PC532
Encyclopedia
The PC532 was a "home-brew" microcomputer
design created by George Scolaro and Dave Rand in 1989-90, based around the National Semiconductor
NS32532 microprocessor
(a member of the NS320xx
series). Full hardware documentation for the design, including schematics and PAL
programming data, was made freely available, and a short run (around 200) of motherboard
PCBs were produced for hobbyists to populate and assemble into fully functional systems.
MINIX: A port of MINIX
1.3 to the PC532 (sometimes referred to as MINIX-532) was released by Bruce Culbertson in 1990.
Mach: Mach 3.0 was ported to the PC532 in 1992 by Johannes Helander, Tero Kivinen, and Tatu Ylönen; some work was also done by them on porting a Net/2 BSD-based Mach server (bnr2ss) to provide BSD UNIX
emulation.
NetBSD/pc532: A project to port 386BSD
0.1 to the PC532, initially called 532BSD, was started by Phil Nelson. This was integrated into the NetBSD
project in 1993 and became NetBSD/pc532, with Nelson as the port maintainer. On January 9th, 2008, NetBSD/pc532 was dropped from the NetBSD source tree.
Microcomputer
A microcomputer is a computer with a microprocessor as its central processing unit. They are physically small compared to mainframe and minicomputers...
design created by George Scolaro and Dave Rand in 1989-90, based around the National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor was an American semiconductor manufacturer, that specialized in analog devices and subsystems,formerly headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA. The products of National Semiconductor included power management circuits, display drivers, audio and operational amplifiers,...
NS32532 microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
(a member of the NS320xx
NS320xx
The 320xx or NS32000 was a series of microprocessors from National Semiconductor . They were likely the first 32-bit general-purpose microprocessors on the market, but due to a number of factors never managed to become a major player...
series). Full hardware documentation for the design, including schematics and PAL
Programmable Array Logic
The term Programmable Array Logic is used to describe a family of programmable logic device semiconductors used to implement logic functions in digital circuits introduced by Monolithic Memories, Inc. in March 1978. MMI obtained a registered trademark on the term PAL for use in "Programmable...
programming data, was made freely available, and a short run (around 200) of motherboard
Motherboard
In personal computers, a motherboard is the central printed circuit board in many modern computers and holds many of the crucial components of the system, providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the mainboard, system board, or, on Apple...
PCBs were produced for hobbyists to populate and assemble into fully functional systems.
Hardware specifications
- PC/AT form-factor motherboard
- NS32532 CPU and NS32381 FPU (25 MHz)
- 4 to 32 MB of RAM
- National Semiconductor DP8490 SCSISCSISmall Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it...
host adapter - Adaptec AIC-6250 SCSISCSISmall Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it...
host adapter - Four SCN2861 DUARTs (providing 8 serial ports)
- 27256 32 kB firmwareFirmwareIn electronic systems and computing, firmware is a term often used to denote the fixed, usually rather small, programs and/or data structures that internally control various electronic devices...
EPROMEPROMAn EPROM , or erasable programmable read only memory, is a type of memory chip that retains its data when its power supply is switched off. In other words, it is non-volatile. It is an array of floating-gate transistors individually programmed by an electronic device that supplies higher voltages...
Operating systems
The following operating systems were ported to the PC532:MINIX: A port of MINIX
Minix
MINIX is a Unix-like computer operating system based on a microkernel architecture created by Andrew S. Tanenbaum for educational purposes; MINIX also inspired the creation of the Linux kernel....
1.3 to the PC532 (sometimes referred to as MINIX-532) was released by Bruce Culbertson in 1990.
Mach: Mach 3.0 was ported to the PC532 in 1992 by Johannes Helander, Tero Kivinen, and Tatu Ylönen; some work was also done by them on porting a Net/2 BSD-based Mach server (bnr2ss) to provide BSD UNIX
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
emulation.
NetBSD/pc532: A project to port 386BSD
386BSD
386BSD, sometimes called "Jolix", was a free Unix-like operating system based on BSD, first released in 1992. It ran on PC compatible computer systems based on the Intel 80386 microprocessor...
0.1 to the PC532, initially called 532BSD, was started by Phil Nelson. This was integrated into the NetBSD
NetBSD
NetBSD is a freely available open source version of the Berkeley Software Distribution Unix operating system. It was the second open source BSD descendant to be formally released, after 386BSD, and continues to be actively developed. The NetBSD project is primarily focused on high quality design,...
project in 1993 and became NetBSD/pc532, with Nelson as the port maintainer. On January 9th, 2008, NetBSD/pc532 was dropped from the NetBSD source tree.