Skip to content

Sharp X68000

Jump to bottom
Daniel Markstedt edited this page Oct 27, 2022 · 14 revisions

Table of Contents

Compatibility

RaSCSI was originally developed using the SCSI controller code of the X68000 emulator XM6 TypeG, and tested on a X68000 PRO with internal SASI and a genuine SCSI board, internal X68030 SCSI, and XVI Compact internal SCSI. It works also with Mach-2.

Other users have reported it working on a first gen X68000, ACE, EXPERT, XVI, PRO2, SUPER, etc. It is safe to say that it works well on the X68000 platform. The SCSI interface of a SUPER or later is recommended. Multiple SCSI interfaces in one system work well too.

As of RaSCSI Reloaded v22.10.01, SASI support has been deprecated.

Network Adapter

The Ethernet driver (RASETHER.SYS) attaches to the Host Bridge device to send and receive packets.

In the following example, the TAP interface on the Raspberry Pi is assigned IP address 192.168.68.1, while the X68000 is configured with 192.168.68.3.

Configure the X68000

RASETHER.SYS is simply a retooled version of the Neptune-X driver, so the usage is exactly the same. You need to configure the X68000 environment for network access, for which there are instructions elsewhere on the Web.

Below are excerpts from actual CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files: 

[CONFIG.SYS excerpt]
  PROCESS    = 3 10 10
  DEVICE    = \NETWORK\RASETHER.SYS
[AUTOEXEC.BAT excerpt]
  SET SYSROOT=A:/NETWORK/
  SET temp=A:\
  SET tmp=A:\
  SET HOME=A:/NETWORK/ETC/
  SET HOST=X68000
  XIP.X
  IFCONFIG.X lp0 up
  IFCONFIG.X en0 192.168.68.3 netmask 255.255.255.0 up
  INETDCONF.X +router 192.168.68.1 -rip
  INETDCONF.X

Supported options

The following options can be passed to the driver. 

-tx [x is a number] : Specify a trap where x is a number between 0 and 6. 
                      However, if the specified trap number is in use, 
                      it will autodetect another available number starting at 0.

-n                  : Don't use trap with the API

Extended options for RASETHER 

-px [x is a number] : Receive packet polling interval. 1 is default.
                      1 means a polling interval of about 16ms.
                      Max setting is 8. Each increment adds about 16ms to the interval.

-ix [x is a number] : The interrupt approach that polling will use.
                      Default is 0 which uses MFP FPIP interrupt (V-DISP).
                      1 means Timer-A interrupt.

Configure the Raspberry Pi

We will be using a TAP interface, so we need to enable it. It may already be enabled on your system by default. Check for the existence of /dev/net/tun on your system.

Create the TAP interface like this, for example: 

[Add to your startup script, such as /etc/rc.local]
  ip tuntap add ras0 mode tap user root
  ip link set ras0 up
  ifconfig ras0 inet 192.168.68.1/8 up
  route add -net 192.168.68.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 dev ras0

This enables a network connection between the Raspberry Pi on 192.168.68.1 and X68000 on 192.168.68.3.

Additional configuration may be required depending on your environment. In the case of WiFi, a simple network bridge is not possible, so using packet forwarding and NAT becomes mandatory.

Other Versions

RaSCSI contains the original RaSCSI codebase by GIMONS. It maintains the original feature set geared towards X68000, such as the Net Device and Host Services. You may want to try this version of the software out instead if you're using your RaSCSI with a X68000. It's expected to be compatible with RaSCSI Reloaded hardware.

Clone this wiki locally