r
Mid-morning and Graphics Cards...
There's a very funny cable which connects the Laser to the JLaser boards, not parallel, not SCSI, not USB(!) (yes, I was in WTF territory again here, its amazing that we've become so used to the parallel port for the printer that things like this can really throw you for a moment. I mean these JLaser boards right, we're not talking couple of chips and a low profile easy insertable printer port here. Its a FULL DOUBLE SLOT ISA* CARD, and for the young uns who've never seen a SINGLE full ISA card, we're talking about the ones that reach all the way over to the front of the case. The boards are literally crammed with olde 74LS chips and a small Lego farm that is probably the memory. Listen folks... each card weighs over a Kilo, I was expecting something a bit more than a printer port.
The graphics card is also a full slot ISA* card. It has a sort of half length daughter board clinging like a leech to the mound of LSI processing grunt. There are no big chips, its all in individual counters and gates. Amazing! Wonder how well it will run Quake...
* seriously though, onward to the first stumbling block with bringing this kit back to life. My goal here was to end up with a working system that uses authentic kit and runs the software that it was designed for.
Well first thing that I thought was... are those really ISA cards. I mean after a quick glimpse of the artifacts as they descended from the donor loft I had a quick five minutes in the car thinking the unthinkable... what if they're MCA? AAAAAaaaarrrrgghh.
I used to have an MCA machine back in the mid nineties (before I started collecting), I think it was a PS/2 and I kept the keyboards because they're incredibly well built. I think its now impossible to buy keyboards that have been engineered like these, its a world gone by from the cheap squidgy rubbish that we put up with these days. The only thing I'm surprised at is why IBM didnt put a three stage adjustable trigger on each key, just to finish off the design nicely you understand.
Anyway, if they're MCA then I'm stuffed because I don't have a host machine. They'll be just taking up room until I do get one, and that includes the monitor too. Oh... erm.. its not a VGA connector BTW, and I'm non too convinced that it's EGA either. Given the wierdness of the Laser printer side I'd not be surprised at thought transferrence as the chosen connection. Well, maybe just little bit, but still.
So, back to the batcave , and, if I'm honest about it, I'm straight onto Google looking up what an MCA card slot looks like. This is just to be on the safe side as they might have used the same slot type but different signals. I just couldn't remember, and looking up things like this is much better than having your nostrils filled with the pungent smell of the thing 'brewing up' as the old army saying goes.
GREAT NEWS!!!
they're not MCA :)