Figured I'd show off a couple recent acquisitions

[kishy]

Well, I finally own an NEC V20

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/5931/v20boardtop.jpg
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/3339/v20boardbottom.jpg

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/6176/8088boardtop.jpg
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7193/8088boardbottom.jpg
(the text that is mostly covered by an ISA slot says "NO COPYING PERMITTED")


Is the brown board a real IBM XT mobo? The wire on the back and the sticker at the bottom just scream IBM to me. Plus, it boots to BASIC in ROM. The AMD CPU threw me off though. Perhaps replaced at some point? It has what looks like an FRU number on it and the BIOS chips are IBM, though a highly compatible clone could of course have those swapped on.

Both boards are stocked full of 640K of RAM, compared to my previous (and apparently only intermittently functional) XT clone board which has 512K. I actually got these as RAM donors but I'm seeing more potential functionality with them since they POST very consistently, and consistent is good. The only problem - the old board I've had forever has an integrated floppy controller. Though, it doesn't work with high density drives, so I'm screwed even when I have access to it.

I got them for $5 a piece, which is more than I'd like to pay but I recognize it's a steal compared to, say, ebay (just checked and they're all 90+ CAD on there)

 

[Chuck(G)]

IBM stuffed AMD 8088s into their boards as a matter of course when the Intel parts were scarce. You will also sometimes see AMD 8237's and 8254's in "true blue" boards.

They used what they could get. AMD was an Intel-licensed second source for these so they were as good as the real thing with an "I" on them.

Later on, this licensing would come back to bite Intel.

 

[kishy]

IBM stuffed AMD 8088s into their boards as a matter of course when the Intel parts were scarce. You will also sometimes see AMD 8237's and 8254's in "true blue" boards.

They used what they could get. AMD was an Intel-licensed second source for these so they were as good as the real thing with an "I" on them.

Later on, this licensing would come back to bite Intel.

Ooh, nifty piece of info there, thanks

I Googled the number I suspected to be an FRU and it was - this is a true IBM XT motherboard. YAY! THAT MEANS EASY DIP SETTINGS LOL!

The V20 board is proving more difficult to identify, but it looks like the majority of the XT clone boards which had a single DIP bank used the same settings (I'm browsing through the various 8088/XT boards in Total Hardware 99 and seeing common patterns). It's only the ones with added functions that have major differences.

 

[southbird]

So, is the "NO COPYING PERMITTED" message lame way for IBM to be all "plz dont copy r design kthx "

 

[kishy]

So, is the "NO COPYING PERMITTED" message lame way for IBM to be all "plz dont copy r design kthx "

That would appear to be the case lol. I found it kind of funny.

Apparently it didn't work; the stuff never would have become industry standard if nobody had copied it.