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NCR PC4i

R

rfka01

Experienced Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2012
Messages
76
Location
Bavaria
I recently got a NCR PC4i in reasonable condition (it even survived shipping).
It's got what looks like an after market graphics card ("Intersil Display Adapter Color III") ... is this card known? Is it just a CGA clone?

The manual (they're available at http://oldcomputers.dyndns.org/public/pub/rechner/ncr/pc4i/manuals/complete_document_set/index.html mentions a BIOS version 3.5 that's supposed to support 1.2MB drives in this XT clone natively with the appropriate controller - so far we've got BIOS versions 2.2 and 2.3 ... are there any more around?

The machine's got a BTX (prestel, ...) card that blew one of its capacitors, but that was to be expected ... I won't be using that any time soon anyway :)

I'll be fitting the PC4i with a NCR card that was specifically made for NCR's CGA screens and their extra 400 lines mode, and then I'll have to ask someone to help me adjust the display ... at the moment I can see the boot message twice, and it's jittering.

Robert
 

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Hmmm you're in Germany, no? I knew a Robert from a different forum who always wanted a 4i. I want one too :(, but I do have a monochrome 4 (presumably). I have schematics for much of the stuff I think. Have to get all that stuff scanned.

I have 2 Intersil cards bouncing around in my stash. I can't remember if they were mono or color, but I think they're mono (MDA clones maybe). Come to think of it I probably pulles them from the 2 PC4s I scrapped years ago. A catastrophe but I was out of space and no one wanted them. If I find time later I'll plug them in to my Tandy 3000 and see what I can see. I can't swear they're from the NCRs, but it seems to make sense. Duh I could check the one I have left and see what card it has.

If you don't have docs then send me your email in a pm and I'll work on it, eventually.
 
Hi @tipc, yup, Germany.
The 4's ROMs (BIOS, graphics card BIOS and character generator) would be great to have if you can dump them - I'd like to add them to the MAME emulator if you want to share them.

My machine is definitely a 4i as it only has the ISA slots, the 4 seems to have had some bespoke modules closer to a DMV.

If you check out the link in my first post, you'll find a lot of docs - if you have any that are missing, I'd love to hear from you.

It'll be interesting to see what your Tandy makes of those Intersil cards.

Robert
 
Yeah I blew past your link, just intent on reading your post with interest as the NCR "clones" rarely get brought up. That's everything I have plus perhaps. At some point I'll compare them to what I have for fun.

And O yes I've successfully tracked you down. I'll be alerting the proper authorities (Interpol, FBI, CIA, KGB) as to your presence on this forum. What do you think of that!
 
rfka01 said:
I didn't expect a kind of Spanish Inquisition :)
Click to expand...

U9ZFSNI.jpg
 
Yeah, the PC8 one had something like 20 F-keys, 10 on the left like an IBM PC keyboard, and another row where you'd expect them from an AT class keyboard.
 
Nice Find! I just got an original PC4... I'd been looking for one for a long time.

KFspAzE.jpg


There's a PC4i with the color screen that's been on eBay for a while, but the seller won't respond to any of my messages :/

The keyboard can be nice, annoyingly mine was super filthy and and the switches were scratchy and intermittent. I ended up replacing the switches with MX Browns.

I've tried a KeyTronic board on my system in XT mode, it mostly works but the arrow keys do not. I think the PC4 board is doing something funky that makes the keypresses look like they're actually the number pad.

One note: If the system encounters bad RAM, the memory test stops at the last working bank. I put a Quadram board in my system, and a chip in the first bank went bad. I thought the card itself had stopped working based on the BIOS memory test in the PC4.

CTRL ALT DEL also doesn't seem to completely reset the PC... TSRs stay loaded!

Thanks,

-J
 
Odd--I've never noticed any strange behavior with the PC4 keyboard plugged into an XT. Arrows work as expected, as well as the three-key salute. The most annoying thing about it is the placement of the "|" key. Not where any of my other keyboards have it.
 
@compu_85 ... looks great! I'd love to see more pictures, especially of the motherboard and the modules since they're different from the PC4i.
If you can, please share ROM dumps as well.

Robert
 
Dangit I forgot about this thread...

The motherobard is rather unique, it has a hole for the CRT neck to poke through. The MDA adapter that came with mine is nothing special, it was made by someone else then NCR put their label on it.

Here's a gallery with some photos of my machine: https://imgur.com/a/EzI0Vf4

Attached is a photo showing the system with all the back covers removed. The PC4 is based on a Decision Mate V chassis and it shows. The tiny BIOS rom is also attached.

-J
 

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And, after much waiting, the PC4i I bought has arrived, and in only somewhat damaged-by-shipping condition. Thankfully the monitor wasn't damaged, and the system seems to be working OK.

Both the motherboard, and NGA graphics card have bad RAM I think, so that will need sorting.

One nice bonus: This system came with the full service manual for the PC4 - which I hadn't been able to locate before!

-J
 
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