What's the difference between the various Radius 24 cards?

[Phipli]

So, the question -- is my "red" card really a 24X?

I believe so. It has the characteristics of a 24X - 110MHz RAMDAC and 3MB of VRAM.

The green card is the first I've seen like that. Most of the later Radius cards look like your red card - the silk screen is identical between all sorts of cards and the only differences are the component choices, and sometimes the colour (I think they just made them all Red later).

There is a third design of 7" card - with the ROM in the top left corner. My 8jx is a variant of that design, but has only 4 VRAM chips because it is an 8bit card.

 

[Phipli]

Curiously, the "blue" card layout is pretty much identical to the "red" card, apart from what appears to be a faster RAMDAC on the "red" card

RAMDAC speed and amount of VRAM. The blue card has 128k chips, so only has 1.5MB, instead of the 3MB on your Red 24X.

 

[mg.man]

I believe so. It has the characteristics of a 24X - 110MHz RAMDAC and 3MB of VRAM.

I was leaning that way... I knew about the RAMDAC, had missed the total VRAM. I guess I need to see if the "red" card will come to life. I sense some tinker-time coming this weekend.

 

[pizzigri]

Sometimes the RAMDAC is not a Brooktree. This is one of my two cards:
ooops no image. Hmmm here it is

 

[Phipli]

Sometimes the RAMDAC is not a Brooktree. This is one of my two cards:
ooops no image. Hmmm here it is
View attachment 57044

Yeah, they are effectively equivalent parts. Just an instance of dual sourcing.

Mine is like yours :

 

[nickpunt]

Here's my green PrecisionColor 24X, sporting the same ROM version as @mg.man's red (v2.0 -066-03-A) and the same ramdac. Mine has 24X silkscreened, 3mb VRAM (42C8255DJ x12). Looks like the reds are a slightly newer layout, as they have 'rev B' under the assembly number and (c) 1993 whereas green's have 'rev A' and (c) 1992.

 

[Phipli]

Here's my green PrecisionColor 24X, sporting the same ROM version as @mg.man's red (v2.0 -066-03-A) and the same ramdac. Mine has 24X silkscreened, 3mb VRAM (42C8255DJ x12). Looks like the reds are a slightly newer layout, as they have 'rev B' under the assembly number and (c) 1993 whereas green's have 'rev A' and (c) 1992.

Interestingly one of the custom chips has a different copyright year too. They made some changes in the silicon it seems.

 

[olePigeon]

I feel like this thread and the ROM request thread could be combined. They look like they're starting to converge with all the ROM coverage.

Nice work, by the way, @Phipli , it's fascinating to see all the different ROM versions working.

 

[Phipli]

I feel like this thread and the ROM request thread could be combined. They look like they're starting to converge with all the ROM coverage.

I don't think it can be done easily there are just two threads.

 

[Phipli]

Resurrecting this thread to ask what difference does the FW revs 1.1 and 2.0 make on the Radius/Apple display card 24AC. If there is a significant difference, is there any way to obtain a programmed chip with the FW on it? I have a 24AC with Rev. 1.1

Looking through everything I can find, I'm not sure that there is a v2.0 for the Apple Display Card 24AC... have you seen one?

The v1.1 ROM from the Apple card already supports PPC, which was the big thing about the v2.0 ROM for the other 24X series cards.

 

[pizzigri]

Hey Phipli,
no sincerely I do not recall seeing one, at this point I could imagine that rom 1.1 of the Apple card could very well be a Radius 2.0, since all 24AC apple cards have the highest specs for the 24 cards- 3mb and 110mhz ramdac.
this info alone could be extremely interesting !

 

[Phipli]

Hey Phipli,
no sincerely I do not recall seeing one, at this point I could imagine that rom 1.1 of the Apple card could very well be a Radius 2.0, since all 24AC apple cards have the highest specs for the 24 cards- 3mb and 110mhz ramdac.
this info alone could be extremely interesting !

My experiments say the Apple 1.1 ROM works in the 24XK and 24X, and is the best ROM for them (I haven't tried the Radius 24AC yet because I don't have a copy on hand).

The 24AC's 68k performance is basically the same as the other cards... but... the PPC acceleration works properly!

Using the 24AC ROM in my 24XK on a PPC makes my 24XK do 24 bit as fast as it does 16bit with its own ROM!

Conclusion : we all need to put 24AC ROMs in our 24X and 24XK cards!

 

[Phipli]

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That card is one that will do 1152x870 @24 bit.