[wroteafaq]

I would like to add another $0.02

If it is a blank 93CS56/EEPROM/FLASH/NVRAM/E^2/DIL then i would expect the Indigo HP1(R3K) and HP2(R4K) board to behave differently when it comes to initializing the chip as opposed to backplanes already having a chip initialized. Have you checked all the different combinations? If i missed this in your previous post, apologies, i blame my geriatric eyes.

(I'm not sure the quoting is working properly here, so forgive me if it's screwed up.)

Honestly, once I discovered that both of the CPUs would just initialize a blank E^2, then I could tack in the MAC address with the Data I/O, I stopped playing with it, because that's the shortest route for me and I have a pile of machines to grind through.  If I were writing a FAQ I might go through all the combinations, but not at the moment.

I found elsewhere discussions of how the 3K ROM monitor - but not the 4K - can be used to change the address, and that's fine, but a fussy difference.

I do not seem to have the procedure written down for reprogramming the empty EEPROM with the R3K monitor. Can you post that procedure, or point us towards that info? For EEPROM's already initialized, Dave Olson (that quoted '93 post from the thread i linked) mentioned that networking of a HP1 in an R4K initialized backplane doesn't work which i reproduced in my HOWTO, since after all, Dave Olson is Dave Olson.

Again, you'll have to forgive me.  I'm working on these things as I'm setting up a new workspace (in what was a messy storage area, so I'm concurrently cleaning up) and in addition to the Indigos I'm hacking UniSite internals.  So I *know* that the procedure is on a piece of paper (printed out from the site where I found the instructions), but at the moment I just don't know where the hell it is.  As things get more organized I know it'll turn up and I'll be happy to post the link.

No fussing about with protection registers or checksums needed, afaIk.

Regarding the checksum, that doesn't seem to be necessary when programming it, it will still work. However the EEPROM protection register needs to be reset when preparing an already initialized R4K backplane EEPROM for accepting an HP1. The protection register is not permanently locked however, they do not seem to bother perma-locking it in the Indigo systems.

Again, it's just not a detail that I need to care about at the moment.  As long as I can pull the part from the backplane, erase it in the Data I/O, reinstall it in the backplane and initialize it with the CPU, install the address with the UniSite, and finally plug it into the backplane again, I'm happy.  It sounds like a lot of schlepping of an 8-pin DIP, but in reality the entire operation takes a couple of minutes.  I can afford that.