No theories of (or definite answers, if you know) what would happen with an 8bit-only ISA slot?
Alright, I'll get my hat.
Kyosho wrote on 2026-10-12, 18:42:No theories of (or definite answers, if you know) what would happen with an 8bit-only ISA slot?
Alright, I'll get my hat.
VGA part would not work
network would work in 8bit transfers mode
opti/pcmidi would work fine
🎵 🎧 ⏳ ⚡ SoundVision PRO,MK1869 , PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website
💾💾💾 Looking for a full version of LIST ENHANCED 2.4y1 by V. Buerg, message me if you have it for sale! 💾💾💾
Though I mentioned this idea before, I waited until the SonicVision Pro was ready for prime time before asking: what possibilities does this success open up for retro combo cards in the future? I would like to replace my LAPC-I with an external Roland LA unit (which, with what the former goes for, would MAKE me money in the process), freeing up my 2nd ISA slot for what I would like to be vintage Paradise/WD SVGA & 16-bit (PAS16 or Ensoniq SoundScape, depending on what is most available and practical) audio PLUS network [the part most combo cards eschewed and I would only be able to achieve on my retro PC via USB adaptation since all my PCI slots are occupied]. If I acquired and sent you donor cards, could you extract and apply their essential chipsets to a new combination board or are there tight limits to such an undertaking?
System 20: PIII 600, LAPC-I, MK1869 Xtreme, Voodoo3, SQ2500, R200, 3.0-Me
System 21: G2030 3.0, X-fi Fatal1ty, GTX 560, XP-Vista
Retro gaming (among other subjects): https://baronsfel001.wixsite.com/my-site
No chip pinouts will match, and not many of the signals, that will be a complete do over from scratch. I am sure if you threw him $10,000 plus a dozen of each chip for prototyping, he would think about it.
Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.
Designing a new PCB for chips that aren't avaliable new old stock is foolish.
It would be prohibitively expensive to acquire working hardware, only then to scrap it to make a few prototypes.
Edit: Reproduction PCBs as a way to rescue otherwise broken hardware makes sense. Such as Macintosh and Amiga motherboards to replace corrosion damaged originals.
BaronSFel001 wrote on 2026-10-13, 17:07:Though I mentioned this idea before, I waited until the SonicVision Pro was ready for prime time before asking [...]
sorry for the late reply
I agree with what other stated above, researching and moving chips like you mention just does not make sense economically.
It would be another deal if we could actually find a good number of said chips and we could make for example a small batch of cards , the cost would be divided to many people
for a one-off thing this isn't worth it and can be potentially dangerous: imagine a chip getting damaged during extraction/soldering or due to a pcb error
🎵 🎧 ⏳ ⚡ SoundVision PRO,MK1869 , PCMIDI MPU , OrpheusII , Megacard and 🎶GoldLib soundcard website
💾💾💾 Looking for a full version of LIST ENHANCED 2.4y1 by V. Buerg, message me if you have it for sale! 💾💾💾
keropi wrote on Yesterday, 16:37:sorry for the late reply I agree with what other stated above, researching and moving chips like you mention just does not make […]
sorry for the late reply
I agree with what other stated above, researching and moving chips like you mention just does not make sense economically.
It would be another deal if we could actually find a good number of said chips and we could make for example a small batch of cards , the cost would be divided to many people
for a one-off thing this isn't worth it and can be potentially dangerous: imagine a chip getting damaged during extraction/soldering or due to a pcb error
Thank you.
Much of this hobby is weighing what to embrace and what to sacrifice.
System 20: PIII 600, LAPC-I, MK1869 Xtreme, Voodoo3, SQ2500, R200, 3.0-Me
System 21: G2030 3.0, X-fi Fatal1ty, GTX 560, XP-Vista
Retro gaming (among other subjects): https://baronsfel001.wixsite.com/my-site
BaronSFel001 wrote on 2026-10-13, 17:07:I would like to replace my LAPC-I with an external Roland LA unit (which, with what the former goes for, would MAKE me money in the process), freeing up my 2nd ISA slot for what I would like to be vintage Paradise/WD SVGA & 16-bit (PAS16 or Ensoniq SoundScape, depending on what is most available and practical) audio PLUS network [the part most combo cards eschewed and I would only be able to achieve on my retro PC via USB adaptation since all my PCI slots are occupied].
If the goal is to add more ISA cards, you could look at expanding the number of ISA slots via a backplane.
An extreme example of this is here: Short on ISA slots? Try this.
What are the odds for a VLB version?
That may be possible utilizing some NOS S3 Trio64V+ chips.
You put it on VLB ppl will want 4MB Video RAM, 100Mbit Networking, ATA33 IDE, top tier sound and a pony.
Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.
shan2752 wrote on Today, 02:21:What are the odds for a VLB version?
Having a switching Isa/VLB combo card where it could run fully functional on either bus with gigabit Ethernet getting full rate transfers from vlb would be very interesting. Nobody ever bothered with having an actual good Ethernet solution latch vlb.
Enabling zero wait state ram expansion on a vlb+isa card with a support bios never happened either . (Memory enabling bits exist on isa and could prop up a full speed vlb memory expansion, using more modern memory you could maybe get 66mb/s duplexed memory access bypassing the need for cache support.
BitWrangler wrote on Today, 04:13:You put it on VLB ppl will want 4MB Video RAM, 100Mbit Networking, ATA33 IDE, top tier sound and a pony.
Lol that cirrus chip wasn’t bad on vlb either
But.
why stop there, take some leftover 3dfx chips and gigabit Ethernet.
Shponglefan wrote on Yesterday, 23:15:If the goal is to add more ISA cards, you could look at expanding the number of ISA slots via a backplane.
An extreme example of this is here: Short on ISA slots? Try this.
Ancient topic with all the pictures long gone; I can't imagine how that can be made to work while still 1) fitting within a PC case and 2) properly lining up the cards for the ports in the back.
Plus the word "solder" is in there which scares me away: I have NEVER been handy like that (you could ask my children how many of their simple wood shop projects I've managed to screw up).
Thanks for the suggestions anyway, though; I appreciate that in the VOGONS community we can help each other.
System 20: PIII 600, LAPC-I, MK1869 Xtreme, Voodoo3, SQ2500, R200, 3.0-Me
System 21: G2030 3.0, X-fi Fatal1ty, GTX 560, XP-Vista
Retro gaming (among other subjects): https://baronsfel001.wixsite.com/my-site
BitWrangler wrote on Today, 04:13:You put it on VLB ppl will want 4MB Video RAM, 100Mbit Networking, ATA33 IDE, top tier sound and a pony.
I would be happy with just a new VLB card. Existing cards are 30 years old now. Plus, it would be a wise business decision for these 2 as I already bought all their sound cards. I need a new video card. I don’t need networking as the PicoMEM 2 is awesome in a 486 build. It does everything (HD, CD, USB, Network) but I use a real sound card. I don’t like the emulated sound. If I wanted to use emulation, I would just use 86Box on PC.
