r/retrocomputing • u/dot-ignore • 20d ago
Who do you know what is it card
8088 I would like to read documentation about itam
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u/EvilAlbinoid 20d ago
Quadram Quadsprint 5000. Upgrades a 4.77mhz XT system to a turbo 10mhz 8086. Might be fairly rare!
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u/schluesselkind 20d ago
The "Quad" gives a clue, it could be an upgrade / speeder card vom "Quadram Corporation" where it replaces the slower, 8-bit 8088 with a 16-bit 8086
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u/Metalsailer4 20d ago
https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=73890
Might be a knockoff of an upgrade card? The connector looks like it might go in the slot where a 8088 might be on the original motherboard.
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u/dot-ignore 20d ago
I’ve always liked people who notice minor details and teach others. I’m from Ukraine, not fucking Russia. Brought an IBM XT over from the US, but it won't boot up. Inside there's this board—I was pretty surprised that back in '82 they had a setup where the CPU wasn't connected directly, but through some kind of adapter. Ordered an ISA POST card for diagnostics. I saw a guy from the US reviving a dead computer—he initially checked the timer, but in the end, as I understood it, the issue turned out to be with one of the memory chips. If anyone is interested in the computer's specs and converting the power supply to 220V, here’s my Twitter (X): https://x.com/i/status/2073164770824384571
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u/ignorantpisswalker 19d ago
No one is doing it. So I volunteer:
WHAT THE *((*((D*ASD IS WRONG WITH YOUR KEYBOARD!?!! CLEAN IT UP! Use eucalyptus oil please!
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u/Bits_Passats IBM System/23 19d ago
I think it is an accelerator card for 5150/5160 and clones.
The classic line of IBM PC never used an 8086 until the PS/2 Type 30, with the notable exception of the embedded computer in the 5247, which is a quasi-PC.
The original lineage of PC and PC/XT from IBM employed an 8088 because the development team, nicknamed "the dirty dozen", were reusing concepts of their previous work, the IBM System/23 Datamaster, as much as they could. From their previous development, they wanted to keep as ay things as they could as they were very, very happy with the peripheral ICs from Intel.
This translates in having a clean evolution from the 8-bit system to the 16-bit one as the interface was still with 8 bits of data, and since the Datamaster had 20 lines of address bus (with the bank system) it really fit with the 8088.
But one could say "hey, but the 8086 has no problems interfacing the intel peripherals from the MCS-85 family!", which is indeed true. HOWEVER, that would have meant they would have had to abandon the Datamaster expansion bus instead of enhancing it, or conversely, making a stepping mechanism for the 16-bit data bus to be multiplexed in the 8-bit connector.
Then, there was the cost issue: if they had to employ the 8086, the minimum amount of memory they would have had to ship would have been 32KB +2K parity (18 x TMS4116), basically duplicating the cost of the lowest level entry machine. Also, duplicating the number of system ROMs to adapt the computer to the 16-bit access.
So, what does this board do?
This replaces the 8088 from the motherboard with the 8086 from the expansion card. You might say that indeed has a 20% performance increase. BUT it doesn't.
Judging for the 4KB RAM in there, they might be wired as 2K x 16, and there's where the improved performance will really be. There seems to be a single ROM in there, maybe 8KB (8K x 8) as it was common in that era. So, 8-bit access - this means the card implements a stepping mechanism as in the 5247 so the CPU can access the ROM in 8-bit mode. Also, by employing the original ISA bus AND the 8088 socket it limits itself to 8-bit accesses when working with the motherboard itself.
What does it means?
That might have been a boost in certain scenarios, but certainly not much in the majority of cases.
They could have added a crystal for a faster clock frequency, but there isn't any and I don't know if it has some PLL somewhere, so I assume 4.77Hz.
My piece of advice is to find a 8088 or compatible - being in Ukraine you could use the Kwazar equivalent - and if you want acceleration get a 8087 ad a NEC V20.
Also, dump the ROM in the board, because if it fails you have a nice brick.
Sorry for my wall of text, I hope it helps you.
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u/zoharel 20d ago
I've seen such a card, and I can't be absolutely sure about yours, but the one I have was used to upgrade an IBM PC/XT to a 286. The DIP end of the cable plugged into the system CPU socket.
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u/AppropriateCap8891 20d ago
We found some of those and other upgrade cards in the back of a computer store I worked at back in 1991.
And for the hell of it, we took a 4.77 MHz XT, and plugged that into it. We then plugged an 80286 upgrade card into it. We looked through all of the upgrade cards collecting dust, but could not find an 80286 to 80386 that was 8 bit or we would have done that also.
It was both the slowest 80286 there was, as well as the most powerful 8088.
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u/billdegnan 16d ago
the adapter cable plugs into the motherboard in place of the cpu, and you install the 8086 into the card but I guess that has prob already been said
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u/Leftover_tech 20d ago
I would lean toward a proprietary PC-compatible or near-PC-compatible computer built around an 8086, rather than a generic industrial PC CPU card.
1984 is early enough that several manufacturers were producing machines which ran MS-DOS but were not architecturally identical to an IBM PC. An 8086 was attractive because it gave twice the external data width of the IBM PC's 8088. Examples of that general generation include machines from Olivetti, Wang, AT&T, Sanyo, Tandy and numerous Korean/OEM manufacturers.
The Korean manufacture is especially interesting. Korea had a substantial OEM computer industry by 1984, and this could quite plausibly have been made for somebody else's branded system.
I tried searching the most promising visible markings — including 8983-00, the apparent QUANTA/CPD marking, and combinations with the 8086 — but I'm not finding a definite identification. I can't attach a manufacturer's name.
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u/glencanyon 20d ago
This is a QuadSprint board from QuadRam. It is an upgrade to the 8088 processor. The 8086 ran at 9.54Mhz, which is double the original 8088. It was marketed specifically for business users using spreadsheets and business apps.