Identifying a Mystery ISA Card

[wrcooke at wrcooke.net]

> On 10/15/2020 6:55 PM Richard Cini via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> Well, it looks like one of those memory/multi-IO/clock boards like the AST RAMPACK+. I would take a look at this site (which you might already know):
> 
> https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/memory-cards/index.html
> 
> When I was looking for jumpers, etc., for both the AboveBoard AT and BOCARAM I have, I started here. Maybe if you browse the links, something will pop-up. I know that these boards often have special drivers for expanded memory; extended memory should just "show up". I would hope that the other ports/devices (clock, parallel, serial and game) are at standard PC addresses.
> 
> 
> Rich
> 
> On 10/15/20, 6:59 PM, "cctalk on behalf of Sean Ellis via cctalk" <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org on behalf of cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> 
> Hey all,
> 
> I got this (currently exploded) mystery RAM, RTC, and I/O board out of
> a dead Sanyo luggable the other night, and once I replace the burned
> up tantalums I'd like to put it in my 5150 so I can get a full 640k of
> RAM.
> 

In the mid 80s I was the service department of a pretty busy mom and pop computer store. I installed a LOT of boards like that as well as many others. They were mostly generic and would come with all sorts of brand names. What I found was that if two boards from different suppliers and different brand names looked identical, they most likely were. I would often see the exact same board sold in various ways, from generic no-name to well known brand names with maybe 3 to 1 price variation, but the boards were exactly the same. So, having said that, if you find one that looks identical, it probably is. But as someone (Fred?) mentioned, they are pretty generic as far as memory and printer/com ports go. Typically the only difference was the clock since that was not "standard" on the PC and PC/XT. There were quite a few device drivers for the clocks. Sometimes, but not always, a driver for one board that used the same chip would work on another if they were located at the same I/O address.
  I would look for any board that looks identical, even "brand names", in search of clock info and drivers.

HTH,
Will