VOGONS


Help identify this card

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First post, by ekkiller

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The largest chip is AIC AR310, and the other square chip is TSENG LABS ET3000AX.

144KM……

Reply 2 of 11, by MikeSG

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The AIC AR310 may be an IBM 8514/A clone.

Some early 90's cards had them. The Chips F82C480 is one (https://bitsavers.org/components/chipsAndTech … v1.6_199007.pdf)

8514/A clones require a support VGA chip.

Can't find anything on the AIC company, except "AIC tech" in Japan. They have a history of more than 70 years in electronics and have the same logo font, but are a Hitachi capacitor company, no signs of semiconductors. https://www.aictech-inc.com/en/company/files/ … tion_en2025.pdf

Reply 3 of 11, by Grem Five

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Best I can find is this http://www.yjfy.com/museum/video/TsengLabs.htm which makes it sound like its a LC Wave maybe? I can find no info on LC Wave so not sure.

Any FCC # on the back of the card?

Reply 4 of 11, by Cyberdyne

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Try Windows 3.1 with a 8514A driver. And see if it has picture.

I am aroused about any X86 motherboard that has full functional ISA slot. I think i have problem. Not really into that original (Turbo) XT,286,386 and CGA/EGA stuff. So just a DOS nut.
PS. If I upload RAR, it is a 16-bit DOS RAR Version 2.50.

Reply 5 of 11, by Law212

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Tseng labs VGA card. gotta be great for DOS games. Throw that in a 486 dx 2 66 and enjoy

Reply 6 of 11, by Grzyb

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Law212 wrote on Today, 13:30:

Tseng labs VGA card. gotta be great for DOS games. Throw that in a 486 dx 2 66 and enjoy

No.
It's ET4000 that was exceptionally fast for its time, but there's nothing special about the ET3000.

If that card really provides 8514/A compatibility, then it's a nice card for a 286 - can run Windows 3.x and OS/2 1.x in super-VGA modes, with GUI acceleration, with the drivers already shipped with the system.
486DX2 already deserves a VLB graphics.

In 2003, I voted in favour of joining the European Union. However, due to recent developments - especially the restrictions on cash usage - I'm hereby withdrawing my support. DOWN WITH THE EU!

Reply 8 of 11, by ekkiller

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Cyberdyne wrote on Today, 13:12:

Try Windows 3.1 with a 8514A driver. And see if it has picture.

It cannot be displayed on modern monitors, and displays "out of range" after booting up

144KM……

Reply 9 of 11, by Grzyb

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How much RAM does that card have?

16 x GM71C464A = 512 KB DRAM, normal for the ET3000

6 x TMS44C256 = 768 KB DRAM
2 x HY62256ALP = 64 KB SRAM
WTF?
For an 8514/A chip, I would expect 1024 KB of DRAM or dual-ported VRAM...

In 2003, I voted in favour of joining the European Union. However, due to recent developments - especially the restrictions on cash usage - I'm hereby withdrawing my support. DOWN WITH THE EU!

Reply 10 of 11, by Grzyb

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ekkiller wrote on Today, 14:02:

It cannot be displayed on modern monitors, and displays "out of range" after booting up

You mean an LCD monitor, right?
Genuine 8514/A displays 1024 x 768 with interlace, which indeed fails with LCD monitors.

You can try eg. MODETEST.EXE from Pizazz Plus, select "IBM PS/2 with 8514A", and try various "IBM 8514A" modes.
640 x 480 modes use normal VGA frequencies, and should work with all VGA monitors.

In 2003, I voted in favour of joining the European Union. However, due to recent developments - especially the restrictions on cash usage - I'm hereby withdrawing my support. DOWN WITH THE EU!

Reply 11 of 11, by DaveDDS

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Grzyb wrote on Today, 14:13:

... 2 x HY62256ALP = 64 KB SRAM ... WTF?

Yesh, I thought that was odd too, given the good amount of DRAM.

A couple ideas come to mind:

SRAM is sometimes used to "replace" ROM without major redesign ...
Perhaps these were loadable character fonts.
I've also seen designs where the ROM copies itself to RAM on startup then runs from there:
- SRAM can be faster than EPROM
- Allows "on the fly" patching.

- Dave ; https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ; "Daves Old Computers" ; SW dev addict best known:
ImageDisk: rd/wr ANY floppy PChardware can ; Micro-C: compiler for DOS+ManySmallCPU ; DDLINK: simple/small FileTrans(w/o netSW)via Lan/Lpt/Serial