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A strange ISA Card?

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First post, by deksar

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Hi everyone.

What does that (attached) ISA card do? That's from one of my IBM Model 30 286 PC.

Seems like an analog video output/capture to me?

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Reply 3 of 24, by cyclone3d

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derSammler wrote:

That's a 10 mbit/s Ethernet card.

Specifically, token ring. Could be 2Mb or 10Mb.

There were also 10Mb Ethernet cards that used the RJ45 socket, and also some that had both the BNC and the RJ45 socket.

disregard that.. I was being dumb.

Last edited by cyclone3d on 2017-12-10, 22:15. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 5 of 24, by Jepael

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Definitely not token ring but standard 10Mbit/s coaxial ethernet.

I knew 10BASE2 ethernet was called cheapernet, but that's the first time I've seen it printed on a product, priceless 😀

It looks like the card can be jumpered to be compatible with NE1K, NE2K or WD cards, but I could be wrong though.

Reply 6 of 24, by brostenen

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Yes. 10mbit coaxial. You need a T-Plug on each network cards, and connect the cables onto the T-Plug.
Then you need to attach a terminator on each ends of the network.

http://www.networkmuseum.net/2011/05/coax.html

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Reply 8 of 24, by cyclone3d

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derSammler wrote:

No, that's *not* a Token Ring card. It's quite easy to distinguish Ethernet from Token Ring.

Apart from that, it says Ethernet even in the PCB...

Blah.. got my network types mixed up.

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Reply 9 of 24, by brostenen

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derSammler wrote:

No, that's *not* a Token Ring card. It's quite easy to distinguish Ethernet from Token Ring.

Apart from that, it says Ethernet even in the PCB...

I too remember Token ring as something else. I can't recall how exactly the plugs used to look like, though I clearly remember stiff cables that were some 2 or 3 time thicker. By that, I mean really heavy duty and stiff cables, that were problematic to work with, because of that. I only had the pleasure of installing a token ring once, and that was back in 1995 and I have never ever had this between my hands since. I could be wrong about this, when I say that I recall some qube shaped plugs or something. Hmmm... Well... It was IBM machines in a token ring. And that Token ring was connected up to a bridge, and that bridge were connected to a thick yellow cable using some kind of spikes or something.

Anyway... 30 minutes of looking and connecting network cards to the ring, is not much to recall by in 2017. It was 1995 after all. 🤣

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Reply 10 of 24, by Koltoroc

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Errius wrote:

How do you connect such a card to a modern ethernet network?

short answer: You don't.

Long answer, You don't want to. there are (or at least used to be) adapters that can connect BNC Ethernet to a switch. Assuming they are even still sold or you can find one at all, chances are a new ISA NIC with RJ45 port is likely much cheaper than any adapter you can dig up.

Reply 11 of 24, by Maeslin

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brostenen wrote:

some kind of spikes or something.

Good old vampire taps. 😁

Errius wrote:

How do you connect such a card to a modern ethernet network?

You might be able to find an ancient ethernet hub that has both kinds of connectors? I know I've seen a few at work while doing some spring cleaning. Note that those are hubs, not switches. I'm not even sure switches existed back then.

Reply 12 of 24, by brostenen

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Maeslin wrote:

Good old vampire taps. 😁

Ohhh yeah... That thick yellow cable (Thick Ethernet). A bitch to lay out right above a ceiling when you only have a step ladder. 🙁 I remember we used a 386 with two 3com netcards and a boot-floppy, to make a very unstable bridge to the coaxial cable in our classroom. The bridge had no harddrive though. It wass an old IBM XT case, that was reused with a generic noname 386 motherboard. It was headless as far as I remember, and we were told not to touch the stuff, as all the network components was expensive as hell. Oh well... We just tried to revive an old IBM 286 Xenix server instead of helping the tech people install and set the bridge and vampire taps up.

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Reply 14 of 24, by gdjacobs

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Maybe one of those guys playing around with Cray stuff can get a HIPPI link going.

As for using 10base2, you can also use a repurposed PC to bridge between a coaxial and twisted pair segment.

All hail the Great Capacitor Brand Finder

Reply 15 of 24, by yawetaG

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Errius wrote:

How do you connect such a card to a modern ethernet network?

By hooking it up to a computer (server) that has a card for both standards.

Reply 16 of 24, by Predator99

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Yes 10mbit coaxial. This is a nice card as it has Jumpers and you dont have to mess with PNP configuration or to find the manufacturers config tool.

For connection of Coax to a TP network I recently got a converter (5€ incl. shipment). I also tried to install a 2nd Coax-PCI-card in my Windows 7 64 machine for routing, but its difficult (impossible?) to find drivers for it.

Reply 18 of 24, by FesterBlatz

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Does FDDI count? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber_Distribut … _Data_Interface

I still occasionally use an old Cisco 4K series router with FDDI interface installed. I use this for bridging my Ethernet LAN over to a 100meg FDDI ring that connects to my SGI Crimson RE.

Maeslin wrote:

As far as vintage networking gear goes, I kinda wonder if anyone here is still screwing around with the more exotic ones like Token Ring, ARCnet or TCNS

Reply 19 of 24, by Predator99

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As said this one works perfectly. But I will still try to find a Coax-PCI card that works under Windows 7 to get rid of this additional wires...