On 11/22/2014 03:08 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote:
On 11/22/2014 12:50 PM, Jules Richardson wrote:
I've got this ISA card sitting around which was made by Toronto
Microelectronics (TME), but it gives the impression that it may be a
complete SBC in its own right; it has a 386sx for CPU, takes 30 pin
simms, and has various connectors (IDE, floppy, 2x RS232 and parallel
are obvious, then there are another six unlabeled connectors). IC dates
are all around 1993.
I've seen similar Chinese-made NOS ones being offered on eBay. Most of the
connectors should be obvious--including one 10-pin header at the extreme
top left for serial comms. Others should be keyboard, mouse and probably
HDD indicator. A little buzzing out with a continuity checker should
betray the remainder.
Yes, it's got a female DB25 on the edge for parallel, along with a male DE9
for serial - then there's a 10-pin header on the board marked as being for
a second serial port. IDE and floppy headers are also labeled. For whatever
reason the designer didn't label the other six connectors on the PCB, though.
There are a pair of four-pin connectors, and one of those might be speaker
(but there is a buzzer on the PCB). There's a 5 pin connector which could
be keyboard. A 16 pin connector which seems to have various pins tied
together and run via fuses (likely power in or power out, I'll check with a
meter anyway).
There are no obvious video-related ICs, so I'm thinking it probably doesn't
have any such ability, unless it's buried within one of the custom ICs -
but booted from a CF card it would still make a neat little
controller/monitor for something (it was just unusual enough that I felt
the need to save it from the recycler!)
I think I may have a passive ISA backplane somewhere, so maybe I need to
try coupling it with a video board and feeding it power, to at least see if
it gives me a display.
cheers
J.