Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sm.unisys.com!csun!csuna!abcscnge
From: abcscnge@csuna.csun.edu (Scott "The Pseudo-Hacker" Neugroschl)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: 16 bit cards vs 8, SHAFTED?
Message-ID: <1723@csuna.csun.edu>
Date: 28 Feb 89 08:07:25 GMT
References: <37020@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <14313@bigtex.cactus.org>
Reply-To: abcscnge@csuna.csun.edu (Scott Neugroschl)
Organization: CSU Northridge
Lines: 36

In article <14313@bigtex.cactus.org> james@bigtex.cactus.org (James Van Artsdalen) writes:
]In <37020@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu>, calhoun@cis.ohio-state.edu (robert r. calhoun) wrote:
]
]> [...] I was asked if I wanted 16 or 8 bit type card, I was told 16
]> was faster, so I chose it.
]
]Definitely much faster.  You can access data 16 bits at a time (in an
]AT), and there are fewer wait states per access (on an AT), though
]this might not be a big deal if the video card inserts large numbers
]of wait states on its own.
]
]> I received the more expensive 16 bit card today (or did I) and it
]> fits in my XT. As a matter of fact I am using it now.  I was under the
]> impression 16 bit cards don't fit in XTs.  Do I have an 8 bit card?
]
]Bizarre though it may seem, at least some 16 bit cards work just fine
]in an 8 bit slot, with the 16 bit edge extension just hanging there in
]mid-air.  The only one I have seen actually do this is the Video-7 16
]bit VGA card.  The hardware people swear this is OK...

Intel does this with theiir AboveBoard/286.  The card is a 16 bit card.
The manual says to leave the AT connector hanging in an XT.  I was tempted
to put some black tape over the connectors so that it wouldn't have any
chance of shorting...  Incidentally, I'll make another comment on the
AboveBoard -- This is the ONLY card I have ever seen that has the right
type of setup, MCA cards included.  Intel put a EEPROM on the card so that
the setup software burns the prom properly, no switches, no (stupid) .ADF
files needed.



-- 
Scott "The Pseudo-Hacker" Neugroschl
UUCP:  ...!sm.unisys.com!csun!csuna.csun.edu!abcscnge
-- "Beat me, whip me, make me code in Ada"
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