Home » RBC Forums » General Discussion » Nortel Call Processor NT9D19AB (68040) (using it for parts in my own 68040 design)
| Nortel Call Processor NT9D19AB (68040) [message #9713] |
Tue, 01 February 2022 15:57  |
newjes250
Messages: 14
Registered: May 2020
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Junior Member |
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I have been collecting parts for use in my own 68040 design. Largely I have decided to use Nortel Call Processors purchases from Ebay.
If you search for some time you can obtain these at somewhat decent prices. I have got 3 boards so far - the first two were 68060E type, and the last is 68040. I decided to use the 68040 card as the first to actually depopulate for parts.
Some noted parts:
68LC040RC33 - main processor with 33.333 Mhz full can Oscillator
Two 16MB Flash ROM sticks at 70ns (8 devices, 4 on each side)
these are +3v/+5v selectable, 8bit or 16bit selectable
One 16MB Dram, 72pin, 8 devices on front, 4Mx4bit with parity ics on rear side
There are 4 slots for DRAM and 4 for Flash-ROM.
One 68692 Duart with regular 1488/1489 for two channels.
Two 22V10 GALs. 4 Large LSI chips of unknown functions.
Lots of 74ABT16244s and 74ABT16245s which are 16bit versions of regular 244 buffers and 245 bus transceivers.
Two other full can Oscillators probably for baudrate use.
Many other parts, like small 1602 or 1604 type LCD display.
All nice parts for my own 64040 design.
I have searched for Nortel documents but found only bits and pieces of information.
No schematics which is typical from manufactuers like Nortel.
I will add more information as I dive into this project.
Maybe there are others who are eyeing these Nortel boards for their own use.
I got this last 68040 board for $25 with free shipping from Ebay.
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| Re: Nortel Call Processor NT9D19AB (68040) [message #9759 is a reply to message #9713] |
Sun, 13 February 2022 14:56  |
newjes250
Messages: 14
Registered: May 2020
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Junior Member |
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Well life got in my way of hobby things, but maybe I can give some more insight into using these
Nortel processor boards for free time activities.
First of all, I wish I had the Pace desolder station and 5000 buck microscope I used in work years of days gone by -
now I have a large solder sucker and 125 or so buck digital LCD based microscope (nice for the price). I started by removing
the full can oscillators (33.33 Mhz for 68LC040RC33 processor, 11.0592 Mhz and 3.6864 Mhz should be for baudrate use), and
one 4.19403 Mhz crystal. I used both hot air and solder iron to get these out, so I will test them later to make sure they are
still good. I removed a lot of the SMD buffers and such, some resister flat packs, etc.
I believe I have a Nortel board design that can be used for both the 68040 and 68060: reasons I think so is (1) there is a unpopulated
area with SMD pads large enough to be a +3.3 volt regulator next to the processor and near the bottom plugin for the board, (2)
rows of pins on the processor appear to be not used, and (3) my 68060 Nortel boards have what I believe is a small soldered-in board
with components that I believe are a +3.3 volt regulator (this 68040 design looks like a effort to make the +3.3 volt SMD instead of a
separate board).
With the 68040 soldered in (no socket), I have decided to remove it last - to give myself the best chance of keeping it undamaged.
Something I did not mention last time - there is a oldered-in 72pin board near the processor (not all of the pins are used by actual
board which has 8 SRAM chips of 20ns speed. It appears to be 256KB x 32 bits - or 1MB of fast SRAM - could that be for the stack? or
an area use for fast buffering/calculations?
I plan on removing as many of the SMD components next as possible and leave the important stuff until last. I definitely want to remove
everything important undamaged if at all possible.
Hoping no more lifes (water leaks - plumbing adventures) use up my hobby efforts - until next time.
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| Re: Nortel Call Processor NT9D19AB (68040) [message #10102 is a reply to message #9850] |
Sat, 20 August 2022 19:20 |
newjes250
Messages: 14
Registered: May 2020
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Junior Member |
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@tomstorey
Your idea that the 20ns Sram board is for important customer call data could be right on.
Well, I finally got back to this thread - not forgotten - had to do a lot of things:
1) First the project has expanded since it will now be multi-level: I still will use the parts from my Nortel Processor cards,
but add other new parts as well.
2) This project is all about making a 32bit computer of my own, however using the ideas and projects of the retro community,
a group of individuals interested in using modern available electronic devices to build or enhance retro computers of yesterday
or unique designs inspired by those older computers.
3) I will now start building my computer using as a first core item: the Amiga A1200 blank pcb, revision 1.5, white in color.
I do not think I could ever find the custom ICs, or even some more available ones, due to very expensive prices that is demanded
now days by ebay sellers, etc.
4) That being my new goal: how to accomplish the task?
5) It will never be an Amiga A1200 - but my own 32bit computer running HumBug monitor at the beginning.
STAGE ONE of my project:
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Step One: Solder in the 68ec020 processor, and ZIP sockets on small plug-in board for use by ROMs, add SRAMs, and RS-232 port components.
This will get me to a minimal 68020 talking to the Serial port connector.
Step Two: At the Serial port, I will plug in a Serial Terminal Emulator to give me PS2 keyboard input and VGA text output.
This will get Stage One working.
STAGE TWO of my project:
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Step One: Plug in an Amiga A1230 blank pcb at the expansion 150-pin edge connector.
Add components to it and switch over to the 68030 processor, instead of the A1200's 68020.
Step Two: See the adventure of making my 32bit computer working with a 68030.
Add the IDE port using CF plug-in adapter and get it working.
Step Three: Add the SDRAM devices last.
This will get STAGE TWO working.
STAGE THREE of my project:
-------------------------
Step One: Remove the Amiga A1230 populated card, and plug-in an Amiga A1260 blank pcb.
Begin the same effort as STAGE TWO, but with a 68LC060 processor.
Step Two: See the adventure of making my 32bit computer working with a 68060.
Remember I already have two 68060E Nortel Call Processor boards as donors cards.
The Adventure will be seeing each step working before advancing to the next step.
I have added a new 4-foot workbench from Home Depot, plus modified my Andonstar AD207 microscope
to have double it's vertical working focal distance (easy modification), plus bought a bunch of
new parts from Ebay and lots of blank pcbs from Ukraine, Poland, UK, France, Germany, etc.
Until next time, happy soldering!
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| Re: Nortel Call Processor NT9D19AB (68040) [message #10106 is a reply to message #10103] |
Sun, 21 August 2022 10:24 |
newjes250
Messages: 14
Registered: May 2020
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Junior Member |
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@mikesmith
Interest in the Nortel boards? YES, absolutely! Difficulty in using them? I am bypassing using them except as a source of parts - I did get three of them
at relatively low cost. My method was persistence - checking out the sellers: main one appears to be a representative of Nortel, service/sales type, and as such is offering cards at what the ebay market will bear, upper end for prices. I got one card without plastic front panel for about $20. Another one was from a seller who sold other things and just wanted to sell it, cheaply. The 68040 card just cost $25.
There is one 68692 Duart using regular 1488/1489 chips located near the bottom plug-in connector for insertion of board into system backplane/motherboard.
It's connection is through that system backplane, no provision was provided at the front panel, as you stated.
I will be using a recent purchase of a support board from Peripheral Technology: a RS-232 Serial Terminal Emulator, being sold to people using older products,
such as the PT68K-2 (68000 with 1MB dram and XT 8bit PC style slots). I built up their PT68K-4 system (16Mhz 68000 with 4MB dram) back in the 1980's. I built it in kit form, probably 5 kits that brought it up one step at a time - running on 2 srams, then NV sram RTC, using one RS-232 port to talk to a PC. Added a 6845-type video card to composite monitor. Added 1MB dram at a time when those chips were Expensive! until I had all 4MB dram. Added floppy drive and new monitor EPROMs to boot OS9-68K for the first time. Then switched to Paradise VGA card, and MFM HD interface card with 40MB drive. The cost of software was put off until last: OS-9 and C compiler were costly items.
Glad to see you are into OS-9: This project to have a 32bit 680x0 system was inspired by my use of the PT68k-4, and a desire to have a Motorola 68060 system,
maybe using OS-9 if possible, but first HumBug monitor just to get going.
I have the Tiny68k from Plasmo, also CB030 board (not built yet) to also keep me soldering and learning!
Jesse (newjes250)
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| Re: Nortel Call Processor NT9D19AB (68040) [message #10108 is a reply to message #10106] |
Sun, 21 August 2022 16:36 |
mikesmith
Messages: 80
Registered: March 2018
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Member |
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newjes250 wrote on Sun, 21 August 2022 10:24
There is one 68692 Duart using regular 1488/1489 chips located near the bottom plug-in connector for insertion of board into system backplane/motherboard.
It's connection is through that system backplane, no provision was provided at the front panel, as you stated.
Interesting. I might have to repeat your exercise and see if I can coax the card into saying anything on that port. 
Quote:Glad to see you are into OS-9: This project to have a 32bit 680x0 system was inspired by my use of the PT68k-4, and a desire to have a Motorola 68060 system,
maybe using OS-9 if possible, but first HumBug monitor just to get going.
I just ordered an MVME177 for a "reasonable" price. They're well-documented, and I settled for the 50MHz version to keep the cost down. The MVME172 sometimes shows up for junk money when people don't realise what it is, though memory options are limited. Occasionally a Force Sys68K CPU-60 will surface; there is some documentation on these and because they're "not Motorola" they're sometimes cheaper. VME systems have lots of hidden infrastructure costs, sadly.
Thanks for pointing out that the PTI systems are available again... back in the 80s I used to see them in magazines, but I was young and poor so all I could do was dream. Now it looks like I'll have *another* system in my queue shortly.
Quote:I have the Tiny68k from Plasmo, also CB030 board (not built yet) to also keep me soldering and learning!
I blame the Tiny68k for getting me (back) into m68k tinkering. It's a lot of computer in a deceptively tiny space, and yet super approachable.
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| Re: Nortel Call Processor NT9D19AB (68040) [message #10118 is a reply to message #10113] |
Sat, 27 August 2022 16:06 |
mikesmith
Messages: 80
Registered: March 2018
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Member |
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I picked up one of the '040 boards cheap, and since it's too hot today to be out in the garage, I figured I'd poke at it a bit. Some notes so far:
+5 input on pins 89D,90D
GND on pins 89A, 90A
+V RS232 (+12?) on 28D,29D,28C (seems to be used for other things too)
-V RS232 (-12?) on 17D
TxDA out on 50A
There's a small (8K) EEPROM on the board, and 4x 168pin 5V DIMM slots for flash. I don't have anything that can read these, but getting their contents off would probably be educational.
Applying 5V does not boot the board; it draw about 2.5A and lights the red front panel LED. No serial output on either TxDA or TxDB.
The '040 itself is not being held in reset. #RSTI stays low for a few hundred ms at power-on, but after that it seems to remain high. PST[0..3] are [1,0,1,0] which the user manual says is a double bus fault. It'll need a logic analyser to work it out from here I think.
re: the soldered-in SIMM next to the CPU; it's 1M of fast SRAM, so probably an L2 cache managed by the CPLD.
[I will edit this if I work anything else out]
[Updated on: Sat, 27 August 2022 18:55] Report message to a moderator |
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