Difference between revisions of "Besta-88"

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(Besta - Russian sun-3 clone)
 
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Besta-88 is a Soviet graphics workstation, that was a clone of a Sun-3.
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The '''Besta-88''' is a Soviet graphics [[workstation]] which was a clone of a Force-3 (German) which itself is a clone of [[Sun-3]]. The [[firmware]] of a Besta-88 is essentially the same, and the [[printed circuit board]] layout is almost exactly the same. Reverse engineering at its finest.
  
There are pictures of the case, various pictures of CPU VME boards,
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The Force-2 is a clone of the [[Sun-2]], and while the Force-3 was intended as a clone of the Sun-3 the engineering was difficult to reverse the custom [[Memory Management]] Unit of the Sun-2. The Besta-88 VME earliest CPU boards were like the Force-2 with a 68010R10 processor, and like Force, Besta skipped over the Sun-3's use of a [[MC68020]] and custom MMU, and refocused on cloning the [[MC68030]] based members of the Sun-3 family, since the MMU was built into the CPU, it could be cloned much more easily.
and a single picture of a booting ( or non-booting as the case may be ) system.
 
  
[[https://pics.meshok.net/pics/99199594.jpg The case:]]
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The MAME developers, in dumping the [[ROM]]s for the Force-3 workstations noticed that the Besta-88 ROMs were nearly indentical, making the [[emulation]] of a Besta-88 trivial once a Force-3 workstation can be emulated.
  
[[http://lh6.ggpht.com/_yEwEOQ_tdfs/SaUD7soiO2I/AAAAAAAAABs/KeGEPCIBOPA/s800/IMG_5758.JPG An early CPU VME board, with a 68010R10 ( 10Mhz 68010 ): ]]
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There are pictures of the case, various pictures of CPU [[VME]] boards, and a single picture of a [[booting]] (or non-booting as the case may be) system.
  
[[http://lh5.ggpht.com/_yEwEOQ_tdfs/SaUEX_-o9kI/AAAAAAAAACA/NiwHRJxgfb0/s800/IMG_5760.JPG A presumably working CPU VME board, with a MC68030R33 ( 33Mhz 68030 )]]
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==Images==
  
[[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Bestix.jpg/1280px-Bestix.jpg A boot screen, which lists 'Stollmann' as the company who ported ATT SYS Vr3 to the Besta: ]]
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* [https://pics.meshok.net/pics/99199594.jpg The case]
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* [http://lh6.ggpht.com/_yEwEOQ_tdfs/SaUD7soiO2I/AAAAAAAAABs/KeGEPCIBOPA/s800/IMG_5758.JPG An early CPU VME board, with a 68010R10 (10Mhz 68010)]
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* [http://lh5.ggpht.com/_yEwEOQ_tdfs/SaUEX_-o9kI/AAAAAAAAACA/NiwHRJxgfb0/s800/IMG_5760.JPG A presumably working CPU VME board, with a MC68030R33 (33Mhz 68030)]
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* [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Bestix.jpg/1280px-Bestix.jpg A boot screen, which lists 'Stollmann' as the company who ported ATT SYS Vr3 to the Besta]
  
[[https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-642-74230-9_2 Stollmann is still listed in Berlin: They authored a paper on Data flow archicture: ]]
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==External Links==
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* [http://ftp.stu.neva.ru/besta/sysv-misc/docs-html-koi8.tar.gz The documentation - Russian]
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* [https://forums.bannister.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=101333&page=all Besta-88 ROM Dumps]
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* [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-642-74230-9_2 The Stollmann Data Flow Machine] - Stollmann is still listed in Berlin; hey authored a paper on Data flow archicture
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[[Category: Workstations]]

Latest revision as of 15:20, 2 March 2021

The Besta-88 is a Soviet graphics workstation which was a clone of a Force-3 (German) which itself is a clone of Sun-3. The firmware of a Besta-88 is essentially the same, and the printed circuit board layout is almost exactly the same. Reverse engineering at its finest.

The Force-2 is a clone of the Sun-2, and while the Force-3 was intended as a clone of the Sun-3 the engineering was difficult to reverse the custom Memory Management Unit of the Sun-2. The Besta-88 VME earliest CPU boards were like the Force-2 with a 68010R10 processor, and like Force, Besta skipped over the Sun-3's use of a MC68020 and custom MMU, and refocused on cloning the MC68030 based members of the Sun-3 family, since the MMU was built into the CPU, it could be cloned much more easily.

The MAME developers, in dumping the ROMs for the Force-3 workstations noticed that the Besta-88 ROMs were nearly indentical, making the emulation of a Besta-88 trivial once a Force-3 workstation can be emulated.

There are pictures of the case, various pictures of CPU VME boards, and a single picture of a booting (or non-booting as the case may be) system.

Images

External Links