Re: Dead NuBus cards - how to revive???

2003-10-15 Thread Derek Morton
Step 1 : Check the pins on the NuBus connector of the Jackhammer.  It 
is relatively easy to bend the pins and if the right one is bent...  
NoGo.

Step 2 : Do a visual inspection of the card for any damaged components 
or leads...  Perhaps verify the oscillator is working (although I do 
not believe the oscillator would prevent card detection).

Step 3 : Buy a new card.  I don't know what else to tell you.  It is 
possible to troubleshoot anything, but without a schematic (or more) it 
is not going to be easy, or worth the time.

FYI : The resistors (3) mean nothing regarding the card being detected 
by the OS.  They are simply termination resistors.  There is a Surface 
mount fuse on the board (and a power supply), but I believe both are 
part of the termination circuitry.

Derek

On Wednesday, October 15, 2003, at 04:53 AM, Greg Shafritz wrote:

Hi All!

Here's a good one for those of you with a DIY technical background:

What are the most common issues that could make a NuBus card "DOA"?  I
recently received an FWB SCSI Jackhammer that does not show up in Apple
System Profiler, and Tattle Tech also cannot detect the presence of 
the card
when installed.
Essentialy, this therefore is a "dead" card.

What are the first things I should look for in trying to repair this 
card?
I assume that I should first check to be sure that it is receiving 
power
from the motherboard - true?
Do these cards sometimes have onboard power supplies that fail?
What about blown microfuses (what would a fuse look like that wasn't a
conventional fuse) - is there such a thing as an SMD fuse?

I'm ready to dive in really deep, and I've got all my test equipment 
out...
who's able to help point me in the right direction as to how to 
proceed?

TIA (very much!)

Best wishes,
Greg Shafritz
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Re: SCSI Manager 4.3 and the Q900/950?

2003-10-04 Thread Derek Morton
Determining the needed speed of the SRAM does not really work in that 
fashion...  although it is a common mistake people make.  What you need 
to keep in mind is that to run at zero wait states the memory must get 
the data on the bus within the (zero wait state) timing requirements of 
the CPU.  Remember that any time for decoding, processing and signal 
propagation must be included in the equation.  I don't recall what I 
ended up getting, but I think it might have been around 10 or 12 nSec.  
With crafty design you can do a sort of pre-fetch and simply hold the 
outputs off until decoding is complete.  This allows for slower devices 
to be used, but at a tremendous power cost (as all devices must be 
enabled all the time).

Is the zero wait states based on the speed rating of the SRAM or are 
there other specifications that you must take into account?   50 MHz 
is a 20ns period, so are you looking at 20ns SRAM?
I found some right angle connectors...  And only one tube at that!  I 
think I may end up using a secondary connector to bring the board back 
upright...  but there is the extra capacitance to consider .  
One of the advantages of being in the design industry is that I have a 
lost of resources to draw from and can readily get samples of many 
parts.

Did you find some?  Or did you decide on a work around of some kind? I 
had a similar problem when I was looking for the CPU connector for the 
x500 PMacs.  AMP has about 300 in stock, but their minimum order is 
1008 at $9 each and all the distributers are out of stock.   But for 
$9072 they'll run off another batch of 1008 for me...
The code will copy the ROM to the SRAM (very easy routine) and then I 
can modify it since it is in RAM.  To substitute the RAM version for 
the ROM version I can have the GALs disable the memory manager for any 
ROM calls.  This is the same thing needed to make the SRAM run as zero 
wait state memory (as opposed to a write through cache).

So you need to write some kind of utility to redirect the ROM reads to 
your SRAM card, plus add/modify the actual ROM code.   That's the part 
that is a complete mystery to me.   I wouldn't know where to begin, 
except at the beginning of several years of study of Mac programming.
There are a couple of board houses I deal with at work.  I am sure that 
I can get somebody to the board for me...  But with tooling charges it 
will run me around $400.00 per design to get five flats (I will 
probably put both boards on the same flat and likely three or four 
steps of each).  We have the facilities for doing prototypes at work, 
but the masked outputs from the board house are so much nicer.  :-)

I agree that a ROM SIMM is much better than replacing the motherboard 
ROMs.  It's just that getting the .050" board  seems to be difficult 
these days.  Will you be etching your own boards?
The 53CF96 is one change...  Let's just say that a few PPC 8100 Macs 
made the ultimate sacrifice for my creation.  I also swapped out the 
Ethernet Controller with a 33MHz SONIC.  This allows me to up the I/O 
bus frequency...  unfortunately to do that I also need to modify some 
of the timing registers in the controllers...  Hence the ROM mods.  It 
must be done in the ROM to be able to boot from devices on the built in 
busses, as the timing will fall way out of spec otherwise.  Since I had 
to make these ROM mods, I thought it would be nice to add a few extra 
changes.

Did you put in a 53CF96 for the SCSI chip or something more advanced? 
The CF would give you the potential for Fast SCSI instead of just 5 
MB/s and I think it's pin compatible with the existing 53C96. However, 
the part is very hard to find and rather expensive ($25/chip)--at 
least it was a couple of years ago.   There was a lot of 10 or so of 
them on Ebay in the last year or so.   Did you pick those up, if this 
is the chip you're using?

What did you do to the ethernet controller?
I already have the PROMs (1 set), but I need to get everything else 
done before I burn them.  The two GAL programs are done, so this winter 
I hope to get the layouts done (after review and verification).  With 
any luck I will have a lickity-split 950 this coming spring.

HEY!  What do you think about the idea of adding a ROM socket to the 
SRAM board?  It could be used to have a ROM based system (7.xx or maybe 
even 8.x).  Can you say Slot $E declaration ROM?  Kind of like a...  
What?  Classic?  4 MB would probably do it...  Trick the system into 
thinking the ROM is a drive...  It could probably even be flash...  
Hmmm...

Derek

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Re: Daystar Cache Speed

2003-10-04 Thread Derek Morton
The GAL in question was one of two used in a computer design and 
performed address decoding.  I know the device was properly programmed 
and I know the person who soldered it on the board (normally they are 
soldered during the reflow process, but this was a change to an 
existing board)...  After this individual (who is not particularly 
adept at soldering) placed the parts on we had a 25+% fallout rate...  
When I removed the devices in question and soldered them on myself the 
system worked as expected.  I concluded that the problem lay in 
overheating during the installation process.
How do you determine if it was overheated?  Or was that in the case 
where you know what hte contents should be, and if what you read out 
doesn't match what it was programmed with, then you know it was 
overheated?
I have never heard of a universal Quad package programmer...  And it 
seems the mechanical complexity would be make the design of such a 
beast quite daunting.  A hard wired socket (to a DIP) should work if 
you want to build one.

I think there's a "universal" PLCC adapter for this programmer which 
does all the PLCC sizes up to 84 pins, but I'll need to double check. 
Another possibility is to wire wrap a PLCC through-hole socket to 
straight pin headers and tell the programmer that it's looking at the 
DIP equivalent to the GAL.  Trade time for money...
I use the quad power Lattice GALs, and if I remember correctly the 
quarter power 16V8 draws 55mA or just over 1/4 watt.  If you use the 
standard (Bipolar) device you would be at 1 Watt...  And this does not 
include any drive current.  This may not seem like much power, but that 
power in a plastic device which is less than 1/4 sq. in. it will cause 
it to get quite warm.

So it is normal for them to be warm bordering on hot in operation? The 
chip in question was a Lattice GAL16V8.
This sounds like a recipe for disaster to me...  At least for 
non-destructive removal.  The spec is probably (I am not at work with 
my data books) something like 3-5 seconds at temperature, and I suspect 
you are keeping the device at temperature for much longer.

I use Chip Quik.   It is an alloy one melts into the existing solder 
which lowers the melting point.   If one forms a bead on each edge of 
the chip which has pins, one can heat all the pins on that edge. Then 
by moving the soldering pencil back and forth between the beads (four 
sides on a PLCC) eventually you get all four sides hot enough to come 
loose at the same time.   With the melting point lowered by the Chip 
Quik, I've found this safe (for the chip) and effective, until my 
experience with the GALs.  But I don't really know for certain that 
they were heat damaged.
Honestly, I would have to give this some thought...  a 16V8 can have up 
to (I believe) 17 total inputs...  but then it would have no outputs.  
The biggest problem is if the device program reads the outputs back in 
as inputs.  This allows internal latching which would be frustrating to 
figure out.  The first step would be to figure out which pins are being 
used as outputs and which are being used as inputs...  Then slowly go 
through the combinations keeping note of any odd behavior (such as 
latching).  A good piece of information to have before you begin is 
what the GAL pins are wired to and the function of those signals 
(address, data, chip enable, etc.).

How would you do this?  I was thinking, set up on a Proto-board with a 
5V supply, momentary contact switch for the clock, switches to the 
inputs and LEDs on the outputs.  Then run through combinations (256 
for an 8 input GAL) and do some repeats of the same inputs to see if 
the output changes to test for whether there's a state machine 
implemented.  Then (if it's just combinational) derive the logic using 
a Karnaugh map or software that solves a Karnaugh map, though I 
haven't any such software.
Derek

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Re: SCSI Manager 4.3 and the Q900/950?

2003-10-02 Thread Derek Morton
A SCSI conflict will (should) only happen if both devices exist on the 
same physical bus.  Since the 900 / 950 has two physical busses, there 
should be no conflict, but the internal bus devices take precedence 
over the external bus devices (until 4.3 loads).  I mentioned in an 
earlier email that I will do some testing this weekend to verify 
whether or not this is the case (along with the Jackhammer having 4.3 
onboard idea).

I really cannot imagine needing more than seven SCSI devices...  
CD-ROM, M.O., Printer, Scanner...  This still leaves three for hard 
drives (and I doubt many people are running SCSI printers).  What else 
is there?  Perhaps I just don't have enough toys!  :-)

Derek

On Thursday, October 2, 2003, at 07:13 AM, Artur Yelchishchev wrote:
I'm very interested in that issue. If I understand correctly, the
initial boot-up sequence is performed purely by ROM code, so if the
Quadra-950's ROM isn't "SCSI manager 4.3-aware", the SCSI ID conflict
will happen, isn't it?
IMHO, your statement can be validated by very simple test: if we 
connect
some device (e.g. CD-ROM drive) to the external bus and set it to the
same ID as internal device (HDD), should it work then?


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Re: SCSI Manager 4.3 and the Q900/950?

2003-10-01 Thread Derek Morton
The idea of the internal bus taking precedence over the external bus 
comes from Apple documentation.  I have never bothered to have 
identical SCSI IDs on devices residing on both the built-in busses.  
Seven devices has always been sufficient for my needs...  Especially 
since I use a JackHammer for my hard drives (internal bus for CD-ROM & 
M.O. drive, external bus for anything else).

A 68060 does not really pique my interest anymore.  I did some research 
into the idea, but apart from the work involved, the fact that code 
optimized for the 040 is not optimized for the 060, you would likely 
see a minimum speed boost...  And where could I find an 060 compiler 
(which runs on the Mac) to write my own programs?  I am looking at 
making a memory card which allows the system to run full bore at zero 
wait states (RAM and ROM).  Think of it as a cache card on steroids.  
There are a couple of problems, one of which is that the memory is not 
cheap and I have already dropped a bundle getting a stick of high speed 
SRAM (0 wait states up to 50 MHz and 8 MB worth if I remember 
correctly).  This surely will not be sufficient for any real-world 
application, but it will show the maximum performance of the system.

My current plan is to make the PDS card first (those connectors were 
IMPOSSIBLE to find - apparently Apple was the only company which used 
them and since the Quadra is long gone...), then use the SRAM to shadow 
the ROM and make my modifications in the SRAM for testing purposes.  
The advantage of the SRAM is that any changes will remain in the memory 
between reboots and I will have the card (once programmed) replace the 
ROM on boot.  Once I am confident that my mods work as expected I will 
make a ROM SIMM card blank, burn some PROMs and make a ROM SIMM.  I am 
not willing to remove the ROMs from the motherboard and replace them as 
I am concerned that it may take a few attempts to make a good ROM 
replacement and Apple tends to make very tender PCBs (they do not take 
kindly to excessive re-work).

I have been doing electronic system design for years (it is my 
profession) and while the ROM mods do present a challenge, I feel 
confident it is quite doable.  My coding skills are almost exclusively 
assembly language (for numerous processors) as I find high level 
languages too cumbersome and limiting.  As to my current board mods...  
I have replaced the SCSI and ethernet controllers.  The new features 
are simply waiting for some code to release their potential (along with 
new crystals).

Thanks for the info on the ROM SIMM pin-out.  I will need to do a full 
mapping of it before I make a replacement, but that comes after the PDS 
card.  I only have time to do this sort of work in the winter (my 
summers are far too busy), and since that time is approaching...  :-)

The memory bug I mentioned has to do with sticking in 256 MB of RAM 
(anything less is okay)...  something funky happens, but I cannot 
remember what!

Derek

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Re: Daystar Cache Speed

2003-10-01 Thread Derek Morton
I have found (at work) that if a GAL is overheated in the process of 
removal or installation the program can be corrupted.  Whether or not 
the device is actually damaged I cannot say as I discard any device 
which is overheated (rather than have it act quirky or fail prematurely 
in the field).  To program them you will definitely need at least one 
PLCC adapter.  As I mentioned, if memory serves, both 16V8 and 20V10 
devices are used on that card (although having it in front of you, you 
will know for certain) and the 20V10 is a larger device.

I cannot say whether a GAL is more sensitive than other programable 
devices such as (let's say) a PROM, but they are definitely more 
sensitive than hard wired devices.  As for a GAL getting warm...  It is 
possible that if the program became corrupted you could have had 
contention on one or more outputs, but realize that GALs consume a LOT 
of power (relatively speaking - even the quarter power devices), and 
the faster they run the more they use.

A PLCC device is just about the most difficult thing to remove you will 
likely find in an older mac.  The only thing which comes to mind which 
is more difficult would be a BGA package (and you would probably only 
see that in a late model NuBus video card).  The most effective way to 
remove a PLCC is to use a SMD rework station with the correct size LCC 
/ PLCC hot air tool.  As for myself, I have been soldering and 
de-soldering just about everything ever since 2M school in the Navy.

It is common to protect GALs as a means of preventing copying by the 
competition (or at least making it more difficult).  Where I work 
protecting GALs and programable micro-controllers is standard practice. 
 It is always possible to figure out the program in a GAL, but it can 
be VERY time consuming and tedious.

Whether or not it is worth your effort to play around with this project 
of yours is up to you to decide.  I too love the old Daystar 
products...  I am the proud (original) owner of an SE/30 specific 50 
MHz PowerCache.  A fine piece of engineering indeed!

Derek

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Re: Daystar Cache Speed

2003-09-30 Thread Derek Morton
Jeff,

You could always remove the GALs  and try to extract the program...  If 
they were not protected you will be fine (just don't overheat the 
devices or you will ruin the program).  The GALs themselves are 
standard 16v8 / 20v10 parts (if memory serves), but the speed will 
likely be a problem if you try running it at 160% of it's rated speed 
(much like the SRAM).  I have both a 25 MHz and one or two 33 MHz cache 
cards, but where there are in my piles-o-stuff is another question, if 
I can (easily) find them I will let you know the speed ratings of the 
devices.

GALs are a very bad thing for us vintage Mac users.  People worry about 
eventually not being able to get power supplies or pictures tubes, when 
they should also be concerned about what is going to happen when the 
program in their computers GALs degrades to the point of corruption.  
Modern devices have a fairly long program life, but some of the older 
chips were only guaranteed for around 20 years (although hopefully they 
will last much longer than that).

Realize that the performance boost from this type of cache card is 
minimal.  Since there is no true cache controller in the system (unlike 
the 68030), these cache cards are (I believe) single segment,  fixed 
memory space write-through caches which probably sit at the bottom of 
the system memory and help most with system calls.

Derek

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Re: SCSI Manager 4.3 and the Q900/950?

2003-09-30 Thread Derek Morton
Jeff,

As I mentioned, the order of bus scanning is important to note.  If you 
have devices with the same ID on both the internal bus and the external 
bus, the device on the internal bus takes precedence.  Thus you only 
have access to 7 devices until 4.3 loads...  Or so the theory (and 
documentation) goes.  I should have time to do some testing this 
weekend.

I have never heard anything about 4.3 being in a JackHammer card, but I 
would suspect it would only be in effect for the card, and would not 
effect the built in internal / external bus problem.  I will be sure to 
remove my JackHammer before I begin testing, i will also try it with 
the card to see if there seems to be any effect.

I have purchased most of the parts I need to make a new PDS card (for 
maximum Zoom!) and a replacement ROM card, but I have not (yet) figured 
out the ROM slot pin out.  My thought is to replace the standard SCSI 
manager in ROM with 4.3.x (whatever the final version was)...  I also 
need to include some custom code to accommodate some of the hardware 
changes I have already put in place (and wasn't there a memory bug 
issue...  or was that just with A/UX?).  So far my modified Q-950 is 
fast, but not FAST!

Derek

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Re: SCSI Manager 4.3 and the Q900/950?

2003-09-28 Thread Derek Morton
Jeff,

When SCSI manager 4.3 is active you should indeed have access to 14 
total devices.  Unfortunately since SCSI manager 4.3 is not active 
until after the system loads, you really don't have access to all the 
devices at boot time.  Even with the workgroup server card which gives 
you two additional SCSI busses, you can still only access 7 total 
devices.  It is possible that you could get 14 devices to work on a 
standard Q-950 if you made sure that the boot device was attached to 
the internal SCSI bus and contained SCSI manager 4.3.  I could probably 
give that a try on a Q-950 to see if it works.  It is possible that 
once the OS loads it would locate the additional bus and detect the 
extra devices.  I am currently working on a truly souped up Q-950 
(zoom-zoom)...  Perhaps putting SCSI manager 4.3 in a custom system 
ROM...  H.

Some rules to remember:
The lower the SCSI device number, the lower the priority (on an 8 bit 
bus).
SCSI will normally boot from the highest priority device it can.
Internal bus has ID precedence (is scanned first) over the external bus.

Derek

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Re: Quadra 840AV????

2003-01-14 Thread Derek Morton
Nancy,

What general area do you live in?  Perhaps there is a list member near 
you who can render some hands-on assistance.

Derek

Chicago, IL area.


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Re(2): 7.1.1 Slowness Revealed! See the light!

2003-01-03 Thread Derek Morton
SCSI Manager 4.3 was not built into the OS until (I believe) system 8.  
It was an extension which first appeared with system 7.5.  Read this for 
a good explanation:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=17019

I would not be too certain that the extension is completely system 7.1 
compatible either.  The AV Quadras are able to run 7.1, but SCSI Manager 
4.3 is in ROM on those machines (they also require an enabler to run 
with 7.1).

MacBench was written by Ziff-Davis, They stopped developing or 
supporting Macintosh Benchmark software years ago, although I believe 
that you can still download version 5.0 from their FTP site (all 
references have been removed from their web site).  I have copies of the 
older versions, if you want I can email you a copy (version 1.x or 2.0), 
or a CD image (version 3.0 or 4.0).

Perhaps I will do some benchmarking this weekend on my Q-950.  It would 
be interesting to see what kind of performance boost comes with using 
SCSI Manager 4.3.

Derek

On Thursday, January 2, 2003, at 11:47 PM, Charles Shannon Hendrix wrote:

> On Wed, Jan 01, 2003 at 10:34:17PM -0500, the pickle wrote:
>
>> SCSI Manager 4.3 doesn't *appear* to get used, even on later OS 
>> versions - a
>> guy over on Vintage Macs has had some problems that lead him to 
>> believe it
>> isn't active - but that would definitely be a factor, and it's 7.1 
>> compatible,
>> so it should either be installed on both or removed on both.
>
> I thought SCSI Manager 4.3 was not needed at some version >7.1 because
> it was built in?
>
>> Got a reliable link to a 68K-compatible version of MacBench?  I can't 
>> seem to
>> find one.
>
> I've been looking for that as well.  Definitely something nice to have
> on a site like Gamba's so it doesn't disappear.
>
> Who wrote MacBench?
>
> --
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]


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Re: Re(2): 7.1.1 Slowness Revealed! See the light!

2002-12-30 Thread Derek Morton
I haven't seen anybody mention it, but what about the benefit of SCSI 
manager 4.3?  A Quadra 800 will definitely benefit from it, and the 
performance boost MIGHT be as great as 50%.  Try removing the SCSI 
Manager extension and see if the performance drops down to 7.1.1 
levels.  Also, don't forget that different areas of the same hard drive 
have different performance characteristics.  The first partition will 
perform better than the second.  I would also suggest using MacBench to 
test your systems.  The benchmarking provided by speedometer is quit 
poor in comparison.  Additionally, it is vital that you defragment your 
drive immediately before doing any sort of hard disk benchmarking, 
fragmentation can kill you performance.  I do my benchmarking with a  
blank formated drive, with a single partition only a large as it needs 
to be (in the 200 Meg range)...  And definitely not the system drive.

Just my 2ยข

Derek


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Re: Optical drives on a Q950?

2002-12-23 Thread Derek Morton
I would suggest getting a copy of the Intech CD/DVD and HD Tools.  These 
work all the way back to System 7 and provide pretty complete drive 
coverage.  I use the CD tools for my Kenwood True-X SCSI CD-ROM drive 
and Fujitsu 128MB MO drive, and the HD tools for my hardware RAID (all 
on my Q-950).

Derek

On Monday, December 23, 2002, at 01:29 PM, Ian Moffatt wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Season's greetings if you go for that sort of thing
>
> I've just acquired two MO drives (Sony SMO C501 and Sony SMO F521 in
> generic/Dynatek cases) from a friend who doesn't use them anymore (he 
> used
> to use them with a Roland sampler) and a truckload of disks. All 5.25 
> and
> 650Mb / 1.3Gb mix.
>
> I  can either keep them or put them up for grabs on ebay. If they go to 
> ebay
> they **MUST** be formatted as there is copyright material that he 
> doesn't
> want available to all and sundry. Or are they WORM drives?
>
> Apparently older drive will only work with 650 MB disks and the newer 
> one
> should work with both. Does this make sense?
>
> I have various utilities but none let me work with the disks. Should I 
> be
> able to mount them on the desktop?
>
> Cheers
>
> Ian
> --
> http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ian.moff/


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Re: L2 Cache cards for 575s?

2002-11-28 Thread Derek Morton
Depending on the motherboard configuration (I don't have a 575 so cannot 
tell one way or the other), you MAY be able to use a MicroMac Slot-free 
cache card (128K).  At the very least the CPU would need to be in a 
socket (the card plugs into the CPU socket).  I have one of these cards 
for my Q-605, but have not found it to be all that great...  The 
performance boost is not too significant (from 1 or 2% to 15% depending 
on the task) and it generates quite a bit of heat (perhaps not such a 
problem in a 575).

Here is the web page for the cards : 
http://www.micromac.com/products/quadra_cache_cards.html

The best I can suggest is that you write them and ask.

Derek

> Hello,
>
> This being my first posting to the list, I'd like to give a big
> Season's Greetings to everyone here!
>
> I've been looking for an L2 Cache card for my LC 575 for awhile now and
> have no idea where I can get one.  I saw an article by Scott L Barber
> that gave info on cache cards, but I have no idea how to contact him.
>
> Anyone have any suggestions?
>
> Thanks, and have a great turkey day!
>
> Julian


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Re: QUADRA 700

2002-11-28 Thread Derek Morton
It all depends on the amount of Video memory vs. the resolution (with 
some limits based upon the video source).

The built in video can do 1, 2, 4, 8 or 24-bit, but to achieve 24 bit 
you need additional VRAM.  the stock 512K VRAM will only support (up to) 
256 colors at 832x624 (or under) and 16 colors at 1152x870.  With 
additional VRAM (2MB total), you can achieve 24 bit (millions of colors) 
at 832x624 and 256 colors at 1152x870.  The Q-700 cannot do 16 bit 
(thousands of colors) video unless you want to sacrifice a Q-950 to 
upgrade your video chip.

A NuBus video card can do better or worse than this depending on the 
cards capabilities.  They can provide video from 4 bit at 640-480 to 24 
bit at 1600x1200 to (in the case of the really esoteric stuff) 1 bit at 
something like 4096x3072.

The built in video is a better option than a NuBus card in my mind.  
Even though it is not "accelerated" video, the actual access rate to the 
built in VRAM is very high (versus the NuBus rate) and with only two 
expansion slots, there is no reason to waste one on a video card.

Derek

> Is there any way I can get my Quadra 700 to use more than 256 colors? 
> I've
> tried a spare video card, and it didn't work. I want to use this as a 
> spare
> computer for emergencies as well as for my kids.
>
> Thank you
>
> Scott


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Re: no ADB

2002-10-03 Thread Derek Morton

This was discussed a while back (although perhaps on one of the other 
lists).  The ADB "fuse" is actually a PTC (positive temperature 
coefficient) thermistor...  In short, if the current goes too high the 
resistance increases greatly thereby reducing current to almost nothing, 
much like a fuse opening.  The advantage of using this type of part is 
that when it cools off, the resistance goes back down.  It is in essence a 
self resetting fuse.  The part in question is immediately next to the 
large filter adjacent to the ADB connector.  It is silver in color and .25"
  x .35".  The part can either be ohm'd out or you can check the ADB output 
voltage when under load.  It should be +5V.

Go to:

  http://ps.circuitprotection.com/poly/

They offer a large variety of these devices.

Derek


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Re: Mystery Card

2002-09-18 Thread Derek Morton

I have no idea what this card is, but I am intrigued by the idea that it 
is a PDS card.  All the video cards I have seen are NuBus (apart from LC 
style cards).  By bypassing the NuBus controller, it should absolutely 
scream.  Of course it would prevent you from using a PDS accelerator.  I 
would be interested in seeing some video benchmarks for this card.

Is there any information in the boards copper or silk-screen layers?  
Perhaps a manufacture or design date...  A date would be very helpful in 
finding out more about this card.

Derek


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Looking for Quadra PDS Card Connectors

2002-09-01 Thread Derek Morton

Hello all.
I am looking for some connectors for Quadra PDS adapter cards.  The 
manufacturer I have located (Robinson Nugent P/N P50-140S-RR1-TG) no 
longer actively manufacturers them and will only make more for orders of 
200+.  I am hoping that there might be some left-overs from the DayStar 
Digitals of the world.  If anybody knows of a source please let me know.

Thanks,

Derek


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