First post, by Master_Shifu
Hi Guys,
I finally found a complete ISA Bus Expansion set to add some extra ISA ports through an external backplane.
Sadly, this stuff is so old, that even Advantech itself couldn't help me out in any way, there is nothing left in their archives concerning drivers, manuals, or any other form of documentation... If even the manufacturer says something like that you know you have good stuff in hands right? 😀
Anyway, the basic function is pretty straight forward. a lot like the IBM 5161 ISA bus Expansion cards. Though the Advantech cards are 16 bit, and IBM was 8.
of course I've tried googling, but after days of grinding every possible combo, all I could find was the mention of these cards used in a test setup in 2 research papers about early FPGA development.
The cards are from 1994 ish, consisting of 1 card labeled PCX-795M Expansion Card Rev (A2) PC- SIDE, and the other labeled PCX-795S Expansion Card Rev (A2) EXP. SIDE.
They are connected with a 3 row 62 pin cable (could be 68, didn't count exactly)
(Switch description under pictures)
The "Master" card as I will call it, has several extra dip switches, but I can only guess about their functions. Maybe you guys can help me clarify them a little better?
There are 4 banks of dip switches, from left to right:
Memory Bank Select (SW2)
Position 1-10 shows A0 to E8 and position s11 shows 100 on the silkscreen
I/O Bank Select (SW3)
1-7 shows 200 to 380 and position 8 shows 3C0 on the silkscreen
DMA Select (SW4)
Position 1-6 shows 1-2-3-5-6-7 on the Silkscreen
Wait State (SW5)
Position 1-6 shows 1-2-4-8-16-32 on the Silkscreen
Any suggestions? if anybody has a snippet of documentation, software, driver, or any other info I would be very happy to know! 😀
