What kind of chipset is it on this? Anyone knows? Is it comparable to the "common" CL boards?
Usually Orchid Kelvin64 should have Cirrus Logic GD-5434 chipset upgradable to 2MB of dram.
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Kelvin64 EZ uses CL GD5430 (32-bit). When not sold in a box, they are hard to distinguish because they appear to be using the same PCB, and there is usually a sticker covering up the chipset.
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V'Ger XT|Upgraded AT|Ultimate 386|Super VL/EISA 486|SMP VL/EISA Pentium
Kelvin64 EZ doesn't exist. Kelvin EZ has CL-GD5430 and it's clearly marked on the board.
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Necro so Anonymous Coward can see he's right about the PCB, sacrificed my sticker for science 😜. This is a "Kelvin EZ-VLB" w/ CL-5430
Also notice how the FCC ID on the 64 is stickered on in OP picture but not on this one.
Can you upload the bios for it? I want to poke around in it
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I just like the box.
These are my:
PCB is pretty much the same. But they did put on a sticker/print with a clear name: KELVIN 64-VLB or KELVIN EZ-VLB.
The last time I tried Kelvin EZ, it didn't work 🙁
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Interesting how yours has sockets for additional memory.
Yours doesn't work either? Hmm.. does anybody have a working EZ version 😜
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It might be bad solder joints. I had two Hercules VLB cards that didn't work, and both were due to bad solder joints on the RAM.
"Will the highways on the internets become more few?" -Gee Dubya
V'Ger XT|Upgraded AT|Ultimate 386|Super VL/EISA 486|SMP VL/EISA Pentium
wrote:It might be bad solder joints. I had two Hercules VLB cards that didn't work, and both were due to bad solder joints on the RAM.
Thanks, after I get a fresh bios I'll resolder the ram and possibly swap the clock.. from there I may have to call the card dead or wait til I can get a different vlb boarb and chipset to try it on . I was told a few years ago that some boards dont like 543x chips, but can't confirm or deny that.
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The Cirrus Logic CL GD-5430 is one of the best graphics chips available for VLB card. 2mb. would have made it better.
If you can find those memory chips can you upgrade it to 2mb. ?
Can't agree with you... it's just a tad better then 5429. Even the best 5434 isn't that good comparing with the other better VLB cards and considering the 5434 ISA card is probably one of the best for DOS usage - looking at the overall performance (DOS, WIN). Otherwise these perform quite good in DOS.
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wrote:The Cirrus Logic CL GD-5430 is one of the best graphics chips available for VLB card. 2mb. would have made it better.
If you can find those memory chips can you upgrade it to 2mb. ?
I'm not sure. According to the manual you can upgrade it, but of course the model in the manual has sockets for the chips. If I get it working I can add in the extra memory and see what happens. I don't see any jumpers for memory configuration on the board
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Memory detection is automatic. I guess only the sockets are missing.
I've upgraded memory to 2MB, but it is the same - doesn't POST.
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I recently acquired one of these cards. Would anyone be willing to share the Orchid Kelvin 64-VLB drivers for w95, w31, nt4, nt35?
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I used the standard builtin Cirrus Logic Win95 drivers.
Some drivers are here:
http://files.mpoli.fi/hardware/DISPLAY/ORCHID/
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kixs wrote on 2023-12-05, 12:15:I used the standard builtin Cirrus Logic Win95 drivers.
Some drivers are here:
http://files.mpoli.fi/hardware/DISPLAY/ORCHID/
I had seen that retrogames100 posted this link some time ago, but the files were from 1994. I guess I was mostly wondering if there were any Orchid branded drivers for Win95/NT4. Maybe not...?
Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.
Reviving this from the dead, hopefully for a good reason.
I recently purchased:
Kelvin 64 VLB - 1MB
Kelvin 64 VLB - 2MB for cheaper than I got the one with 1MB
Diamond SpeedStar64 ISA - 1MB (still on the way)
From what I have been able to find:
1MB = 32-bit mode
2MB = 64-bit mode
The DOS Utilities include one for 8x14 text which apparently will not display properly without this TSR and will result in garbled text in some programs and games.
The DOS Utilities also include a screen mode program to select your monitor and selected modes and allows for custom modes to be used as well. Once tested and verified working, you save the settings and it loads them via the SScreen program though Autoexec.bat.
Per Microsoft, DirectX 5 and 6 came with drivers for the Kelvin 64 range of cards. I have verified DirectX 5 but still have yet to look at DirectX 6.
These drivers include drivers for NT 5.0 (2000) which will also work with NT 4.0.
The Diamond Speedstar64 drivers which I have located have drivers for earlier versions of NT.
I will do some tests once the ISA card arrives so I can compare ISA to VLB and also PCI as I should have a GD5434 PCI card. Will also test 1MB vs 2MB.
