most of the time, backplanes need backplane cages.. The backplane you have is not passive, its active, it has a PCI driver chip on it doing 3 pci slots as primary and 3 pci slots as secondary.

Since you say you have similar systems, go for the dual since you dont have a similar system.

microsoft says win2k requires 2gb hard drive and 64mb ram and min of a pentium 133

Viserion wrote on 2020-02-19, 18:11:

I have some SBCs that I wanted to use for a project. […]
Show full quote

I have some SBCs that I wanted to use for a project.

I got a Advantech PCA-6108P6 Rev.B1 passive back plane with both isa and pci slots.
The thing is that I don't have a free case, so what sort of case I should get for this.

Don't know if this will fit a standard ATX case, or if it will fit some smaller standard.

It is 26cm long, and 18cm tall.

Check the number of slots. ATX has 7 openings, this board has 8. Generally these things fit AT cases better. You can always use an ATX PSU if you need 3.3V lines.

Viserion wrote on 2020-02-19, 18:11:

I have 3 candidates I could use. […]
Show full quote

I have 3 candidates I could use.

First I have is a 486/5x86 sbc card with a ST 486DX4/100.
As I already have an Ibm with an Intel 486DX4-100 in it , it sort of would be pointless to have 2 similar systems.
There is a connector on it, that looks like one half of an AT connector. Is there a way to get a converter, or else I would need to use 2 power supplies.
So currently not working for that reason.
I would probably use pure dos on this machine. as I can't remember what sort of graphics card is built in.

That 'half an AT connector' is an AUX connector, used in some workstation/server grade AT systems for 3.3V. Generally the systems were quite happy to boot up without it. Have you actually tried this and failed? If not, worth a try.

Viserion wrote on 2020-02-19, 18:11:

Second card is a Robo-638Z or Micro-Link IPC223(not sure what the name is) with P3 600MHz in slot1 config. Here I already have a […]
Show full quote

Second card is a Robo-638Z or Micro-Link IPC223(not sure what the name is) with P3 600MHz in slot1 config.
Here I already have a full P3 system running 1GHz, so again a bit pointless to have 2 similar systems.
But card works as it is. Would probably use win2k or WinXP.
Not entierly sure but I think it has an Ati card of some sort built in.

Frequently these things have RageXL onboard.

Viserion wrote on 2020-02-19, 18:11:

My recent requirement is a PIP10A, and is a dual cpu Pentium 1 board.
It came standard with 2x133MHz cpus, but I just got 2x200MHz cpus that are non MMX versions installed on it.
This is a socket 5 board, so no MMX version support sadly.

If it's real So5 you have another problem: no BF1 multiplier pin, so you can only set 1.5x or 2x multiplier, not 2.5x or the 3x needed for 3x66=200MHz. This is quite easy to hand-mod, connect the BF1 pin to GND (VSS) and you're done.

Viserion wrote on 2020-02-19, 18:11:

This does not have an in built graphics card, so I was thinking of using a Voodoo3 pci card, as the only other pci graphics card […]
Show full quote

This does not have an in built graphics card, so I was thinking of using a Voodoo3 pci card, as the only other pci graphics card I have is a Cirrius Logic of some kind.
Card is working fine, and I have the manual for this one, which is a huge plus.
What would best os for this one be.
Win9x would be wasteful, as second cpu would take a "permanent vacation".
Would be fun to have a NT4 system as I have never used it before, but as it is a gaming rig, Win2k may be a better choice.
The latter would the probably be on the taxing side for the system.
It has 32mb of ram currently, but sure I have more ram stick somewhere.

Any advise appreciated.

Quite simply, this is not a gaming board. There are no games that will run sensibly on P54C on a slow old So5 platform that do anything with a second CPU (Quake 3 Arena might "run" if you max RAM, but unless you like slideshows, forget actually playing it). The only corner case would be to run NT4 and use one CPU for a game and the other to play mp3 music or something similar that was non-trivial in the day - but NT4 is no gaming OS and you'd be better off for both tasks with that P3-600 and Win9x (or 2k).

I'd suggest considering something different: sell or swap the boards you won't be using and go for something that doesn't overlap with what you already have. Pentium M SBCs are pretty easy to find and offer a lot more performance. I've been looking around for a really powerful C2D-era SBC, but they tend to be PICMG 1.3 (PCI+PCIe) and won't fit or work in your PICMG 1.1 backplane (let alone my 1.0 backplane). PICMG 1.0/1.1 C2D SBCs definitely exist, but are still being sold at (near) new pricing, not being dumped like older stuff.

I'm also passionate about SBC and this post gives me the opportunity to suggest something that I was planning right now.

I discovered the SBC with the Amiga4000 and I have always deepened the technique of these fascinating computers. 2 days ago I got an IBM Pentium1 desktop with an ISA-PCI riser-board with several slots. So I said to myself: why not turn this pentium1 into a double pentium1 / 486 system so as to save space and have two computers in one? So I started to analyze it and I found on ebay an economic riserboard identical to mine.

My plan is to physically disconnect all the pins that are not power supply by cutting the riser-board from the pentium1 and allow the SBC and a further soundblaster to be installed on the isa slot just below. The ideal would be to just disconnect some isa slots to leave some usable by pentium1, but we'll see.

This I consider it a smart and different way to use SBC. Unfortunately, backplanes need houses on purpose that are very ugly. my IBM 350 is much more beautiful

Pictures of that dual board? Pretty please 😀

Ok, I just got an Advantech PCI/ISA backplane that I was planning on using for a 486 SBC build. Already have a different backplane by a different company and a case that it fits in but the SBC was only showing 3 of the 4 PCI slots in the BIOS.

I think it may actually be because the onboard Tseng ET4000 W32/p video is using up one of the PCI addresses.

Upon trying to swap out the backplane with the Advantech one, I found that the 14-slot Advantech backplanes have about 1/4" or so extra PCB material on the one edge that prevents them from fitting in a standard rack mount backplane case. This is with a 14-slot backplane (take up 15 slot spaces though). So if using a full size Advantech backplane, you will want to look up the cases they made that support the specific backplane.

Yours looks like it might just fit in a standard-ish ATX case though as it is only a 9-slot with one slot being shared between PCI/ISA. Just have to make sure the mounting holes line up.

There is a connector on it, that looks like one half of an AT connector. Is there a way to get a converter, or else I would need to use 2 power supplies.

You need a power supply with the 3rd connector. Pretty sure that the wiring s not the same as a regular AT power supply on the 3rd connector from looking at the one I have here in front of me.

Pics please of that setup.

It's just the regular P10 'AUX' 3.3V connector I already mentioned.

(here referred to as "ATX" AUX, but seen on a lot of AT boards too)

Ah, ok. Was in a bit of a hurry and didn't read through everything.

On another note, I just got one of those dual socket 5 SBCs as well. Haven't
had a chance to mess with it yet though. Shouldn't overdrive MMX CPUs be able to
work with it?

dionb wrote on 2020-02-19, 19:23:

Viserion wrote on 2020-02-19, 18:11:

I have some SBCs that I wanted to use for a project. […]
Show full quote

I have some SBCs that I wanted to use for a project.

I got a Advantech PCA-6108P6 Rev.B1 passive back plane with both isa and pci slots.
The thing is that I don't have a free case, so what sort of case I should get for this.

Don't know if this will fit a standard ATX case, or if it will fit some smaller standard.

It is 26cm long, and 18cm tall.

Check the number of slots. ATX has 7 openings, this board has 8. Generally these things fit AT cases better. You can always use an ATX PSU if you need 3.3V lines.

There is the trouble of finding an AT case localy as I haven't seen many for sale.
Small case would also be an advantage, as I have too many other computers.
I didn't actually think of it, but it has 9 slots. 2 are however very close, so doubt both can be used at the same time.
Even if it is technically possible.

dionb wrote on 2020-02-19, 19:23:

Viserion wrote on 2020-02-19, 18:11:

I have 3 candidates I could use. […]
Show full quote

I have 3 candidates I could use.

First I have is a 486/5x86 sbc card with a ST 486DX4/100.
As I already have an Ibm with an Intel 486DX4-100 in it , it sort of would be pointless to have 2 similar systems.
There is a connector on it, that looks like one half of an AT connector. Is there a way to get a converter, or else I would need to use 2 power supplies.
So currently not working for that reason.
I would probably use pure dos on this machine. as I can't remember what sort of graphics card is built in.

That 'half an AT connector' is an AUX connector, used in some workstation/server grade AT systems for 3.3V. Generally the systems were quite happy to boot up without it. Have you actually tried this and failed? If not, worth a try.

I have, did not work.
Remember making it work with 2 supplies, but it was some time ago, so details are fuzzy.

dionb wrote on 2020-02-19, 19:23:

Viserion wrote on 2020-02-19, 18:11:

Second card is a Robo-638Z or Micro-Link IPC223(not sure what the name is) with P3 600MHz in slot1 config. Here I already have a […]
Show full quote

Second card is a Robo-638Z or Micro-Link IPC223(not sure what the name is) with P3 600MHz in slot1 config.
Here I already have a full P3 system running 1GHz, so again a bit pointless to have 2 similar systems.
But card works as it is. Would probably use win2k or WinXP.
Not entierly sure but I think it has an Ati card of some sort built in.

Frequently these things have RageXL onboard.

dionb wrote on 2020-02-19, 19:23:

Viserion wrote on 2020-02-19, 18:11:

My recent requirement is a PIP10A, and is a dual cpu Pentium 1 board.
It came standard with 2x133MHz cpus, but I just got 2x200MHz cpus that are non MMX versions installed on it.
This is a socket 5 board, so no MMX version support sadly.

If it's real So5 you have another problem: no BF1 multiplier pin, so you can only set 1.5x or 2x multiplier, not 2.5x or the 3x needed for 3x66=200MHz. This is quite easy to hand-mod, connect the BF1 pin to GND (VSS) and you're done.

It is supported, even say so in the manual.
I have booted into bios, just to check if it worked.

dionb wrote on 2020-02-19, 19:23:

Viserion wrote on 2020-02-19, 18:11:

This does not have an in built graphics card, so I was thinking of using a Voodoo3 pci card, as the only other pci graphics card […]
Show full quote

This does not have an in built graphics card, so I was thinking of using a Voodoo3 pci card, as the only other pci graphics card I have is a Cirrius Logic of some kind.
Card is working fine, and I have the manual for this one, which is a huge plus.
What would best os for this one be.
Win9x would be wasteful, as second cpu would take a "permanent vacation".
Would be fun to have a NT4 system as I have never used it before, but as it is a gaming rig, Win2k may be a better choice.
The latter would the probably be on the taxing side for the system.
It has 32mb of ram currently, but sure I have more ram stick somewhere.

Any advise appreciated.

Quite simply, this is not a gaming board. There are no games that will run sensibly on P54C on a slow old So5 platform that do anything with a second CPU (Quake 3 Arena might "run" if you max RAM, but unless you like slideshows, forget actually playing it). The only corner case would be to run NT4 and use one CPU for a game and the other to play mp3 music or something similar that was non-trivial in the day - but NT4 is no gaming OS and you'd be better off for both tasks with that P3-600 and Win9x (or 2k).

I know, but got it as I think it is cool, and price wasn't to bad.
I have a P3 1GHz, and a Opteron 180 systems as well, so should be covered reasonably well.

dionb wrote on 2020-02-19, 19:23:

I'd suggest considering something different: sell or swap the boards you won't be using and go for something that doesn't overlap with what you already have. Pentium M SBCs are pretty easy to find and offer a lot more performance. I've been looking around for a really powerful C2D-era SBC, but they tend to be PICMG 1.3 (PCI+PCIe) and won't fit or work in your PICMG 1.1 backplane (let alone my 1.0 backplane). PICMG 1.0/1.1 C2D SBCs definitely exist, but are still being sold at (near) new pricing, not being dumped like older stuff.

That is a bit of overkill for me, and as mentioned I think I am reasonably covered by other builds, and the only pace I have a gap is between my P3 and the 486.

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-02-19, 22:35:

Ok, I just got an Advantech PCI/ISA backplane that I was planning on using for a 486 SBC build. Already have a different backpla […]
Show full quote

Ok, I just got an Advantech PCI/ISA backplane that I was planning on using for a 486 SBC build. Already have a different backplane by a different company and a case that it fits in but the SBC was only showing 3 of the 4 PCI slots in the BIOS.

I think it may actually be because the onboard Tseng ET4000 W32/p video is using up one of the PCI addresses.

Upon trying to swap out the backplane with the Advantech one, I found that the 14-slot Advantech backplanes have about 1/4" or so extra PCB material on the one edge that prevents them from fitting in a standard rack mount backplane case. This is with a 14-slot backplane (take up 15 slot spaces though). So if using a full size Advantech backplane, you will want to look up the cases they made that support the specific backplane.

Yours looks like it might just fit in a standard-ish ATX case though as it is only a 9-slot with one slot being shared between PCI/ISA. Just have to make sure the mounting holes line up.

There is a connector on it, that looks like one half of an AT connector. Is there a way to get a converter, or else I would need to use 2 power supplies.

You need a power supply with the 3rd connector. Pretty sure that the wiring s not the same as a regular AT power supply on the 3rd connector from looking at the one I have here in front of me.

Pics please of that setup.

I will take and post pictures tomorrow.
A bit too late today, as it is way past bedtime.
Several other have called it AUX, so will go looking, and see what I can find.

NT4 is a good choice for the Socket 5 system but wouldn't waste the voodoo on it. the Cirrus Logic will probably be enough.
You also have NT3.5, kinda interesting as its got the 3.11 feel drivers are the main problem

BeOS, OS2, Netware also support 2 CPU's

chinny22 wrote on 2020-02-21, 13:06:

BeOS

Oh, yeah!

gdjacobs wrote on 2020-02-21, 16:40:

chinny22 wrote on 2020-02-21, 13:06:

BeOS

Oh, yeah!

Or Zeta (BeOS off-spring). 😁

Viserion wrote on 2020-02-19, 23:12:

[...] […]
Show full quote

[...]

There is the trouble of finding an AT case localy as I haven't seen many for sale.
Small case would also be an advantage, as I have too many other computers.
I didn't actually think of it, but it has 9 slots. 2 are however very close, so doubt both can be used at the same time.
Even if it is technically possible.

That's why I said 8, one PCI and ISA slot is shared.

[...]
I have, did not work.
Remember making it work with 2 supplies, but it was some time ago, so details are fuzzy.

Early high-end ATX PSUs could help, I have an AOpen (FSP) 350W PSU with massive 5V line (30A iirc) and a 3.3V AUX connector.

[...]
It is supported, even say so in the manual.
I have booted into bios, just to check if it worked.

Then it's technically So7 not So5 😉

[...] […]
Show full quote

[...]

I know, but got it as I think it is cool, and price wasn't to bad.
I have a P3 1GHz, and a Opteron 180 systems as well, so should be covered reasonably well.

[...]

That is a bit of overkill for me, and as mentioned I think I am reasonably covered by other builds, and the only pace I have a gap is between my P3 and the 486.

That's an entirely valid gap to fill, but it only takes one CPU to fill it, not two. SMP is fun, but in that period completely useless for gaming, and OSs that do support it aren't great for gaming either.

You have a really nice SBC, but the second CPU is wasted for your purpose - and with very early So5 specs, it's rather too close to the 486. You'd be better of with a late P55C (MMX) or Pentium Pro to really close the gap.

Jo22 wrote on 2020-02-21, 16:49:

Or Zeta (BeOS off-spring). 😁

Or Haiku.

Viserion wrote on 2020-02-19, 23:15:

I will take and post pictures tomorrow. A bit too late today, as it is way past bedtime. Several other have called it AUX, so wi […]
Show full quote

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-02-19, 22:35:

Ok, I just got an Advantech PCI/ISA backplane that I was planning on using for a 486 SBC build. Already have a different backpla […]
Show full quote

Ok, I just got an Advantech PCI/ISA backplane that I was planning on using for a 486 SBC build. Already have a different backplane by a different company and a case that it fits in but the SBC was only showing 3 of the 4 PCI slots in the BIOS.

I think it may actually be because the onboard Tseng ET4000 W32/p video is using up one of the PCI addresses.

Upon trying to swap out the backplane with the Advantech one, I found that the 14-slot Advantech backplanes have about 1/4" or so extra PCB material on the one edge that prevents them from fitting in a standard rack mount backplane case. This is with a 14-slot backplane (take up 15 slot spaces though). So if using a full size Advantech backplane, you will want to look up the cases they made that support the specific backplane.

Yours looks like it might just fit in a standard-ish ATX case though as it is only a 9-slot with one slot being shared between PCI/ISA. Just have to make sure the mounting holes line up.

There is a connector on it, that looks like one half of an AT connector. Is there a way to get a converter, or else I would need to use 2 power supplies.

You need a power supply with the 3rd connector. Pretty sure that the wiring s not the same as a regular AT power supply on the 3rd connector from looking at the one I have here in front of me.

Pics please of that setup.

I will take and post pictures tomorrow.
A bit too late today, as it is way past bedtime.
Several other have called it AUX, so will go looking, and see what I can find.

Sorry for not answering earlier.
Have been a bit sick the last few days.

Took a few pictures, but they only are of the PIP10A and the back plane.

dionb wrote on 2020-02-21, 17:20:

That's why I said 8, one PCI and ISA slot is shared. […]
Show full quote

Viserion wrote on 2020-02-19, 23:12:

[...] […]
Show full quote

[...]

There is the trouble of finding an AT case localy as I haven't seen many for sale.
Small case would also be an advantage, as I have too many other computers.
I didn't actually think of it, but it has 9 slots. 2 are however very close, so doubt both can be used at the same time.
Even if it is technically possible.

That's why I said 8, one PCI and ISA slot is shared.

[...]
I have, did not work.
Remember making it work with 2 supplies, but it was some time ago, so details are fuzzy.

Early high-end ATX PSUs could help, I have an AOpen (FSP) 350W PSU with massive 5V line (30A iirc) and a 3.3V AUX connector.

I only have an fairly modern 850w supply that I'm not using at the moment.

For now I let it bee, as I won't be using 486 card anyway.
Would be nice to get it to work.

[...]
It is supported, even say so in the manual.
I have booted into bios, just to check if it worked.

Then it's technically So7 not So5 😉

So far as I can tell, it only has support for 3.3v and not the 2.8/3.3v an MMX processor would need.
(Going off memory here, so might be wrong. Starting to get old.)

[...] […]
Show full quote

[...]

I know, but got it as I think it is cool, and price wasn't to bad.
I have a P3 1GHz, and a Opteron 180 systems as well, so should be covered reasonably well.

[...]

That is a bit of overkill for me, and as mentioned I think I am reasonably covered by other builds, and the only pace I have a gap is between my P3 and the 486.

That's an entirely valid gap to fill, but it only takes one CPU to fill it, not two. SMP is fun, but in that period completely useless for gaming, and OSs that do support it aren't great for gaming either.

You have a really nice SBC, but the second CPU is wasted for your purpose - and with very early So5 specs, it's rather too close to the 486. You'd be better of with a late P55C (MMX) or Pentium Pro to really close the gap.

I have what I have, and won't be spending more money at this, apart from more ram, and a case.
Had 2x32mb EDO modules not in use, but both of them tested bad, when setting up my 486.
The others are 8mb or smaller, and won't make that much difference.

chinny22 wrote on 2020-02-21, 13:06:

NT4 is a good choice for the Socket 5 system but wouldn't waste the voodoo on it. the Cirrus Logic will probably be enough.
You also have NT3.5, kinda interesting as its got the 3.11 feel drivers are the main problem

BeOS, OS2, Netware also support 2 CPU's

I will probably go for NT4 and maybe also WinMe or 98.
May do OS/2, as I have an original copy of that somwhere.

We have to see.
First more ram, and a suitable case.