bjwil1991 wrote on 2021-12-18, 18:34:

Probably early VGA resolution, like 800x600 or thereof.

Yes, common with late EGA clones, but...
why the 50 MHz crystal?
800x600x56 Hz needs 36 MHz
50 MHz would suggest much more
I can't see any clockchip there... perhaps it's integrated into that D10 chip? But it's from 1990 - not too early for that?

Hmm... Good question. The one card I have can do up to 800x600 on the fly. I'll do more research and see.

Well, that's definitely not an original EGA, having parallel port integrated...
From what I was able to find about DIP switches it should be able to drive 40x25 and 80x25 color monitors, CGA emulation on EGA monitor, and some "monochrome + CGA 40x25 / CGA 80x25" monitors.

Got some interesting cards in the last few weeks. Maybe someone here can say more about them.

Turbo -> wrote on 2021-12-18, 21:20:

Got some interesting cards in the last few weeks. Maybe someone here can say more about them.

#2 seems to be some kind of graphics card (notice the AVGA1 and Number Nine chips), but it's not a standard VGA, probably some type of accelerator or professional equipment?

#3 is clearly an Adaptec AHA-1740 EISA SCSI controller

#4 and #5 are ISA SBCs that you can plug into a backplane

Not sure about #1 though

#1 is IBM token ring card. I have one just like that. Pretty useless thing, but the PCB is really cool looking. I've been meaning to frame it and hang it on the wall 😀

CrFr wrote on 2021-12-18, 22:57:

I've been meaning to frame it and hang it on the wall 😀

Ha! I was just about to say, that's a perfect candidate for a frame. Beautiful card.

PcBytes wrote on 2021-12-18, 17:05:

No, he's actually right. […]
Show full quote

No, he's actually right.

The SI5PI was before the PCChips merger so no issue with it.

The K7S5A however, is one of the VERY VERY few boards that were actually decent in the post-PCChips merger. The other few I know of were the K7S6A (SiS748 I think?), K7VZA (KT133) and that's about it.
Oh, and their whole Socket 370 lineage wasn't bad either, as long as they weren't horribly crippled iGPU SiS chipsets (VIA was a bit better in that regard - not by much but miles better than SiS' absolutely abysmal iGPU performance.)

I don't know when ECS switched to purple PCBs but that seems to be when the problems started, their Socket 478 and 462 boards of that era were not good.

matze79 wrote on 2021-12-18, 17:58:

GMIO470

nice, I love combo-cards like this.

TheMobRules wrote on 2021-12-18, 21:50:

#2 seems to be some kind of graphics card (notice the AVGA1 and Number Nine chips), but it's not a standard VGA, probably some type of accelerator or professional equipment?

Number Nine GXi
AVGA1 a.k.a. CL-GD5401 provides VGA compatibility
the lacking chip should be TMS-34020, ie. TIGA graphics coprocessor
overall, one of the most powerful graphics cards for ISA

Grzyb wrote on 2021-12-19, 07:22:

the lacking chip should be TMS-34020, ie. TIGA graphics coprocessor

Will the card work without the chip? What is the other socket on the left side reserved for?

As a paperweight, probably.

luckybob wrote on 2021-12-19, 08:08:

As a paperweight, probably.

finding drivers for that card is likely to take more time than the card is actually worth, but it would be fun seeing it run.

So I picked up a number of things recently, just now have time to play with/ post about them.

First thing is that, purely by chance, I got myself the user's manual for my Gorilla Banana printer!
I've been wanting a PC compatible version of my old CBM 1525 printer for years. I was looking for a Tandy DMP100, when I came across the Gorilla Banana.
Brings back a memory from when I was in college, I was living in a converted motel room, and in one of the magazines they were advertising the Gorilla Banana, and I can remember thinking what a crazy name it was. I can even remember that I came across the ad at night.

I'd had some problems talking to the printer (it's like 7-pin, can't find any matching DOS or Win95 drivers... maybe the Okimate10 drivers would work, if I could find them), and was searching online for printouts of the Tandy or CBM versions of the manual, when the ebay auction popped up. I grabbed the manual fast 🤣

I love my Tandy 1000hx. I've been slowly getting accessories and peripherals for it (like the printer above); a CGP-115 plotter, A deluxe mouse, and I've been keeping my eye out for a bargain on a Koalapad.
I've been wanting to get a joysick for it, but they're holding out at a bit more than I want to pay (just a bit...) I've considered making a PC joystick-to-T1000hx adapter, but I don't want to risk damaging my T1000hx.
So when I saw a joystick for sale for about half the going rate on ebay... I grabbed it.
Wasn't til I'd already paid for it that I saw that the tip of the stick was broken off.
Rather than become gloomy, I decided to design and 3D print a joystick cover for it.
(I'll post pix of that once I get it done...)
So... to paraphrase John McClain at this festive time of year... "Now I have a joystick... ho ho ho".

The nice thing is, I can design the joystick cover to be like a golf tee, or a round ball, or a baseball bat... or print a variety of styles for different games as suits me.

Hamby wrote on 2021-12-19, 08:34:

The nice thing is, I can design the joystick cover to be like a golf tee, or a round ball, or a baseball bat... or print a variety of styles for different games as suits me.

That is a great idea, wish I had a 3d printer myself there are a lot of case mods I would love designing and printing, I know this might be off topic but what would you recommend as a good starting 3d printer, one that is capable yet wont break the bank.

I have a few retro mouse cases I want to design and throw on a modern optical/laser base .. like the old Microsoft and Logitech mice, also would mind taking a stab at key caps.

Well, there are getting to be more and more under the $250 mark.
I got myself an Anet E16 (Don't think you can find that model anymore, they have newer and better ones, though), and I've been happy with it.
If you look on YouTube, Ben Heck just did a review of yet another 3D printer... and I'm sure he's done some in the past.
I got the Anet E16 because it had a large work volume... 300mm x 300mm x 400mm. Printing a decent sized object can take several hours. Say, a box the size of a cell phone case might take 3 or 4 hours for the whole thing. That's the nature of 3d printing. I expect my joystick cover to take about an hour or so.

I saw this ISA I/O board on ebay at what seemed a reasonable price, and so I grabbed it for future builds. It was complete in the box with all documentation, etc.
One thing I'm curious about... it has a gameport/MIDI port. My sound card also has a game/midi port...is there a way to adjust the IRQs and other settings to use both without conflict? I can't think of a single game that would use 4 joysticks, but I could use one for joysticks, the other for midi.

ugh... sorry for the second pic. I didn't realize it had come out that bad.