New retro rig upgrade (PCI to ISA enclosure)

C

cyclone3d

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Messages
16,288
Sooo, I was looking up stuff on Ebay and found a PCIe to PCI card... which I wasn't reall interested in.

But it reminded me that I was still wanting a PCI to ISA card adapter.

Low and behold, I found a setup that can add 7 ISA cards by using a PCI card in the computer.. then it has a cable that goes to an enclosure which uses another card that plugs into an ISA backplane which will give me 7 ISA slots.

This thing cost almost $1200 new when it was being made.

I got it for $66 shipped. :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.interface.co.jp/catalog/prdc.asp%3Fname%3Dpci-isu07fj&prev=search

After I test it on my retro machine to make sure it will work for what I want it for, I will probably end up swapping the motherboard out for a faster one that uses DDR instead of SDRAM.. since I already have a few of those.
 
Wow, I had no idea such a thing existed. I could use a bunch of my old network cards again (and my sound cards with joystick ports!)
 
I am still wondering what I would do with ISA ports. I feel like this thread is punking me
 
toast0 said:
Wow, I had no idea such a thing existed. I could use a bunch of my old network cards again (and my sound cards with joystick ports!)
Click to expand...

Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold! :-D

old network cards.. haha 3COM 3C905B, but no... I found a PCI GB card that has drivers for Win98.

And my current board only has a single ISA slot. Not sure at this point what else I would use it for as my Roland devices are all external.

I had no idea something like this existed either. The only things I had come by before were some single slot adapters that were super expensive and meant for working on designs to convert old ISA cards to PCI.

zaniix said:
I am still wondering what I would do with ISA ports. I feel like this thread is punking me
Click to expand...

Old ISA sound cards, maybe a Gravis gameport card, Roland stuff, CNC controller card?
 
I'll post some pics of this thing in action once it gets here.

Also going to be moving to an Epox 8KHA+ motherboard provided it works.

And i also found instructions on how to convert an AGP slot / video card (Voodoo 5-5500) to work in an 8x slot so I may actually move up to an even faster setup to run it on at some point.

And if I am really ambitious and have the time I could always build an AGP slot switcher (so I can have 2 AGP slots - only one would work at a time and switching would require a shutdown).

That way I could have the V5-5500 and and something else like maybe a HD3850.

It would probably end up running on a Socket 939 setup or maybe a LGA 775 C2D setup if I could find a cheap one with AGP on it.

Am I obsessed? :D
 
So it is here.

In order to download the English manual, I had to use the serial number for verification.

It says it doesn't support Plug & Play cards, but the manual doesn't mention anything about DOS either.

The drivers basically have to be loaded before you can load the drivers for your devices... so I think I can make it work in DOS for the Awe64 since I can load the drivers in whatever order I want.

I also have a win98 compatible S939 board with AGP on the way and if I can make an adapter so I can run my V5 on it, then I will use it as my retro board. If not I will probably end up with a DOS computer and a Win98 computer.
 
The problem with pci to isa bridges is that they only work with programmed i/o. The last intel chipset that had isa dma lines was the 865 for Pentium 4 s478.

I doubt any card that requires dma will be fully functional. The synth on your awe64 might work, but the sb16 digital audio won't.
 
Dr.Nut said:
The problem with pci to isa bridges is that they only work with programmed i/o. The last intel chipset that had isa dma lines was the 865 for Pentium 4 s478.

I doubt any card that requires dma will be fully functional. The synth on your awe64 might work, but the sb16 digital audio won't.
Click to expand...

Ah, ok. Well that is what testing is for. I have never played with one of these so I will post results.

I will be initially testing it with my current setup which is using an Abit KT7A motherboard. It already has a single ISA slot, so if it doesn't work fully in the PCI-ISA bridge, then it definitely will not work in a board that doesn't have an ISA slot.

This bridge setup, according to the software version document, was first released in 1999.

And the English documentation seems to be a bit sparse.... and the newest version / date of the English documentation is a few versions behind the Japanese documentation.
 
Well thats certainly a blast from the past. I don't even have any devices left in my closet I could make use of with this. Kind of saddening actually lol
 
Well..... After messing around with this for a while, it looks like it is not going to work at all with the AWE64.

It may work with non-PnP cards, but I don't have any of those. Anybody want to donate in the name of science?
 
Dude, I've told you before, just use an AudioPCI.

It has perfect support for MT-32 plus working SB Pro support in a PCI card. The usual gameport on the back.

I really don't understand the infatuation with the Awe64. You're going to far too much trouble for it.

Every other device you mentioned for your build is PCI or AGP.
 
defaultluser said:
Dude, I've told you before, just use an AudioPCI.

It has perfect support for MT-32 plus working SB Pro support in a PCI card. The usual gameport on the back.

I really don't understand the infatuation with the Awe64. You're going to far too much trouble for it.

Every other device you mentioned for your build is PCI or AGP.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I am probably going to just end up selling the Awe64.. or maybe I will hold onto it for a different build... hrmmm.

I mainly wanted it for the better sound clarity than other ISA cards as well as the AWE32 wavetable support.. but that is going to be moot I guess.

Have my Audigy 2 working in DOS. So I can have SB16 support as well.

Also have my old Philips PSC706 (Acoustic Edge) which has DOS drivers and looks like it has about a 6MB wavetable that loads on initialization. Has SBPro support, etc.

I think those 2 and my Roland devices which I will hook up via a Parallel port MIDI controller should cover just about everything provided I can get them all working in the same system.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top