OK, more pictures:

I think this is a floppy controller, but what's that port on it?

I am at a loss as to identifying this one. What on earth is that port?

And this appears to be a parallel port card; correct me if I'm wrong.

So I'm really excited that I got all this and I really want to test it all, but I have some questions:

1. What kind of power supply do I need for that XT board? Can I just use a normal AT supply?
2. Where can I find a stupid CGA/EGA color monitor? I've never, ever seen one of those in person. Are they very expensive usually?
3. If I can't find one of those monitors, can I simply connect the composite output of the CGA card to any old TV set?
4. What do I use for a floppy drive for that floppy controller? Can I just use any old 3 1/2 inch drive and format my disks as 360K or something? I do have a cable which has both the old and the new style floppy connectors on it.
5. What would you guys recommend for a case for this thing? Maybe I'll even make a custom case. Ideas?

My ultimate goal is to build something that can run 8088MPH.

Thanks everyone!

keenmaster486 wrote:

One XT motherboard with an AMD processor and an Intel coprocessor (why?)

I'm not enirely sure, but I think x87s were only made by intel in the early years.
Or it was pure coincidence. 😀

keenmaster486 wrote:

Some kind of controller card? Really, I have no idea what this is. There's no port on the backplate.

Looks like an MFM/RLL card to me. It has connectors for two data cables and one control cable (works for two drives).

keenmaster486 wrote:

What is this, a combination parallel/RAM card? And if that's RAM on it, how much is it?

Don't know how much ram it has, but these cards were quite common actually.
It added a realt-time clock and printer port (because the average XT mainboard didn't have them built-in).
Perhaps, you'll need a driver for the clock (if it is a standard clock, DOS +3.x may reconizes it on its own).

keenmaster486 wrote:

I think this is a floppy controller, but what's that port on it?

The edge connector on the left was common in the early days. You'll find them on 5.25" drives, too.
The port on the right could be for an external IBM floppy.

keenmaster486 wrote:

And this appears to be a parallel port card; correct me if I'm wrong.

I see an 8250, perhaps it's an rs232 card with the old 25pin connector.

keenmaster486 wrote:

So I'm really excited that I got all this and I really want to test it all, but I have some questions: […]
Show full quote

So I'm really excited that I got all this and I really want to test it all, but I have some questions:

1. What kind of power supply do I need for that XT board? Can I just use a normal AT supply?
2. Where can I find a stupid CGA/EGA color monitor? I've never, ever seen one of those in person. Are they very expensive usually?
3. If I can't find one of those monitors, can I simply connect the composite output of the CGA card to any old TV set?
4. What do I use for a floppy drive for that floppy controller? Can I just use any old 3 1/2 inch drive and format my disks as 360K or something? I do have a cable which has both the old and the new style floppy connectors on it.
5. What would you guys recommend for a case for this thing? Maybe I'll even make a custom case. Ideas?

1) Yes, an AT PSU could work. But please don't take my words. Better ask someone else.
2) Some Amiga monitors do have TTL inputs for colour video (be careful, mono TTL has a different pinout)
3) Yes, that should work.
4) I've got an XT with an 3.5" floppy drive (unknown model) installed and it formats floppies with 360K..
5) A big, modern acrylic ATX case so you can see all part's in their glory (requires modding). 😁

keenmaster486 wrote:

My ultimate goal is to build something that can run 8088MPH.

Thanks everyone!

Yay, good luck! 😀

Thanks! Oh, I almost forgot, I also wonder if I can use my AT keyboard with this. I remember reading somewhere that you can't do that?

IBM 5160 motherboard. You can probably run 8088mph on this.

you probably can't use your AT keyboard. You'll need an XT keyboard. The PC488 card is some sort of weird bus card, like for medical equipment or machinery control.

The sixpack is probably 384k, which brings you up to 640k total if my math is correct.

That is the original IBM cga card as well I think.

keenmaster486 wrote:

Thanks! Oh, I almost forgot, I also wonder if I can use my AT keyboard with this. I remember reading somewhere that you can't do that?

Ah, don't worry too much about that. Yes, it's true that modern AT keyboards won't work, but the older ones have a little switch underneat (typical for 80s keyboards).
The reason is that the original PC/XT used another, much simpler, yet elegant protocol/scan code. 😀

Oh, right – IEEE 488. I thought it looked familiar. Also known as GPIB, the General Purpose Interface Bus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE-488

I had some not-so-old – but highly specialized – lab equipment once that used that. There's a Linux package that should in theory be able to use that card, but I never quite managed to get it to work. In any case, I doubt you'll find any practical use for it. Might as well take it to eBay.

keenerb wrote:

IBM 5160 motherboard. You can probably run 8088mph on this.

Wait, you mean actual, legitimate IBM motherboard and not a clone board? YES!

keenerb wrote:

That is the original IBM cga card as well I think.

Double YES!

keenerb wrote:

The sixpack is probably 384k, which brings you up to 640k total if my math is correct.

Triple YES!

keenerb wrote:

you probably can't use your AT keyboard. You'll need an XT keyboard.

Jo22 wrote:

Ah, don't worry too much about that. Yes, it's true that modern AT keyboards won't work, but the older ones have a little switch underneat (typical for 80s keyboards).
The reason is that the original PC/XT used another, much simpler, yet elegant protocol/scan code.

Ah. Unfortunately my AT keyboard doesn't have a switch. I'll still have to get another keyboard, I guess... but after searching around I discovered that adapters can be made. Maybe I'll try that.

keenerb wrote:

The PC488 card is some sort of weird bus card, like for medical equipment or machinery control.

Jorpho wrote:

I had some not-so-old – but highly specialized – lab equipment once that used that. There's a Linux package that should in theory be able to use that card, but I never quite managed to get it to work. In any case, I doubt you'll find any practical use for it. Might as well take it to eBay.

Interesting. Probably of no use to me then, I would assume.
Thanks!

I made a keyboard adaptor up, it works great.

You need a programmer for the chip though, here's the link http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?264 … board-converter
I'll post a photo of mine a bit later when I get home, it's a simpler design that the one in the link.

keenmaster486 wrote:

One CGA graphics card with the Motorola chip. Is this an original IBM card? I can't tell.

FullSizeRender_1.jpg

"New" style IBM CGA, varies only from the "Old" style in its composite circuitry (and in some cases, having a second-source CRTC). The "final" version of 8088MPH has settings so it looks correct on the new style card.

keenmaster486 wrote:

Some kind of controller card? Really, I have no idea what this is. There's no port on the backplate.

FullSizeRender_3.jpg

It's an MFM HDD controller, and it looks to have an option ROM, so will work in PC/XT machines.

keenmaster486 wrote:

I think this is a floppy controller, but what's that port on it?

FullSizeRender_5.jpg

That is a late model IBM floppy controller. There is an earlier model with the old-school IBM metal can ICs. The port is for an external floppy drive chassis, and by using one, you can connect up to 4 floppy drives!

keenmaster486 wrote:

And this appears to be a parallel port card; correct me if I'm wrong.

FullSizeRender_7.jpg

It's a serial card, actually. Note the label "Async Card", and the presence of the 8250 UART chip.

keenmaster486 wrote:

So I'm really excited that I got all this and I really want to test it all, but I have some questions: […]
Show full quote

So I'm really excited that I got all this and I really want to test it all, but I have some questions:

1. What kind of power supply do I need for that XT board? Can I just use a normal AT supply? Yes
2. Where can I find a stupid CGA/EGA color monitor? I've never, ever seen one of those in person. Are they very expensive usually? They can be, but you'll NEED to use composite for 8088 MPH. Also, CGA runs at 15kHz horizontal, so with a simple DAC circuit, you can convert TTL RGBI to analogue 15kHz RGBs for any SCART TV. Results are quite good.
3. If I can't find one of those monitors, can I simply connect the composite output of the CGA card to any old TV set? Yes
4. What do I use for a floppy drive for that floppy controller? Can I just use any old 3 1/2 inch drive and format my disks as 360K or something? I do have a cable which has both the old and the new style floppy connectors on it. It is capable of reading+writing 720KB DD 3.5" floppy disks in HD 3.5" drives unmodified. A normal floppy cable used in reverse will do the trick (explained here).

My ultimate goal is to build something that can run 8088MPH. Can't wait to see your build!

Amd was making Intel processors under licence, because ibm only wanted to use the x86 processor when there was a second source they could use.

Here's photo's of the AT to XT keyboard adaptor I made up.

seob wrote:

Amd was making Intel processors under licence, because ibm only wanted to use the x86 processor when there was a second source they could use.

Yup, the AMD CPUs were exactly the same, transistor-for-transistor (as were the other second-source CPUs from eg Siemens and Harris).
In fact, it's rather strange that they put their own brand on it. That would be like taking a modern videocard, removing the heatsink, and finding "GloFo" or "TSMC" written on the chip, instead of AMD or NVidia.
But that is what happened.
The CPUs are completely interchangeable, so using an AMD 8088 with an Intel 8087 works just fine. As mentioned, I don't think there was much of a second-source for 8087 FPUs in the early days, so they would generally be Intel-branded (probably because of low demands).
This page lists AMD and Cyrix: http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/8087/
But they don't even have pictures of them, and the Cyrix one is said to only be produced in 1988. So they would be extremely rare.
This page says something about how few 8087s AMD would have made: http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/8087/MANUF-AMD.html

Generally other brands of FPUs were not second-source or exact clones, but had their own architecture that delivered better performance, such as the IIT or Cyrix FasMath chips.

You got there one first revision IBM 5160 motherboard, no more no less!

If you can build a converter yourself do it, although i always feel that an IBM PC or XT needs a true IBM Model F keyboard. Shameless advertising i know, but check the link in my description if you don't want or can't build one.

And you definitely got a bunch of nice expansion cards in there. Still have to find an IBM CGA for myself.

keenmaster486 wrote:

It looks like a clone board since I don't see IBM anywhere on it, but some of the chips are labeled IBM, so I don't know.

Indeed, both the motherboard and the CGA card are original IBM. IBM didn't label the PCBs for some reason.
I suppose one reason why could be that it is IBM: what else could it be? This is the original PC/XT, there were no clones yet. IBM could not have anticipated that third-parties would create drop-in replacement PCBs. A badge on the case would be enough to tell that it's an IBM.
Another reason could be that IBM was not used to building consumer hardware. They built mainframes, and who other than trained IBM technicians would ever even open the case and see the PCB? So why would there need to be a brand on it?

So I don't know exactly why, but yes... IBM PCBs from that era were unmarked, other than the ROM chips they made (as you can clearly tell, there's no custom chips on there anyway, it's all off-the-shelf stuff from Intel... the 82xx series. Apparently yours is sourced pretty much entirely from AMD).
So it may look like a random clone, but it is in fact the original 😀

I guess the GPIB card uses the NEC D7210 C which was used commonly as controller chip.
GPIB is widely used and still supported today: http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/en/nid/14341

nice stuff. GPIB cards are still usefull, but not so much on ISA unless you had some super oldschool lab equipment to control. the nec control chip on it is probably worth a couple of bucks if you can desolder it cleanly.

GPIB is mainly used for industrial/lab type equipment. Eg, connecting an oscilloscope or counter to a PC. I've used GPIB at work with some Agilent (formerly HP) equipment not too long ago.
So the fact that this card came with the batch is an indication that the PC has been used in some kind of professional capacity, perhaps for developing/testing electronic circuits.

I have a PCI GPIB card but Ive moved most of my stuff to LXI (GPIB over ethernet).

The ram card has 4164 type ram chips (64x1). Each 9 chip column is 64kb, so you have a 384kb expansion card (which on a stock XT which had 256kb, that gives you your 640kb!)

Q. One XT motherboard with an AMD processor and an Intel coprocessor (why?). Can someone identify this board? It looks like a clone board since I don't see IBM anywhere on it, but some of the chips are labeled IBM, so I don't know. It also appears to have all 256K of RAM 😀

A. That is an IBM PC/XT Model 5160 64/256KB Motherboard. The 8087 is a math coprocessor usually used to speed up CAD programs and Lotus 1-2-3.

Q. One CGA graphics card with the Motorola chip. Is this an original IBM card? I can't tell.

A. This is a late IBM Color/Graphics Adapter.

Q. Some kind of controller card? Really, I have no idea what this is. There's no port on the backplate.

A. This is an IBM Fixed Disk Drive Adapter, variation #2. It supports only an MFM Hard Drive, and specifically only the 10MB ST-412.

Q. What is this, a combination parallel/RAM card? And if that's RAM on it, how much is it?

A. That is an AST SixPakPlus card, it provides 384KB of RAM, one Serial and one Parallel port and a Real Time Clock. It can be upgraded to provide a game port.

Q. I think this is a floppy controller, but what's that port on it?

A. That is an IBM Diskette (Floppy) Drive Adapter, the port is for an external floppy drive.

Q. And this appears to be a parallel port card; correct me if I'm wrong.

A. That is the IBM Asynchronous Communications Adapter, a serial port card.

1. What kind of power supply do I need for that XT board? Can I just use a normal AT supply?

A. You can use an AT power supply.

2. Where can I find a stupid CGA/EGA color monitor? I've never, ever seen one of those in person. Are they very expensive usually?

A. Usually $100-125 shipped for CGA monitors.

3. If I can't find one of those monitors, can I simply connect the composite output of the CGA card to any old TV set?

A. Yes, colors may not be perfect.

4. What do I use for a floppy drive for that floppy controller? Can I just use any old 3 1/2 inch drive and format my disks as 360K or something? I do have a cable which has both the old and the new style floppy connectors on it.

A. You are supposed to use a 5.25" 360KB disk drives, but you can use a 3.5" drive with support for double density disks.

5. What would you guys recommend for a case for this thing? Maybe I'll even make a custom case. Ideas?

A. Any AT case will fit it.

Q. My ultimate goal is to build something that can run 8088MPH.

A. You will be able to run 8088MPH if you get this hardware working. Use the IBM CGA card, not the Tseng. Your system needs 640KB of RAM to run the demo fully, and you connect to a TV.