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WTT: Sergey ISA SVGA for Comparable ISA Video Adapter

SkydivinGirl

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2012
Messages
507
Location
Raleigh, NC, USA
Hey everyone,

I finally managed to get myself a nice IBM 5160! I decided to begin upgrading the system today when I ran into an issue with the Sergey ISA SVGA card when installed in the system. I know the card works because I have tested it in my Commodore PC10-III. All the jumpers are correct so I looked to the forum for help, where I found the following thread:

http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?38893-VGA-Card-IBM-XT-5160

It seems that this card, or the Trident chip on the card, is not compatible with my 5160. I've tried both versions of the BIOS on Sergey's site, along with lots of other troubleshooting to try to get it to work but it's a no go.

So, unless any one knows how to fix the problem I'm having, I would like to trade my card for a VGA/SVGA card that will work in the 5160. Please let me know if you can help.

Thanks so much!

Heather

*EDIT* More information on Sergey's ISA SVGA card is at http://www.malinov.com/Home/sergeys-projects/isa-supervga
 
It seems that this card, or the Trident chip on the card, is not compatible with my 5160. I've tried both versions of the BIOS on Sergey's site, along with lots of other troubleshooting to try to get it to work but it's a no go.
An earlier thread on the subject of sergey's VGA card is [here]. The thread is primarily about the card's incompatibility with an IBM PC, but the IBM XT is also discussed.

At post #13, sergy writes, "I was assuming that if the board works with IBM XT and XT clones it will also work with IBM PC", suggesting compatibility with the IBM XT.

But at post #5, like you, mmruzek writes of an inability to get the card going "in an IBM stock XT".

So, unless any one knows how to fix the problem I'm having, ...
You may be aware of the special requirements of slot 8 on the 5160 motherboard. If not, ensure that the card is not in slot 8.

... I would like to trade my card for a VGA/SVGA card that will work in the 5160. Please let me know if you can help.
If you get desperate, I have VGA cards that are known to work in the IBM XT (and IBM PC), but if Stone does not have something, I will be surprised.

*EDIT* More information on Sergey's ISA SVGA card is at http://www.malinov.com/Home/sergeys-projects/isa-supervga
Unless a fix is identified:
1. Maybe sergey should remove the "such as IBM PC, IBM XT" from his web site;
2. I should remove reference to sergey's card at http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/5160/vga/5160_vga.htm
 
Oh I'm glad I saw this... I was going to build myself one of these cards... for my XT :eek:
 
Thanks so much for the additional information and responses. I did not know about the slot 8 requirements so that's very helpful for the future. Unfortunately, I had my SVGA card installed in slot 1, closest to the outside of the case. :(

So, if you have a VGA card then I am definitely interested. :)

Heather
 
Sure will. :)

Today I'm working on installing the cards that I want to use in the 5160. I didn't know about the Slot 8 limitations so I'm one slot short of being able to put in all the cards that I want to. Oh well. I'll figure something out.

Heather
 
Sure will. :)

Today I'm working on installing the cards that I want to use in the 5160. I didn't know about the Slot 8 limitations so I'm one slot short of being able to put in all the cards that I want to. Oh well. I'll figure something out.

Heather

What are the eight cards you want in this machine?

I think Stone asks this question because there is a very good chance that at least one of the cards you want to install will work in slot 8. I've found that some cards that are not specifically designed for slot 8 will work there anyway.
 
I think Stone asks this question because there is a very good chance that at least one of the cards you want to install will work in slot 8. I've found that some cards that are not specifically designed for slot 8 will work there anyway.
That's one possibility and should that not work out the other is replacing two cards with one. Of course another limitation is that anything that goes in slot 8 needs to be a half card as well.
 
Here are the cards that I've installed. The only thing I have not yet installed is a parallel port OR network card. The parallel port would be nice because I could use it for parallel functions or plug in one of the Xircom network adapters. On the other hand, a network card would be fine because I may never use the parallel port for anything other than the network adapter. I have two different parallel port cards as well as two different network cards that I can try.

Here's what I have in each slot so far.

Slot 1 - Octek EVGA-16 VGA Adapter
Slot 2 - SoundBlaster Compatible Card with Game Port
Slot 3 - MIF-IPC-A Clone MIDI Adapter
Slot 4 - Lo-tech 2MB EMS Board
Slot 5 - Lo-tech 1MB RAM Board
Slot 6 - XT-IDE Rev 2 with UART
Slot 7 - Sergey ISA Floppy Disk UART

Everything is working great but I'm going to open another thread to ask some memory addressing questions. I know the 2MB EMS Board probably won't be used much, but I'd still like to keep it. Adding that one extra card would get the system precisely where I want it to be.

Heather
 
Hi Stone!

I ran into that information while looking up the memory map information. I'd like to keep using the 1MB RAM Card because it should allow me to use free 64K blocks of high memory for loading TSRs into high RAM. I have one free 64K block at B0000 and I'm trying to free up another. :)

Thanks,

Heather
 
I did figure out how to use the 2MB EMS board for high memory. Unfortunately, the Lo-Tech 2MB board only has one 64K address block and using it as high memory disables the rest of the EMS. :)

Heather
 
I've seen in other threads on the forum that many cards have two 64K blocks available to access the EMS. With that configuration, you can use one 64K block as high memory then the other 64K block handles all the access to the rest of the pages in the EMS. I didn't know much about the way the card functions before buying it. I'm able to bypass that limitation using the 1MB EMS but I do lose a slot. I have to look at it on the bright side though. I don't have to mod my motherboard to get 640K. :)

Thanks for all the ideas Stone. I'm sure I'll get around the slot 8 limitation somehow. As it is, I have the CF mounted in the front bay so transferring data to the machine is as simple as plugging the card into the card reader on my modern system. Until I figure it out, I'll use the PC10-III as my 'networked' XT. :thumbsup:

Heather
 
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