Alice Averlong🏳️⚧️The first big custom board is this TimeLine Sync2 ASSY 70386.
A bunch of FPGA chips, custom ASICs, and EEPROMs.
It's 16-bit ISA, but it seems to talk to other boards through that big locking IDC connector on the top left, so that probably doesn't matter much.
Then the MMR UIB, ASSY 70302.
More FPGAs, ASICs, and EEPROMs.
They integrated the serial port from the motherboard into this card, it seems.
More FPGAs, ASICs, and EEPROMs.
They integrated the serial port from the motherboard into this card, it seems.
It's got 4 of these CS8411-CS digital audio receivers, and then 4 of these CS8401-CS digital audio transmitters.
And four of these IDT7132SA20J 2 kilobyte dual-ported static-ram chips. Probably for audio buffering/processing at super-low latency
Then another of the same board, but this one is missing the receiver/transmitter chips. It's just got the RAM and FPGA.
Then the final board is a Timeline PRX ASSY 70383.
More SRAMs and lattice chips, and a PLX PCI9060 bus controller.
So I suspect that many-pins backplane they use to connect all the boards may be a second PCI bus.
More SRAMs and lattice chips, and a PLX PCI9060 bus controller.
So I suspect that many-pins backplane they use to connect all the boards may be a second PCI bus.
The front-panel display is a Optrex DMC-2026I display. 20x20 characters, each character being 5x8 pixels. This variant has a backlight, and it's built on the standard Hitachi HD44780 chip.
The front panel is communicated with through this MMR FP/UIB Interface, Assy 70301.
It's just a bunch of caps and resistors?
and it's got three 32mb SDRAMs.
So 96mb in total. That's a bunch for a Pentium 1!
So 96mb in total. That's a bunch for a Pentium 1!
So it's got a separate power supply inside the case, plugged into a splitter on the power button line. (which, on an AT system, carries the full AC wall voltage)
It provides ±18v at half an amp.
It provides ±18v at half an amp.
Those power these two boards (with room for a third, missing on this model)
This one is the MMR Input Converter, ASSY 70395. 8-channels.
This one is the MMR Input Converter, ASSY 70395. 8-channels.
And the floppy drive is a TEAC FD-235HF, one of the most common models of 3.5" floppy disk drives.
The back panel has two PCBs.
The top one is a Parallel Remote board, ASSY 70374
It's got 4 of these UCN6821A 8-channel line drivers.
Then the bottom board is the MMR Rear Panel, ASSY 70389.
Left to right, we've got Transport, Editor, two Lynx ports, Timecode Out/In, MIDI thru/out/in, video out/in, and word clock out/in.
Left to right, we've got Transport, Editor, two Lynx ports, Timecode Out/In, MIDI thru/out/in, video out/in, and word clock out/in.
The power supply is a US Power SP2-4200F, a 200 watt AT supply.
But modified to have a different connector for the front power switch, so it can be branched off to the other power supply.
But modified to have a different connector for the front power switch, so it can be branched off to the other power supply.
So the front panel. There's three PCBs.
The big one is the 8 TRK FP-70311, which the other two little ones connect to.
The big one is the 8 TRK FP-70311, which the other two little ones connect to.
No chips on the other side. Just a bunch of buttons and LEDs. Interesting there's some spots for buttons that aren't present here.
Doesn't seem to be any smarts on the board. Another of those UCN 5821A 8-channel drivers, and 5 Maxim MAX7219CWG LED drivers
and the MMR Transport SW, ASSY 70392.
I think these are combination buttons/lights.
I think these are combination buttons/lights.
So yeah. That's the box! I'll plug in my archive box and try to dump the drive later.
I lit up some of the buttons using a bench power supply. Nice glow! I wonder if they're incandescent?
okay I dumped the hard drive
it's DOS 6.22
was not expecting that.
it also includes a shareware copy of PKZip 2.04g
come on TASCAM, pay for your shareware!
I put the motherboard together and stuck in a VGA card.
unfortunately I grabbed the Piss-VGA cable but hey, it POSTs!
unfortunately I grabbed the Piss-VGA cable but hey, it POSTs!
also I think I was wrong about these memory sticks: they're 16mb each, not 32mb.
So it it's 48mb fully loaded, not 96mb.
So it it's 48mb fully loaded, not 96mb.
I got bored and decided to yoink the BIOS EPROM.
It's an Award PCI/PNP 586 bios, ©1997, S/N 108740192.
It's an Award PCI/PNP 586 bios, ©1997, S/N 108740192.
Dumped fine. And it just so happens I was installing the Award BIOS Editor the other day. It loads it up just fine!
interestingly it has a 32kb rom embedded in it, for the SCSI controller, which isn't on-board. It's for the PCI SCSI adapter
oh wow, the Award BIOS Logo format is WEIRD. it has a size defined in "characters". So, like, this image is 136x84, but is stored as 17x6, because it's 17 characters wide by 6 tall.
And it's got COLOR ATTRIBUTES! You can only use one color per cell, because this is technically a TEXT MODE!
I finally got image editing working properly by using an old tool called "epacoder".
so now my BIOS says TRANS RIGHTS
so now my BIOS says TRANS RIGHTS
and as for Pronouns in BIOS, I did that one long ago. (although as an edit, not a hack)
OKAY I fixed it so that it says "An LGBTQ+ Ally" instead of the Energy Star thing.
I need to find the on-board flashing tool and stop yanking the EEPROM out all the time before I accidentally break it.
SuperIlu@foone can you provide instructions on how to change the BIOS-logos?
I need to patch one of my machines with the SuperIlu logo and another one with a unicorn! 🤣
I need to patch one of my machines with the SuperIlu logo and another one with a unicorn! 🤣
@dec_hl if the machine uses award bios, you need to dump the ROM, use awdbedit to extract the EPA image, then use epacoder to convert it to a BMP, edit it, convert it back to EPA, inject it in with awdbedit, and reflash it.