VGA on AT&T 6300
CHRISTOPHER M MAY
vga on her AT&T 6300. I have set the Main Board Switches for
"EGA or Display Adapter Disabled", and have tried ET4000,BOCA BASIC,
and old Zenith VGA 8bit. The best I can get is 3 beeps and the machine
appearing to boot, however no video. It even seems slot dependant.
Does Anyone have VGA working on an AT&T 6300?
I seem to recall having done this in the past, but.....
Just the reassurance that someone else actually has this working
would be great.
Dave Wallis
In article <2hhis5$9...@nic.umass.edu> cm...@titan.ucs.umass.edu (CHRISTOPHER M MAY) writes:
CHRISTOPHER> NNTP-Posting-Host: titan.ucs.umass.edu
CHRISTOPHER> X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]
CHRISTOPHER> I Know, it sounds scary, but, I have a client who would
CHRISTOPHER> like to run vga on her AT&T 6300. I have set the Main
CHRISTOPHER> Board Switches for "EGA or Display Adapter Disabled", and
CHRISTOPHER> have tried ET4000,BOCA BASIC, and old Zenith VGA 8bit.
CHRISTOPHER> The best I can get is 3 beeps and the machine appearing
CHRISTOPHER> to boot, however no video. It even seems slot dependant.
CHRISTOPHER> Does Anyone have VGA working on an AT&T 6300? I seem to
CHRISTOPHER> recall having done this in the past, but..... Just the
CHRISTOPHER> reassurance that someone else actually has this working
CHRISTOPHER> would be great.
CHRISTOPHER>
Welllll..... it depends on which version of the 6300 hardware you
have. I haven't opened one up in a while, but here's the jist of it:
There are at least 3 hardware revs of the "bus board" (the vertical
board near the center of the case). On the first version, it was
nearly impossible to support other than the indigenous video. With the
second version, you have to un-solder a chip, and replace it with a
socket. To runa VGA board, the chip is removed from the socket and
replaced with a DIP header with a number of jumpers. The jumpers
disable (if memmory serves me) the address resolution on the board.
With the third version, the socket in question is installed at the
factory. I have successfully installed VGA on a couple 6300's, but
like I said, it's been a few years. If you want more specific info,
drop me a line, and I'll try to dig up the real technical data.
In general, my experience has been that it's easier to throw away the
6300 and buy a new system than to mess around with this.
Hope I helped!
--
Dave Wallis (wal...@psychosis.ssc.gov)
SSC Laboratory,
Dallas, TX
(214)708-3410
CHRISTOPHER M MAY
: >>>>> On 18 Jan 1994 21:04:05 GMT, cm...@titan.ucs.umass.edu (CHRISTOPHER M MAY) said:
: In article <2hhis5$9...@nic.umass.edu> cm...@titan.ucs.umass.edu (CHRISTOPHER M MAY) writes:
: CHRISTOPHER> NNTP-Posting-Host: titan.ucs.umass.edu
: CHRISTOPHER> X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]
: CHRISTOPHER> I Know, it sounds scary, but, I have a client who would
: CHRISTOPHER> like to run vga on her AT&T 6300.
: In general, my experience has been that it's easier to throw away the
: 6300 and buy a new system than to mess around with this.
: Hope I helped!
I agree. We convinced the client that this was not the way to go.
We gave them an old AT&T EGA which was donated to us.
Of course, we had no choice since the CRT board would no longer
power the monochrome monitor after we had set the switches to color
and plugged in the AT&T color monitor :).
Should one disconnect the 14.2V power cable from the CRT board when
connecting an AT&T color monitor to one of these beasts?
I guess so, eh?
The info is sort of moot now, but I would like to know for future
reference.
Thanks again for your response.
-Chris M.
Dave Wallis
CHRISTOPHER> : CHRISTOPHER> I Know, it sounds scary, but, I have a
CHRISTOPHER> : CHRISTOPHER> client who would like to run vga on her
CHRISTOPHER> : CHRISTOPHER> AT&T 6300.
CHRISTOPHER> : In general, my experience has been that it's easier to
CHRISTOPHER> : throw away the 6300 and buy a new system than to mess
CHRISTOPHER> : around with this.
CHRISTOPHER> : Hope I helped!
CHRISTOPHER> I agree. We convinced the client that this was not the
CHRISTOPHER> way to go. We gave them an old AT&T EGA which was
CHRISTOPHER> donated to us.
CHRISTOPHER> Of course, we had no choice since the CRT board would no
CHRISTOPHER> longer power the monochrome monitor after we had set the
CHRISTOPHER> switches to color and plugged in the AT&T color monitor
CHRISTOPHER> :). Should one disconnect the 14.2V power cable from the
CHRISTOPHER> CRT board when connecting an AT&T color monitor to one of
CHRISTOPHER> these beasts? I guess so, eh?
CHRISTOPHER> The info is sort of moot now, but I would like to know
CHRISTOPHER> for future reference.
CHRISTOPHER> Thanks again for your response.
CHRISTOPHER> -Chris M.
I have never bothered to disconnect the 14.2V power cable. The AT&T
color monitor should isolate the power pin (although other monitors
may not). AT&T has been notorious in the past for running power on un-
or little-used pins on "standard" connectors, including RS232.
Sometimes connecting non-AT&T equipment results in unwanted surprises!