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Is there an howto-boot-or-install-the-thing around?

OG.

There is a bit of difficulty in creating the disk images, in that MESS can't create the DIM/2HC format than NetBSD requires for floppies. XM6 can create blank ones, then MESS can use the Human68k version of rawrite to create them, if need be, but here are the pre-made install floppies for NetBSD 5.1 - http://mahlemiut.marpirc.net/bsd51boot.zip

NetBSD/x68k 5.1 ISO - http://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/iso/5.1/x68kcd-5.1.iso

A 1GB Harddisk image should be big enough to install the complete NetBSD 5.1 with X11.

The Harddisk image must be formatted under Human68k as single partition.

MB89352 should be fairly easy to convert to nscsi given it's already a C++ device and it's using scsibus.c so it already deals in low-level bus signals.

OG, I made a description how do format a SCSI HardDisk under Human68k.

DL: Word document

A bit of good news -- the graphics board uses a HD63484. No new dumps, though.

Poisk-1 (literally, Search-1) -- another cheap PC workalike with integrated keyboard. This one is even less compatible -- it has CGA-like video, but doesn't have a text mode (nor a MC6845) and uses a hardware+BIOS hack to make existing programs work -- access to video memory and registers causes a NMI. There were two motherboard revisions (with 128K and 512K of memory) and six 'system models'.

CPU clock is higher (5 MHz), there's no DMA and no keyboard controller.

Motherboard has only a cassette port (and no ROM BASIC), but has 4 expansion slots and plenty of options:
- RAM expansion with and without a printer port
- serial + parallel port
- floppy controller (driven by a FD1793 clone)
- MFM HDD controller (driven by a WD1010 clone)
- IDE HDD controller
- mouse, joystick controllers
- software modem (2400 baud)
- PROM programmer
- sound card
- ROM cartridges

MESS status -- has dumps, machine description is totally wrong.

Technical manual -- http://web.archive.org/web/20070108082522/http://www.poisk-computer.net.ru/txt/poiskto.txt (no keyboard schematic there)

UK-NC -- school computer (was not available in stores). Two CPUs (second CPU used for I/O, sound etc.) with PDP-11 instruction set, color graphics, sound, integrated keyboard, serial networking. Teacher's workstation also had dual 5" floppy drives, printer, and (sometimes) color monitor; several RT-11-derived operating systems were available, and lots of commercial educational software.

Had its own trade magazine and plenty of games (not sure if there were originals, but definitely a lot of ports).

MESS has a very skeletal driver (uknc), but two other (fairly accurate) emulators exist -- open-source UKNCBTL (http://code.google.com/p/ukncbtl/) and closed-source EmuStudio (http://zx.pk.ru/showthread.php?t=18027). The latter also emulates graphics controllers of earlier DVK desktop (more on that later) -- as the author says, he wrote the emulator just to play LAND (sort-of like Lode Runner) :-)

Technical manual: http://comp.disneyjazz.net/biblioteka/0113.djvu

CPU technical manual: http://zx.pk.ru/showthread.php?t=17284 and http://www.felixl.com/1801VM2SPECS.zip

To clarify: both UK-NC CPUs are PDP-11 instruction set?

Yes, both are KM1801VM2. All of the 1801VMx use this set, but they're not complete clones of anything DEC -- more like reimplementations.

Here's an attempt to reverse-engineer 1801VM2's microcode (optically) -- http://code.google.com/p/ukncbtl/wiki/Microcode