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RTC for IBM 5160

robbo007

Experienced Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2012
Messages
287
Location
Iberian Peninsula
Hi guys,
Are there any modern RTC that can be used with an IBM 5160? I'm wanting to install one but the prices on Ebay are stating to seem quiet crazy. I just need the RTC don't really need an all-in-one card.

Thanks,
Rob
 
eBay prices have been crazy for a few years now :p

Not aware of any new project cards that included an RTC, but if you have a network card you can use mTCP to automatically set the time.

Most ISA cards with an RTC will be some kind of multi-I/O card, although they may allow you to disable extra stuff on the card.

I know they did make some cards with just RTC, but they were fairly uncommon. Was looking for one a while back to add to a machine that already had built-in serial and parallel. Eventually gave up and just decided to party like it 1-1-1980! :)

Multi-I/O cards come up quite a bit. Some sellers always want way to much, but one might eventually come up that is not too expensive.
 
@Malc @someguy. Hi mate, yeah partying like 1980 is good but I'm a bit of a perfectionist and need my date and time haha.. I have pending an installation for a NIC but think Modem7s solution looks good. No slot needed :) Thanks ...
 
Someone should consider churning out an XT-IDE card that includes a DS1215 socket connected to the EEPROM and battery clip. Given the increasing rarity of other options that'd be an effective method of solving the RTC problem without consuming a slot or requiring a separate piggyback in a ROM socket on the motherboard.
 
I use this one with very good results:

https://www.tindie.com/products/spark2k06/rtc-isa-8-bits-v2-very-low-profile-spld/

I have written an utility in Turbo Pascal (4.0 or higher) to configure the card. Here it is with the source code for those interested:

View attachment rtc.zip

I/O ports are defined as constants in the declaration section of the program. There is very little error checking but I have been using it successfully for some time. Feel free to use/improve it as you like.

NOTE: I've rewritten the program in C I'll upload it soon.
 
As promised, here is the C version of the above RTC program:

View attachment rtc_c.zip

to see the stored date and time run it without parameters (it will check first battery status), RTC G to Get time and date from RTC into DOS system clock and RTC S to Set time and date into RTC from DOS system clock.

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for the info. Does this card work in slot 8? Have you had problems with other devices using the same IO or having no spare IO ports?
 
About slot 8 I can not tell you because I have only used it on a Sergey's Micro8088. About the I / O ports, this is configured through the IC SPLD that it has into a socket. This can be configured with a programmer like the TL866II Plus, however next to order I leave it configured in the desired port (240h base port for example).
 
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