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20Oct/251

Building an ARCNET (also Pure Data PDI 508+)

No, not an ARPANET, an ARCNET. I was recently given a box'o'junk from a friend who was cleaning up a telco engineers house and, honestly, had no idea what I was look at!

Turns out that it's a box full of ARCNET cards and some patch panels. Tiny 8-bit cards, longer 8-bit cards, huge 8-bit cards and even some 16-bit cards! A lot of them are Pure Data branded. Another name I'd never heard of... I did see a bit of SMC though!

I then went down a rabbit-hole of research... with everything seeming to indicate that these cards will simply work as the physical layer to whichever protocol you wish to run on top... so... let's try it!?

The Machines

First up we have a Toshiba T3200 286 Laptop. This thing has an 8-bit and 16-bit ISA slot in the rear, and the usual IEC-13 power plug. Quite the beast. Although it's old and tired, it'll work nicely with Microsoft LAN Manager. Turns out the drivers are already there!

Next up is a 486 DX4/100 and a P2-350. These are the usual desktop workhorses for writing floppies and testing old hardware. They've been sleeping for a while and are quite buried... so it'll be a bit of work to spin them up and test things.

SMC ARCNET PC270E

I chose this card as the first test article. There's a few in the box and they have the least dipswitches of all cards (that have dipswitches) that aren't PNP?. Turns out there's also a one-size-fits-all driver for this card and it's included in all systems I tried.

2. PC130 (SMC 8-bit driver): Newer 8-bit SMC boards with SMC90C63 controller
   chips use the PC130 family workstation driver. RXNET and TRXNET drivers
   can also be used. Boards in this group include the PC120, PC130, PC130E,
   PC220, PC260, and PC270E. The PC130 driver is a workstation only driver.
   If you wish to one of these boards in the server please use the RXNET
   or TRXNET drivers.

Being dipswitch-based, the jumper settings can be found here. Note that 0 is ON and 1 is OFF. That really confused me and I kept configuring the switches in the reverse order; wondering why nothing was working.

With a card in each of the machines, I started hooking up the cabling was exactly the same as an Apple LocalTalk network. RJ11 cables between nodes (any port on the cards) and terminating resistors at the far ends.

After setting some static IPs, I could ping from PC to PC! Unfortunately, the MSLANMAN 2.x installation on the 286 wouldn't ping in either direction.

SMC ARCNET PC260

This card works with the stock drivers but, with the driver installed, Windows 95 started to actually lag. Window and control re-draw rates slow right down, but the card still works. I can only really recommend using these in DOS or lower?

Although I did also try with Windows 98 and it worked fine... so it may have just been an incompatibility with the DX4/100 motherboard and/or resource settings.

PUREDATA PDI507

This seems to be very similar to the SMC above. It also includes BNC for when you don't feel like stringing RJ11 around the house.

PUREDATA PDI508+

This was a can'o'worms. I couldn't get a response from the card in any machine I tried. Windows has the drivers for these cards by default, but they always just showed up as driver failed to load.

There are hardly any settings, as it seems this is a very early PNP card!? Amazing... but frustrating as this EISA configuration document indicates that we need a custom configuration app to configure the settings:

Select desired Network Operating System or General Use to obtain valid hardware configuration options.
PDI508 ArcNet provides a configuration file CFGI508.EXE that will set all memory, I/O, and interrupts (also set through jumper JP2).

Oh great... well... I'm sure this blog will become the first (and only) hit for CFGI508.EXE on the web... as it's lost to time. Or is it? Turns out there's currently an auction for a 5 1/2" disk with, I assume, that exact configuraton app on it... but it's exorbitant. Then again, it's not like I haven't scoured auctions to find configuration apps before.

What is hilarious though, is that this auction has photos of the manual... and I stole them:

Hah.. look at that... default settings! Of course, it's the exact default of the earlier PureData/SMC cards.

Option	Default value
Memory Address	0xD000
I/O Base Address	0x2E0
IRQ	2
Node Address	0xF0 or 0xF1?
Response Time	74us

But how, you may ask, do we get the default settings to apply? Turns out there's a jumper on the card to clear the settings! stason.org to the rescue with the board layout! I assume it's a bridge-jumper and boot to clear... then power off, remove bridge, power up and go.

And well, it just worked with the default settings. Perfectly! But, you know what? I want the software... so I bought it...

and...

Yey! The files! I backed it up straight away. The configuration app works in the laptop... but not on the Windows 98 Dos Prompt. Either way, I can re-configure cards now!

And here are the files:

And finally, ACHEIVEMENT UNLOCKED: I've uploaded all of this to archive.org!

Filed under: Retro 1 Comment

14Oct/250

Hankai Tramway, Osaka – May, 2025

I'd been alerted that the oldest operational vehicle in Japan would be operating over Golden Week on the Hankai Tramway in Osaka. It's a Mo161 couldn't resist checking it out as they usually don't run during summer due to a lack of air-con...

I arrived at Shin-Imamiya-Ekimae via the Osaka Loop Line and didn't have to wait long for a south-bound service.

My goal was to get Abikomichi Station and view the tram depot. The Mo161 tour would start from there.

I tell you what, it was quite a ride! Definitely hold on if you're standing up. The fans were already starting to linger around Abikomichi Station, so I just loitered, watching the services pass as we waited for the star of the show to appear.

It was interesting to watch the terminating trams enter the depot and run around. Drivers would swap and the vehicles would re-enter service.

And ... well ... did I take too many photos?

My A6000 bit the dust at that point... I tried everything... but it felt like the shutter was sticking and it was all over. So I had to switch to my phone for the rest. Right as the star appeared!

And that was it... I was so pissed off at my camera that I went home and cried.

Filed under: JPN No Comments

13Oct/250

Osaka – May, 2025

Staying in the usual spot in Shin-Osaka, I ventured to the usual places... plus a few extras! First off, the usual shot from the balcony of the apartment of a now-common double-ended freight train.

They've started running them with banker engines now, thanks to the dip on both sides of the new "ume-kita" platforms at Osaka Station.

Shin-Osaka station was next... and, of-note, was a Haruka service with two different types of vehicles.

Next up, thanks to Osaka Expo, there's a direct shuttle to Sakurajima from Shin-Osaka operated by 323-series sets.

The set above had just finished it's run and was running-around near Higashi-Yodogawa station to come back into Shin-Osaka for the next service. I exited the station to check out the level crossing on the northern side of Shin-Osaka Station. This is only used for freight and the odd dead-head movement.

A service was also running into Ajikawaguchi via the main lines...

But yeah, back to the freight line...

Osaka Higashi Line

Although I'm sad you can't cross the bridge on-foot anymore, I'm happy for the line and being able to travel on it! I got up at sparrows-fart to do a Hard-off tour and that allowed me to see the morning services on the line.

Hilariously, I managed to catch the next train to Hidara Station to see the same freight consist shunting around.

But then... I was off on something new!

Kashiwara Station And Surrounds

There's a hard-off just to the west of Kashiwara Station, and I had gotten there too early... so... instead? Train-spotting!

The Kintetsu Domyoji Line terminates here, so there's a lot of action as the shorter EMUs run in and out in the morning peak. The line runs south across a picturesque bridge before getting buried in the Kintetsu network. Thanks to having a bit of time, I dawdled around, enjoying the morning sunlight.

It was meant to be an un-eventful stroll to the riverside, but was quickly interrupted by a weird 'sloshing' sound coming from one of the canals...

I wonder how often these guys get fed? They were hunnnnnngry!

I was too distracted by the fish to realise there were cool shots behind me...

But anyway, I continued to the river.

Ok yup. This was the right decision.

Kashiwara-Minamiguchi Station is perched above the roadway, right before the river bank.

Perfectly model-able! From there... more wildlife...

And then hard-off... treasure.

Limited Express Mahoroba

There's a new limited express through to Nara from Osaka Station, operating via the Osaka Higashi Line!

That's all... oh, and some freight in the same place...

Oh... and the tea train!

There was also then a test-run afterwards... which I missed. I should've loitered with the other tecchan who wasn't moving!

Osaka Metro Chuo Line 400 Series

This 400-series star-wars-ian EMU has been introduced to take people over to the Expo amongst the man-made islands. Fortunately, at the other end of the line there's a beautiful station before the beautiful mountain range.

If you look close enough, you can see a Kintetsu train climbing the mountain.

Filed under: JPN No Comments

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