Update: Olivetti P500 Page

Tomas Slavotinek

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Sep 9, 2022, 10:37:11 AM9/9/22

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Had some time to finish the outline (based on UMMR's photo), so the page
is up now:
https://ardent-tool.com/Olivetti/P500.html

(I will do the ALR MPS planar from his website as well.)

If anyone has this machine please let me know. It would be nice to get
info on the PSU, connector pinouts, etc.

Tomas Slavotinek

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Sep 9, 2022, 11:06:27 AM9/9/22

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Oh, and don't forget to check out UMMR's website. He has some really
cool items there:

http://ummr.altervista.org/

The index page is an utter chaos, so here are direct links to the juicy
stuff:

http://ummr.altervista.org/pentium.htm
http://ummr.altervista.org/ibmtechviews.htm
http://ummr.altervista.org/ps270mb.htm
http://ummr.altervista.org/ibmvol2.htm
http://ummr.altervista.org/x86gen3.htm

Louis Ohland

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Sep 9, 2022, 11:08:00 AM9/9/22

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https://ardent-tool.com/datasheets/WD_PVGA1A.pdf

page 6 physical.

3.3 Memory Interface

"In addition, external hardware can be added to allow higher display
resolutions by trading off the number of bits/pixel."

No idea, bet the additional stuff has to be designed in at board-level,
and I'm not seeing anything like "direct color"

I dunno.

Tomas Slavotinek

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Sep 9, 2022, 11:33:45 AM9/9/22

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Yeah, 8 bpp/256 colors max. Additional memory paired with a faster
RAMDAC can give you higher resolutions, but there is no sensible way
around the 8-bit limitation...

But it's still more capable than the stock IBM VGA. And it should be
faster too if one implements the 16 bit wide host iface.

richard smice

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Sep 9, 2022, 1:46:06 PM9/9/22

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https://books.google.com/books?id=eTAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA70&lpg=RA1-PA70&dq=everex+mca+computer&source=bl&ots=Y5-FzmGfU5&sig=ACfU3U0RTiuiKoKltIhMh6Z0GqgjXG2lcQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiLraXWnoj6AhXhElkFHV0FDasQ6AF6BAgkEAM#v=onepage&q=everex%20mca%20computer&f=false

Mitac and everex made a few mca computers as well
I think that I have a old everex 386 somewhere in one of my sheds.. Grid made one as well
It may be just a tandy 5000, But I have some mca cpu boards that say grid on them..

another odd ball is I have a compaq system with a reply upgrade board in them.

and some pc enterprises upgrades for the all in one ps/2's and pc junior..

Tomas Slavotinek

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Sep 10, 2022, 7:17:33 AM9/10/22

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On 09.09.2022 19:46, richard smice wrote:
> Mitac and everex made a few mca computers as well
> I think that I have a old everex 386 somewhere in one of my sheds.. Grid made one as well
> It may be just a tandy 5000, But I have some mca cpu boards that say grid on them..
>
> another odd ball is I have a compaq system with a reply upgrade board in them.
>
> and some pc enterprises upgrades for the all in one ps/2's and pc junior..

Oh wow, I heard of the Reply upgrades for Compaqs, but never ever saw
one. We only have the support files:
https://ardent-tool.com/Reply/Files.html
What generation of the DeskPro is it for? The M series?

And speaking of Mitac... The "ALR MPS" board from UMMR's website was not
made by ALR and it's certainly not from any of their Multi Processor
Systems (MPS). It's actually from Mitac MPS3000F aka Memorex Telex 7270
aka Olivetti P700 aka who knows what else. According to PCmag the
original manufacturer of the board/case is Mitac. But the Olivetti P700
machines have a product sticker from Memorex. Confusing...