Rare computer found, technical issue

[Gump-in-space]

I was at the humane society thrift store the other day browsing the printer/keyboard/various unlabled computer cables section when I spotted a large white object with its shell almost completely torn off. I crouched down and looked at the unit. It was some sort of IBM, it had a neat sliding faceplate, a strange display I assumed was a temperature readout, and get this: a memory tape drive.

Now I don't know if you guys are aware, but I am a collector of old, strange computer equipment. I wanted the IBM, and I could have afforded it then, but I passed it up. The reason was that I already had two computers sitting on a large table in the screened in patio room, but because of the humidity of Florida both of them eventually failed. I was actually really upset that I lost my 486, which I'm now turning into a storage case for cds. So there's this huge mess out there, and my parents would lose it if I brought home another computer on a whim.

I regretted leaving it as soon as I left. I tried over and over again to get down there again, but I still don't have my liscense to drive so I had to wait a week...

But I got it. And I'm really glad I did. You see, this thing isn't your average computer from 1995. It's a 43P Model 140- RS/6000. That means it's a PowerPC 604E, a RISC computer IBM built for businesses. It's 200 Mhz, pretty fast for being 14 years old. On the back, there were these weird cards in the first two PCI slots, they look like parallel ports but have 78 pins on them. It also has a circular port I can't identify. It has no hard drive, so given the strange hardware, I'd say this thing has had former involvement with the government/millitary.

On two different websites, the price for one of these beasts (it's about 45 pounds) is $475. I got mine for a measily $10.

Here's the problem: I can't get video out of the unit. I put an S3 ViRGE from the yesteryear into the thing which I'm confident works, but the monitor picks up no signal. Could the card be incompatible with the PowerPC processor? Is there some strange peice of hardware missing? I'm doing my best to find out what's wrong, but I'd like some help.

[bicostp]

Pictures please! Especially of the ports.

It must have been running some form of Unix when it left the factory. Apparently SuSE 7.1 PowerPC can run on it.

That 78 pin port may be Fast SCSI. (It is a server, after all.) Does it have any ATX standard connectors inside, aside from PCI slots? Does that video card work in any other computers? (I've had cards die mysterious deaths just sitting on a shelf.)

[Gump-in-space]

[bicostp]

Have you tried using a null modem cable and a terminal emulator (like HyperTerminal) to see if it sends anything over the serial port when it boots?

9600 baud, 8 bits, 1 stop bit, no parity, ANSI/DUMB mode is a good place to start.

EDIT: I think the two big mystery ports on top might be SGI XIO bus ports, and the round mystery port might be an AGI AUX port. The long skinny one on the bottom is definitely Fast SCSI.

[Gump-in-space]

I don't know if I have the tools for it, but I can ask my father if he has them since he does work with a lot of computer systems (systems administrator). Seems like a good idea though.

[timmeh87]

Yeah it looks like it was never designed to have a monitor...

Still you'd expect to get some kind of video output with a compatible video card if its made out of off-the-shelf parts.

[MegatronUK]

It's unlikely to work - the S3 card will have a BIOS on it designed for a PC architecture (it's what is flashed up before your main BIOS screen when you start up your computer - something like 'S3 325 Virge - 4M - Copyright S3 Corp.'), and it's unlikely that it will work on a PowerPC; the memory map and interrupt hooks will be totally different. For example when Apple hardware was running PowerPC chips you couldn't just take an Nvidia card out of a PC and fit it in a Mac, the bios had to be flashed to an Apple compatible one first. Same story with Adaptec SCSI controllers.

Take a look at: http://www.dataweld.com/RS600043P140.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; .. seems that the original graphics options were eiter a 'GXT300P' or a 'GXT2000P' (of which the latter seems to be the higher performance, 3D accelerated wireframe option)
Check what type of cards those two upper large ports are connected to - you might have one of them already.

[Gump-in-space]

Megatron, the cards in the computer aren't the card you were talking about. It looks like I'll have to find one if I want the computer to work correctly. Thanks.

[Triton]

lol i have an even rarer and more obscure computer than this one even! its a Matrox EIDS! it was made in 1985 for the US military as a military simulator, trainer and educational tool, its laserdisc based and EIDS stands for Electronic Information Delivery System. i have the original box and manuals for it and as far as i know only 12,500 were ever made

[HotDog-Cart]

Triton, according to the internet I think you mean "MEIDS": Militarized Electronic Information Delivery System.

I may be wrong, but thats what just some website says. xD

[Triton]

nope, matrox EIDS

In 1986, Matrox won a contract with the U.S. Army to supply Electronic Information Delivery Systems (EIDS). A precursor to today's CD-ROM-based multimedia PCs, the EIDS combined video, digital audio and digital data storage on the same videodisk for the first time.