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Is This EISA?

R

Raven

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When I found them I thought they were "interesting white ISA slots that things slid into more easily". I was at that time convinced that EISA just meant 16-bit ISA as opposed to 8-bit, so I didn't even think that it might be something different considering that 16-bit ISA cards were working just fine.

If they are just oddball ISA slots, then I shall henceforth just refer to them as "white ISA slots" or "magical ISA slots" (magical due to the ease of insertion compared to the black ones).
 
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Usually, black = ISA, light brown = EISA, dark brown = VESA Local Bus, and white = PCI. But in the late 486 era, there were some motherboards with white ISA slots.

2w4n3ph.jpg


These are EISA slots (brown), alongside ISA (black). Notice that EISA uses twice as many pins, and has "teeth" recessed into the slots, designed to lock into the corresponding notches in the bus connector of an EISA card.

eisa_l.jpg


EISA card:
eisa1.jpg
 
Yeah I've seen pictures of the cards (but have none), but that picture of the slots makes things much more clear. Magical white ISA slots it is - lol. For the record it's a Socket 5 Pentium board.
 
Jorg said:
I wonder if there even were boards that had both PCI and EISA.
Click to expand...

Yes, tons. Some late 486 Boards had both, and I think ISA was still featured on some P3 boards. The ASUS P3B-F has ISA, PCI and AGP slots.

EDIT: I can read, I swear, but I just realized you said EISA and no ISA.... ;D
 
Jorg said:
I wonder if there even were boards that had both PCI and EISA.
Click to expand...

I have a Pentium server with 4 EISA slots and 4 PCI slots.

The strangest system I ever saw had 4 slots but each slot had both an EISA and a PCI connector.
 
My Abit PV4T also has white ISA slots. It also has on board S3 graphics btw, oldest board I got with onboard VGA.
It's the middle board in this pic

DSC00201.jpg


It's easier to ID EISA when looking at the underside of the board btw. EISA has more solder dots ;)
 
Yeppers, there was! I have a Gigabyte 486SL that has two EISA slots as well as ISA and one 8-bit.
 
My oldest board with onboard VGA is this tiny 386 I just fixed today (wouldn't boot). It's got some major RAM problems but nothing I can't sort out with a pile of SIMMs and an afternoon - lol. It's a late 386, due to the size and SMC style, but it's likely from 1990-1993, making it pretty old for onboard anyhow.
 
Raven said:
My oldest board with onboard VGA is this tiny 386 I just fixed today (wouldn't boot). It's got some major RAM problems but nothing I can't sort out with a pile of SIMMs and an afternoon - lol. It's a late 386, due to the size and SMC style, but it's likely from 1990-1993, making it pretty old for onboard anyhow.
Click to expand...

Does it have onboard VGA as a separate VGA-chip or inside the chipset?
 
Raven said:
My oldest board with onboard VGA is this tiny 386 I just fixed today (wouldn't boot). It's got some major RAM problems but nothing I can't sort out with a pile of SIMMs and an afternoon - lol. It's a late 386, due to the size and SMC style, but it's likely from 1990-1993, making it pretty old for onboard anyhow.
Click to expand...

Pics or it didn't happen!! ;D


Anyway, I might have another very old board with a modern feature...I just know I have a board which has an onboard fan connector. That wasn't common until the late Pentium era.
Then again maybe I tossed that board years ago, I'll go look when I have time
 
ajcc said:
Does it have onboard VGA as a separate VGA-chip or inside the chipset?
Click to expand...

Separate VGA chip.

Tetrium said:
Pics or it didn't happen!! ;D


Anyway, I might have another very old board with a modern feature...I just know I have a board which has an onboard fan connector. That wasn't common until the late Pentium era.
Then again maybe I tossed that board years ago, I'll go look when I have time
Click to expand...

I'll get a pic of the outside of the front and back of the case if ya want, but I'm not opening it again today.

It's a Packard Bell Legend 416SX.
 
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