Subject: RE: old NVRAMs
To: 'der Mouse' <mouse@Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>
From: David Woyciesjes <DAW@yalepress3.unipress.yale.edu>
List: port-sparc
Date: 09/04/2001 14:29:41
I'll be inspecting mine tomorrow, to add info to your sample base...
Anithing else I should look for and report, besides the barcode numbers and
descriptions?

---   David A Woyciesjes
---   C & IS Support Specialist
---   Yale University Press
---   mailto:david.woyciesjes@yale.edu
---   (203) 432-0953
---   ICQ # - 905818


! -----Original Message-----
! From: der Mouse [mailto:mouse@Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA]
! Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2001 2:19 PM
! To: port-sparc@netbsd.org
! Subject: Re: old NVRAMs
! 
! 
! > I found this a while ago.
! 
! >> I found a method to reconstruct the hostid and ethernet 
! address from
! >> the printed string on the NVRAM label.  [convert from base 36 and
! >> subtract 0xaa8c0, then add 0x27b00 for MAC address]
! 
! This works for two of the six samples I have at hand - the two with
! first hostid byte 0x56.  The rest seem to be different:
! 
! (works for)
! GMA1 03:a7:09 56012c09
! GRH4 03:c1:58 56014658
! 
! (doesn't work for)
! DLHX 08:ed:07 53000cf3
! GK5P 0b:cd:c7 572043c3
! RUSJ 0d:5b:8c 57217143
! S1YX 0d:88:a9 5721957b
! 
! Of course, it's possible the others have been meddled with; they
! haven't all been under my control since initial delivery from Sun.
! 
! I also wrote
! 
! >> I'll also be looking at mine to see if there is an obvious
! >> correspondence between barcodes and four-character codes.
! 
! There is, and a trivial one at that, at least for my sample (size 13).
! 
! The barcode is 77 "units" wide and consists of a fixed pattern at each
! end with the four characters each corresponding to a 12-unit block in
! the middle.  Using . for blank and - for black, with *s for 
! the 12-unit
! variable pieces, the barcode is
! 
! -..-.--.--.-.************.************.************.**********
! **.-..-.--.--.-
!                1st char     2nd char     3rd char     4th char
! 
! The character code table, with *s for entries I don't know:
! 
! 0  ************    9  ************    I  ************    R  
! --.-.-.--..-
! 1  --.-..-.-.--    A  --.-.-..-.--    J  -.-.--..--.-    S  
! -.--.-.--..-
! 2  -.--..-.-.--    B  -.--.-..-.--    K  --.-.-.-..--    T  
! ************
! 3  --.--..-.-.-    C  --.--.-..-.-    L  -.--.-.-..--    U  
! --..-.-.-.--
! 4  -.-..--.-.--    D  -.-.--..-.--    M  --.--.-.-..-    V  
! -..--.-.-.--
! 5  --.-..--.-.-    E  ************    N  -.-.--.-..--    W  
! ************
! 6  -.--..--.-.-    F  -.--.--..-.-    O  -.-..--.--.-    X  
! -..-.--.-.--
! 7  -.-..-.--.--    G  -.-.-..--.--    P  -.--.--.-..-    Y  
! --..-.--.-.-
! 8  ************    H  --.-.-..--.-    Q  -.-.-.--..--    Z  
! ************
! 
! It's possible that the code I have down for O should be for 0, with O
! unknown; I have not seen both 0 and O.
! 
! I find the coding scheme somewhat more comprehensible when represented
! with one character for a width-1 bar, whether printed or space, and a
! pair of another for a width-2 bar.  Using _ for one and xx 
! for two, the
! above becomes
! 
! 0  ************    9  ************    I  ************    R  
! xx_____xxxx_
! 1  xx__xx____xx    A  xx____xx__xx    J  ____xxxxxx__    S  
! __xx___xxxx_
! 2  __xxxx____xx    B  __xx__xx__xx    K  xx______xxxx    T  
! ************
! 3  xx_xxxx_____    C  xx_xx__xx___    L  __xx____xxxx    U  
! xxxx______xx
! 4  ___xxxx___xx    D  ____xxxx__xx    M  xx_xx____xx_    V  
! _xxxx_____xx
! 5  xx__xxxx____    E  ************    N  ____xx__xxxx    W  
! ************
! 6  __xxxxxx____    F  __xx_xxxx___    O  ___xxxx_xx__    X  
! _xx__xx___xx
! 7  ___xx__xx_xx    G  _____xxxx_xx    P  __xx_xx__xx_    Y  
! xxxx__xx____
! 8  ************    H  xx____xxxx__    Q  ______xxxxxx    Z  
! ************
! 
! I see a provocative resemblance to binary counting, with the 
! LSB at the
! left end something akin to a parity bit at the right, but haven't
! solidified it into anything algorithmic...but it does look as though
! ___xxxx_xx__ more likely goes with O than 0.
! 
! Three of my samples have the width-1 white bars between characters
! slightly wider than other width-1 white bars, to the point where I put
! some of them down as width-2 white bars at first.  Especially on the
! black-on-white stickers (as opposed to the black-on-orange ones), if
! you see a white bar that looks wider than width 1 but not as wide as
! width 2, check to see if it's placed so's to be one of the character
! separator bars.
! 
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