First post, by copper
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- Newbie
I didn't see this exact board discussed anywhere online.
This is a Headland (distributed by Video 7, I guess?) VGA card with HT209 chipset. The PCB is labeled 650-0221-03 and the FCC ID is D2AVRAMII209B so I guess it's an early VRAM II variant. It looks very similar to the card in this post Re: Bought these (retro) hardware today but has some differences, like an HT209/A3A0014 instead of an HT209/D, the jumper header in the center instead of by the slot connector, and no 512KB expansion board, although the headers are there. I got it at the MIT Swapfest for $5 from a guy who had at least 20 of them, along with a similar number of Mwave cards. All appeared to be OEM new old stock.
I tried the card in a 386 (16 bit slot) and it worked ok when I set DIP 7 to open. I tried it in my XT as well (8 bit slot) and it worked fine with all DIP switches closed. I was surprised to see the XT boot in VGA. I didn't find a configuration reference or manual online that seemed to match. It came in the anti-static bag with all switches closed.
Anyway, if you need an 8 bit VGA card, this card seems to work. Maybe I should go back and see if the seller has the RAM expansion boards.
Apparently there is a very similar card (VRAM II Ergo) that can do DB9 TTL output with an adapter: https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/uni … 75/#post-393332. I would use that if it really works; I was looking for an ATI VGA Wonder for that same reason.