Why am I holding on to these vintage PC parts?

[kishy]

yep. PCBs are on their way to me right now, it could be about a month before I'm in production with the things, assuming there are no design bugs and my eeprom programmer can handle the PIC devices. You may have to ping me when they are available; I suspect I will be very busy!

Are you going to be producing the famed kbdbabel adapters, or is this a different design?
(edit: kbdbabel is of course a huge project covering possibly hundreds of keyboard types...I am referring to a kbdbabel adapter built and flashed to be for PC/XT compatibility)

The folks at geekhack are REALLY interested in a photographed, fully typed up guide on building a kbdbabel converter board. Just throwing the word out there...I said I'd do it but I don't have the resources or money to do it anytime soon.

About the 8 bit VGA cards:
I don't care WHAT card I get; I think it's awesome that you have two.
I just want "an" 8 bit VGA card - not a 16 bit card hanging out of the slot, the real deal.
They happen to be extremely rare, and in actively searching since 2005 this is the first time I've found even one (forget two) that are actually available.

 

[southbird]

They happen to be extremely rare, and in actively searching since 2005 this is the first time I've found even one (forget two) that are actually available.

They show up on eBay in small numbers ... with big prices.

 

[kishy]

They show up on eBay in small numbers ... with big prices.

Lol, I've noticed. I kind of exclude them from being "Available"; obviously someone clueless enough to list one for 500 bucks has no hopes or intentions of selling it (which is why it's usually the same card showing up again and again every couple years, from a seller in Ottawa Ontario if I remember correctly).

 

[southbird]

Lol, I've noticed. I kind of exclude them from being "Available"; obviously someone clueless enough to list one for 500 bucks has no hopes or intentions of selling it (which is why it's usually the same card showing up again and again every couple years, from a seller in Ottawa Ontario if I remember correctly).

I think the highest I saw was $300. What really drives me nuts is I had the same card a few years ago, and I had purchased it for $5.

But really, they do show up... here: $24.95

 

[per]

I think the highest I saw was $300. What really drives me nuts is I had the same card a few years ago, and I had purchased it for $5.

But really, they do show up... here: $24.95

Why not use a 16-bit one? About 75% of them are 8-bit compatible.

 

[southbird]

Why not use a 16-bit one? About 75% of them are 8-bit compatible.

I guess just that. It's hard to know which ones are "really" compatible, or, as stated elsewhere, which ones are sort of compatible but will exhibit problems. An 8-bit ISA VGA is guaranteed to work. Also, as a matter of sympathy, those cards are not going to be useful anywhere else. If you have a 286+, why would you hold yourself to an 8-bit card?

 

[hargle]

Are you going to be producing the famed kbdbabel adapters, or is this a different design?

It's a very small, very simple AT->XT converter, so you can hook up your XT to a KVM switch with other AT class machines. (or at least, that's what i'm going to do with mine)
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?t=15907

and as far as 8bit VGA cards go, we're starting a wiki about 16bit cards that are compatible with 8bit machines. Take a peek here:
http://wiki.vintage-computer.com/index.php/8bit_Friendly_ISA_VGA_cards

 

[kishy]

I think the highest I saw was $300. What really drives me nuts is I had the same card a few years ago, and I had purchased it for $5.

But really, they do show up... here: $24.95

Way better price, but still out of my price range. Thanks though.

Why not use a 16-bit one? About 75% of them are 8-bit compatible.

I want an 8 bit card because I want a proper 8-bit card; I have a cross-compatible 16 bit card but it is buggy and frequently replaces characters with white squares.

I guess just that. It's hard to know which ones are "really" compatible, or, as stated elsewhere, which ones are sort of compatible but will exhibit problems. An 8-bit ISA VGA is guaranteed to work. Also, as a matter of sympathy, those cards are not going to be useful anywhere else. If you have a 286+, why would you hold yourself to an 8-bit card?

I'd be using the card in an 8088 which I can't make much progress on with the current character-replacing 16 bit card. My PS/2 30 286 (if that's what you're referring to) has integrated VGA video so that's taken care of.

It's a very small, very simple AT->XT converter, so you can hook up your XT to a KVM switch with other AT class machines. (or at least, that's what i'm going to do with mine)
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?t=15907

and as far as 8bit VGA cards go, we're starting a wiki about 16bit cards that are compatible with 8bit machines. Take a peek here:
http://wiki.vintage-computer.com/index.php/8bit_Friendly_ISA_VGA_cards

Thanks for the wiki link, I will take a peek though either way I want a proper 8 bit card for appearance's sake.

I'll take it then that your AT-XT converter is not based on the kbdbabel project but instead does its own thing...be sure to document it, there are a lot of people who want to use XT Model F keyboards on their modern PC. If your adapter ends up being easier to produce than a kbdbabel converter it would be fantastic.

 

[southbird]

My PS/2 30 286 (if that's what you're referring to) has integrated VGA video so that's taken care of.

Actually was just a product statement; as in, why would anyone hold themselves to an 8-bit video card in a 16-bit capable system? Also that $24.95 might be as cheap as it gets, at least on eBay. Case in point it's already gone...