Found some old ?rare? hardware (Matrox PG-640 card, SKY321 card)

[peterbjornx]

Recently I found an old computer that used to be part of a scanning tunneling microscope setup and it contained some very large ISA cards:

• SKY321 ( Array Processor, contains a TMS320 DSP )
• Matrox PG-640 ( IBM PGC Clone, Accellerated graphics adapter )
• NanoScope II Digital Interface Board Special ( STM IO card coupled to the SKY321 )

I was wondering if any of these cards are still worth any money today ( especially the PGC clone ), I hope this is the right place to ask such a question,
all parts are working as far as I can test them.

 

[mR_Slug]

It depends who you sell it to. I did once find a PG-640 on a US hardware site going for $1, they had 3 of them. I would have bought them but i would guess shipping to the UK would have been expensive. Conversely there is one on eBay for $1,195.00.

If you plug in the PG-640 does it show the BIOS output when you boot the system?

I am looking for one but, USA-to-UK shipping usually kills the deal for me.

 

[peterbjornx]

It does not show the BIOS output, but that might be configuration, I can't get it to do any CGA emulation whatsoever but the computer it is in is working and is able to render 3D graphics on the matrox card, for text output there is a separate hercules clone card installed, also I am from the Netherlands so shipping should be easier than it would be from the USA.

 

[mR_Slug]

Sounds like the system is configured for mono graphics on the motherboard. If you type "MODE CO80" at a DOS prompt it should switch the DOS prompt to the PG-640 if it is set to emulate CGA. Not quite sure what kinda screen you have it hooked up to, but IIRC it outputs a scan-doubled variant of CGA. It *should* work with a PGC/VGA compatible monitor, but given your current setup and the very specialist nature of your system, there is a possibility you have a fixed frequency monitor for the graphics. I don't want you to feed a signal to a monitor that objects very badly to an incorrect signal.

You have a working setup with 3D graphics on a PGC-clone, and some other specialist hardware. It would be a shame to split it up in my opinion. It would be nice to see a picture of the current setup. It may be worth more as a complete system. Perhaps others will chime in.

 

[peterbjornx]

The problem is, I have the complete system except for the hardware it is supposed to drive ( the actual STM ), so I don't know if its worth anything like that. I have tried to boot it without the herc card and with the motherboard dip switch set to colour graphics yet it didnt display any graphics and beeped a POST error.
For the herc card I used an old monochrome fixed freq monitor ( nice little amber CRT in it ) and for the matrox I used an adapter to VGA and a modern LCD.