USB/Firewire cards (or chipsets) that work in the TAM

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

< swoons, falls in love with the most ludicrous hack he's ever laid eyes upon! >

I'm surprised Apple contracted to produce 12,000 of those monstrosities, that's a low, low, low production value design, hand crafted P.O.S. (think Pininfarina, but a kit car knockoff mounted on a Corvair chassis) and just how much did it cost? It's no wonder they omitted the exploded diagram from the ServiceSource. :

<  takes another look at the case, tiny LCD an wholly underscale KBD, shudders, recovers from that ridiculous first response.  >

< almost apologizes for having some similar thoughts about the CC and commenting in a post about the TAM >

I see why the TAM crowd loves their little babies, they've got all the appeal and utility of British sports cars.

 

[omidimo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkfXsMZZCLM

This silly old promo video (which I am sure everyone has seen) perfectly captures the absurdity of synergyizing the event horizon of design in a manner that bridges the future to late nineties. Apple was so lost a this time, so you have to give them props for even creating something unique when they were so busy churning out design lemons like the 4400. 

The car analogy is right on, but I would compare it more so to the Italian sports cars of yore as they are so prone to never working right. *cough* Maserati *cough*

Now having said all that, I think we should return back to core theme of this thread, since we do not need to make this another TAM : WIN or FAIL, now DISCUSS thread. I think based on looking at working combos, the magic seems to be in early Lucent, Opti, NEC USB chipsets and HiNT bridges. 

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Sorry, didn't mean to go so far OT. The TAM's fine, at least it's a celebration of the rainbow LOGO!

<  eyeballs logo on glacis of Oddball's equally impractical M4.  >

 

[EvilCapitalist]

I think your comparison of the TAM to a British sports car is pretty bang on there, governor.  Both are underpowered and fragile as all get out but also have their defenders who know that there's just something special about them.  At least we don't have to worry about British electronics!

Back to the topic at hand though.  I think power draw is playing a pretty large part as well.  That Belkin card I tested was fully recognized as a USB card but the USB ports never detected anything plugged in to them.  The Firewire portion worked, though it was just recognized as a PCI device (System Profiler couldn't figure out what it was) and any FW devices plugged in would work, but wouldn't show under System Profiler.  Then there are all the other cards I tried that had a HiNT bridge coupled with NEC and TI chipsets.

I've got three more cards on the way.  Two of them should have arrived already but both sellers somehow "forgot" to ship them until a week and a half after purchase.

 

[omidimo]

I wonder if this G3 MT has the Sonnet in it, the machine looks old enough and the metal looks as old. 

 

[EvilCapitalist]

I'll have to add that to my watch list.  Certainly wouldn't be the first time I bought an entire machine just to get an upgrade card :wacko:

 

[omidimo]

The protruding FireWire ports it marches the early Sonnets, so it might be worth having another donor Mac if that does land you the coveted original. 

 

[EvilCapitalist]

The three other cards I ordered all show "delivered" so perhaps I'll luck out and one of them will work, since that tower has certainly jumped up in the past day or so.

 

[EvilCapitalist]

I wonder if this G3 MT has the Sonnet in it, the machine looks old enough and the metal looks as old. 

Well, that tower went for a bit more than I was expecting.  If anyone here purchased it and it turns out to have the original Sonnet Tango inside, I'd happily trade you that for a Tango 2.0 (which will work in that machine) as well as some extra "sweetening of the pot" if necessary.

 

[omidimo]

That it did, I wonder if someone else had the same observation. At least the USB 1 cards are not expensive. 

 

[EvieSigma]

Great find, that will come in handy.

 

[EvilCapitalist]

I've had these cards sitting around for a bit and finally finished testing all of them, so I'll pick up where I left off:

Card 9 - Ratoc Rex PCIFU1 Rev 2:

This is a USB 1.1/Firewire 400 and the individual chipsets work in single function cards but again, the card just showed up as pci-bridge.

USB Chipset - OPTi FireLink 82C861

Firewire Chipset - NEC D72870AGM

PCI Bridge - HiNT HB1



Card 10 - Unknown brand HFU-9402C:

Again, the chipsets on their own function fine in single function cards, but not here.  Just shows up as pci-bridge.

USB Chipset - OPTi FireLink 82C861

Firewire Chipset - Agere FW323-05

PCI Bridge - Texas Instruments PCI2250PCM



Card 11 - Unknown brand PTI-213C:

Same as the other two, the chipsets function fine in single function cards, but still no dice here.  Just another pci-bridge.

USB Chipset - NEC D720100AGM

Firewire Chipset - NEC D72872GC

PCI Bridge - HiNT HB1



Card 12 - Marketed as a Sun Blade 1500/2500 combo card:

Clearly I'm running out of options to try.  This tended to freeze up the machine on boot or give me a bomb cursor.  The few times I did manage to boot successfully I ended up with, you guessed it, pci-bridge.

USB Chipset - NEC D72101GJ

Firewire Chipset - Texas Instruments TSB43AB23

PCI Bridge - Texas Instruments PCI2250PCM



Card 13 - Adaptec AUA-3020A:

Another card that makes me think power draw is part of the problem.  There's no bridge chip to cause issues and both chipsets were recognized.  System Profiler showed two USB cards and one generic device, which turned out to be the Firewire side.  Firewire worked with no problem, though connected devices didn't show up under System Profiler.  USB devices got power but were never recognized by the machine.

USB Chipset - NEC D720101GJ

Firewire Chipset - Texas Instruments TSB43AB23

PCI Bridge - None



So, 13 cards in and I'm still nowhere.  It's rather frustrating when the chipsets work perfectly fine in single function cards (I have a 3 port Firewire card that uses the Agere chipset and a 3 port (2 ext/1 int) USB card that uses the NEC chipset) but not in a multi function card.  I really think the power draw is playing a part since I seem to remember the manual stating that the max the slot could handle is 15 watts and a bunch of these cards, and the ones I tested earlier, have auxiliary power connectors.  At this point though the only cards left to try have VIA chipsets and I've heard nothing good about them as far as compatibility with older Macs goes.

Again, if anyone has an original Tango, I would love to purchase it from you.

 

[omidimo]

This is some fine work sir, you should be commended for your tenacity.

If I spot a Tango 1 in the wild, I will make sure you hear of it.

 

[EvieSigma]

If you ever decide to get rid of some of those cards I'd be interested...

 

[Compgeke]

Just curious, anyone know if a card with a Dec bridge was made? The Supermac, Motorola and Mactel clones all used those on their motherboards, may provide better results.

 

[trag]

The Intel bridge is basically the DEC bridge.  Intel ended up with DEC's division that made those PCI-PCI bridges, so the Intel bridges were the same or the direct descendant.

 

[EvilCapitalist]

This is some fine work sir, you should be commended for your tenacity.

<mr claptastic>

If I spot a Tango 1 in the wild, I will make sure you hear of it.

Thanks, I just wish I found one that worked :simasimac: (amusingly enough, I've got that reaction GIF stashed someplace as well)

Definitely appreciate any help I can get in my search for the elusive Tango.

If you ever decide to get rid of some of those cards I'd be interested...

Which ones were you interested in?  They're just sitting in their anti-static bags collecting dust.

 

[EvieSigma]

Any of them that support OS 8 and 9, really. I want to add USB to any PCI Mac I get for convenience.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Have you tested a Sonnet TempoTrio in anything gazelle?

 

[EvilCapitalist]

No, can't say that I have.  As I understand those cards are very rare, more so than the original Tangos, and I've never owned one or seen one come up for sale (that I remember).