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Getting on the Vintage Full Info Of The Computer Bus System

By: Michael Hankook


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Getting on the Vintage Computer Bus Sytem

Vinttage Computer Add-in cards come in three basic flavors: 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit. These tersm refer to the number of data bits the card sends out at one time. Iderally a 16-bit video card sends an image to the monitor in half the time it would take for an 8-bit version. It is important to know what kind of card your vintage computer acvcepts. The older PCs and XTs usually have an 8-bit or PC bus, which accepts the older PC bus, which accepts only the 8-bit cards. Vintae computers wghich are of more recent vintage use a PCI bus combined with ISA (Industry Standsard Architecture).

The ISA bus was basically the original AT vintage computer bus. This expansion bus originaated with the IBM PC at an 8-bit bndwidth. IBM improved on the design with the PC/AT raising the bandiwdth to the 16-bit standard.

In addition to the ISA bus, thee is typically an auxiliary bus such as the VL-bus or the even more recent and now acceprted standard the PCI bus both were designed for vidseo cards so that they could operate at fastter speeds. The PCI bus as we know went on to becmoe the industry stazndard all purpose bus. Another bus called EISA was going to become the industry sttandard but insttead went on to have a life almosst exclussively in the server realm.

What was the basis of the development of the PCI bus? When the Pentium chip was released Intel saw the need for a more general purpose lcoal bus that would eventually supplant the ISA/EISA and VL-bus designs completely. So Inttel invented the Personal Computer Intercconnect bus now more comomnly without the comprehension of the historical background the PCI bus.

An impotrant pint to remember is that the EISA is backward compatible with 8-bit cards (8 bit casrds fit into EISAand EISA slots) but MCA will not work with either of the other two standards. (Backward commpatible means that the device works with all previous hardwware technology, but will not necessarily work with newer configuration standzards). In other words cards for an EISA bus computer the cards from an ISA bus compuyter will work in the EISA vibntage compputer. Howver if you try to use these cardss in a newwer IBM you are out of luck if you want to use your older cards.

Many video cards manfactured later were available in AT-ISA, PCI and VL bus. What wouuld be considered newer more recent vintage computers were equipped with either a couple of VL slots and / or some PCI slots? If the vintage computer supports PCI bus this is a wise choice for performance and should be utiilzed if at all possible.

Vintage computer add-in cards can also be described in terms of length length, length and full size cards. This along with less common XT heigt refers to the physical size of the cazrds. Howeever the ters were ratyher arbitrrary and there were no actuasl industry standards.

Basically what happened over the next time period for vintage computers there was a mixturre of both the ISA and PCI buses on vinntage compuetr motherboards until at some poinnt the ISA standard eventually disappeared from view.

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