I'm aware I'm breaking rules by asking but considering what the system is I think it warrants.
I have an old PC that was used in the Space Shuttle program. It has some unique parts installed. I'm separately working on the weird EGA video card but for the time being I'm trying to install an ISA VGA card to at least gain access to it.
That said, it boots up with the EGA card (no video obviously) but when I remove that card and install the VGA card I get the video error beep code (One long 2 short) or an unknown one (Long-Short-Long-Short).
I communicated with Diversified Technologies who built the main PC about 7 years ago but they are now out of business. I have a lot of experience with old hardware but admittedly haven't gone this deep into the technical realm of this vintage system in a couple decades.
If this thread 404s you might be able to get an answer in one of the Sup Forums retro threads. They deal with a lot of tech from that ere.
Luis Fisher
Side question...did old ISA based systems support dual video cards? I'm trying to test the VGA card in an old IBM PS/1 to make sure it at least works but it doesn't display anything when installed. It doesn't cause any errors either tho.
Yes, got one which is the secondary testing I am working on. Problem is the EGA card has a 37 pin port to which a dongle attached. I sourced possible solution but so far no joy
Juan Diaz
Yes.
Xavier Morgan
>>I have an old PC that was used in the Space Shuttle program I hope you didn't get jewed out of a lot of shekels.
Elijah Russell
What? I see the normal EGA port back there. I seriously hope you're not confusing the LPT port for EGA.
Jeremiah Sanchez
Can you use a VL Bus card in a regular ISA slot like that?
Brandon Roberts
Jannies and mods are retarded, they only ban cryptobeggers and CP. Youre safe
James King
EGA is compatible with VGA, I don't recall which way though. I think you can connect a VGA monitor to an EGA card (unless I have it backwards; wait for another reply to be sure). I do remember having done it as a kid and it worked fine (I wish I remembered which way I did it though)
I'd really like to know too. could it be why OP is getting beeps?
Aaron Cooper
Yes, it just works at 16-bit instead of full 32-bit.
>EGA is compatible with VGA, I don't recall which way though. I think you can connect a VGA monitor to an EGA card (unless I have it backwards; wait for another reply to be sure). I do remember having done it as a kid and it worked fine (I wish I remembered which way I did it though) That's some retarded shit son. VGA is analog and uses a 15-pin connector. EGA is TTL and uses a 9-pin connector.
Aaron Scott
I know once upon a time I did so so yes.
This is the EGA card in question...
It is an ETB Four-on-the-Floor. Note the 37 pin port.
Jackson King
Errr STB not ETB sorry.
Austin Bennett
this was over 20 years ago. maybe it was an EGA monitor plugged into a CGA card? I really don't remember anymore
Dylan Lewis
>EGA monitor plugged into a CGA card? Yes.
Justin Robinson
no I think CGA and EGA were incompatible despite the same DB-9 connector
You would need a EGA/VGA card that has both connectors on the back.
Also, EGA could also drive a MDA monitor with the right switch settings that most cards had, same for CGA driving MDA monitors.
Jaxon Fisher
do people really take everything that's on sale online as a fact?
Cooper Rogers
Looks like it would make a good Steam box
Adrian Bennett
Not him, but I vaguely recall a friend having a pin converter. It may have been to plug a VGA monitor into an EGA card, it may have been to plug an EGA monitor into a VGA card, I dunno. And doing some quick research, the two standards do have a couple of video modes in common.
Eli Gomez
See >Ain't gonna work buddy. First as I said, EGA is TTL, second it's totally different frequencies, like 15kHz over VGAs 31kHz. >You would need a EGA/VGA card that has both connectors on the back. >Also, EGA could also drive a MDA monitor with the right switch settings that most cards had, same for CGA driving MDA monitors.
Things like exist for a reason you know.
Alexander Perry
It could be that the specific monitor he had was built to handle both signals and the pin adapter came with it and would be useless with anything else.
Isaiah Evans
If you are lucky, there might be a jumper or a dip switch on the motherboard that sets it up for use with a VGA card. If it does not have such a thing, you need to buy an EGA to VGA converter or an old monitor.
Joseph Reed
Well no joy thus far. I tried to dig through my cables to find a compatible serial cable that I could wire up to the EGA-VGA converter but oddly I don't have one that I can find in my piles of cables.
Adam Hernandez
Ebay is your friend.
Jeremiah Brown
Already ordered
Liam Long
Try asking for help on forum.nasaspaceflight.com You'll probably find someone who actually worked on this hardware while it was in service.
Alexander Watson
>If you are lucky, there might be a jumper or a dip switch on the motherboard that sets it up for use with a VGA card. EGA/VGA share the same "mode" configuration
If you don't have some old multisync CRT (like could have had), a plain rewiring won't help you
>wire up to the EGA-VGA converter >wire up >a converter topkek
Parker Foster
Yep...welcome to the big leagues kid.
Caleb Price
Take everything out of it and throw it out. Then build a sweet gaming computer in the case dude.
Parker Watson
See Apparently needs to wire up a 9-pin from the 37-pin header before even getting to an active adapter.
Easton Evans
you didnt even read the post ya dip ops got a space ship computer. Itll probably run laps around youre shitbox.
Dominic Cook
>EGA video card sure
Jack Parker
>Enhanced Graphics Adapter Yes, it's enchanced, you probably use displayport gpu or some shit
Joshua Johnson
Now to be fair it is only a 386sx so no...it would not. That said he obviously has no idea what I'm attempting.
Luis Hall
Im just talkin shit m8
>That said he obviously has no idea what I'm attempting. You're obviously trying to use preauthorized hardware to bypass security at nasa and infiltrate the facility
Luke Russell
Damn you got me.
Easton Cox
Classic computer parts make me horny.
Angel Campbell
Just look at that board. Goddamn it, I am a man with an erect penis.
Angel Watson
Prepare yourself...
Wyatt Bailey
and...
Nicholas Torres
DIY board?
Dominic Gomez
What the hell is this? And is it possible for you to the dump the ROMs if you have a programmer?
Jose Ward
2 of em in the system. They are what I'm most curious about.
Benjamin Phillips
Well if I can get some video we'll see. There is this too...
Dylan Baker
Topkek. The second you made that flash, you erased all those ROMs.
Parker Hughes
Oh shit nigga
Ryan Diaz
Did you use a phone or camera?
Logan Brooks
Slace flight hardware should be hardened against this, no? Haven't followed the whole thread
Jose Myers
lol no. EEPROMs need ALOT more to wipe em. That said I am curious how they've held up over the years. The card has been enclosed in the system so it hasn't been hit my much UV light, but age also is a factor. Of course I also have used much older exposed EEPROMs with no issue.
Julian Myers
Only if xenon.
Wack. Could it be a custom ring-network card or, dare I say it, uplink/downlink of some sort?
If this stuff is flight-rated, we'd be seeing SN54 parts instead of SN74.
Bentley Wright
This thing isn't going to space. Never was. It's ground equipment. The windows of the chips weren't covered.
Nope. I regularly use my phone flash to clear them. True, once will only garbage it, but that's enough to make it useless for him or anyone.
Having them exposed in a inside room without direct light isn't as much as a problem, that's how that card got there anyway, (if) he used a LED flash that produce way more UV than normal LEDs just close up by them. I'm not certain about camera flashers.
Logan Reyes
uh...no
Justin Hernandez
Not op, but you made me remember when a friend made the same mistake back in the day, One of the roms was bricked and the other just stuttered for a while
Easton Richardson
>no because I say so
Kayden Lee
I can only get so erect!
Sebastian Reed
How is something like this assembled? I cant imagine manually soldering in each wire
Tyler Martinez
That's how they did it, and this board must have been pretty important to be worth the while.
Samuel Lopez
That's exactly how it happened.
Jack Adams
>I can't imagine manually soldering in each wire patience you must have my young padawan
Evan Wood
The other card...
Colton Murphy
and...
Gavin Brooks
How is it tested? Can such a procedure be tested in steps along the way?
Landon Rogers
The copyright on the board doesn't mean much. Vector made the prototyping cards. The actual layout and assembly could have been by anyone.
Henry White
Once it's done, you test it. If needed, debug it.
Leo Carter
I'm sure they had a method. This is NASA after all.
Wyatt Reed
There isn't really much to test before it's done if you're doing it after a schematic
Adrian Morales
A prototype might have been built with wire-wrap before this was built. As you unwrap the prototype, you can write each connection down on a netlist, which the tech building the "production" copies uses.
Carter Harris
So it's a Display System Computer Input Multiplexer. These cards were some kind of video inputs, like multiplexers for CCTV systems.
Kevin Baker
OK explain more. Serious. Think in terms of the shuttle in simulation how would it be used?
Gavin Clark
Probably exactly the same way as a cctv system. It takes video feeds in on these cards and the machine on the whole can do whatever the user wants with the feeds (like adding annotations) before spitting it back out on some monitors.
Matthew Thomas
OK that might make some sense considering the EGA card which dumps video to 4 monitors.
I'm thinking that this system might be an input/output for the shuttle displays in simulation.
Thomas Cox
It certainly looks something like that. Date stamps on the hardware read 1992/1993 so off the shelf cctv multiplex equipment was certainly commonly available at the time. Whatever processing they were doing with the video feeds was probably a little more complicated than standard cctv fare judging by the custom work.
Aaron Ramirez
The two inductors/transformers and the two 1MHz async serial Manchester adapters (D1-6408-9) intersil.com/content/dam/Intersil/documents/hd-6/hd-6408.pdf (and the 12MHz oscillator to generate x12 clock to drive them at top speed) seem to suggest deep space communications or some other more custom protocol. I wonder what type numbers are under the label on the 40-pin IC.
Tyler Allen
Diversified technologies out of business... Bought by nvidia.
This is what you cunts get for not buying AMD.
Xavier Thomas
No...Diversified was owned by Ergon but ceased in 2013 (3 years after my first enquiry). The STB card on the other hand falls under nvidia but they haven't responses to my questions.
Diversified Technologies looks like they just built the chassis and main board. I doubt beyond that they had direct communication with NASA as those are generic parts from what I see.
Joseph Stewart
This is generally correct yes. That said it would be helpful to get a proper manual for the CAT960 Intel 386SX board.
John Murphy
Is that a whole system on this tiny board?
Jason Garcia
Mostly. You just need the backplane and its good.
Cameron Martinez
what would happen if I'd put it in another 386/486 machine?
Jordan Perez
While it looks like an ISA card it wouldn't work. It would just be a confusing piece of hardware without drivers at best.
