Interware VDR-2a BIOS

[jasa1063]

I just got an Interware VDR-2a PDS video card with BIOS version 1.00 for my SE/30. I know there is at least 1.04 version for this card. Does anyone have a BIOS dump with a newer version available?

 

[Nathan_A]

My card has v1.04 on it, but I don't have a ROM reader unfortunately. Though I have been meaning to get one.

 

[Phipli]

My card has v1.04 on it, but I don't have a ROM reader unfortunately. Though I have been meaning to get one.

Very worth picking up a TL866.

As well as programming and ripping ROMs, they'll also program some MCUs and function check some RAM and logic chips. Can be a life saver.

 

[jasa1063]

Very worth picking up a TL866.

As well as programming and ripping ROMs, they'll also program some MCUs and function check some RAM and logic chips. Can be a life saver.

I picked up a TL866II and you are absolutely correct how useful it is.

 

[sbcnsurg]

So I have an Interware VDR-2a card and soldered the extra crystal oscillators on and swapped out the ROM with the VDR-2L ROM found here. I assumed this would function like the CAD version of the card (Hold down option or keys 1-9 or A-F on boot to change modes-see attached). It didn't seem to work - So I got an actual CAD version - VDR-2e - and was only able to switch into 1280 mode by holding down "B" but then I couldn't switch back. My current theory is that the boot driver in my SE/30 Doug SIMM is intercepting all keystrokes on boot except "A" and "B". The next step will be to reprogram the SIMM with a clean Mac Si image and try again. I am attaching the VDR-2E ROM image also.
If anybody has already tried this, please let me know.

 

[JT737]

@jasa1063 - I have both an Interware VDR-2a and a VDR-2l; attached is a copy of the BIOS from the VDR-2a. Let me know if you need a copy of the other one as well.

 

[sbcnsurg]

The VDR-2L se/30 rom might be useful. Is it different from the Nubus version posted here?. I didn’t have the 1.04 2A rom either. Thank you.

 

[JT737]

These are all PDS cards for the SE/30; my guess is it different from a nubus BIOS (because of the different kind of expansion slot) but I'm not entirely sure.

Anyways, I have both a -L and a -J versions of these VDR-2 cards; here are the BIOS dumps for them and pictures of their associated cards:

 

[JT737]

From what I understand, the VDR-2J and VDR-2L are capable of different resolutions other than just 640x480 (as seen by the addition of more clock crystal to control the vertical and horizontal resolution) but I have never had much luck in making it work.

 

[Arbee]

For what it's worth, every PDS card I've ever looked at follows Apple's recommendation and emulates NuBus so the declaration ROM is often identical to the NuBus version (when there is one) except for the name string.

 

[sbcnsurg]

I wonder if a driver could be written to control the resolutions on the CAD versions. That would open up a huge resource. Plus simply by adding some crystals and a rom, the VDR-2a seems to be upgradable.

 

[zigzagjoe]

For what it's worth, every PDS card I've ever looked at follows Apple's recommendation and emulates NuBus so the declaration ROM is often identical to the NuBus version (when there is one) except for the name string.

The bytelanes field is typically different also, it's more sensible to just place the ROM at D24-D31 and let dynamic bus sizing do its thing so all lanes contain valid data.