BeBox Peripherals FAQ
***
BeBox Hardware Peripherals FAQ
June 17, 1996
(version: 1.31)
***
David Orr orrd101@yahoo.com
This FAQ is a source of practical information concerning peripherals that
can be used with the BeBox from Be, Inc. If you purchased the
"bare-bones" BeBox you will need to find many of these items yourself and
this FAQ will tell you what your options are and lots of other information
you need to know. On the other hand, if your BeBox already has all the
necessary hardware to make it run, this FAQ will tell you what kinds of
devices you can add to fill up some more of those many ports and slots
that are just begging for neat gizmos and enhancements. If you just
stumbled across this FAQ and you want to know exactly what a BeBox is then
visit http://www.be.com to find out more about this innovative new
platform.
This information is "as is" and very likely contains errors and omissions
so please use it at your own risk. I'm not a Be employee, and myself and
this FAQ are not officially associated with Be, Inc.
Thanks to the numerous people whose postings in comp.sys.be have supplied
the information listed in this FAQ, as well as the information on Be,
Inc.'s own web site.
Note: If you would like to include this FAQ on your web site, I would
prefer that you use the following link instead of putting a copy of the
FAQ itself on your site (the FAQ is updated frequently).
Latest version of this FAQ is available at:
http://www.pobox.com/~orrd/be/BePeripheralFAQ.txt
E-Mail comments, corrections, and additions to:
orrd101@yahoo.com
For more information about the BeBox see:
http://www.be.com
And for a great source of information compiled weekly from comp.sys.be:
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~emk/beupdated/
*** MEMORY ***
REQUIRED SPECS
--------------
Type: 72 pin no-parity SIMM (Single Inline Memory Module) RAM. It can
accept parity RAM but it doesn't use the parity feature. The same applies
to EDO type memory.
Speed: 60 ns or faster (lower numbers are faster). Chips that are rated
at 70 ns may work but they will likely not work reliably and therefore
are not recommended. Read the following warning from Joseph Palmer about using 70 ns
RAM in a BeBox.
Compatibility: The SIMMs out of PowerMacs and Pentium systems can usually
be used, but older machines will probably use 70 ns or 30 pin RAM which
can not be used in the BeBox.
Configurations: You may install up to 8 SIMMs in the current BeBox.
These may be of various memory sizes (2, 8, 16 MB and up per SIMM), but
they must always be installed in matched identical pairs. For example,
your machine might have two 8 MB SIMMs, then two 32 MB SIMMs, and then
two 4 MB SIMMs. The technical reason for pairing is that the data bus is
64 bits wide, but SIMMs are 32 bits wide, so it takes two of them paired
together to allow 64 bit accessing of memory.
Maximum memory: Custom SIMMs with 64 and 128 MB can be used, but chips
with capacity that high are rare. Theoretically this means it would be
possible to have up to 1024 MB (128 MB x 8) of memory.
RECOMMENDED
-----------
Size: A minimum of 8 MB (megabytes) of memory is needed, but 16 MB is
recommended.
TECHNICAL INFO
--------------
When you see memory advertised it will often be listed with numbers such
as "4 x 32". The first number has to do with the size of the SIMM and the
second is the size of the data bus used to access it. All you need to
know is that the BeBox needs memory where the second number is either 32
or 36 (36 means it is parity RAM). For 32 or 36 bit wide memory, you can
find the size of the SIMM by multiplying the first number by 4 to give you
the size in megabyes. For example, for "2 x 32" memory you multiply the 2
by 4, which tells you the SIMM is 8 MB.
PRICING
-------
Under $13 per meg is the current rate but this can and will change at
any moment.
*** KEYBOARD ***
REQUIRED SPECS
--------------
Type: Any PC/AT-type "clone" keyboard with a standard 5-in male DIN
connector.
*** MOUSE ***
REQUIRED SPECS
--------------
Type: A PS/2 compatible mouse with the standard 6-pin male DIN connector,
or a serial port mouse with a 9-pin AT-style connector (to plug into one
of the BeBox's several serial ports).
Note: There were some reports of some PS/2 mice not working on the BeBox,
but reportedly this was due to an I/O card problem that has since been
fixed in the newer machines.
*** MONITOR ***
REQUIRED SPECS
--------------
Type: SuperVGA or multiscan monitor. A plain VGA monitor will be
limited to 640 x 480 resolution. Some VGA monitors may not work because
the vertical scan rate used by the BeBox may be slightly faster than the
monitor can handle. This should no longer be a problem under DR7.
(Can anyone verify this?)
Display size: The BeBox can currently display screens with pixel
dimensions of sizes of 640 x 480, 800 x 600, and 1024 x 768.
*** DISPLAY CONTROLLER ***
REQUIRED SPECS
--------------
Type: SuperVGA PCI video cards supported by the currently availabe
drivers. Starting with DR7, video card drivers can be used to support
many different video cards.
[The following information is quoted from Eric Knight ]
Here is a table of graphic card and chipset compatibility for DR7.
For each chipset, and all the cards we have tested, indicated are the
available capabilities in a table using those notations:
X => available and tested. Works well.
X- => available and tested. Difficult settings, depending on the monitor.
(for card)
X* => available and tested. Works on some cards, doesn't work on others.
(for chipset)
x => available but not specifically test (the specific card or chipset
was not available).
# => doesn't work now, but will probably work in the future.
0 => will never work (for technical reasons).
The abilities tested are :
640_8 : 640x480, 8 bits (with 1 MB)
800_8 : 800x600, 8 bits (with 1 MB)
1024_8 : 1024x768, 8 bits (with 1 MB)
640_32 : 640x480, 32 bits (with 2 MB)
800_32 : 800x600, 32 bits (with 2 MB)
Boot : Bootrom support (Be logo and boot device selector)
Lines : Accelerated stuff for line drawing
Polys : Accelerated stuff for flat polygon filling (horizontally convex
only). That will not be used before Be OS 1.1d8.
Cursor : Hardware cursor.
Accelerated blit and rect filling is always available.
1 - Cirrus chipsets.
abilities 6 8 1 6 8 B L P C
4 0 0 4 0 o i o u
0 0 2 0 0 o n l r
/ / 4 / / t e y s
8 8 / 3 3 . s s o
Chipset or cards . . 8 2 2 . . . r
cirrus alpine 5430 X X X- 0 0 X 0 0 X
cirrus alpine 5434 X X X X X X 0 0 X
cirrus alpine 5436 x x x x x x 0 0 x
cirrus alpine 5440 x x x 0 0 x 0 0 x
TW-5 94 VO (5430) X X X- 0 0 X 0 0 X
Diamond SpeedStar...
...Pro SE PCI (5430) X X X- 0 0 X 0 0 X
STB Systems Nitro...
...PCI 1.5 (5434) X X X X X X 0 0 X
J6NGD543XPCI (5434) X X X X X X 0 0 X
Orchid Kelvin EZ-PCI...
...(5430) X X X- 0 0 X 0 0 X
Orchid Kelvin 64 (5434) x x x x x x 0 0 x
2 - S3 Chipsets.
abilities 6 8 1 6 8 B L P C
4 0 0 4 0 o i o u
0 0 2 0 0 o n l r
/ / 4 / / t e y s
8 8 / 3 3 . s s o
Chipset or cards . . 8 2 2 . . . r
Vision 864 X* X* X* X* X* X* X* 0 X
Vision 868 # # # # # # # 0 # (3)
Vision 964 X* X* X* X* X* X* X* 0 #
Vision 968 # # # # # # # 0 # (3)
Trio 32 # # # # # X # 0 # (2)
Trio 64 X* X* X* X* X* X X* # X* (2)
#9GXE64 (864) X X X X X X X 0 X
#9GXE64 Pro (964) X X X X X X X 0 #
Diamond Stealth SE...
...PCI (Trio32) # # # # # X # 0 # (1)
#9GXE64 TrioPCI (Trio64) # # # # # X # # # (1)
Diamond Stealth 64...
...DRAM T PCI (Trio64) X X X x x X X # X
Expert Color Trio64 PCI X X X X X X X # X
(1) These two cards will get full support soon. A new S3 add-on will be
available on the Web site.
(2) Full support for these chips will probably be done at the same time.
For that, we will probably need both a new add-on and a new bootrom
(available on the Web site).
(3) These cards can probably be easily supported if necessary. This
depends of the needs of our developers and the availability of the cards.
We expect that hackers out there will be able to contribute to the list of
supported graphics cards by implementing drivers for other cards.
[end of quoted text from Eric Knight]
*** HARD DRIVES ***
REQUIRED SPECS
--------------
Type: Any 3.5" 40-pin IDE (ATA), 50-pin SCSI, or 50-pin SCSI-II hard
drive. The connecting cable for SCSI and SCSI-II drives must fit a mini
sub type connector (DB50) on the BeBox side (instead of the Centronics 50
type used in most older SCSI drives).
Size: Any size up to 1 terabyte (that's more than a million megabytes)
can be handled by the OS per drive, but the actual maximum size that can
be handled by a particular interface standard may be significantly less.
The bottom line is that no existing drive has a higher storage capacity
than can be handled by the BeBox.
NOTE: The DR7 BeOS has a small bug that has caused a *temporary* limit of
2 gigabytes per hard drive. Larger drives can be used, but only 2
gigabytes of information can be accessed. This will be fixed in a later
release of BeOS in the near future.
Configuration: The current BeBox has space for two internal 3.5" drives,
but the "exposed" bay designed for a floppy drive could be used instead
for an additional hard drive.
Compatibility: SCSI drives that use 25-pin connectors (the type used
in Macintoshes) can be used on a BeBox by using the correct type of cable
made to connect a 25-pin SCSI device to a 50-pin SCSI interface.
RECOMMENDED
-----------
Type: SCSI-II hard drives are usually preferred over IDE drives for their
somewhat better speed and lower price per megabyte.
*** FLOPPY DISK DRIVE ***
REQUIRED SPECS
--------------
Type: Industry standard 3.5" MFM high density floppy drives with a
34-pin ribbon connector). It is not certain whether BeOS will support
double density (older, less storage) floppies in the future.
Configuration: There is space for one 3.5" floppy drive.
*** CD-ROM DRIVES AND OTHER 5.25" DRIVES (SYQUEST, ETC) ***
REQUIRED SPECS
--------------
CD-ROM Type: Only SCSI CD-ROM drives may be used with the current
BeOS release.
Configuration: The BeBox's 5.25" exposed drive bay can fit two
half-height drives or one full-height drive. (CD-ROM drives are half-
height.)
RECOMMENDED
-----------
Speed: CD-ROM drives come in speeds from single (1x), double (2x),
quad (4x), and higher. Any speed drive will do, but higher speed drives
will of course load and access files quicker.
Brand: Currently the Toshiba model is recommended because when using
Sony models the software currently can't sample audio or fast-forward
audio CD's in the Sony drives. This will likely be fixed in a later
OS release.
OTHER
-----
To hear audio CD's through using a CD-ROM drive and speakers connected
to the BeBox, you need to connect the CD-ROM drive to the BeBox I/O board
with a "pass-through cable." Pass-through cables are available at larger
electronics supply stores. Make sure you buy one that has a connector
for your brand of CD-ROM drive at one end, and a connector compatible with
a ProAudio Spectrum 16 card at the other (this is the end you connect to
the connector on the I/O board). One source for the cable is TTS
Multimedia Systems, 2045 San Elijo Ave., Cardiff, CA 92007,
(800)887-4968. [this info was adopted from a Be, Inc. FAQ]
*** EXTERNAL SCSI DEVICES (ZIP DRIVES, TAPE DRIVES, ETC) ***
REQUIRED SPECS
--------------
Type: The BeBox has an external 50-pin SCSI-II connector. The software
can use most standard SCSI I/O devices for reading and writing data
without additional drivers or software. Tape drives and similar devices
can be accessed with programs such as "tar."
Device Limit: The BeBox can handle up to a total of seven SCSI devices,
including any internal drives.
*** PARALLEL PORT DEVICES (PRINTERS) ***
REQUIRED SPECS
--------------
Type: There is one external 25-pin AT-standard D-shell female connector
for parallel port devices such as printers.
*** SERIAL PORT DEVICES (EXTERNAL MODEMS) ***
REQUIRED SPECS
--------------
Type: There are four industry-standard 9-pin AT-style serial ports for
external modems and other serial devices. (Internal modems may be used
in the internal ISA and PCI slots.)
*** ETHERNET NETWORK CARD ***
REQUIRED SPECS
--------------
Type: Standard ISA Ethernet cards compatible with the NE2000 or
3Com 3C503 standards.
Additional Info: Quoted from Bradley Taylor :
In DR7, you can still use an Etherlink II card, and you can choose
any IRQ or port setting you want. The port setting should match what
you jumpered on the card, and the IRQ will be configured by software.
RECOMMENDED
-----------
Type: Models using jumpers for IRQ settings. Many cards' configurations
are designed to be set through software, so they come with DOS programs
that you are supposed to use to configure them. You can't run DOS
programs on a BeBox, so it is recommended that you purchase a card that
uses hardware jumpers unless you have a PC around that you can use to run
the DOS program to change the settings. Plug 'N Play (PNP) cards are
not currently supported but they may be in a future BeOS release.
Cheap Cards Note: [quoted from Bradley Taylor ]
As far as inexpensive ethernet cards go, the NE2000's are the
cheapest around. I've seen some advertised for as low as $19.95.
Cards with Taiwanese chips appear to be slightly buggy in the transmit
direction, and the net effect is reduced throughput (they randomly
smash data bytes AFTER they've put the ethernet checksum in the frame).
Still, they do get the job done, and work flawlessly in the receive
direction. For perhaps $30, you can get an NE2000 with American chips,
which are bug-free and quite fast, faster than the Etherlink II's.
AVAILABILITY
------------
These Ethernet cards use jumpers instead of software for settings:
Kingston Tech Corp KNE-2100th 10Base-T Ethernet - $40 -
[Note: At least one person has had trouble getting this card to
work so we are not positive that it works with the BeBox at this time]
Necx Direct - http://necxdirect.necx.com
Addtron AE-16CT 10Base-T and BNC - Catalog # DEC1830 - $37 -
DataComm Warehouse - http://www.warehouse.com
Danpex (quoted from Monty C Brandenberg):
I was going nuts trying to find some outfit that still carried
jumper-programmed isa ethernet cards. I couldn't even get the
local putty-box dealers to burn a config into one. But I've
found a manufacturer of new cards: Danpex in San Jose, CA.
Their EN-2400ABT (aui-bnc-tw?) card does jumper, software, and
PnP config and has AUI, 10baseT, and 10base2 ports. They should
still have their introductory price. Salesman was Amy Ho at
408.437.7557 or 800.452.1551 ext 22. Taiwanese chips but it
does seem to work (have a telnet problem but that's higher level).
No affilitation, etc.
*** OTHER CARDS ***
REQUIRED SPECS
--------------
Types: The BeBox has three 32-bit PCI slots (one of which you will likely
use for the video display card) and five 16-bit ISA slots.
*** JOYSTICKS ***
REQUIRED SPECS
--------------
Type: There are two ports for PC-standard joysticks with 15-pin male
D-shell connectors.
Joysticks Note [quoted from John Watte]:
Also, these are slightly better than regular PC joysticks. Typical
PCs come with two joystick ports; each port can take one OR two
joysticks with a splitter cable, but the ports are just mirrors;
one has joy A as primary and B as secondary; the other has B as
primary and A as secondary.
The BeBox, with a splitter cable, can do FOUR joysticks; the first
port takes joystick A and B, the second port C and D.
*** MIDI DEVICES ***
REQUIRED SPECS
--------------
Type: MIDI devices with 5-pin DIN MIDI connectors. The BeBox has two
MIDI in ports and two MIDI out ports. They are fully MIDI 1.0 compliant
and do not require a MIDI adapter as many PC cards often do.
*** LINE-LEVEL AUDIO INPUT/OUTPUT (STEREO SOUND) ***
REQUIRED SPECS
--------------
Type: Two (left & right) RCA audio output jacks and two RCA audio input
jacks. The audio output jacks may be used to connect the BeBox to a
stereo system or other audio device.
*** MICROPHONE ***
REQUIRED SPECS
--------------
Type: One 3.5 mm minijack for low-level dynamic microphones.
*** HEADPHONES ***
REQUIRED SPECS
--------------
Type: One 3.5 mm minijack for 30 Ohm "walkman"-type stereo headphones.
--- *** ---
Acknowledgements
----------------
Thanks to the following people for their input and information:
Georges-Edouard Berenger, John Buckman, David Evans, Michael Klingbeil,
Eric Knight, Jimmy McKinney, Carroll Moore, Tim Ramberg, Bradley Taylor,
Benoit Triquet, John Watte.
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