M9312 ROM

The M9312 ROM card was a UNIBUS card for the PDP-11 series of computers. It contained 512 words of ROM memory, all readable directly from the UNIBUS (i.e. not windowed). The M9312 also provided termination for the UNIBUS.

It was a dual format card, intended for use in the two top (AB) sections of a MUD slot, or in a UNIBUS in/out slot.

The board occupied addresses 773000-773776 (high ROM) and 765000-765776 (low ROM); a configuration jumper allowed the lower block to be disabled.

ROMs

The contents of the standard PROMs from DEC provided a console emulator, basic CPU and main memory diagnostics, and the ability to bootstrap the machine from disk, magnetic tape, etc; a command to boot the machine could be given in the emulator, using a symbolic device code. However, the board could be used for any purpose.

The board used five 4-bit wide PROMs to hold the data; the DEC-supplied pre-programmed PROMs included the console emulator and diagnostics in one ROM, and the other four to hold the selected bootstraps (selected from a large set available from DEC, see below).

The diagnostics include i) primary CPU tests, ii) secondary CPU tests, and a memory test. The primary tests are performed before entering the console emulator; if a failure is detected, the processor goes into an infinite loop at the failing test. The secondary tests and memory test are run when a boot command is given from the console emulator.

There were two different emulator/diagnostic PROMs; one for the PDP-11/70 and PDP-11/60, which check the machine's cache, and one for all the other PDP-11 models.

Configuration

The board was configured using both a single 10-switch DIP switch, S1, and a number of jumpers, together with they control the board's behaviour.

Switches

Configuration switches control which address the CPU jumps to on power on.

A clever kludge, controlled by one configuration switch, allowed the board to force the CPU to read its power-on PC and PS from the ROM, at a location set by other configuration switches, thereby allowing auto-boot on power-on. If S1-1 is set to 'off' (open), the new PS and PC loaded on power-on will point to the high ROM; if 'on' (closed), it will be in the low ROM.

If S1-2 is 'off', the system will power-up normally; if 'on', the CPU will obtain its new PC/PS pair from locations 173024 on the card, which contain a mixture of bits from the ROM (high bits) and the configuration switches (low bits), which can be used to force the CPU to start executing in the ROM on power-on.

Switches S1-3 through S1-10 contain bits 8 through 1 of the power-on PC (above).

Jumpers

• W1-W5 - When inserted, termination is provided for the bus grant lines of the UNIBUS.
• W6 - In for machines with push-button boot capability
• W7 - Always in
• W8 - When inserted, the low bank of memory on the card (765000-765777) is disabled; when removed, it is enabled.
• W9-W10 - Out for use with a PDP-11/60; in for all others
• W11-W12 - In for use with a PDP-11/60; out for all others

Connector tabs

The board contains four connector tabs, which may be used with a pair of external switches, to control the board's behaviour.

Two, TP2 and TP3, are ground returns (for TP1 and TP4, respectively). TP1, when momemtarily grounded, forces the machine to execute a power-fail/restart sequence (by asserting UNIBUS line ACLO). TP4, when grounded, forces the machine to execute the on-board ROM on power on, no matter what the position of S1-2 (above).

PROM variants

The following table lists the DEC standard PROMs by part number, and the devices they support. When a particular PROM suppports more than one type of device, the second device type is indicated with a '*' after the part number.

ROM part #	Device	Controller
23-751A9	RL01/RL02 disk	RL11
23-752A9	RK06/RK07 disk	RK611
23-753A9	RX01 floppy	RX11
23-811A9	RX02 floppy	RX211
23-755A9	RP02/RP03 disk	RP11
23-755A9*	RP04/RP05/RP06, RM02/03 disk	RH11, RH70
23-756A9	RK02-RK03/RK05 disk	RK11
23-756A9*	TU55/TU56 DECtape	TC11
23-757A9	TU16/TE16 magtape	TM02, TM03
23-758A9	TU10/TE10/TS03 magtape	TM11
23-759A9	RS03/04 fixed disk	RH11, RH70
23-760A9	PC05 high-speed reader	PC11
23-760A9*	console low-speed reader	DL11
23-761A9	TU60 DECcassette	TA11
23-762A9	RS11 fixed disk	RF11
23-762A9*	RS64 fixed disk	RC11
23-763A9	card reader	CR11
23-764A9	TS04, TU80 magtape	TS11, TU80K
23-765A9	TU58 DECtapeII	DL11

See also

• UNIBUS boot ROMs

External links

• M9312 PROM Files

Reference

• EK-M9312-TM-003, M9312 bootstrap/terminator module technical manual