TVGA8900 with 26 DIP switches, plus some jumpers...
Why the hell such a simple card needs so many settings?

Red switches: Memory size (all on or all off mode only)
Blue switch: Monitor mode
Jumpers: 8bit, Waitstate, FIFO IRQ, Interlace - usually.

iPonRMA wrote:

Red switches: Memory size (all on or all off mode only)

Then that's what's called "bad design".
256, 512, 768, 1024 KB - four possible combinations, so two switches, not twenty.

But it looks more sophisticated this way ;D

I dont think that those red swichtes are factory installed ones, as i remember there was two 18 pin jumper blocks, and doesnt need for 1mb...

Predator99 wrote:

Hmm, strange, aslo cannot write to you anymore...can you please upload it here? You can use my photo if you like XT BIOS image c […]
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iPonRMA wrote:

Predator99 wrote:

Hi iPonRMA,

can you please provide your BIOS? I soldered some RAM-sockets. Supersoft doesnt report relevant errors anymore, RAM seems to work. But I do not find a working BIOS to boot. Turbo XT BIOS does not work, same applies to the one from Cyrix200+. Also never seen that "G2 GC100A-PC" chipset on a XT...

Thanks!

Hi,

I dont know the reason, but it seems i cannot reply your PM. I found the board and just made a backup of the BIOS, so please send me your email address and i will send there.

Hmm, strange, aslo cannot write to you anymore...can you please upload it here? You can use my photo if you like
XT BIOS image collection

Dont know if you read it, but in the mean time I had some success:
Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

But still not happy with that BIOS, the original one will be better.

Many thanks for your efforts!

Thanks for uploading the ROM iPonRMA. Unfortunately it doesent work (yet). Maybe the reason here is also the missing parity RAM. In the mean time I got the TURBO XT BIOS running, but only after removing the parity check in the source.
I am also surprised your image has a size of 32kb. When I look at a working ROM (on a 64 kb EEPROM filled with data) with debug.exe after booting, the BIOS code starts at F000:E000, there is nothing in the area before that. Therefore the CPU only sees the last 8 kb of the EPROM.
Dont know yet what that means...

Grzyb wrote:

iPonRMA wrote:

Red switches: Memory size (all on or all off mode only)

Then that's what's called "bad design".
256, 512, 768, 1024 KB - four possible combinations, so two switches, not twenty.

Actually, it's probably what's called "Cheap design"

Each of those switches probably connects one line at a time to the DRAMs.

Bough myself a monochrome monitor a while ago and it finally showed up. It's filthy, and even though it was listed as working, I'm going to disassemble and clean it before it goes anywhere near a power outlet. Will be using it with my turbo XT:

^^ that's a neat monitor, should look great when it's cleaned up. What color phosphor is it? Goes perfectly with the system too.

Pretty cool monitor! Nice Turbo XT too.

I bought this thing today for my XT clone (payed ~18 USD). I don't know if it works (well it doesn't smoke when turned on) as seller didn't had display adapter for it. Judging from the CRT designation it should have green phosphorous in it. I hope it won't get damaged in shipping... I will let you know once it arrives.

FAMICOMASTER wrote:

Bough myself a monochrome monitor a while ago and it finally showed up. It's filthy, and even though it was listed as working, I'm going to disassemble and clean it before it goes anywhere near a power outlet. Will be using it with my turbo XT:

The monitor looks very interesting. But I would not dare to turn it on in this state (and maybe also not after cleaning). I have a lot of respect for the high voltage and the vacuum tube in it. Let us know if it works...

Picked this up today. Anyone know what variation of Geforce3 this is? NV20 is printed on the die, not Geforce3. No other identifying marks that bring up anything helpful on google.

NV20 is a Geforce 3. Probably a Geforce Ti-200 based on the fan and heatsink size. I see a part/board number in top right but can't make it out, can you take take a better "non angled" picture ?

Only one way to find out which version it is. Install an older nVidia driverset and it'll tell you which GPU it is.

Horun wrote:

NV20 is a Geforce 3. Probably a Geforce Ti-200 based on the fan and heatsink size. I see a part/board number in top right but can't make it out, can you take take a better "non angled" picture ?

It could be either a Ti 200 or a Vanilla GF3. It's a Dell OEM card, built by creative.

FAMICOMASTER wrote:

Bough myself a monochrome monitor a while ago and it finally showed up. It's filthy, and even though it was listed as working, I'm going to disassemble and clean it before it goes anywhere near a power outlet. Will be using it with my turbo XT:

That pc enclosure needs 'some' attention too 😉

Predator99 wrote:

Thanks for uploading the ROM iPonRMA. Unfortunately it doesent work (yet). Maybe the reason here is also the missing parity RAM. […]
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Predator99 wrote:

Hmm, strange, aslo cannot write to you anymore...can you please upload it here? You can use my photo if you like XT BIOS image c […]
Show full quote

iPonRMA wrote:

Hi,

I dont know the reason, but it seems i cannot reply your PM. I found the board and just made a backup of the BIOS, so please send me your email address and i will send there.

Hmm, strange, aslo cannot write to you anymore...can you please upload it here? You can use my photo if you like
XT BIOS image collection

Dont know if you read it, but in the mean time I had some success:
Re: What retro activity did you get up to today?

But still not happy with that BIOS, the original one will be better.

Many thanks for your efforts!

Thanks for uploading the ROM iPonRMA. Unfortunately it doesent work (yet). Maybe the reason here is also the missing parity RAM. In the mean time I got the TURBO XT BIOS running, but only after removing the parity check in the source.
I am also surprised your image has a size of 32kb. When I look at a working ROM (on a 64 kb EEPROM filled with data) with debug.exe after booting, the BIOS code starts at F000:E000, there is nothing in the area before that. Therefore the CPU only sees the last 8 kb of the EPROM.
Dont know yet what that means...

Sorry for being off-topic, but I have found some 16-Pin sockets and soldered them with 3xKM41C256P-8. Now, Award, Phoenix and also Turbo XT BIOS boot my Philips 5107 board without modification or complaining about parity.

Only the image from the original board provided by iPonRMA does not work 🙁 It only displays "FF" on the post card (same as the other ROMs do...).
Strings inside are:

Copyright (c) 1989 HeadStart Technologies Company A Division of North American Philips Corporation


Award SoftwarIBM COMPATIBLE 286 BIOS COPYRIGHT Award Software Inc.Software Inc. Award Soft....8088/86 Modular BIOS Version 3.0F 12/18/87
Copyright (c) Award Software Inc.
HEADSTART LX ver. 2.36

So the ROM/board is indeed from a "HEADSTART LX", which is a 8088.

As written, its very strange that all other ROMs are only 8kb while the HEADSTART is 32kb. And my 5107 board "sees" only 8 kb at adress F000:E000, nothing more. Strange, but I will not try anymore as my board is running fine with the other ROMs.

Predator99 wrote:

Adlib looks good, I have learned the date code on the Yamaha is important, but difficult to read. […]
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Adlib looks good, I have learned the date code on the Yamaha is important, but difficult to read.

I have just bought 10 of these boards and some other nice things (sellers photo) - of course I dont need that many. They seem to be boards from a PHILIPS PC-XT (5107). CPU, ROM, RAM-sockets and crystals are missing. Seems to be easy to replace and after removing the COM/LPT connectors this may fit in a standard case. Think 8-bit IDE and Floppy is onboard. Hope a standard BIOS will do the job and I get this running 😀

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I think I have one of those systems, give me a shout if you need the BIOS.

Thanks, I would be really happy about this!!! I will let you know when I am ready to test...

Received my XT-Boards today. All was packed in a box without any protection (together with some harddisks and a complete 286-PC - photos later). Strange, all are missing the RAMs and several other components. I already picked one which seems to be complete except the RAM, populated with a 8088, CGA and Supersoft-ROM and it seems to be running (except the RAM of course...). I will keep only 1-2 of these boards...
So Cyrix200+, I would be very happy about a ROM-image. Think I need it to use the 8-bit IDE and floppy interface.

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I have similar board from scrappers and this Philips P3120, in attachment bios.

SpectriaForce wrote:

FAMICOMASTER wrote:

Bough myself a monochrome monitor a while ago and it finally showed up. It's filthy, and even though it was listed as working, I'm going to disassemble and clean it before it goes anywhere near a power outlet. Will be using it with my turbo XT:

That pc enclosure needs 'some' attention too 😉

That whole case is being tossed in favor of a more XT-like case anyways. This case copies the look of an AT, but I have one by PC Craft that copies the PC/XT look instead that I like better.

I bought the machine untested from a warehouse last year and it made some post beeps when I turned it on, but I didn't have a monitor for MDA/CGA/EGA, nor an 8-bit compatible VGA card...

Now I have a TVGA8900C and this MDA monitor to work with, so that's something.

xjas wrote:

^^ that's a neat monitor, should look great when it's cleaned up. What color phosphor is it? Goes perfectly with the system too.

Lovely green phosphor. Seller had pictures of it working, too!

It definitely came out of an industrial setting, though. The phosphor is burned in some spots for sure and it's absolutely coated in oil and dust. A quick wipe down with wet paper towels and clorox wipes brought it back to reasonable shape.

That machine, a "Supercom Turbo Beltron" uses a DTK Turbo-640 motherboard. It was sold "as-is" untested from a recycling warehouse, and I paid almost nothing for it. Just so happened that it made post beeps when I flipped the switch. This is the only TTL monitor I own currently, so I'm hoping it can be made to work with this machine.

Also, the monitor is all clean now, but the power button does nothing. The monitor shows absolutely no signs of life, so I'm going to pop the cover on it tonight and see what's going on. It seems that moving the motherboard from the original case also killed it - It just makes one long beep now. How wonderful, two things to diagnose!

P.S. unrelated but my fully populated AST RAMpage PC came in the mail today, will post pics later