Nth Engine 2D
@80E7.adf [?]Tab says "Nth Engine/MCA Display Controller 1024x768"
NOTE: A lot of the components have no visible chip ID silk-screened on the PCB. I wendt off of the visible chip IDs that I could see, and SWAGed the rest. My guess is that the hidden chip IDs are under the installed component. [LFO]
I have NEVER seen a Reed Relay on ANY video card. There are three COTO #2911 Relays on lines to the DB9 port.There are three lines from the solder side of the base card that tie into pins that go to the HDD15 connector.
Nth Engine 330 ?
This card is laid out a bit differently than the later Rev C card.
COMPUTER GRAPHICS WORLD DECEMBER 1988 page 98
"Nth Graphics Zooms
Users of the IBM PS/2 Model 50, 60, 70, and 80 can zoom large drawings produced with PC-based CAD design software, including AutoCAD Release 9 and 10, VersaCAD, DataCAD, RoboCAD 4, HICAD GM-1000, and Infinite Graphics drawings, in about two seconds with the Nth Engine/MCA display controller from Nth Graphics (Austin, TX).
The Nth Engine/MCA achieves its speed through a unique design that combines the graphics processing power of the T414 Transputer with multiple custom graphics chips and holds a compressed copy of the drawing’s vector display list locally in 1M of onboard display list RAM.
The Nth Engine/MCA has the same capability as the original Nth Engine display controller, including the Nth Birdseye, a pop-up window that shows the entire drawing with the zoom-in area highlighted, instant color on/off, and Zoomslides.
Priced at $4295, the 16-color graphics board drives monitors with 1024by-768 resolution. It can also be used with either one or two monitors to display the drawing and text simultaneously or separately. Another megabyte of display-list RAM can be added for a total of 2M. And a daughter board can be added to increase the display-list RAM up to 4.5M."
Guesstimation on P3 [DB9 Port]
All Micro Channel systems either have VGA on the system board, or XGA. Either video type will have an HDD15 port -AND- an AVE slot. For systems without built-in video, you will see the BVE / AVE slot combination. Think of the 85 / 95 / Bermuda systems.
The Nth Engine/MCA has neither an Auxiliary Video Extension, no VFC [whatever] 26-pin header, nor does it have an HDD15 pass-through. It has the standard 16-bit MCA connector. Full stop.
The DB9 port has some fairly expensive and unusual Reed Relays on three signals. There are three traces [on the solder side] that run up to connect to the HDD15 port at the top of the bracket.
So, my SWAG is the DB9 is a video port. I don't believe you could run the HDD15 -AND- the DB9 port simultaneously. There is no separate RAMDAC for each port.
So... my guesstimation is that the DB9 is an RGB [3x BNC] or maybe a composite sync [4x BNC] video port.
Odd, I was thinking the reed relays were to isolate the video output of the sole RAMDAC from the unused video connector, but the HDD15 traces go straight over to the RAMDAC. The traces from the COTO 2911 come off pin 1 on the input side and run up to the HDD15.
From the one-quarter column article, I "assume" there was an ISA version of the Nth Engine. I do know of an ISA Nth Engine/ 550.
Nth Engine 2D BDA-N0003-00 Rev C [Base Card]
| J1
3-pin header, unk J2 3-pin header, unk P1 48-pin header Mem Exp P2 HDD15 connector P3 DB9 connector P4 MCA edge connector REL 1-3 2911-05-320 COTO-9011 U10 VGT7811-4010 NINJA-1 U11 INMOS IMST425A-G20S U12 NCR-0381156 BABY NINJA |
U23-30,
U32-39 TMS44C25680SD U31 VGT7664-4009 NINJA U43-50, U54-61 MT42C4064Z-10 U52 IMS C012 Link adaptor U67 CHIPS P82C611 U70 Bt454KPJ 33 U71 Motorola MC10102P U73 ER5911 1K Serial EEPROM Y1 5.000 MHz osc T425 clock Y2 64.0000 MHz osc0 |
NOTE: There is NO Auxiliary Video Extension on this card. It uses the basic 16-bit MCA edge connector. All Bnn contacts are populated. Some Ann contacts are missing. My guess they relate to DMA? The P82C511 does not support DMA.
2911-05-320 COTO-9011 Microminiature Reed Relay Datasheet
VGT7664-4009 NINJA ICC10000-001
VGT7811-4010 NINJA-1 ICC10000-002
NCR-0381156 BABY NINJA ICC10000-003
IMST425 Engineering Data
IMS C012 Link adaptor
P82C611 Micro Channel Interface Datasheet MB62306U
Bt454KPJ33 Triple 4-Bit Video DAC Datasheet
MC10102P Quad 2-Input NOR Gate Datasheet
ER5911 1K Serial EEPROM Datasheet
TMS44C25680 262,144-Word by 4-Bit DRAM Datasheet
MT42C4064Z 64K x 4 DRAM With 256 x 4 SAM Datasheet [Dual Port DRAM !]
MCM51425A 256Kx4 CMOS Dynamic RAM Datasheet [Memory Expansion board]
2911-05-320 COTO Microminiature Reed Relay [www.cotorelay.com]
Top View
Dot stamped on top of relay refers to pin #1 location
Zener-Diode Suppression consists of 20V Zener-Diode and 1N4002 diode in series, connected in parallel with coil.
Model 2911, 5v Coil Voltage, 3 Coil Option, 2 Coaxial Shield [pins #6 & #7 are tied to optional coaxial shield]
NOTE: Model number is a bit off? This adapter uses 2911-05-320, but the catalog says the last three digits are -nn1.
BDA N0003-001 Rev B [Memory Expansion]
16x MCM51425AP10 256Kx4 CMOS Dynamic RAM