Quato lightning PCI

stynx

6502
I have recently bought a IMS TwinTurbo 128M8 which has a 64bit PCI connector.
The ROM has a label with lightning PCI version 1.1 on it. Some research gave me the info that the card is actually named the
"Quato lightning PCI". Some further result gave me the following review in the german magazine "Macwelt" September 96, page 44:

2000,- Mark (1996) => ca. $2500 today
Bildschirmfoto 2026-05-09 um 13.11.25.png

The card is recognized in a beige PowerMac G3 and works normally. In the 64bit socket of a B&W Power Mac G3, it is not recognized as a Twin Turbo and the Rom does not load.

Is this normal behavior?

-Jonas
 
Interesting - I've not seen that one before.

Not sure why It doesn't work in a 64bit slot. Does it work in the 32bit slot in the B&W G3?
 
The card work now in the 64bit slot in the B&W G3. It was most likely a contact issue with the ROM. Taking it out to make a copy and reinserting it was seemingly enough to fix the problem.

-Jonas
 
I have recently bought a IMS TwinTurbo 128M8 which has a 64bit PCI connector.
The ROM has a label with lightning PCI version 1.1 on it. Some research gave me the info that the card is actually named the
"Quato lightning PCI". Some further result gave me the following review in the german magazine "Macwelt" September 96, page 44:

2000,- Mark (1996) => ca. $2500 today
View attachment 98632

The card is recognized in a beige PowerMac G3 and works normally. In the 64bit socket of a B&W Power Mac G3, it is not recognized as a Twin Turbo and the Rom does not load.

Is this normal behavior?

That is not normal. If it's not recognized as a Twin Turbo, then what is it recognized as?

For each machine (Beige G3, B&W G3), gather some info from Open Firmware via serial port:
The fcode in Quato_lightning_v1.1.bin only includes an ndrv for Mac OS (and maybe Mac OS X). It does not include support for an Open Firmware frame-buffer. That means it can't show early boot stuff that happens before the toolbox ROM loads the ndrv such as multi-boot or FireWire target disk mode icons or Open Firmware console or Mac OS X spinning indicator (shown by BootX).

Beige G3 doesn't have multi-boot.
B&W G3 has multi-boot but it is console only (can work from serial port) and doesn't require an Open Firmware framebuffer.
 

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