for Sinix-N 5.41 - Right. It's missing from the installation (*sigh*)

Please visit the main page of this site for contact information.

Configuration Some totally crippled Sinix-N 5.41, 32 Megs of RAM a 760MB Micropolis Hdd some QIC streamer and a fdd. On the brighter side of things, the machine has a System V Lachman IP Stack installed.

The CPU is a MIPS R3000A at a whooping 33MHz, accompanied by a MIPS R3010 FPU.

Here's some more info: 
foo@rm400:~# uname -a
SINIX-N rm400 5.41 A2000 RM400 1/32 R3000


foo@rm400:~# autoconf -l
System Configuration:
   onbrd00 
     cpu00 SINIX-N unix 5.41 A2000 RM400 R3000
       cpu00 Board-ID:%00000101, Watchdog:off, RDBURST:on, WRBURST:off
       mem01 ram-size:0x2000000, NMI:on, ERWB_conf:%11111111
     ios0/scon00 IOS SCSI Host Adaptor NCRC700, single ended
       ios0/sdisk000 Micropolis 1588 (512ZC) -- Micropolis 1588 (512ZC)
       ios0/sdisk004 Unknown SCSI Disk -- 
     ios0/scon01 IOS SCSI Host Adaptor NCRC700, differential ended
     lc00 i82596 LAN Coprocessor [8:0:6:2:46:31]
     du00 SC2681 (Port A/B)
       term/00 SC2681(Port A): console/mouse
       term/01 SC2681(Port B): tty (modem control)
       term/02 SC2681(Port B): DIAL IN (modem control)
       term/03 SC2681(Port B): DIAL OUT (modem control)
       term/04 SC2681(Port B): TELESERVICE (modem control)
     du01 VL16C552 (Port 0/1)
       term/05 VL16C552(Port 0): tty (modem control)
       term/06 VL16C552(Port 1): tty (modem control)
   at00 On-board AT-BUS
     fd00 WD37C65C Floppy Disk Subsystem Controller
       flp/fx3h 3.5" DS/HD Floppy Disk Drive
     chse00 DU73 Serial I/O Controller AT16+ V4.04, Master


The machine is supposedly running in Big Endian mode, here's what file(1) tells us about the RMs kernel file under NetBSD/vax: 
foo@phatvax:~$ file unix
unix: MIPSEB ECOFF executable (impure) not stripped - version 9.0
And here's the output from the SINIX-N 5.41 file(1) command: 
foo@rm400:/$ file unix
unix:           mipseb executable not stripped - version 9.0
Blurb At the time of this writing no other operating system than Sinix-N is known to be working on this oldtimer. The firmware is rather old and fails to bootp-load each and any kernel of all operating systems we ever tried (the beloved "bootp operation not supported" error ...).

Here's a log of a complete boot. Please note, that the machine defaults to do a remote boot (on purpose), lines preceeded by ">> " are commands entered to boot from the local disc. 
Running Power-On Diagnostics...
Cache Test #1...PASSED
Cache Test #2...PASSED
Data Cache MATS+ Test...PASSED
Instruction Cache MATS+ Test...PASSED
Data Cache Block Refill Test...PASSED
Instruction Cache Block Refill Test...PASSED
Write Buffer Test...PASSED
Memory Test...PASSED
TLB Test...PASSED
Exception Test...PASSED
NMI-Test...PASSED
ICU Test...PASSED
Battery Check Test...PASSED
NVRAM Test...PASSED
Write-Burst Test...PASSED
Duart 2681 Port Tests...PASSED
Duart 452/552 Port Tests...PASSED
Centronics 452/552 Port Test...PASSED
FP Test #1...PASSED
FP Test #2...PASSED
SCSI CONTROLLER 0:
  Read/Write Test...PASSED
  Inc/Dec Test...PASSED
  SCSI FIFO Test...PASSED
  DMA FIFO Test...PASSED
  SCRIPT Interrupt Test...PASSED
SCSI CONTROLLER 1:
  Read/Write Test...PASSED
  Inc/Dec Test...PASSED
  SCSI FIFO Test...PASSED
  DMA FIFO Test...PASSED
  SCRIPT Interrupt Test...PASSED
Ethernet PROM Test...PASSED
  Ethernet address: 08:00:06:02:46:31 
  Checksum: 0x00
LAN Coprocessor (i82596) Test...PASSED
Time-of-Day Clock Test...PASSED
8254 Timer 00 Test...PASSED
8254 Timer 01 Test...PASSED
8254 Timer 02 Test...PASSED

Ending Power-On Diagnostics...
Machine is coming up...

Autoboot: Waiting to load bootp()netbsd (CTRL-C to abort, RETURN to expedite)
CONSOLE ABORT

exit(-1) called

SNI Monitor    Version 1.21 SNI DBG Tue Jun 22 14:13:22 MEZ 1993 haa
Memory size: 32 MBytes (0x2000000 bytes)
Bank #0:  32MByte        Bank #1:   0MByte
Bank #2:   0MByte        Bank #3:   0MByte
Icache size: 65536 (0x10000) bytes
Dcache size: 65536 (0x10000) bytes
>> printenv
netaddr=192.168.100.180
ethernetaddr=8:0:6:2:46:31
lbaud=9600
rbaud=9600
bootfile=bootp()netbsd
bootmode=c
console=l
console_dev=tty(0)
grafic_dev=none
tty(0)_if=S1(108)/S2(105)/
tty552(0)_if=S1(108)/S2(105)/M5(109) 
tty552(1)_if=S1(108)/S2(105)/M5(109) 
cpuid=0
resetepc=0xbfc01504
resetra=0xbfc00220
version=1.21
lantype=ethernet
TS_baud=19200
TS_bit/char=8
TS_parity=no
TS_stopbits=1
TS_if=S1(108)/S2(105)/M2(106)/M5(109) 
TS_flags=tse
>> dkncr(0,0,10)sash
360976+130128+453936 entry: 0xa0400000
SNI Standalone Shell    Version 1.16 SNI DBG Wed Nov 11 10:58:15 MEZ 1992 haa
sash: dkncr(0,0,0)unix
1717232+572896+595088 entry: 0x800c0000

SNI  RM400
UNIX(R) SINIX-N Release 5.41 Version A2000
Copyright (c) 1990, 1991 Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG
Copyright (c) 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 Pyramid Technology Corp.
All Rights Reserved

Processor Configuration:
    Boot  processor:   Cpu #0 (p0)
    Other processor(s):    None.
CPU 0:	MIPS R3000 Processor Chip Revision: 3.0
FPU 0:	MIPS R3010 VLSI Floating Point Chip Revision: 4.0
Delay multiplier = 552, cnt = 116
Mirror Disk initialization ... completed.
wd8514 driver: WD8514 NOT INSTALLED
cpu00 : cpu board configuration
[B8000000] lc00 : i82596 LAN COProcessor
[BA000000] ios0/scon00 : IOS SCSI Host Adaptor
[BB000000] ios0/scon01 : IOS SCSI Host Adaptor
[BC0000E0] du00 : SC2681 (Port A/B)
[BC000000] du01 : VL16C552 (Port 0/1)
at00 : AT Bus configuration
[B00001F8] chse00 : DU73 Serial I/O Controller AT16+, Master
[B00003F2] fd00 : WD37C65C Floppy Disk Subsystem Controller
LANCOP: Ethernet Address [8:0:6:2:46:31]
Total real memory  = 33554432
Available memory   = 28205056

The root file system (/dev/rroot) appears clean.
Node: rm400
/sbin/dkconfig -vac
dkconfig: /etc/dktab is null.
The system is coming up.  Please wait.
rc2 start: Checking all FS in optimal order..
Siemens License Daemon started
starting swap on /dev/ios0/sdisk000s1 offset 0 len 164430
Start iocs      : 


                   IOCS-Release 2.4

  Copyright (c) Nixdorf Computer AG 1987, 1988, 1989,
                All Rights Reserved
  Copyright (c) Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG 1990, 1991,
                All Rights Reserved

iocs_zp has been started
iocs_check has been started

All iocs processes started.
lpsched         : Spoolsystem restartet.
****** Trying to restart the spoolsystem ******
Spoolsystem repaired.
started.
X T P : starting Interface with Label foobar Flags=0
NOTICE:
Found 82212 KB of swap space, which is enough for
      27544 KB of main memory
The system is ready.


rm400


Console Login:
Links There's not much left to link to for this box, sadly.
http://www.netbsd.org is a good place to start digging. Take a look at the MIPS based ports, there.
http://www.linux-mips.org might be worth a try, also.
http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com keeps some manuals on Reliant Unix and RM400 models (excluding the 05, as it seems).

To be continued ...

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