I have been out of the PC tech game for almost 20 years and even I know the difference between ISA, PCI, MCA and AGP. I've never actually seen an EISA in the flesh though.
Ray On Fri, Jul 26, 2019, 4:04 PM Paul Berger via cctalk <[email protected]> wrote: > > On 2019-07-26 4:53 p.m., Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote: > > On Fri, 26 Jul 2019, Jules Richardson via cctalk wrote: > >> Someone on one of the Facebook vintage groups found an IBM 5160 with > >> an MDA display for sale in Australia, except that it's a bit odd in > >> that the machine had what appears to be an MDA card, the output of > >> which is then connected via a short external cable to the input on > >> another card, and then an output that card is what's actually hooked > >> up to the monitor. > >> > >> The only internal photo of the machine is very poor, unfortunately. > >> I'm reasonably confident that the "first" card in the "mystery" chain > >> is MDA, it's full-length and alongside the DE-shell video output has > >> the usual DB-25 for parallel. The "mystery" card is also full-length, > >> and there's another full-length card immediately adjacent to it with > >> no external connectors - that one could easily be RAM, or the hard > >> disk controller etc. but I suppose it's possible that the mystery > >> item is actually a two-card set. > >> > >> Anyway, any guesses as to what it might be? The implication is that > >> the mystery card adds functionality to the MDA card (reminiscent of > >> 3DFX boards years later), but of course is operating within the > >> confines of what the MDA display's capable of. > > > > > > Genlock? > > MOST video add-ons were combined onto a board with their own video > > card, rather than connecting to IBM's > > > > Co-processor? > > Diamond Computer Trackstar was an Apple2 on an ISA card. It was > > even sold [briefly] by Radio Shack. > > Quadram Quadlink was an Apple2 on an ISA card. The college bought > > 20 of them. 14 were DOA. 8 of the replacements ("THESE ones are > > thoroughly tested") were also DOA. One had a connector (right angle > > dual row?) mounted backwards, and could not be connected for testing. > > > > But, MDA (or MDP as described) seems less likely. "Who would want to > > do Visicalc or word processing without COLOR??" There did exist a few > > after-market CGA cards that had DE9 and DB25 (printer). > > > > > > Was it in working order? Or had somebody merely cabled the MDA video > > to a DE9 serial port? And 5151 will physically connect to CGA (and > > not work) > > We had a couple of "instructors" at the college who didn't see > > anything wrong with connecting any cables that fit, including swapping > > bus mouse and video, or wanting gender changers to try to connect a > > parallel printer to a 25 pin serial port ormodem to printer port. It > > is frustrating to try to deal with some people. > > I know of a "trained" service technician who inserted an PCI card into a > ISA card slot and then call for assistance because it did not work. > Fix.. swap technician... > > Paul. > >
