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PARADISE 8Bit Vid Card

I've got some V20 chips I could try.

I have to wonder, though, why would you make/sell an 8-bit card that doesn't work in an 8088 XT?
 
I’ve seen card with these chips that were 16bit ISA. So maybe they designed it 286 and making the 8bit ISA card was an afterthought? Or maybe they made them for 8bit slots in a 286?

Not really sure. Just guesses.
 
One of the switches is related to 8-bit autosense. (of course none of the switches seem to make it work)
 
It's alive!

While looking around for a BIOS for a Western Digital WD1002A-WX1 MFM controller (that was missing the chip), my google-ing led me here

While scrolling around to find the WD1002A I noticed a couple BIOS images for these 8-bit PVGA1A cards. With pictures of the cards. And one looks just like mine, nearly all the numbers on the main chip are the same. I put that in an EPROM and the card now works in the XT 5160.

I used this ROM Image Western Digital - FCC of DBM5UEPS2V00001 - 003056-002
 
Although I am getting two long beeps before the video lights up and the POST RAM test starts.
 
jafir said:
Are your motherboard switches set correctly for EGA/VGA? On my 1986 XT, VGA will work fine without the switches set correctly, but you get the beeps for no video, even though the ROM gets initialized.

Click to expand...
I don't get those beeps for the 16-bit Cirrus card I've been using.
(or for this card with its original BIOS)
 
There are XT boards without any graphics controls. In my, I can pop in and out VGA, CGA, EGA card and system works automatically.
The BIOS expects CGA system mapping to initialize 80x25 mode. Prior to that, BIOS will also run a VGA ROM if present.

Pro is that you don't have to jump anything, con is that you have fixed 80x25 at boot, but that's a no-issue for me.
 
wrljet said:
Although I am getting two long beeps before the video lights up and the POST RAM test starts.
Click to expand...

Do you have an ISA POST diagnostic card at disposal?

jafir said:
Are your motherboard switches set correctly for EGA/VGA? On my 1986 XT, VGA will work fine without the switches set correctly, but you get the beeps for no video, even though the ROM gets initialized.

https://minuszerodegrees.net/5160/misc/5160_motherboard_switch_settings.htm
Click to expand...

If beeps are coming before picture, BIOS might check if it can write to ports and addresses jumped, and it can't before VGA ROM sets them up. But if it doesn't halt on that fails, everything will work.
I could be wrong - didn't disassemble the 5160 BIOS to check.
 
Yes, I do have POST cards, but as far as I know, XT 5160 doesn't issue those checkpoints.

Do VGA BIOSes do that?
 
wrljet said:
Although I am getting two long beeps before the video lights up and the POST RAM test starts.
Click to expand...
wrljet said:
Yes, I do have POST cards, but as far as I know, XT 5160 doesn't issue those checkpoints.
Click to expand...
Assumption: Your IBM XT (IBM 5160) motherboard's BIOS ROM's were no swapped out for third-party ones.

According to my reading of the BIOS source listings for the IBM 5160 motherboard, that BIOS does not issue two long beeps. If I had seen '2 long beeps' in the source code, I would have listed 'two long beeps' at [here].

wrljet said:
Do VGA BIOSes do that?
Click to expand...
The BIOS author can do pretty much what they want to.

For example, we know that the BIOS on an IBM EGA card will issue {1 long beep then 3 short beeps} if the card's BIOS discovers some cases of faulty video RAM.

Rhetorical: Could it be that the two long beeps is your VGA card informing you that it discovered a problem during its self-test? Does the card do that when it is in a different computer?
 
modem7 said:
Assumption: Your IBM XT (IBM 5160) motherboard's BIOS ROM's were no swapped out for third-party ones.
Click to expand...

Nope, original BIOS ROMs.

modem7 said:
According to my reading of the BIOS source listings for the IBM 5160 motherboard, that BIOS does not issue two long beeps. If I had seen '2 long beeps' in the source code, I would have listed 'two long beeps' at [here].
Click to expand...

I referred to that information as soon as I heard the beeps;

modem7 said:
The BIOS author can do pretty much what they want to.

For example, we know that the BIOS on an IBM EGA card will issue {1 long beep then 3 short beeps} if the card's BIOS discovers some cases of faulty video RAM.

Rhetorical: Could it be that the two long beeps is your VGA card informing you that it discovered a problem during its self-test? Does the card do that when it is in a different computer?
Click to expand...

There were no beeps from the card, (in the 5160 where it didn't display anything, nor in the 286 where it worked), before I replaced the BIOS ROM.

I haven't tried it in the 286 since I put in the different BIOS. But I'll do that now that you've mentioned it.

Bill
 
OK, I put this 8-bit WD PVGA1A (non -JK) card in the (10 MHz) 286. It works, no beeps, with both the original BIOS ROM and the one I tried to see if it would work in the XT (Western Digital - FCC of DBM5UEPS2V00001 - 003056-002).

But... with that VGA card in the system the XT-CF-Lite is flaky. Sometimes doesn't display the correct ID string for the CF card.
With other VGA cards, I've never seen that symptom before.

Bill
 
wrljet said:
But... with that VGA card in the system the XT-CF-Lite is flaky. Sometimes doesn't display the correct ID string for the CF card.
With other VGA cards, I've never seen that symptom before.
Click to expand...
jafir said:
What address is the XT-IDE set for? There are some VGA cards that might conflict with C800, according to this: https://minuszerodegrees.net/xtide/XT-IDE - Basics.htm
Click to expand...
Background: At the high level, the XT-CF-Lite hardware looks like [here].
To me, the symptoms sound more like a partial I/O conflict. So maybe also try altering the XT-CF-Lite's I/O port range.
 
XT-CF-Lite is set for D0000 and 340h.

The VGA ROM is at C0000 (and doesn't extend beyond and affect the MFM disk controller at C8000 when I checked it on the XT 5160).

There is a Combo I/O board in the 286 which is working with the XT-CF-Lite present, and it will boot the IDE disk from that.
 
wrljet said:
The VGA ROM is at C0000 (and doesn't extend beyond and affect the MFM disk controller at C8000 when I checked it on the XT 5160).
Click to expand...
I think Jafir mentioned that in case your XT-CF-Lite had been configured to start its ROM at C8000.

wrljet said:
XT-CF-Lite is set for D0000 and 340h.
Click to expand...
340 is uncommon for an XT-IDE/XT-CF card. The vast majority of those cards default to 300. Perhaps try 300.

In case you are unaware, such a change needs to happen in two locations:
- Switches/jumpers (as applicable) on the card; and
- XUB configuration (so that the XUB knows which I/O ports to use in order to communicate with the card).
 
The XT-IDE and XT-CF-Lite both work fine in the XT 5160 (and everything else I've tried them in) at D0000.

I've never used 240. It's 340. Which I have set to it so it doesn't conflict with 300 or 320.
320 is the MFM controller, for example, in the 5160.

And yes, I am aware of the config process for these.

Bill
 
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