From: Doug Warner Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: SDS sigma 5/6/7/9 "Birdcage" speaker demo program, Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 19:02:03 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.93/32.576 English (American) X-No-Archive: yes MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Lines: 75 Path: redlance.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!irazu.switch.ch!switch.ch!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sn-xit-03!sn-xit-04!sn-xit-01!sn-post-02!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: redlance.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:161180 =46or the SDS/XDS/Xerox/Honeywell Sigma series 32-bit computers: The following code circulated on a single 80-column card, and when booted, would play a constantly-changing, somewhat musical tone sequence. Everyone called it "birdcage". I've always wanted to see if it could be ported to a PC boot diskette, but I no longer have access to a Sigma programmers ref to obtain the i386 instriction equivalents and timings. With diskette drives beginning to disappear, it may soon be too late to hear this bit of nostalgia in it's original bootable form.=20 So, here's the code, in case anyone else has the docs and wants to take a crack at it: This one was hand writtten on Xeros blue-bar paper. I may have extraced it from a card itself, so Im not sure how accurate it is. =20 Addr Hex Mnemonic Comment 1010 32401022 LW, R4, 1022 Load limit 1 1011 32501023 LW, R5, 1023 Load limit 2 1012 22300001 LI, R3, 1 Mod count 1013 2210003F LI, R1, 3F Mod loop timing 1014 2200000F LI, R0, F Start frequency 1015 64001015 BDR, R0, 1015 Tone period 1016 6D000042 WD, 42 Toggles speaker output 1017 64101014 BDR, R1, 1014 Tone duration timer 1018 69000000 NOP No-Op for timing 1019 66301014 AWM, R3, 1014 Modify duration 101A 39401014 CLR, R4,5,1014 Compare limits 101B 6910101E BCS, R1, 101E Branch if high 101C 69801020 BCS, R8, 1020 Branch if low 101D 68001016 RETN ?? 101E 223FFFFE Mod Neg ?? 101F 68001013 RETN ?? 1020 22300001 Mod Pos ?? 1021 68001013 RETN ?? 1022 220000FF Li, R0, FF Limit data 1023 2200000F LI, R0, F Limit data (again?) 1024 6D000037 Data 1025 68001013 Data 1026 6D000027 Data 1027 68001013 Data=09 This version, without comments is from a utility deck called "Help", which was sort of a portable debugger. It's probably more accurate, since it's a pritnter dump of the whole utility (On SDS blue bar), including a built-in "birdcage" function. I think this one may use a timer interrupt. 49F 02000000 LCFI, R0, 0 4A0 321004B3 LW, R1, 4B3 4A1 35100054 STW, R1, 54 4A2 20100001 AI, R1, 1 4A3 35100055 STW, R1, 55 4A4 22103000 LI, R1, 3000 4A5 6D101200 WD, R1, 1200 4A6 22507800 LI, R5, 7800 4A7 32201000 LW, R2, 1000 4A8 4B200003 AND, R2, 3 4A9 022000F0 LCFI, R2, F0 4AA 642004A9 BDR, R2, 4A9 4AB 6D000042 WD, R0, 42 4AC 32201000 LW, R2, 1001 4AD 645004A8 BDR, R5, 4A8 4AE 22100000 LI, R1, 0 4AF 35101000 STW, R1, 1000 4B0 35101001 STW, R1, 1001 4B1 2030000F AI, R3, F 4B2 680004A6 BCR, R0, 4A6 4B3 33101000 MTW, R1, 1000 -- ###### From: aek@spies.com (Al Kossow) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: SDS sigma 5/6/7/9 "Birdcage" speaker demo program, Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 17:15:26 -0800 (PST) Organization: Spies In the Wire Lines: 9 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: spies.com X-Trace: 25 Jan 2004 17:28:58 -0800, spies.com Path: redlance.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!arclight.uoregon.edu!enews.sgi.com!news.spies.com!unknown!not-for-mail Xref: redlance.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:161189 From article , by Doug Warner : > > I've always wanted to see if it could be ported to a PC boot diskette, > but I no longer have access to a Sigma programmers ref to obtain the > i386 instriction equivalents and timings. I have the docs scanned, and will get this up on bitsavers.org ###### From: Doug Warner Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: SDS sigma 5/6/7/9 "Birdcage" speaker demo program, Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 01:04:24 -0500 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: References: X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.93/32.576 English (American) X-No-Archive: yes MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Lines: 20 Path: redlance.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!irazu.switch.ch!switch.ch!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!ucberkeley!sn-xit-02!sn-xit-06!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: redlance.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:161212 aek@spies.com (Al Kossow) wrote: >From article , by Doug = Warner : >>=20 >> I've always wanted to see if it could be ported to a PC boot diskette, >> but I no longer have access to a Sigma programmers ref to obtain the >> i386 instriction equivalents and timings. > >I have the docs scanned, and will get this up on bitsavers.org > Thanks.. I just checked bitsavers, and found a Sigma 7 reference manual, just what I need.=20 Also confirmed that the second example uses timer interrupts. (Stange that I should recall that the Write Direct instruction is also used to enable ints.) I guess using interrupts may be the best way to make it processor speed independent. =20 -- ###### From: Peter Flass User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (ax) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: SDS sigma 5/6/7/9 "Birdcage" speaker demo program, References: In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 13 Message-ID: Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2004 00:40:00 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.194.63.80 X-Complaints-To: abuse@rr.com X-Trace: twister.nyroc.rr.com 1075164000 24.194.63.80 (Mon, 26 Jan 2004 19:40:00 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2004 19:40:00 EST Organization: Road Runner Path: redlance.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!switch.ch!takemy.news.telefonica.de!telefonica.de!eusc.inter.net!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news-rtr.nyroc.rr.com!news-out.nyroc.rr.com!twister.nyroc.rr.com.POSTED!53ab2750!not-for-mail Xref: redlance.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:161348 Doug Warner wrote: > For the SDS/XDS/Xerox/Honeywell Sigma series 32-bit computers: > > The following code circulated on a single 80-column card, and when > booted, would play a constantly-changing, somewhat musical tone > sequence. Everyone called it "birdcage". > > I've always wanted to see if it could be ported to a PC boot diskette, > but I no longer have access to a Sigma programmers ref to obtain the > i386 instriction equivalents and timings. Al Kossow has a Sigma Ref Man. I believe Sigma 7. ###### From: "Lee Courtney" Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Re: SDS sigma 5/6/7/9 "Birdcage" speaker demo program, Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2004 09:37:17 -0800 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: <101d8eea4nduda@corp.supernews.com> References: X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1158 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1165 X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Lines: 109 Path: redlance.franklin.ch!pfaff2.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!irazu.switch.ch!switch.ch!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sn-xit-03!sn-xit-04!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: redlance.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:161435 Doug, The Computer History Museum (www.computerhistory.org) in Mountain View California received the donation of a complete (somewhat) running Sigma-5 last year from the Chemistry Department at Carnegie-Mellon University. If you're located in the San Francisco Bay area you should stop by the Museum and check it out. CPU and some peripherals are on display in visible storage. Or you can view online at http://www.computerhistory.org/VirtualVisibleStorage/artifact_frame.php?tax_id=03.02.03.00 I made a couple trips to CMU to facilitate the donation, and deinstalled the system last year. I wrote an article for the Museums publication CORE describing the donation and process of deintallation. Send me your postal address and I'll be happy to send you a copy. What's your connection and history with this machine? I'd also be interested in connecting with any other folks who worked at SDS/XDS or used 9xx or Sigma equipment. Email with questions/comments. Cheers, Lee Courtney MYLASTNAME at computerhistory dot org "Doug Warner" wrote in message news:t2j8101toanq2ft3erq0riod4ru5h2411g@4ax.com... For the SDS/XDS/Xerox/Honeywell Sigma series 32-bit computers: The following code circulated on a single 80-column card, and when booted, would play a constantly-changing, somewhat musical tone sequence. Everyone called it "birdcage". I've always wanted to see if it could be ported to a PC boot diskette, but I no longer have access to a Sigma programmers ref to obtain the i386 instriction equivalents and timings. With diskette drives beginning to disappear, it may soon be too late to hear this bit of nostalgia in it's original bootable form. So, here's the code, in case anyone else has the docs and wants to take a crack at it: This one was hand writtten on Xeros blue-bar paper. I may have extraced it from a card itself, so Im not sure how accurate it is. Addr Hex Mnemonic Comment 1010 32401022 LW, R4, 1022 Load limit 1 1011 32501023 LW, R5, 1023 Load limit 2 1012 22300001 LI, R3, 1 Mod count 1013 2210003F LI, R1, 3F Mod loop timing 1014 2200000F LI, R0, F Start frequency 1015 64001015 BDR, R0, 1015 Tone period 1016 6D000042 WD, 42 Toggles speaker output 1017 64101014 BDR, R1, 1014 Tone duration timer 1018 69000000 NOP No-Op for timing 1019 66301014 AWM, R3, 1014 Modify duration 101A 39401014 CLR, R4,5,1014 Compare limits 101B 6910101E BCS, R1, 101E Branch if high 101C 69801020 BCS, R8, 1020 Branch if low 101D 68001016 RETN ?? 101E 223FFFFE Mod Neg ?? 101F 68001013 RETN ?? 1020 22300001 Mod Pos ?? 1021 68001013 RETN ?? 1022 220000FF Li, R0, FF Limit data 1023 2200000F LI, R0, F Limit data (again?) 1024 6D000037 Data 1025 68001013 Data 1026 6D000027 Data 1027 68001013 Data This version, without comments is from a utility deck called "Help", which was sort of a portable debugger. It's probably more accurate, since it's a pritnter dump of the whole utility (On SDS blue bar), including a built-in "birdcage" function. I think this one may use a timer interrupt. 49F 02000000 LCFI, R0, 0 4A0 321004B3 LW, R1, 4B3 4A1 35100054 STW, R1, 54 4A2 20100001 AI, R1, 1 4A3 35100055 STW, R1, 55 4A4 22103000 LI, R1, 3000 4A5 6D101200 WD, R1, 1200 4A6 22507800 LI, R5, 7800 4A7 32201000 LW, R2, 1000 4A8 4B200003 AND, R2, 3 4A9 022000F0 LCFI, R2, F0 4AA 642004A9 BDR, R2, 4A9 4AB 6D000042 WD, R0, 42 4AC 32201000 LW, R2, 1001 4AD 645004A8 BDR, R5, 4A8 4AE 22100000 LI, R1, 0 4AF 35101000 STW, R1, 1000 4B0 35101001 STW, R1, 1001 4B1 2030000F AI, R3, F 4B2 680004A6 BCR, R0, 4A6 4B3 33101000 MTW, R1, 1000 --