Obscure Local Bus Cards \ VOGONS

Obscure Local Bus Cards

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First post, by mpe

Posted on 2020-05-14, 10:01

mpe Offline

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Given by the nature the local bus was primarily a domain of graphics cards and storage controllers. There was a handful of network adapters too (but no 100M AFAIK).

I've just got this Orchid Fahrenheit VA/VLB. Which is a rather unusual combination of a graphic card and a sound card. Or a voice-activated graphics card as they marketed it. The ESS chip is likely only using the ISA part of the interface, but still, it is a VLB sound card!

I was wondering what else unusual local bus cards that are not graphics cards or controllers have been made as VLB cards. Do you own or know about any obscurities? Share them!

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Reply 1 of 6, by imi

Posted on 2020-05-14, 10:06

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I'm not sure if this qualifies ^^ ...but it is not a graphics card or a controller, it is a graphics card and a controller on one and the same board

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Last edited by imi on 2020-05-14, 11:28. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 2 of 6, by mpe

Posted on 2020-05-14, 10:17

mpe Offline

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Yes.I think VGA + controller was a convenient way to overcome the limit of number of local bus cards in the system. Do I see 3 IDE connectors?

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Reply 3 of 6, by imi

Posted on 2020-05-14, 11:27

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one IDE through the APPIAN ADI/2 vesa bus IDE controller, the others most probably floppy, serial etc.... I unfortunately do not have a manual or jumper settings for this card 😒

Reply 4 of 6, by dionb

Posted on 2020-05-14, 14:39

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Yes, VGA+IDE was quite common. I have two UMC cards, with UMC 85C418F. One is VGA+IDE only, the other a full VGA, IDE, FDD + I/O beast.

Reply 5 of 6, by Grzyb

Posted on 2020-05-14, 17:52

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mpe wrote on 2020-05-14, 10:01:
I've just got this Orchid Fahrenheit VA/VLB. Which is a rather unusual combination of a graphic card and a sound card. Or a voice-activated graphics card as they marketed it. The ESS chip is likely only using the ISA part of the interface, but still, it is a VLB sound card!

SB-compatible DAC/ADC, but no FM?

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Reply 6 of 6, by mpe

Posted on 2020-05-14, 18:30

mpe Offline

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I think FM was considered unnecessary as the card was business oriented. As silly as it sounds in those days ability to record a short audio and put it to a cell in Excel was a must have business feature.

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