Thread
PEx ROM Project
NoPro, James an I are in the same boat. I HAVE the PLCC Flash ROMs, my PEx makes the startup chime and then does nothing every time I try it. Every year or so I power it up and listen to the startup chime a few times just to remind myself that I have a "RARE!!!!!!!!!!" Apple Prototype. [
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I do the same kind of thing with my Paladin Keyboard/TrackBall Prototype too . . . but it works! :lol:
It's my Video Chipset pads that are unpopulated, have you got a pic of James' MoBo?
] ]'>I do the same kind of thing with my Paladin Keyboard/TrackBall Prototype too . . . but it works! :lol:
It's my Video Chipset pads that are unpopulated, have you got a pic of James' MoBo?
I don't think so. Do you want me to email him and ask about it? If Apple used custom chips for the video, you're probably out of luck. If they did something like they did on the Beige and just put a Rage mumble hooked up directly to the PCI bus, then you may be able to steal the needed chips from a video card.
PCI is plenty good enough for me, though completing the board and having it functional would be an uber 
achievement!
If it's as simple as that, one wonders if there's a pad compatible VidChipSet upgrade available? [}
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email away, thx! [
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achievement!If it's as simple as that, one wonders if there's a pad compatible VidChipSet upgrade available? [}
] ]'>email away, thx! [
] ]'>
I just finished a big verification project at work and was taking a few minutes break and I found this line at address 0x002A C9c0 in the PEx ROM file:
002a:c9c0 vent Match - Native..Edisk.secret ROM image.The Teamkckckckckckc
Makes me wonder if there's one of those hidden photos of the PEx team in there.
I was actually searching on "875" at the time. The SCSI chip on the PEx is the 53C875. I think that's also the one use in the ANS, although I need to double check that.
It stands to reason that the PEx has a Mac OS driver for the 53C875 embedded in its ROM. If we could extract that and add it to the 9600 ROM, and fix the interrupt arrangement, then the ANS could run Mac OS and have support for its built-in ROM chips.
002a:c9c0 vent Match - Native..Edisk.secret ROM image.The Teamkckckckckckc
Makes me wonder if there's one of those hidden photos of the PEx team in there.
I was actually searching on "875" at the time. The SCSI chip on the PEx is the 53C875. I think that's also the one use in the ANS, although I need to double check that.
It stands to reason that the PEx has a Mac OS driver for the 53C875 embedded in its ROM. If we could extract that and add it to the 9600 ROM, and fix the interrupt arrangement, then the ANS could run Mac OS and have support for its built-in ROM chips.
I found a JPEG header at address 0x2D14E0 by searching for "JFIF". I don't know much about JPEG so I used a program that finds and extracts JPEG images. The bottom half of the image is missing, maybe someone can tweak it and get the rest.
Very cool, Dennis.
Methinks it's time to fire up my board just to listen to the startup chimes for last year, missed it, already played with the Paladin KBD this spring. [
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Methinks it's time to fire up my board just to listen to the startup chimes for last year, missed it, already played with the Paladin KBD this spring. [
)] ]'>
I figured it out! I didn't know where to find the end of the image data before, but after a little googling, I realized that they end with 0xFFD9. There happens to be an extra 0xFFD9 in the image data before the end and I think that could be what caught up the JPEG extraction program.
How did PEX machines make it out of Apple? There seems to be a fair number of them out there. Were they actually released or given permission in some way or were they potentially stolen/leaked? Or something in between? It's one thing to poke around at things actually released form Apple but I would not want to continue to have anything to do with items or data that we're not supposed to have, especially in a public fashion here at 68kmla.
If we aren't sure, we should consider removing the images I posted here ASAP.
If we aren't sure, we should consider removing the images I posted here ASAP.
The PEx systems that made it out of the Insidious Loop were probably seed units for developers or units that snuck home under The Man's nose after he canned the program (whoever The Man was at the time) in employees' car trunks, briefcases, etc.
I can't imagine the images and sounds garnered from ancient crown jewels should be a big deal . . .
. . . if it is we can always put the thread in the tank.
Great job!
I can't imagine the images and sounds garnered from ancient crown jewels should be a big deal . . .
. . . if it is we can always put the thread in the tank.
Great job!
That is awesome! Nice work extracting that image and thanks for sharing!
When the PowerExpress was canned, it was actually only a few weeks away from being released. As such developers had already had seed units for a while at the point that it got canned. As such, I'd imagine most of the ones out there are probably seed units.