David Cook
Well-known member
I just acquired a Micro Conversions 1724PD LC PDS Video Card hidden within a machine listed for 'parts'.
The PCB is labeled X56SC01B © Memory Plus 1994 USA. The other side has a sticker that reads M10646.


Running TattleTech and switching to the Nubus/PDS Slots tab revealed the actual product model number and vendor.

The Waybackmachine captured the company website starting in 1997. The documentation indicates that the card supports resolutions up to 1280x1024 and 24-bit mode up to 832x624. Woo hoo!
Even better, the card supports all computers with an LC III PDS slot. So, everything from the LC III up to the 6300, including LC 475 and Quadra 630. Given this is the first PDS video card I've run across, I feel very lucky.
The website includes a driver labeled pds.hqx. The driver is not necessary to run the card, per se. Regardless, StuffIt Expander (and everything similar) throws a -43 error when attempting to decompress the driver. Fortunately, BinHex 4.0 is 'dumb' enough to reveal the cause. The decompressed filename has a slash in it. Although not a Mac convention, clearly StuffIt tried to use the first part of the name as a folder path.

I am attaching a restuffed archive "Micro Conversions 1724PD.sit" with the filename slash replaced by a space.
The control panel (HQD PDS Accelerator v1.1) recognizes the card and the internal init launches at startup. However, it makes a beep at startup, which was not a good sign.

Although the card works, the performance is not great. It is about the same speed as IIci built-in video. I tried two machines (Performa 6200 and Quadra 630) and two operating systems (7.5.5 and 8.1). I figured perhaps the LC PDS slot was the bottleneck.
However, the results weren't different with the driver installed and acceleration selected. Remember that beep at startup? That must indicate a problem. I set a break on SysBeep in Macsbug (command-power-button after Debugger Installed is displayed. Type ATB SysBeep <return> G <return>). It showed the section of code which is disassembled below in ResEdit.

Fortunately, the developer has left routine names in the code. So, it looks like the init is not able to find the card in memory at startup. I have not read the code carefully yet, to determine if I can patch it.
My request to the community is if you have either a different driver/control panel version, some sort of EPROM updater, ROM image, or maybe a full software installer, would you kindly upload on this thread?
Frankly, if you have this card and can try the attached driver to see if it works for you, it would still be of help.
Thank you,
David
The PCB is labeled X56SC01B © Memory Plus 1994 USA. The other side has a sticker that reads M10646.


Running TattleTech and switching to the Nubus/PDS Slots tab revealed the actual product model number and vendor.

The Waybackmachine captured the company website starting in 1997. The documentation indicates that the card supports resolutions up to 1280x1024 and 24-bit mode up to 832x624. Woo hoo!
Even better, the card supports all computers with an LC III PDS slot. So, everything from the LC III up to the 6300, including LC 475 and Quadra 630. Given this is the first PDS video card I've run across, I feel very lucky.
The website includes a driver labeled pds.hqx. The driver is not necessary to run the card, per se. Regardless, StuffIt Expander (and everything similar) throws a -43 error when attempting to decompress the driver. Fortunately, BinHex 4.0 is 'dumb' enough to reveal the cause. The decompressed filename has a slash in it. Although not a Mac convention, clearly StuffIt tried to use the first part of the name as a folder path.

I am attaching a restuffed archive "Micro Conversions 1724PD.sit" with the filename slash replaced by a space.
The control panel (HQD PDS Accelerator v1.1) recognizes the card and the internal init launches at startup. However, it makes a beep at startup, which was not a good sign.

Although the card works, the performance is not great. It is about the same speed as IIci built-in video. I tried two machines (Performa 6200 and Quadra 630) and two operating systems (7.5.5 and 8.1). I figured perhaps the LC PDS slot was the bottleneck.

However, the results weren't different with the driver installed and acceleration selected. Remember that beep at startup? That must indicate a problem. I set a break on SysBeep in Macsbug (command-power-button after Debugger Installed is displayed. Type ATB SysBeep <return> G <return>). It showed the section of code which is disassembled below in ResEdit.

Fortunately, the developer has left routine names in the code. So, it looks like the init is not able to find the card in memory at startup. I have not read the code carefully yet, to determine if I can patch it.
My request to the community is if you have either a different driver/control panel version, some sort of EPROM updater, ROM image, or maybe a full software installer, would you kindly upload on this thread?
Frankly, if you have this card and can try the attached driver to see if it works for you, it would still be of help.
Thank you,
David