Looking for: Lapis ColorServer PDS/30-14 Drivers Updated 32bit-clean Firmware?

[aminor]

Hello,

I have a Lapis ColorServer PDS/30-14 in my otherwise stock SE/30 with 8MB of RAM. I've had this Mac and ColorServer since the middle 1990's and they've worked well for me, although they haven't been switched on in decades (the original battery hasn't leaked, and has been replaced recently). A re-cap is in this Mac's future.

The ColorServer appears not to be 32bit-clean in that the SE/30 won't boot if I enable 32-bit mode with either of the two System 7 extensions (32bit Enabler/MODE32).

That hasn't been a problem up to now but I've recently wanted to bring the SE/30 back into service and to upgrade it a little, perhaps with more RAM, a Synchro030, or a Bolle Carrera 040, or a zigzagjoe Interware Booster 50 clone etc

I really wanted to keep the Lapis card for old-times sake but I can see that not being 32-bit clean may well come back to bite me. I also have a ROM-inator II waiting to be used but that too may have issues with the Lapis.

Does anyone have the last released drivers for the PDS/30-14? There are lots of downloads for the PDS/30-17 and 21 but none that I can find for the 14.

Alongside that question, does anyone know if this card was able to be made 32-bit clean? Is there an upgraded firmware/ROM chip? Mine is labelled 1990 LT1 Ver. C-RET-70.

Does anyone know anything about the PDS/30-14 card? Does it just have less RAM than the -17 variant? Was it called something else and then rebranded as the -14?

The label on the card has clearly been stuck down on top of another label. I've tried peeling the top label off but the glue is very firmly attached and lifting it will damage the label underneath too much.

Should I just cut my losses and buy a 30Video card from zigzagjoe or is there a GrandVimage color card clone available?

Thanks for any help.

Andrew

 

[zigzagjoe]

Hello,

I have a Lapis ColorServer PDS/30-14 in my otherwise stock SE/30 with 8MB of RAM. I've had this Mac and ColorServer since the middle 1990's and they've worked well for me, although they haven't been switched on in decades (the original battery hasn't leaked, and has been replaced recently). A re-cap is in this Mac's future.

The ColorServer appears not to be 32bit-clean in that the SE/30 won't boot if I enable 32-bit mode with either of the two System 7 extensions (32bit Enabler/MODE32).

That hasn't been a problem up to now but I've recently wanted to bring the SE/30 back into service and to upgrade it a little, perhaps with more RAM, a Synchro030, or a Bolle Carrera 040, or a zigzagjoe Interware Booster 50 clone etc

I really wanted to keep the Lapis card for old-times sake but I can see that not being 32-bit clean may well come back to bite me. I also have a ROM-inator II waiting to be used but that too may have issues with the Lapis.

Does anyone have the last released drivers for the PDS/30-14? There are lots of downloads for the PDS/30-17 and 21 but none that I can find for the 14.

Alongside that question, does anyone know if this card was able to be made 32-bit clean? Is there an upgraded firmware/ROM chip? Mine is labelled 1990 LT1 Ver. C-RET-70.

Does anyone know anything about the PDS/30-14 card? Does it just have less RAM than the -17 variant? Was it called something else and then rebranded as the -14?

The label on the card has clearly been stuck down on top of another label. I've tried peeling the top label off but the glue is very firmly attached and lifting it will damage the label underneath too much.

Should I just cut my losses and buy a 30Video card from zigzagjoe or is there a GrandVimage color card clone available?

Thanks for any help.

Andrew

As far as I know the only current SE/30 video options are either my cards or Bolle's grayscale card (modified formac clone). No other cards, the GrandVimage cards required ASICs as they are accelerated so those will never be cloned.

Does the machine not progress past the happy mac, or does it get hung up later in the boot process when the ColorServer extension loads? The ColorServer isn't an accelerated card so it probably just uses the extension for resolution switching. You may be able to just run without the extension in that case, and/or if the card ROM will do something reasonable with sense lines.

If it's sticking at the happy mac though you're in trouble without an updated ROM. Does the issue with 32 bit mode go away if the card is removed?

 

[cheesestraws]

What OS version are you running? Lapis cards have a bit of a reputation for their extensions not working properly above 7.1

 

[eharmon]

The Lapis cards seem a little hodgepodge in my experience. There's a surprising number of part numbers and no mapping that I know of to specific model numbers, the ROM labels tend to be the same for different cards, and as @cheesestraws notes, they tend not to work with later OS, in my experience 7.5.2+. I've started a few threads, to no avail:

Lapis Display Card ROMs?

On my quest to gain a deeper understanding into why many PDS/NuBus graphics cards seem to hang when using Display Manager 2.0 (built into 7.5.2+, or an extension installed on early System 7), I realized a large number of Lapis cards appear to use the same ROM revision. For instance, many SE/30...

68kmla.org

Lapis ProColorServer hanging in 7.5.5?

I've installed a Lapis (Pro?)ColorServer (8?), in my SE/30 and I'm seeing weird behavior, some good, some bad: Contrary to internet reports, it doesn't appear to require a driver to work at a basic level. Immediately from the boot screen the external display is used, which is nice. Whoever...

68kmla.org

I'm not even 100% sure what card I have, honestly...

Anyway, I don't think those threads will help too much but maybe they'll add some context on your journey. The second one explores the 7.5.2 compatibility issues (it's Display Server 2.0 that is incompatible) and offers a hack if you really want to run later OS. Buyer beware though, it's a pretty dirty hack and I've never run long with it to see if there are consequences.

I think you can hack the ROMs to become compatible, but my interest fizzled out a couple years ago and I haven't returned to it. All that said, IIRC my card works in 32-bit and runs without any drivers. I have a 30video in there right now so unfortunately I can't double check at the moment.

 

[Arbee]

I emulate 3 of the Lapis cards in MAME now, the NuBus ProColorServer 8 and ProColorServer 8*16, as well as the SE/30 ProColorServer 8. The twist with them is that the the ROM contains a complete Xilinx bitstream for each color depth and resolution, which takes a *lot* of space and is probably in large part why the cards seem to only support 640x480. But anyway, I don't see any reason the ROMs wouldn't be compatible between different Lapis cards. You might even be able to "upgrade" a card that way. I'll have to check if any of the 3 ROMs I have will boot in 32-bit mode.

 

[aminor]

Hi @zigzagjoe @cheesestraws @eharmon @Arbee thank you very much for your responses.

Sadly, I found tonight that my SE/30 is not working. At first I go no video at all but the HDD activity light flickered with accesses, and it made all the noises of booting up. There was no startup chime sound.

I have already put in a brand new battery and tried zapping the PRAM with Apple+Option+P+R.

I tried reseating the cable to the analog board, taking out the Lapis card, and adjusting the brightness control knob (you never know it could have been that simple).

Unfortunately, it's even worse now. The HDD activity light now flashes once when I switch on and nothing else happens. The HDD no longer makes the booting up chuntering sound, there's no chime, and no video.

Lets close this thread off. Time to start a new one for the repair.

Frankly I'm quite sad about this. I've had this SE/30 (and the Quadra 700 next to me) since I worked at WordPerfect UK in the early 1990's (I did Mac Tech Support on the WordPerfect range of products back then). So they've been with me for a long time and to lose this machine is quite sad really.

 

[cheesestraws]

Sorry to hear that. If you're lucky, it might be the power supply...

 

[aminor]

I'm really happy to say that my SE/30 has been re-capped, and minor battery leak damage rectified and is now working brilliantly! Thanks go to @aladds in the UK for the massive effort he has put in on my behalf on fixing it.

During the troubleshooting process he looked at using the Lapis ColorServer PDS/30-17 driver with my PDS/30-14. Unfortunately it didn't work.
It seems that the -17 may have used a different FPGA to the -14. From what I've read elsewhere (looking for citation URL) the -17 card did get 32-bit compatible driver with the version 4 release.

I'll keep looking for newer drivers for my -14 but fear I'll be stuck with 24-bit addressing and 8MB of RAM unless I change colour card.

 

[stansteph54]

Hi there,

Just picked up this little beauty and I'm interested in finding drivers as well as documention. It's the -17 version.

Thanks a lot.

I'm really happy to say that my SE/30 has been re-capped, and minor battery leak damage rectified and is now working brilliantly! Thanks go to @aladds in the UK for the massive effort he has put in on my behalf on fixing it.

During the troubleshooting process he looked at using the Lapis ColorServer PDS/30-17 driver with my PDS/30-14. Unfortunately it didn't work.
It seems that the -17 may have used a different FPGA to the -14. From what I've read elsewhere (looking for citation URL) the -17 card did get 32-bit compatible driver with the version 4 release.

I'll keep looking for newer drivers for my -14 but fear I'll be stuck with 24-bit addressing and 8MB of RAM unless I change colour card.

 

[aminor]

Hi @stansteph54, I believe you need this download from Macintosh Repository: https://www.macintoshrepository.org/29669-lapis-video-card-drivers-colorserver-displayserver

It's a multi-card driver package and you'll likely need to look for this one:

• ColorServer PDS/30-17 4.5.2

From what I recall reading the 4.5 drivers support 32bit clean ROMs or Mode32.

 

[stansteph54]

Thanks a lot.

I will check and test.

 

[aminor]

Thanks a lot.

I will check and test.

Probably best to try the color card while the Mac is in 24 bit addressing mode first. I recall that mine simply would not boot in 32bit mode. If it works for you then try switching to 32bit mode.