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Re: 8-bit VRAM write on a 16-bit ISA graphics card, fast or slow?

Posted on 2022-03-14, 10:11

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Ok. Yes, I know it's half of the potential bandwidth, but sometimes I want to write a byte for alignment reasons (and when writing a font glyph to a bitplane, for example). EDIT: The reason I can't benchmark this is because I don't have a 16-bit ISA video card, I only have 32-bit VLB. Just in case …

8-bit VRAM write on a 16-bit ISA graphics card, fast or slow?

Posted on 2022-03-13, 23:30

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Are there any penalties on writing a byte to VRAM (0xA0000) on a 16-bit ISA graphics card, e.g. will the system have to do something like a 16-bit read, insert byte into word, then a 16-bit write? Or can the CPU write a byte directly to a 16-bit ISA device without conversion? Seems difficult to find …

Re: [486DX2-66 VLB] No POST if S3 Vision864 VLB + VLB Multi-I/O controller cards are connected

Posted on 2021-12-16, 13:27

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Update: Got my ISA Multi-I/O card, and now the machine boots with the S3 Vision864 card. I had to revert to the original VGA BIOS because I got corruption in some text-mode programs (like Impulse Tracker 2). By the way, the HDD read/write speed in DOS went from 4MB/s to 2MB/s when using an ISA card …

Re: [486DX2-66 VLB] No POST if S3 Vision864 VLB + VLB Multi-I/O controller cards are connected

Posted on 2021-12-08, 15:42

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

kixs: I flashed the card with your BIOS dump now, but it still doesn't post if the VLB Multi-I/O card is present, but it works fine without it (so the BIOS seems to be compatible, and I'll stick with it since it's newer). I'm getting an ISA Multi-I/O card for free from a friend. I'll update you in …

Re: [miroCRYSTAL 20SD VLB] Looking for VGA BIOS dumps

Posted on 2021-11-28, 21:01

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Thanks! I'll be sure to test the BIOS when I get my EEPROM chip in the mail.

Re: Building a 486 DX-4: the Compatibility Machine

Posted on 2021-11-28, 11:34

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Here's a good tip for compatibility with old DOS games: Clock the CPU down to like 16-25MHz, and disable L2 cache.

Re: Building a 486 DX-4: the Compatibility Machine

Posted on 2021-11-28, 11:09

in Marvin \ System Specs

in Marvin \ System Specs

Nice system, though remember that AMD DX4-100 only has 8kB L1 cache vs. 16kB on the Intel DX4-100. That mobo text just sounds like an AMD advertisement to me (probably referring to the AMD P75 133MHz CPU). Also, using an ISA graphics card in a late 486 system should've been illegal! Wouldn't it be …

Re: [486DX2-66 VLB] No POST if S3 Vision864 VLB + VLB Multi-I/O controller cards are connected

Posted on 2021-11-26, 14:50

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Try setting your bus speed to 25MHz and see if you get a POST with both cards at that speed. That could help troubleshoot the issue. I set FSB to 25MHz, still no post. Another interesting fact is that if I connect another VLB GPU while the S3 Vision864 is connected, the system posts, so it really …

Re: [486DX2-66 VLB] No POST if S3 Vision864 VLB + VLB Multi-I/O controller cards are connected

Posted on 2021-11-25, 20:38

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

There's a setting for VLB waitstates, and a setting for FSB (not for setting the FSB, but a jumper that needs to be set accordingly). My FSB is 33MHz, and waitstates is set to 0, and the Mhz thing is set to <=33. I have tried all possible combination on it, and it didn't help. However, I have not …

Re: [486DX2-66 VLB] No POST if S3 Vision864 VLB + VLB Multi-I/O controller cards are connected

Posted on 2021-11-25, 16:10

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

No way, I already spent way too much money on this. It should be a solid performer once I get the system up and running.

Re: [486DX2-66 VLB] No POST if S3 Vision864 VLB + VLB Multi-I/O controller cards are connected

Posted on 2021-11-25, 14:15

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

I only use MS-DOS and Windows 3.11 without any VLB IDE driver, so yeah, this is a solution too. However, I want to try a different VGA BIOS first.

Re: [486DX2-66 VLB] No POST if S3 Vision864 VLB + VLB Multi-I/O controller cards are connected

Posted on 2021-11-25, 13:20

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Did you try in different slots (swap I/O card with 20SD)? Yes I did, I forgot to mention this in the post. EDIT: One thing I'm going to try is another Vision864 VGA BIOS. The one on the card is a very old version (v1.00-04). I just have to wait for a W27E257-12 chip to arrive, and that takes time. …

[486DX2-66 VLB] No POST if S3 Vision864 VLB + VLB Multi-I/O controller cards are connected

Posted on 2021-11-25, 13:17

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

I just got a miroCRYSTAL 20SD (S3 Vision864 2MB , old card revision), and I found out that my system won't POST if my VLB Multi-I/O card (PTI-255W v1.2, Winbond chipset) is also connected. With an older S3 805 GPU, I have no issues whatsoever. Any idea what could cause this? I've tried different RAM …

Re: "Parity Error" when using DX4 CPU on 486 mobo

Posted on 2021-11-17, 10:18

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

in Marvin \ General Old Hardware

I have a mysterious problem with my UC4913 ver2.0 486 motherboard when using a DX4 (it's fine with DX2)... Maybe there is an opportunity to take a bios dump? I only found 1.0, although I know there is 1.4, but it is not read correctly and does not work (on win3x.org) I don't have this motherboard …

Re: [miroCRYSTAL 20SD VLB] Looking for VGA BIOS dumps

Posted on 2021-11-13, 12:32

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

Ok, not sure if the BIOS is compatible with the AT&T RAMDAC version. Btw, my card really is a miroCRYSTAL 20SD, it's just a different (and probably cheaper) revision, I think.

Re: [miroCRYSTAL 20SD VLB] Looking for VGA BIOS dumps

Posted on 2021-11-13, 09:47

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

I don't know yet, I'm still waiting for it to arrive in the mail. I attached a picture of the exact card. It has an AT&T RAMDAC, do you have one of those?

[miroCRYSTAL 20SD VLB] Looking for VGA BIOS dumps

Posted on 2021-11-09, 11:08

in Marvin \ Video

in Marvin \ Video

If you've got a miroCRYSTAL 20SD VLB (Vision864) card, I'd be very interested in a dump of its VGA BIOS. I just want to see if I can find different versions of the BIOS to try out. 😀 Here's the exact card. It seems to be an early miroCRYSTAL 20SD revision.

Re: Fasttracker 2.10 & 2.11 for MS-DOS

Posted on 2021-08-29, 17:03

in Release Announcements

in Release Announcements

No one knows.

Re: Fasttracker 2.10 & 2.11 for MS-DOS

Posted on 2021-08-29, 09:44

in Release Announcements

in Release Announcements

It is simply wonderful to see continued development on FT2. Yet distressing to see that this code base still remains closed source. This community who have grown up with this amazing program, would benefit so much if this code would only be made public and tracked in a proper repository for version …

Re: Fasttracker 2.10 & 2.11 for MS-DOS

Posted on 2021-07-29, 09:21

in Release Announcements

in Release Announcements

There's technically a tick delay in original FT2 when using Sound Blaster, but I'm not sure how high it is. Gravis Ultrasound mode though, should give extremely low tick delay (probably <1ms). Now that sounds fine, but when it comes to the FT2 clone, it has too high delay (~21.3ms on the default …

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