Hi,

I just got a few parts of what seems to be a MIPS machine
of some kind. I'm not sure if it's more a MIPSco or an
ARCS machine, so port-mips seemed right.

I got these parts in a bundle:

MIPS ARCSystem mainboard
MIPS R4000-50SC CPU
passive CPU cooler
four 72pin Toshiba RAM modules
one small daughterboard for the "Ethernet/serial" slot
EISA SCSI Adaptec 2740
ISA SMC ARCNET-PC 600WS
ISA Ethernet Realtek

The rest of the machine including the case, power supply
and graphics board are missing. Now I wonder how to get
this thing to do anything. The CPU was removed, so I had to
reinstall the CPU and it's cooler. That alone was somewhat
difficult, but I think it should be right now. However,
I guess there is some metal missing  to fix the CPU.

The first thing would be a new power supply, but I'm
completely ignorant about the requirements. The connector
looks somewhat like a PC standard AT, but I don't deal with
PCs so often to just try. I don't want to frie the 
machine.
The graphics board slot is something I have never seen
before, so I don't even have any hopes to get one.
How do I get this machine to work woth serial console?

In the end I would like to get this box to do anything
useful at all. Running NetBSD would be cool, but RISC/os
doesn't sound bad either. IIRC there is no Linux support
for any machine of that kind. I guess the only system
I definetly wouldn't consider is NT, so any hint is
greatly appreciated.

If you reply, please add a CC: to me, because I'm not
on the list.

TIA
Dennis

-- 
There is certainly no purpose in remaining in the dark
except long enough to clear from the mind
the illusion of ever having been in the light.
                                        T.S. Eliot