Wanted: Radius Precision Color 8-24X ROM 2.0 (or other 2.0 ROM)

[Byrd]

Hi all,

I've a Radius Precision Color 8-24X nubus graphics card with V1.02 ROM, I'm looking for anything V2.0 ROM and above, programmer in hand ...

The card came in a Mac IIci, I've a Daystar Turbo 601 that finally found its home in this Mac, which must run Mac OS 7.5.x, but the 8-24X card needs a ROM update to play nicely.

Thank you!

JB

 

[MJ313]

Hey Byrd,
Someone may pop in with exactly what you want; if not, I have a v2.0 XK ROM that works just fine in my 8-24X (with expected caveat that resolutions max at 1024x768). I have a programmer on order (as I am trying to resuscitate a 24 XP Pro), so it would be a couple of days.
MJ

 

[robin-fo]

I could offer these two.. However, I don‘t have my programmer at hand and I don‘t know if I can read the chips with it..

 

[Bolle]

I've got a Precision Color 8-24X that's been rebranded by Miro and it has a 2.0 ROM.

 

[Byrd]

@MJ313 @robin-fo thank you for your help, seems so far so good with @Bolle ROM, I'll install the RadiusWare utilities next.

The ROM update has completely transformed the card, on a stock IIci switching resolution using the original ROM was slow (with graphical corruption during the process), and the Turbo 601 card wouldn't start up unless I pulled this card, used onboard video, then switched back to this card.

Installing the new ROM I noted the mouse wouldn't work, however did the shuffle of cards as above and noted all back to normal but much snappier with slick resolution changes. Pretty good card for 1991, I lucked out and this is the 24-bit version too.

JB

 

[Phipli]

Oops. Meant to post these ROMs in this thread, not this :

Help for a nubus Radius PrecisionColor Pro 24X ROM/firmware upgrade

Hi friends! I want to upgrade my nubus Radius video card to a newer rom version (now 1.50). I need compatibility with Mac OS 9.1. I remember in the nineties, Radius distributed these kinds of updates... Anybody of you have an application utility that can help me for the upgrade? Thank you all...

68kmla.org

The titles were so similar! I meant to put them in the same place as Bolle's. Ah well.

@Cory5412
Could you possibly tidy up my mess and move my post with the ROMs from the other thread to this one? Don't worry if it is too much faff.

 

[Byrd]

@Phipli thanks for posting, I’ll give these a crack too. My card has been doing well however there is a bit of a process to switch the cards around

 

[Phipli]

@Phipli thanks for posting, I’ll give these a crack too. My card has been doing well however there is a bit of a process to switch the cards around

No problem - I try go add more with time. My dad has some PrecisionColors too. Not sure what ROMs.

 

[theirongiant]

Resurrecting this thread. I bought a Quadra 650 on eBay last month for #Marchintosh and GlobalTalk 2024, and it had a Radius card inside. It's identified as a PrecisionColor 8/24 on the board, and it supports 16 million colors @ 1024x768, but the Radius control panel said it is a "PrecisionColor 24Xk."

Did the previous owner modify the ROM?

 

[Phipli]

Resurrecting this thread. I bought a Quadra 650 on eBay last month for #Marchintosh and GlobalTalk 2024, and it had a Radius card inside. It's identified as a PrecisionColor 8/24 on the board, and it supports 16 million colors @ 1024x768, but the Radius control panel said it is a "PrecisionColor 24Xk."

Did the previous owner modify the ROM?

Can we see a photo?

 

[theirongiant]

Sure, here are several photos. I just noticed that the board says PrecisionColor 8-24X dated 1991, but there is a ROM chip installed on the end marked:

1993 RADIUS INC
PREC CLR 24XK
V1.42 256K
U1200 -0053-04A

 

[theirongiant]

Photos attached...

 

[Phipli]

Photos attached...

If it works that's great. I though someone else had said later ROMs didn't work in the 8-24, perhaps I'd just assumed.

 

[theirongiant]

If it works that's great. I though someone else had said later ROMs didn't work in the 8-24, perhaps I'd just assumed.

It appears to be working without any trouble with a Waveshare monitor designed for a Raspberry Pi, which supports up to 1024x768 but is doing internal scaling to fit the LCD. I have a DB15-VGA dongle designed to emulate Apple monitors.

When I bought the computer the previous owner must have wiped the disk and reinstalled System 7.5 fresh. Thank heaven for Macintosh Garden. I installed RadiusWare and it just ... worked. Changing the monitor setting is very snappy.

I do need to get a real display. My holy grail monitor would be a Sony Trinitron CRT between 17-21", but I would absolutely be fine with a ViewSonic. I doubt I'll find an Apple MultiScan 21" anywhere soon.

 

[MJ313]

I posted the 2.0 ROM for that XK over here:

Help for a nubus Radius PrecisionColor Pro 24X ROM/firmware upgrade

Oh, BTW, I checked the circuit and they're compatible with 512 byte chips. Interesting. Found a guy on eBay selling a pair of UV erasable '512s for a little over a fiver, so ordered some. What about EEPROMs? Aren't there pin-compatible ones of those that might work?

68kmla.org

I *think* some 8-24Xs may have been slightly modified/repurposed by Radius and sold as 24XKs. I am guessing because I can't find any truth to this though other than the differences in the RAMDACs & ROMs. These 8-24X boards have slower 80Mhz RAMDACs but will actually work with a normal 8-24X ROM (and provide the 1152 x 870 higher resolution as opposed to being capped at 1024x768). I'm not sure if it's overclocked, but it seems to work in the limited testing I did with it.

Picture Attached of the 24Xk with 80MHz RAMDAC and 8-24X with 110Mhz

 

[MJ313]

If it works that's great. I though someone else had said later ROMs didn't work in the 8-24, perhaps I'd just assumed.

I just took the posted v2 ROM (from red 7" PC Pro), loaded it to an EPROM and put it in my older 8-24X. It actually booted up and works with acceleration (in a IIcx at least). Need to do additional testing, but kind of interesting.

Not sure what would happen yet if I pulled the socketed vram modules. Might not work at all.

 

[Phipli]

I just took the posted v2 ROM (from red 7" PC Pro), loaded it to an EPROM and put it in my older 8-24X. It actually booted up and works with acceleration (in a IIcx at least). Need to do additional testing, but kind of interesting.

Not sure what would happen yet if I pulled the socketed vram modules. Might not work at all.

Probably the same as loading the ROM into a lower end later card with 1.5MB of VRAM, you get screen corruption in most resolutions / bit depths, even ones that it should be able to do. If you wanted to do that in a precision colour 8-24x with only the reduced VRAM, I'd recommend using the ROM from the PC Pro 8XJ or 24XP. The latter would give you 24bit on some resolutions, the former would be 8bit only. That's is assuming that the 8-24X with reduced VRAM has 1.5MB, and not 1MB, which I have a nasty feeling it might... I'm not sure if you could upgrade one to 1.5?!

 

[Phipli]

Yup, in "8" mode, the card has 1/3 of the total, not 1/2 of the total, so it is a 1MB card.



Picture taken from here sorry : https://wiki.preterhuman.net/Radius_PrecisionColor_8-24X

(I don't own one, I hate taking other people's photos, but... I'm lazy and I don't know, genuinely don't like doing it and try to attribute things).

 

[Phipli]

Picture Attached of the 24Xk with 80MHz RAMDAC and 8-24X with 110Mhz

Technically, an 80MHz RAMDAC isn't fast enough for 1152*870, but a 110MHz one is more than enough. In reality, the 80MHz RAMDAC might still overclock to the needed 100MHz.... cough, mine does on my PC Pro 24XK.