Faster 8088 BBoard
20 messages in this thread
Steven,
I have the 8088 BridgeBoard and am in need of more speed (who isn't). I
noticed that you were trying to compile a list of Bridgeboard compatible
products. I have seen various messages mentioning the Sota 386si which is
OK unless you need Amouse or Atime. An Orchid 286 board is mentioned but I
don't know which one or how completely compatible it is. The Tallgrass 286
board is also mentioned. It is out of production but a few are still
around. Sota also makes a 286 board but even Sota did not know if it was
more or less compatible than their 386si board. Any guidance would be
appreciated. A 10-12 mHz 286 board should supply the performance boost I
need. Thanks in advance.
….Mark Sterling
Mark,
One accellerator card that will NOT work is Intel's Inboard 386/PC. I have
had to go out and buy a (yech!) PC clone since I have to have min. 1MB RAM
for my business database applications, and the info I've seen says that
while the SOTA 386i goes fast with the 8088BB, you can't use the extra
memory.
Good luck!
Kathy
Katherine,
Yep, I have heard the Inboard does not work. It is expensive too! I
think you can still use a regular memory board with the Sota 386i instaed
of the daughterboard.
….Mark
Yes you can use regular memory if you have a SOTA 386si installed. I've
just installed an AST Rampage PC into mine with one meg and it works fine.
BEN Leigh's Computer's
Hey Ben, anything new on the 16i front?
Ron
Hey Ron, yes, it's gone back, no joy in mudville buddy, instead i picked up
a RAMPAGE and Floppy I/O plus.
BEN Leigh's Computer's
But what about memory mapping? The XT has that 640K ceiling, remember?
That's what I was interested in getting around. The Inboard is supposed to
do that.
The whole point is moot to me now — my new (used) XT should arrive today,
which I will plug the Inboard into, and I'll just use the BB for minor
stuff. It's too bad — the solution of 3 machines in one is so elegant!
Kathy
Mark,
An addendum, after reading other msgs in this thread — I already had an
add-on memory board for 640K — just a bottom-of-the-line, $22 board with
128K on it. Worked great. But, I need at least 1MB, which the ots XT
won't look at.
Kathy
Kathy,
Why not? I've got an XT BB and it's got 1 Meg of RAM attached and
working just fine with it (and I can add more if I wish). Of course,
anything above 640k has to be EMS memory…just like any other MS-DOS
machine (XT or otherwise).
Don
Don,
Well, darn!! I thought I read on here that none of the accelerator boards
could help the XT-BB read above 640K! Too bad, since I've already
committed to buy another machine. I'll need it eventually, anyway.
Just what is the story on making XT read EMS RAM? Special s/w? What about
the famous 640K "ceiling" in MS-DOS?
Kathy
Katherine,
To make an XT BB read EMS RAM, you simply install it…at least
that's all I did.
You still have the 640k limit under MS-DOS…that's true of an XT
or an AT using MS-DOS…but what EMS RAM does is allow programs that are
designed to work with EMS RAM access that RAM as a "device" rather than as
memory….however the effect is the same.
Don
Don,
Thanks for the clarification. PCs are so messed up, it's hard for a simple
little ol' Amiga user to comprehend all the ins and outs 😉
Kathy
Katherine, I came in late on this one; what are you trying to do?
Ron
Ron,
Sorry to be so late answering. What I was trying to do was put an
accelerator card (386) on my XT bridgeboard. I've since given up and
ordered an XT to do what I need to do (kind of a sidecar to my "main
machine" — Amiga, of course).
Kathy
Sounds like a waste of money and space to me, but I don't know your
situation. For me, other then not having Amouse available and being
limited to cga, the bb, using the SOTA accellerator, works very nicely. Of
course, I don't have space for a second computer.
Ron
Ron,
Well, it is rather wasteful, but I really need PC ability for my database
consulting. Also, since I'm getting set to do hypermedia development on
the PC, and that will require some hardware extensions, it's better to do
it with a closer-to-IBM (in terms of H/W) clone than the BB. Besides, I'm
running out of slots in my 2000!
Katy
<showing up late> sheesh, it is most definitely a pity the Inboard won't
work w/BridgeBoards, since it is the only one that is a true DX (full
32-bit data path, 4 Terabyte virtual memory) as opposed to SX cards like
SOTA's model.
As to price, I almost purchased the SOTA card since it would piggyback
my disk drive card, but where I'm at, it's much more expensive (and didn't
even come w/any memory) than the Inboard. This is only logical, since
Intel is the supplier of those chipsets. One "expensive" feature about the
Inboard is the memory expansion: it's proprietary, and costs about
$300/meg. For the price of an Inboard and 4 extra megabytes of memory, you
can now purchase an entire 25 Mhz equivalent 386, and use the dirt-cheap
SIP/SIMMS. From what I've seen, the Inboard's going to be a dumping ground
for their slow chips, and eventually most users will just buy another 386,
the mistake I made.
Take care and thank you for your time,
Peter
Peter,
Yep, I would just buy a whole 386 machine before getting an inboard and
Intel's expensive ram card. Fortunately I don't need that much speed and a
10-12 mHz 286 card will give me the necessary speed increase. I would
still buy a separate machine except that there is only room for one machine
on my desk and I LIKE my Amiga but need a clone too.
…Mark