VOGONS


First post, by daikatana_

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Hi everyone,
I just found this piece of hardware and I wonder, if anybody here knows something about it. The only information I found online is this: https://fccid.io/E7YMPC486SX-20

I don't know how to use it, or what it actually does for that matter. I tried fitting 486 in the socket, and it fits. And the card itself fits in the VLB slot.

Does it supposed to speed up system somehow?

Cheers.

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Reply 4 of 14, by daikatana_

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I haven't tried to start the computer with the card inserted in the slot.

Warlord wrote:

its for a backplane, inserting it into a normal motherboard will fry it or fry your motherboard or both.

Do you happen to know what kind of motherboard I need?

Game MIDI soundtracks

Retro games and HW reviews

Reply 5 of 14, by Cyrix200+

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daikatana_ wrote:

I haven't tried to start the computer with the card inserted in the slot.

Warlord wrote:

its for a backplane, inserting it into a normal motherboard will fry it or fry your motherboard or both.

Do you happen to know what kind of motherboard I need?

Ctrl-F "Flyer" on this page https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/m486_1.html

There are many boards by ADVANCED LOGIC RESEARCH (ALR) that might take modules like yours. But it's all proprietary and you might need an exact match. Will be hard to find. Also the case might be proprietary also.

1982 to 2001

Reply 6 of 14, by daikatana_

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Cyrix200+ wrote:
daikatana_ wrote:

I haven't tried to start the computer with the card inserted in the slot.

Warlord wrote:

its for a backplane, inserting it into a normal motherboard will fry it or fry your motherboard or both.

Do you happen to know what kind of motherboard I need?

Ctrl-F "Flyer" on this page https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/m486_1.html

There are many boards by ADVANCED LOGIC RESEARCH (ALR) that might take modules like yours. But it's all proprietary and you might need an exact match. Will be hard to find. Also the case might be proprietary also.

Thanks a lot. You may be right, but I wouldn't say it will be hard, it will be next to impossible to find one. But I'll try anyway.

Cheers

Game MIDI soundtracks

Retro games and HW reviews

Reply 7 of 14, by Anonymous Coward

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My friend's uncle had an ALR powerflex. It was a 286-12 motherboard with a CPU slot like that Flyer. It could be upgraded to either a 386SX or a 486SX (with no L2 cache)...of course with the 486 it was severely gimped with a 16-bit databus and limited to just 5MB of RAM on the system board. At the time it was still pretty rad being able to go from a 286 all the way to a 486 on the same board though.

"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

Reply 8 of 14, by PC Hoarder Patrol

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Bit speculative, but the timeline (fccid, chip dates on the card & article) seems to fit, so I'm guessing a Flyer 32DT 4SX/20

ALR Flyer Range.jpg
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ALR Flyer Range.jpg
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Fair use/fair dealing exception

Also, this link might imply an upgrade path for the card to DX2-50MHz ODP Intel Overdrive thru the 2nd socket / 25MHz jumper

https://web.archive.org/web/19970208153054/ht … t/faq/flyer.htm

Reply 9 of 14, by zorex

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daikatana_ wrote on 2019-10-25, 20:20:

Hi everyone,
I just found this piece of hardware and I wonder, if anybody here knows something about it. The only information I found online is this: https://fccid.io/E7YMPC486SX-20

Hi daikatana_,

I have two ALR boards compatible with this card and tried to find this module for a while. Can you sale it to me? If yes, please PM me your e-mail. I can't write to PM because I don't have enough posts on forum.

Reply 11 of 14, by Anonymous Coward

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That has to be a misprint or something.
The article clearly stated that the base 33MHz 386 was under $1000. What the hell is in that multimedia system that's worth nearly $2000? I'm pretty sure the multimedia kits weren't THAT expensive.

"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

Reply 12 of 14, by rmay635703

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Anonymous Coward wrote on 2022-01-04, 05:06:

That has to be a misprint or something.
The article clearly stated that the base 33MHz 386 was under $1000. What the hell is in that multimedia system that's worth nearly $2000? I'm pretty sure the multimedia kits weren't THAT expensive.

Reminds me of how Tandy priced things

My Parents bought a
1992 era Tandy 1000rlx
286
512kb
1.44 (no HD)
VGA Monitor
“Color” Printer (lol)
Keyboard, Mouse, Cables, Software and a computer desk was a $3XX package
(which was ok for a brand new obsolete PC with a matched desk for it to slot into)

If I wanted a 40mb hard drive & 1mb ram it turned into a $1k affair ?????
(Ripoff even at the time)

If I had more “means and contacts “ back then I’m guessing a similar AMD 386DX40 setup but with better HD & memory would have been under $1k
I know some folks who built just a dx40 system (no monitor, printer, keyboard, software, etc) could come out around $400-$500 even back in the day.

Ah well

Reply 13 of 14, by zorex

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Thanks, daikatana_!

Module arrived to me and feets to my motheboard well. Now I need to find 411000 memory chips to start motherboard.

Here is a photo:
file.php?mode=view&id=128330

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Reply 14 of 14, by Anonymous Coward

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I think this was the same board used in the powerflex. It was a pretty neat upgrade, but the 486 was kind of crippled without L2 cache, and 16-bit memory at 12MHz. I guess the one saving grace is that you still get the 486's onboard L1 cache.

"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