Fairlight-CMI

Hi all.

I just got an mfx3+ from someone who got it from a studio - just the box, the MFX3 keyboard, no cabling.

Now it appears I might need a dongle or key to run the machine - I can't find anything about that in the PDF manuals, and only one post in this group recommending to "check whether it needs Dongles".

Does anyone know more? Should I try to locate the original studio and ask whether anything else is left, or might this message come from my bringing up the machine partly manually, in some wrong way? Would these keys be on the main hard disk, or in the original MFX3 keyboard (I guess not but I'm still asking cause that's all I have...)

Thanks for any reply in advance and kind regards!

Joerg



More info:
With an LCD and an MFX2 keyboard connected, the thing boots. Hardware checks apparently pass.

On first boot, it asked me whether I wanted to update some configuration data, I answered yes (hopefully not a bad idea?)

Automatic startup ends with an error message:
.
.
.
load: can't load "/dd/ETC/rpcdb" -
$

From there, trying to executed some commands brings an error message similar to:
... can't execute "J" ...

I listed the startup files and then tried an automatic shell login command "ex ..." from there.
That changed the prompt to:
#

From there, commands like mfx3 (or mfxstartf or similar) actually run, even showing the startup image, or the graphical environment frame etc., but they always produce this error message:

No Dongle/key Detected, Cannot Start.

Hello again.

Still a little bit besides the exact group focus - but as I've seen MFX3+
mentioned before, and it's a close relative of the CMI, I'm posting my findings
just for reference and for the benefit of others who might like to use both
machines together. Hope this is ok.

-

Re. the necessity of a Dongle/Key:

I found in the service manual that the "dongle" might be in a GAL onboard, could be switched on and off, and could use the built in ROM test to test it and find it probably works. This is how to do that:

Flip DIP switch 8 on the WSEXEC board over, hardware reset, watch the numbers displayed on the card, when it shows xx10 then toggle DIP switch 1, when it shows xx20 (and probably progresses to xx30 thereafter), the "dongle" test has passed. Flip DIP switch 1 whenever you want to go to the next test.

Besides, test 5 resulted in xx5F confirming the DS1643 real time clock chip built in battery is dead. Test 7 (loading programmable hardware) took so long that I didn't wait for its completion, maybe because I had removed the HDU, maybe for other reasons.

Setting DIP switch 8 off, and doing another hardware reset, brings the system back to normal bootup operation.

Moreover, the normal ROM test page (colourfully framed equipment list on startup) shows a machine ID number. Maybe that already confirms the "Dongle" (in the GAL) is there, and an external one is not needed. I assume that because the same machine ID is displayed later on with a line indicating the original owner and more lines showing the (probably) licensed = activated functionality.

So most probably, my earlier error message resulted from an incomplete manual boot process that had not switched on the built in Dongle functionality.

-

Re. NVRAM and network configuration / missing BLUE key functionality:

I selected manual NVRAM configuration with B0 (use TS drive 0 for booting), disabling the display of the MFX3 image on startup, to monitor what's going on instead. I also added a reasonable IP, machine name and network in the respective config file that appears after NVRAM reset/config or when you press a key to "Edit machine configuration".

That configuration file includes instruction to quit with BLUE-Q or save with BLUE-Z.
Neither of these works, so you would be stuck, as already mentioned here:

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Fairlight-CMI/conversations/topics/5238

I found that the ESC key does what BLUE should do (at least when I use the MFX2 keyboard, and technically, it should probably be the same as the MFX3 keyboard).


So you actually can press ESC, that makes the menu in the status line appear, and thereafter you can e.g. press Q to quit without saving or Z to save and exit.

I also observed that after uploading the MFX 15.6.0.2 software into the MFX keyboard, and while the MFX3+ was attached and running, the normal diagnostics etc. started by BLUE-1-2-3 etc. can't be started - haven't followed that up any further yet, but the same diagnostics work as expected in the original MFX3 keyboard when it's not connected to anything.

-

Re. various prompts, logging in, changing the machine personality:

After the steps described above - and maybe including the beshell, befame, bemfx... commands I tried somewhere down the road - later boots went further with machine ID etc. displayed, and without any complaint about missing dongle/key.

When - after a beshell command - the machine boots only into a $ prompt, it is probably reasonable to type:

$ login

and use

mfx

as user name.

That produces some OS9 welcome messages and makes the # prompt appear, and only thereafter do commands like bemfx etc. work.

-

Re. current status:

Now, the boot process continues quite far. At the moment, it complains about missing ESPPCI RAM (actually, not only the RAM but the whole card is absent...). And may have some problem with DCC card number 0, as shown by dccdiag.

So far for now - I hope I can get further... :-)


I haven't seen this information in a sufficient form anywhere else, so I hope it's ok for all of you if I just put it here. Thanks for your bandwith (you see I am that old...), and

Kind regards!

Joerg

Hi all, again.

The remaining error messages (including: "DCC software incompatible", multiple timeouts when starting mdr... processes) could be cured by (as I guess) mainly by reseating all DCC cards and front connectors (again), and the SYNC card.

The latter was a bit tricky, because the platic of the guiding rails was broken, so basically its lower rail fell off.
A few other rails must also be broken (the black portion), even if the cards are still in place, because I found plastic and aluminium parts in the bottom of the machine.

It is probably a good idea to never pull the cards out completely in this machine and its direct relatives, because putting a card back with non-continuous guiding rails is difficult, and putting the rails back together, is difficult, too.

The dead Dallas chip has the effect that the NVRAM config must be entered on every power up, but the remainder of the configuration apparently rests on the hard disk, so the machine boots fine thereafter.

-

First usage experience:

I've restored a few projects from MFX2 8mm tape. That went absolutely smoothly. The software looks more complete in MFX3+ 15.2.06 than in MFX2 11.39; with restore/backup/housekeeping functionality nicely available and making good use of the MFX keys, and faster than on the CMI. Multiple display windows are now accessed by BLUE+A..Z. Alltogether nice (incl. realtime debugging info), and interesting to look at the evolution of the interface.

(I've been interested in efficient man-machine-interfaces for a long time. For contrast, take a look at modern "Ribbons", or "Menu buttons in title bars": These are very, very poor and usually also overloaded contraptions in comparison, which need constant visual checking after every single action to check where you might want to click/tap, or what you're actually doing [...]).

I'm also curios to see the networking abilities: There should be an MS Windows (NT) server software which the MFX3+ should be able to connect, and it provides servers/daemons itself to be connected via Ethernet or RS232. As it handles a variety of disk formats and even master and burn CDs, it might be a nice data interchange hub. Given all that, it's a pity it's limited to 48kHz/16 bit (and has 4 fans, and 2 PSUs, but only 1 switch...).

Re I/O: Neither can the CMI III 3x25pins analog breakout cable be reused, nor do the digital outputs provide TDIF format... so more cabling +- hardware will sadly be needed. These Fairlight machines have a certain tendency to grow my inventory :-(

Ok. For now, I'm closing this.

Kind regards, Joerg