[aix thinkpad] IBM Thinkpad PowerSeries 820

[Stefan Tibus]

Hi Juergen!

Nice to see another german user here - where are you located?

> Is there any documentation left anywhere for the box?  The links on the
> website all seem to be dead.  Did somebody make local copies in time?
Hmm, just took a look, the problem seems to be related with IBM 
restructuring their website (think the Sales Manual has moved, but for 
that one could go to www.rootvg.org - IBM Sales Manual - and search 
for them).
The RedBook really is a pity, never thought IBM would remove such and 
I don't think I have ever made a copy... :(

> I have a couple of questions:
Well, I have an 860 here, without CD-ROM drive, no battery pack (so 
none I could repair) and a floppy drive that only likes to read floppy 
disks written by itself... (the floppy drive itself can be replaced 
by PC notebook ones, don't know about the case and connection to the 
notebook however).

> 1. Is it possible to do a firmware upgrade without a floppy drive?
As far as I know: NO

> 2. I'll get a ide-to-scsi-adapter rsn, so I'd like to know the pin
>    assignment of the disk socket.  Or does the caddy contain more than
>    just a mounting frame, wiring and the plug?
I didn't open such a caddy yet, but wouldn't expect more. I suppose 
the manual would mention the pin-out, but I have not yet seen any 
manual of the PPC ThinkPads. Just wondering, did you get a notebook 
IDE-SCSI adapter or a normal one? Regarding AIX I've learned that 
some adapters will not work with it, but this can change with firmware 
(made that experience with an ACARD AEC-7720UW).

> 3. The website just mentions 10base PCMCIA adapters.  I just found a
>    supplier for a 100baseT adapter, who claims that it works with the
>    820 (the 10baseT adapter seems to be out of stock there).  Can that
>    be true?  What would the part number of such an adapter be?   Does
>    the firmware have network support (e.g. for remote boot)?
Does he really refer to the PPC 820? Also, if it doesn't come with an 
AIX driver, it has to be supported by AIX out of the box...am just 
wondering how to figure out if there's a PCMCIA driver for a 100MBit 
device...

> 4. Does the firmware have a command line interface like OF or PPCBug?
For the 860 it's NO and I suppose the same for older models.

cu,
Stefan

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