Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!cornell!batcomputer!itsgw!steinmetz!uunet!fsc2086!jim From: jim@fsc2086.UU.NET (Jim O'Connor) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: Responses to Northgate survey Summary: other info on Mylex MB Keywords: Northgate 386 ..The choice is yours Message-ID: <344@fsc2086.UU.NET> Date: 28 Oct 88 14:04:39 GMT References: <10281@alobar.ATT.COM> Distribution: na Organization: Filtration Sciences Corp., Chattanooga, TN Lines: 48 In article <10281@alobar.ATT.COM>, grs@alobar.ATT.COM (Gregg Siegfried) writes: > [ other respsonses deleted ] > > Northgate uses the Mylex 386 mother board. Mylex currently comes in two > flavors and 2 speeds: the MB386 and the XT386 (or some such). Both come > in 16 and 20 MHz speeds. As in my system, the MB386 has been deleted. > XT386 - No motherboard ram - system memory is on a Mylex supplied board > which can be populated with 256-120/100 nsec DRams (100 nsec for > the 20 MHz machine). This board comes in two flavors: A and B. > The B board is reported to accept a daughter board which holds > 1 Meg ram chips - the B board is set up to take the daughter on > the back side, so that it doesn't cost a slot. (I have a daughter > board and an A style memory board - so I haven't really confirmed > this one (:-() I've got the B style memory board (2MB) and a 8 MB daugther board, with 4MB installed. (An 8MB first board is reportedly available.) The daughter board does indeed attach to the back of the memory board and is thin enough so that the case slides right on without any problem. Hats off to AMI for this design (the Mylex board comes from a design by American Megatrends, Inc.) The only disadvantage of this board (over the MB386) is that not all of the physical memory is available to XENIX. This may be a function of the BIOS rather than the MB, but on mine, with 6MB of physical memory installed, only 5760K shows up in the RAM check performed by the BIOS and by XENIX. BTW, the XT prefix designates that this board will fit either the XT or AT form factor, so it can be installed in Baby AT, XT, or those lunch box portable cases. I really like this new design and have had very little trouble with it. When booting XENIX, the start up checks find serial boards that aren't really there, but there's a way to work around this, so it wasn't too bad. If you're going to try putting one together, get a JAMECO catalog (call 415- 592-7108). They've got all the parts you would need (including the XT386), they offer great service, dependable shipping, and a money-back guarantee. --jim ------------- James B. O'Connor +1 615 821 4090 x651 Filtration Sciences Corp. UUCP: uunet!fsc2086!jim 105 West 45th Street or jim@fsc2086.UU.NET Chattanooga, TN 37411