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IIgs Transwarp questions

wheagy

Experienced Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2010
Messages
101
I recently acquired a Transwarp card for my IIgs. It seems fairly complete (http://imgur.com/rpDjj6d) but appears to be missing the oscillator. It does have the CPU cable, not shown in the pic. I'm wondering if there is a way to tell which oscillator I need and if you can tell from the picture or know of anything else that I need to make the Transwarp function...other than the driver software? Is there a source for oscillators? Does something need to connect to the dual pin row on the top of the card (beside the green LED)? I do have the manual, but the resolution of the pictures is awful....it's hard to see any detail.

Thanks,

Win
 
I recently acquired a Transwarp card for my IIgs. It seems fairly complete (http://imgur.com/rpDjj6d) but appears to be missing the oscillator. It does have the CPU cable, not shown in the pic. I'm wondering if there is a way to tell which oscillator I need and if you can tell from the picture or know of anything else that I need to make the Transwarp function...other than the driver software? Is there a source for oscillators? Does something need to connect to the dual pin row on the top of the card (beside the green LED)? I do have the manual, but the resolution of the pictures is awful....it's hard to see any detail.

Thanks,

Win

Which oscillator depends on what you want to clock the card at. CPU clock is oscillator divided by 4.

EDIT: should have refreshed, looks like dorbkert beat me ;-)
 
Last edited:
The top connector is unused. Looks like the card has the original CPU. A 28Mhz oscillator was usually stock on there as the early 65c816 units were not very stable above that speed.
 
I recently acquired a Transwarp card for my IIgs. It seems fairly complete (http://imgur.com/rpDjj6d) but appears to be missing the oscillator. It does have the CPU cable, not shown in the pic. I'm wondering if there is a way to tell which oscillator I need and if you can tell from the picture or know of anything else that I need to make the Transwarp function...other than the driver software? Is there a source for oscillators? Does something need to connect to the dual pin row on the top of the card (beside the green LED)? I do have the manual, but the resolution of the pictures is awful....it's hard to see any detail.

The top connector is for an expansion feature that never shipped. You are missing the oscillator - if you're in a hurry, or can't find a cheaper buy on minimum order from Mouser or Digi-Key, there are these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/111064908676 or PM your address and I'll send you one or two.

Hope that TWGS works.
 
The top connector is unused. Looks like the card has the original CPU. A 28Mhz oscillator was usually stock on there as the early 65c816 units were not very stable above that speed.

The initial TWGS boards all shipped with 25MHz oscillators - they only ran at 6.25MHz. It took several months before AE got 816's that were reliable enough for 7MHz operation, and when they did, they could often be stretched out to 8 or 9 if sufficiently cooled.
 
Better off just getting the modern 14Mhz 65c816 if you are going to speed up your IIgs accelerators.
 
Better off just getting the modern 14Mhz 65c816 if you are going to speed up your IIgs accelerators.

Today, you can (and have to) get a faster CPU to accelerate but back in the day (within a few years of the TWGS first being released), it was impossible. All we had were the crappy WDC CPUs. It wasn't until Sanyo improved the 816 die that we could get faster, more reliable acceleration.
 
Thanks for all the info. I ordered an oscillator. Keeping my fingers crossed that the card works.

Win
 
I got ahold of a 28 MHZ oscillator. It is in a rectangular package (rather than square) that will only allow two of the four pins to be inserted in the 8 pin socket on the Transwarp card. Mine looks like the oscillator in this pic.
http://apple2info.net/index.php?title=File:TWGS.png
Anyone know how this is plugged in? Are only two of the four pins on the oscillator used? In the pic, it only appears that the top two holes in the IC socket on the card are being used. If not, I can build an adapter, but can't see how this is plugged in.

Thanks,

Win
 
the original oscillator on mine had extra long legs bent to connect into the bottom two holes on that socket. What you need are "half TTL" sized oscillators to properly fit that socket, or make an adapter.
 
So the rectangular oscillator lays as shown in the pic and the top two and bottom two holes of the IC socket are used (holes 1, 4, 5, and 8)?

Thanks,

Win
 
Ok, that little experiment was a flop. I made an adapter for the oscillator, plugged the cable into the CPU socket, installed the card in slot 3, powered up and nothing. The LED on the Transwarp flashed briefly(about 1/10th of a sec) and then nothing happened. The monitor displayed nothing. I didn't get the startup chime. I'm a bit suspicious of the oscillator adapter kludge, but I think I hooked that up properly.

I reinstalled the CPU and everything booted fine. Have I missed a step? I have the Transwarp control panel installed in CDevs (TWGS.CDEV), in case this thing works. What should I expect to see at boot if that's the only software installed? Should it default to normal speed?

The card appears to be in good shape, of course that doesn't mean too much. But there are no obvious signs of damage, blown caps, etc. Any suggestions for things to check or try?

Thanks,

Win
 
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