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Data General m88k AViiON

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Overview

The m88k-based AViiON servers were the successors to the once popular DG NOVA servers. They consisted of a whole series of computers based on Motorola m88k-CPUs ranging from small desktop-sized workstations to rather big and bulky SMP servers. The only OS that runs on these systems is, at least to my knowledge, Data General's own Unix implementation, called DG-UX.

The table below tries to summarize the different AViiON systems; since information on these old boxen is generally very hard to come by, some of the entries may be incomplete and/or incorrect.

Model	Case	CPU	Clock	Cache per CPU	RAM max.	Internal I/O1	External I/O1
AV200	desktop	88100	16MHz	32KB	16MB	SE	10mb, SE, 2 ser, k/m
AV300	pizzabox	88100	16MHz	32KB
AV310	pizzabox	88100	20MHz	32KB
AV400	deskside	88100	20MHz	32KB	128MB	SE, 2 VME	10mb, SE, 2 ser, 1 par, k/m, RGB
AV410	deskside	2 88100	20MHz	32KB	128MB	SE, 2 VME	10mb, SE, 2 ser, 1 par, k/m, RGB
AV500	deskside	88110	40MHz		128MB	SE	10mb, SE, 2 ser, k/m
AV530	deskside	2 88100	25MHz			SE, 2 VME	10mb, SE, 2 ser, 1 par, k/m, RGB
AV550	wide tower	88110	40MHz
AV3200		88100
AV4100	deskside	88100	20MHz		128MB	SE, 2 VME	10mb, SE, 2 ser, 1 par, k/m, RGB
AV4300	deskside	88100	25MHz		128MB	SE, 2 VME	10mb, SE, 2 ser, 1 par
AV4320	deskside	2 88100	25MHz		128MB	SE, 2 VME	10mb, SE, 2 ser, 1 par
AV4500	tower	88110	40MHz	256KB	256MB
AV4600	deskside	88100	33MHz		128MB	2 VME	10mb
AV4605	deskside	88100	33MHz		128MB	2 VME	10mb
AV4625	deskside	1-2 88100	33MHz		128MB	2 VME	2 10mb
AV5100		88100	20MHz
AV5240		1-4 88100
AV5500	wide tower	1-2 88110	40MHz	256KB	256MB	SE, opt. FW, 2 VME	10mb, 4 ser, SE, par
AV6100		1-2 88100	20MHz
AV6240	rack	1-4 88100
AV6280	rack	1-8 88100
AV8000-8		1-8 88100
AV8500	wide tower	2-4 88100	50MHz	256KB	2GB	SE, opt. FW, 5 VME	10mb, 3 ser, SE, par
AV8500+	wide tower	2-8 88110	50MHz	256KB	2GB	SE, opt. FW, 5 VME	10mb, 3 ser, SE, par
AV9500	rack	2-16 88100	50MHz	256KB	2GB	SE, opt. FW, 5 VME	10mb, 3 ser, SE, par
AV9500+	rack	2-18 88110	50MHz	256KB	2GB	SE, opt. FW, 5 VME	10mb, 3 ser, SE, par

Notes

1. I/O abbrevations

• SE: Single-Ended Fast-narrow SCSI
• FW: Fast-wide SCSI
• 10mb: 10Mbit/s Ethernet
• ser: serial
• par: parallel
• VME: 6U VME slot
• k/m: keyboard/mouse
• 13w3: 13w3-video connector
• RGB: 3 BNC-video connectors

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Operating Systems

• DG-UX (Data General's own System V Unix)
• OpenBSD

Pictures

• AViiON AV5500 (LinoServer 4100): front, side, back, mainboard, main interface controller, first cpu, second cpu, memory, drive bay. (with permission from/Copyright Ralph Graulich)

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References

• Data General AViiON (m88k) Information (Allen Briggs: n.d.)
• Replacing the NVRAM in an AViiON AV300 (Frank D. Cringle: June 1999)

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