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Re: (ASCEND) Beta FAQ page on Pipes......



You left out the P130 which looks the same and in it's early days ran
exactly the same code load as the P50. :-) The P130 has two RJ-45 WAN ports
next to the edge of the back panel. The normal tab-down port is for ISDN
while the inverted tab-up port is for T1 (or 56K DDS depending on the model).

My experience in accidentally loading P50 code into a P130 (after the loads
diverged) led to my feature request for having the boxes reject
inappropriate code loads.

(For the curious: a P130 will run P50 or P75 code, but it loses all it's
config so you have to reconfig via the console port to recover.)

Also, there's now a P85 in the same box; the P15 looks different.

At 11:16 AM 12/9/97 -0500, David Lesher wrote:
>Please comment/correct this before I send it to Jason....
>
>{Thanks to Kevin and other Ascend insiders for helping me grok all
>this...}
>
>==============
>	"These are some of the ships known as Enterprise..."
>
>There have been several hardware platforms inside the box known
>as a "Pipeline". It's important to know which you have when you
>get a code upgrade from the Ascend site. (Loading the wrong
>image usually results in no harm, outside of your ripped-out
>hair, but...) This document covers the 25's, 50's, and 75's.
>
>They are all housed in the same black plastic outer case, so
>close attention to details is needed to differentiate between them.
>
>A) The oldest version used a wall-wart that furnished AC
>to the box. The power plug into the Pipe was a Mini-Din-5
>[think PS/2 rodent]. All of these units were actually S/T bus,
>with U-channel models having an added daughter board for the
>NT1. (This board is removable so a U-channel can be turned back
>into a S/T.) This is sometimes called a revA.
>
>	Load code version labeled: b1.p50
>
>
>B) The next revision (revB) added a back panel toggle switch that
>never did anything, and less-visibly, had RAM to hold the running
>code, not just flash. You could update these via ftp as well as
>console.
>
>The Pipe 50 and 50HX were the only models using the above platform.
>
>	Load code version labeled: b.p50
>
>
>C) The next design generation used a DC-out wall-wart, and an
>ordinary coaxial power plug on the back. Internally, they used
>different boards on the U or S/T [no more daughter board] models.
>
>These appeared as the Pipe 25 family. They had slower CPU's than
>the 50's, and it showed....   Some 25's had a hardware compression
>option. They had two POTS jacks added to the back panel. The P25
>is clearly stamped "P25" on the bottom.
>
>	Load code version labeled: i.p25/p.p25
>
>
>D) The next generation was the P75, which was based on a totally
>respun board derived from the Pipeline 50 REV B board.  Internally,
>it was a single motherboard with POTS jacks, and a black
>slider switch on the back that still did little for most users.
>(Actually it is used for Serial/Wan to enable the console port
>to provide DDS56, or DDS64 service with an external CSU/DSU.
>This could be a nailed connection or frame relay connection.)
>The Pipeline 75 used the same coaxial-plug DC power supply that
>the p25 used.
>
>	Load code version labeled: b.p75/ba.75
>
>
>E) In 1997 @ serial number 722000 Ascend again changed the
>internals, significantly increasing the available RAM and Flash
>space. No Switch again. Further, they dropped the D-model 50 above;
>Pipe 50's got the same hardware, with inoperative POTS jacks;
>upgradable (with the purchase of a hash code from Ascend) into
>a 75 on these new units.  
>
>Now, not all serial numbers above 722XXXX are REV II, the REV I
>can still be special ordered.  The easiest way to determine
>this is that if your serial number is above 722XXXX, look in
>the 00-100 Sys Options window, and scroll down until you see the
>"Load:" item.  If you have b2.XXX, then you have REV II, if you
>have b.XXX, then you have a REV I.  Always load the same "load"
>of code when upgrading.  (Exception: going from b2.p75 to b2a.p75
>for appletalk & such, for example.)
>
>	Load code version labeled: b2.p75, b2a.p75, b2ix.p75
>	or b.p75 as noted above.
>
>
>F) The above discussion mostly ignores the rare Switched 56K/DDS models.
>
>Summary: here's what they say about code versions as of Nov 1997:
>The Pipeline image file names are as follows:
>*** Pipeline 25 Software ***
>i.p25           Pipeline 25PX (FX or Classic w/ IP routing support)
>p.p25           Pipeline 25FX or Classic w/ IPX routing support only
>*** New Pipeline 50/75 Hardware Serial Numbers 722XXXX and above ***
>b2.p75          Pipeline 50/75 BRI w/o slide switch
>b2a.p75         Pipeline 50/75 BRI w/o slide switch, Appletalk Support
>b2ix.p75        Pipeline 50/75 BRI w/o slide switch, X.25 support
>*** Classic Pipeline 50/75 Hardware Serial Numbers Below 722XXX ***
>b.p75           Pipeline 75 BRI w/ slide switch
>ba.p75          Pipeline 75 BRI w/ Appletalk routing support
>52.p50          Pipeline 50 w/ 2-wire SW-56
>54.p50          Pipeline 50/130 w/ 4-wire SW-56/DDS56 support
>b.p50           Pipeline 50 BRI w/ slide switch
>b1.p50          Pipeline 50 BRI w/o slide switch
>ba.p50          Pipeline 50 BRI w/ Appletalk routing support
>bi.p50          Pipeline 50 BRI w/ TCP/IP support only
>-- 
>A host is a host from coast to coast.................wb8foz@nrk.com
>& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
>Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
>is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433
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>
>
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