USB/Firewire cards (or chipsets) that work in the TAM

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I'll have to give it another shot to see if they might work. Coupled with one of my Crescendo G3/L2s and an ATA/whatever SSD, one of these puppies would make the ULTIMATE!!!!!RARE!!!!!STEVEJOBS!!!!!TAM!!!!!UPGRADE!!!!!!KIT!!!!! eBay listing of all time.

< not holding his breath >

edit: you're gonna wind up with more of these "useless" PCI cards on hand than I have of Paleolithic Radius VidCards for 68K!

 

[HAL2001]

Steve Jobs? I was under the impression that it was mr. jobs himself who pulled the plug on these machines.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

You'd be exactly right, it's a post-Jobsian era eBay reference.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Curious about this one:

Does the USB bridge on this card work in the TAM? Are you having trouble with just the FireWire bridge on some cards or with USB AND FireWire on all of the cards tested?

edit: if you're done playing with this one, I'd like to put it through its paces in the 6360, willing to part with it?

 

[EvilCapitalist]

I never had that particular version of the Tango, I had the one that came after that, which didn't work. 

In the cases where the cards had chipsets that I knew worked on their own I think it was the power requirements that made the cards non-functional.  3 of the last 5 cards I tried had the exact same chipsets which work just fine in single function cards (NEC, Agere, and OPTi) which made it that much more frustrating that the TAM wouldn't recognize the combo card version.  In any event, I've run out of chipset combinations to test and my TAM has headed back to her box so unless I can manage to find an original Tango my search is at an end.  13 different cards with different chipsets and bridge combinations and none of them functioning is pretty definitive in my book.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

I'd like to see if I can get my TEMPOtrio running in the the 6500 board, if only for USB and ATA. An ATA/whatever card in a TAM coupled with an SSD & Adapter would be the biggest kick in the pants possible for a TAM or 6500 short of the L2 Accelerator, dying to see what the different combos might do in benchmarking.

 

[Themk]

OT: Looks like Sonnet predicted Microsoft's logo by about 13 years. Wow, the logo next to "for windows" looks EXACTLY like Microsoft's current corporate logo.

When you talk about power requirements not being meet, I noticed that a few of the cards have power connectors on them. Its possible that if you provided power to the power connector on the card, they would work in the TAM. Now, I realize that the TAM doesn't have a PSU capable of supporting that, but you might be able to hack something together.

 

[Byrd]

13 different cards with different chipsets and bridge combinations and none of them functioning is pretty definitive in my book.

I commend your testing, and I've also trialled a few combo cards over the years with no love.

Is there any pressing reason why you need dual FW and USB?    USB is pretty essential in my books (as is ethernet, and I lack the CSII riser so am using a USB ethernet adapter that has OS 9 drivers), but FW I can do without when it'd be pretty slow to copy data over.  From my end, the only purpose FW would be good to have is to plug in an early FW iPod for use with iTunes.

JB

 

[EvilCapitalist]

Pressing reason?  Nah, not really, especially since my TAM is safely packed away in her boxes again. 

If I had to choose between USB and Firewire I'd probably go with Firewire since I've got a FW HD I use for transferring things between machines, and the only other devices I'd connect are already networked (thankfully my machine had the CSII riser and a network card, though I would like to find a 100Mbps version).  There were just enough occasions that I wanted to use some USB device on the machine that I thought I'd give finding a working combo card a go.  Still holding out hope that I'll find an original Tango or an original OrangeLink card one of these days.

 

[omidimo]

Possible OrangeLink 1.0 sighting, hard to tell, but the time frame and PCI card design are close: http://www.ebay.com/itm/262967258891

 

[EvilCapitalist]

That does look like an original OrangeLink based on the pic you posted two pages back, and I've certainly spent more for less in the past.

 

[EvieSigma]

That's honestly not a bad buy overall, that Wings card is worth like $40 on its own.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

OK, who nabbed it? What's the appeal of the Wings card, was it usable or consumer grade?

 

[EvilCapitalist]

That would be me!  I've actually got an original OrangeLink coming in today thanks to some dumb luck a few weeks back, but in case the card is dead (since it was bought in a lot of untested cards) I'm hoping this one is an original as well and that it works if the one coming in today doesn't.

As to the Wings card, I only ever used it for audio output over the RCAs so I can't speak to the video side of it.  Weren't all the 7x00/8x00/9x00/Beige video inputs/outputs consumer grade though?

 

[omidimo]

Most people usually get the Wings board to fill out their G3's to the top spec, the audio board feels measly in comparison. The Bordeaux card is the special one, but far more rare in the wild. 

Re: OrangeLink, you will have to make sure it it is the OptiLink version of the board for it to work in the TAM/6500. The patch Orange made was only made for that model. Hopefully that G3 DT will be of use even if as donor box. 

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

iCrap! I just broke the kickstand on my drawbridge. :-/

Googled pics trying to find out which personality card I've got in my box. It seems strange, it's the long version, but it has white connectors along both the top and back edges. It also has a big Phillips chip on it, could that be a DVD decoder IC?

edit: I guess not, I found a Wings card that looks like mine. I read somewhere there were two versions?

https://www.recycledgoods.com/apple-661-1456-g3-wings-personality-a-v-card-820-0923-a/

 

[Themk]

As to the Wings card, I only ever used it for audio output over the RCAs so I can't speak to the video side of it.  Weren't all the 7x00/8x00/9x00/Beige video inputs/outputs consumer grade though?

Hehe AV input and output is fun to play around with, even if only 'consumer' grade.

 

[EvilCapitalist]

Looks like the picture you found at Recycled Goods was the version put in the tower machines, since the text is rotated.  As far as two versions of the Wings card, apart from the text rotation I don't think there was any difference.  Strange thing is I've seen plenty of towers with what I would call the desktop version of the card and they came that way from the factory.

"Desktop" version



"Tower" version

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Yep, tower version.

 

[omidimo]

The tower version seemed to have vanished as Rev B boards came out, probably a cost cutting measure, You seldom see the sideways model in later MTs.

The Bordeaux card has no DAV ports.