Chromedome45
Veteran Member
I was wondering how difficult would it be to make one of these like was done with the XT-IDE?
I know MCA was not widely used but was just wondering.
I know MCA was not widely used but was just wondering.
I was wondering how difficult would it be to make one of these like was done with the XT-IDE?
I know MCA was not widely used but was just wondering.
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Everything else that I need is on the motherboard.
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I submit that PCI is probably on its way to sunsetting and USB is probably the most forward-looking option for a designer looking to hit the broadest base.
Unknown K said:I wouldn't lump VLB in with MCA and EISA, VLB was pretty much standard on most 486 systems of the time unlike MCA (just IBM and a couple PS/2 clones) and EISA (mostly servers).
Rather than expending energy on an MCA solution that fixes a problem for a small number of hobbyists, why not go for something a bit larger?
A lot of the "legacy IO" ports are disappearing on new machines. It is becoming more common to see even desktop computers without floppy drives or even the FDC connector on the motherboard. Same for PS/2 keyboard and mouse connectors, parallel, and serial ports. I haven't seen an old style joystick (15 pin D shell connector) on a PC in quite a while.
A PCI SuperIO/MultiIO would be very handy for accessing floppy disks and playing legacy games, using old software etc. However I haven't seen such a beast in a long time if ever. I sort of recall seeing one a long time ago but it was like mid 1990's or so or maybe earlier.
A MCA to ISA bridge - even with one that translates MDA request/acks into DMA arbitration requests is also straight forward, but a bit impractical mechanically as ISA cards are typically bigger than MCA.
The biggest problem with a homebrew MCA design is sourcing appropriate back plate connectors - which is a hard enough task for ISA.
How about MCA to one or more PC/104 modules? ...you could mount up an XT-IDE, a PC/104 serial board, and a NE2000 compatible NIC (for example) and only use one slot.
It's a simple stamping with 3 bends - 1 of them in an opposing direction. Anyone have an idea on where to go to get quotes for such a thing? On-line preferably due to economies of scale and long term sourcing. The blue plastic tabs and card extensions can just be 3D printed....MCA brackets would be more difficult, it probably wouldn't be too horrible to just have some stamped out in a small production run.