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IBM Music Feature Card Retail Box

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PeterNY

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Does anyone know whether the IBM Music Feature Card came in a retail box? I have seen some pictures of the actual PCB but not of the retail box or any manuals/software that came with it. :)
 
Cloudschatze said:
Jim Leonard ("Trixter") captured his IMFC box in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygeal6NBRek

I scanned the IMFC manual some time ago, which can be found here:
http://queststudios.com/smf/index.php/topic,2973.0.html
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Awesome! Thank you! I was always wondering. I find Roland did a better job at retail box design than Yamaha.

Interesting to see also that although the card is referred to as IBM Music Feature Card on the PCB it reads: "Music Card" and on the retail box it reads: "IBM PC Music Feature".
 
Follow-up question: does the IMFC have an IBM part #? :eek: The # in the manual is 84X0786 but that could be the manual part number. Performing a query on that # in Google comes up empty. I guess NEP-16T or XB773 is the closest to a part # as seen on the PCB.
 
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Cloudschatze said:
Marketing Part Number - 81X8630
FRU Part Number - 81X8620
Feature Code - 6011

XB773 is a Yamaha part number.
Click to expand...

May I ask where this information was found? I haven't found any number like this on my card, but then I don't have any of the IBM part listings either.

And does this number count for both revisions of the card?
 
per said:
May I ask where this information was found? I haven't found any number like this on my card, but then I don't have any of the IBM part listings either.
Click to expand...

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.ibm.pc.digest/msg/c01c786d719de52c?dmode=source
http://ps-2.kev009.com:8081/eprmhtml/eprmb/1297.htm
http://ps-2.kev009.com:8081/eprmhtml/eprmx/12542.htm

And does this number count for both revisions of the card?
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I imagine so. I don't know that there are official additional "revisions" besides. The main differences I've noticed between cards consist of mask vs. EPROM usage, and small differences in the analog output stages.
 
Cloudschatze said:
I imagine so. I don't know that there are official additional "revisions" besides. The main differences I've noticed between cards consist of mask vs. EPROM usage, and small differences in the analog output stages.
Click to expand...

As of visually, there seems to be at leas two revisions; one early XB773 [C] version with the FCC number on a sticker + EPROM, and a slightly more recent XB773 [D] version with the FCC number as a part of the silk-screen + mask-ROM.

I haven't been able to physically spot any other differences, but as you mention; the amplifier cirquits may well have some minor chanbges. Do you have any details on this?

The ROM on the card I have (XB773 [C]) is labeled XC215 C 0, but I don't exactly remember if this corresponds with the firmware version number as I don't have the ROM dump available on this computer.
 
If I can help, I was the final owner of the IMF forum within IBM. I have worked for IBM for 55 years. I have 7 of the 81x8630IMF cards installed in my vintage PC's. Let me know if I can help you with a question. thx-Jim
 
Hi Jim. I have a few questions, if you don't mind...

The IMFC, unlike Yamaha's FB-01 module, features a "chain" mode, allowing the card to pass additional notes beyond its polyphony limit to the MIDI OUT (to another IMFC, or even an attached FB-01). Was this feature added by request of IBM, or is it something that Yamaha did independently? Any idea if this feature ever made it into an FB-01 ROM revision?

Are you familiar with the problem of trying to run Yamaha's IMFC-intended "Compose" and/or "PlayRec" programs in a system later than an XT (386+)? The KAPI driver used by these two programs attempts to generate and read an IMFC interrupt, but despite the interrupt getting generated, the driver never sees it, and the programs never start as a result. Was this issue ever discussed on the IMF forum, to your knowledge?
 
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Cloudschatze said:
Hi Jim. I have a few questions, if you don't mind...

The IMFC, unlike Yamaha's FB-01 module, features a "chain" mode, allowing the card to pass additional notes beyond its polyphony limit to the MIDI OUT (to another IMFC, or even an attached FB-01). Was this feature added by request of IBM, or is it something that Yamaha did independently? Any idea if this feature ever made it into an FB-01 ROM revision?

Are you familiar with the problem of trying to run Yamaha's IMFC-intended "Compose" and/or "PlayRec" programs in a system later than an XT (386+)? The KAPI driver used by these two programs attempts to generate and read an IMFC interrupt, but despite the interrupt getting generated, the driver never sees it, and the programs never start as a result. Was this issue ever discussed on the IMF forum, to your knowledge?
Click to expand...

The IBM Music Feature Card was an 11" card and the last IBM PC where they could be installed was an early PS/2. I never had access to a PS/2 to try out one of my IMF cards. My personal experience was with 5150, 5155 & 5160's. I said in my post that I had 7 of the cards but I had miscounted - I have 9 of them. Four of my cards are in a pair of
5150's that I am about to sell. These two 5150's were in storage for more than two decades and when I retrieved them they worked perfectly! When my youngest son was 13 years old he preformed a music show where he was the only human in his band, The rest of his band was in the IMF cards! BTW- it took a 3/4 ton van to carry the two of us, the stage, the computers and a bands worth of amps, mixing boards and audio. It was a fun time for both of us. We only used "Compose" (although we could demo some "Playrec" tunes). Thanks for your reply!
 
JimWilliams said:
The IBM Music Feature Card was an 11" card and the last IBM PC where they could be installed was an early PS/2. I never had access to a PS/2 to try out one of my IMF cards. My personal experience was with 5150, 5155 & 5160's. I said in my post that I had 7 of the cards but I had miscounted - I have 9 of them. Four of my cards are in a pair of
5150's that I am about to sell. These two 5150's were in storage for more than two decades and when I retrieved them they worked perfectly! When my youngest son was 13 years old he preformed a music show where he was the only human in his band, The rest of his band was in the IMF cards! BTW- it took a 3/4 ton van to carry the two of us, the stage, the computers and a bands worth of amps, mixing boards and audio. It was a fun time for both of us. We only used "Compose" (although we could demo some "Playrec" tunes). Thanks for your reply! There was hardly anything said in the forum about Yamaha's FB-01. I wasn't even familiar with the MIDI chaining process. Also, I do not recall any mention of the KAPI problem that you described. Sorry for my awkward replies. I am still learning how to use this forum.
Click to expand...
 
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Jim, I have another question: Recently we became aware of -- and, sadly, did not win -- an auction that showed EA's Music Construction Set but with special support for the IBM Music Feature Card. Do you know anything about this version? More importantly, do you have a copy of this software? (If so, I'd like to contact you off-list about preserving the disk's contents.)
 
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