SE/30 Expansion

[beachycove]

Well, that's got me thinking of what I might get up to one cold winter night next year....

 

[beachycove]

And according to this document, 2-18, one of the MacCon cards (I seem to recall that I have one) had a removeable AUI daughter card on the connections board, making it possible to replace it with a video port from a card such as one of these. Those ribbons did come in handy....

Now all I have to do is see for sure if a right-angle adapter can be fashioned by cannibalizing one of my spare IIsi nubus adapters. If so, then it seems that an Asante MacCon + piggy-backed SE/30 PDS video card mounted vertically in an SE/30 should be eminently possible, even for the electronically-challenged.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Well, that's got me thinking of what I might get up to one cold winter night next year....

What's "THAT," bc?

What's so special about the SE/30 Graphic Cards anyway? I know some will drive the internal at GrayScale Values, or do they ALL do that and Dual Head on an external color monitor too?

Wouldn't a newer, better, short-to-middlin length, NuBus Card in a ZFP Sub-Basement Expansion Bay be a better choice?

. . . or maybe a third (monitor) choice? }

I'm kinda new to the SE/30 hackin' thing (and trying to stay way out on the fringes without actually procuring a /30!) and don't want to take much time away for it from my primary hackin' goals.

I'm just gonna ask questions of the knowledgeable participants instead of Googlin' myself, but I might come up with a few of my, normally, slightly skewed suggestions.

 

[Bunsen]

this piccie

MInd telling us exactly what cards you're playing with there? It'll make things a bit easier to follow.

Machine Pin Sockets

Hmm, interesting - and available locally and cheaply (that's +2 compared to EuroDIN adapters). Look as though they could be bent to convenient angles pretty easily too.
But if you attach them to the back of the card, then the pinout is going to be in the wrong order ...

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

But if you attach them to the back of the card, then the pinout is going to be in the wrong order ...

The "flip counter-clockwise to match the Gamba drawings" piccie is just the IIsi Nubus Adapter and some nondescript Thick/ThinNet Card.

If you'll notice, it's to be mounted to the SE/30 slot in a component side up orientation, so that ALL SIGNALS pass through in the proper order!

You'll need to remove the RA EuroDIN Male PDS Connector and solder a straight-up EuroDIN Female Connector to the IIsi Nubus Adapter. Then that'll plug into the Machine Pins soldered to the bottom of the SE/30's PDS.

If you replace the straight up NuBus Connector on the IIsi NuBus Adapter with a RA Connector, the NuBus card will lie flat, but pointing its @$$ END at the front bezel. If done this way, then several SE/30 a/o IIsi cards could be stacked underneath the IIsi NuBus adapter using EXACTLY the same modification processes!

Make full scale cardboard mock-ups of the cards, fake up some keyed EuroDIN connectors (maybe outta foam or corrugated cardboard) and play building blocks!

A scan of the /30 logic board at 100% would be VERY helpful to me if you SE/30 clowns'd like to tilt at NuBus Windmillss in yet another Quixotic Hackin' Quest, otherwise, I' goin' back where I belong.

< attempts to make a graceful exit before either an SE/30 Cult induction ceremony or a friggin' SE/30 Purist lynch mob has a chance to assemble . . . sigh . . . >

 

[beachycove]

The only thing special about the SE/30 PDS video cards is that I happen to have three of them; odds are that one of them must still work. I also have a 20" Radius greyscale monitor that's in beautiful condition, and am inclined to think that it would look good next to an SE/30 running an extended desktop, and with ethernet connectivity. That's the full story.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

The Radius GS TPD looks fantastic sittin' next to an SE, almost was attractive as the Radius FPD (the early ones w/o the tilt-swivel base) does. I've got some old Radius Brochures depicting both configurations, I think I know where they are and I've been meaning to post pics of them.

They were the "to die for" rigs back in the day; when PageMaker upset/revolutionized the entire publishing industry.

< . . . makes mental note to get one of the scanners back online a bit higher on the to-do list . . . or not :-/ . . . >

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Well, I snagged a IIsi in order to try out some of the NuBusNonsense that I've proposed for the SE/30.

No, HDD, no RAM SIMMs, No ROM SIMM, got a startup chime as is, put some RAM in and I get the chime plus a couple of speaker clicks, but no go.

Let me guess . . . I NEED that frickin' ROM SIMM to get this thing to boot . . . :

 

[trag]

Let me guess . . . I NEED that frickin' ROM SIMM to get this thing to boot . . . :

Nope, not given the circumstances.

First, you wouldn't get a startup chime at all if the machine needed a ROM SIMM.

Second, IIsi's without logic board ROMs are very rare. The chances of you ending up with one of the rare ones that didn't have the ROM soldered to the logic board is extremely low.

RAM must be installed in identical groups of four in the IIsi. You may already know that, but just in case...

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I'm baa-aack! }

Now since I got myself that IIsi to play around with:

I've had or sourced oodles of PDS VidCards, MacCon NICs, Machine Pins and several DayStar Universal PowerCache LC III Adapters to act as donors for EuroDIN RA Female PDS Socket & Straight Male PDS Connector transplants all lined up to try the . . .

. . . IIsiSolderSideMultiplePDScardHack™ for real! [] ]'>

Muahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :lol:

Anybody got docs on how to change the MacCon PDS NIC's Virtual Slot address with the two jumpers on the cards? :?:

If I can get at least the Radius Color Pivot II Video Card and a MacCon NIC to play together nicely underneath the IIsi MoBo, that'll leave room for the NuBus Adapter and my ancient Radius Rocket 33 up topside!