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JDR MCT 8-bit IDE controller

mikey99

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There were some discussions about the JDR MCT 8-bit IDE card in another post awhile back.

This card was originally marketed by JDR Microdevices under their brand Modular Circuit
Technology back in the late 80's/early 90's.

I purchased one of these recently (on the auction site) and took a couple of pictures. The card
only works with drives up to 528 MB but has a few unique features one being an additional
interface on the back to attach an external IDE drive. I'm sure the soon to be released 8-bit IDE
controller will blow this one away......

anyone else have one of these cards ?



DSCF0056..jpgDSCF0065..jpgDSCF0060..jpgDSCF0058..jpg
 
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I use to buy stuff from JDR and thought they made a 8bit IDE controller but I have never seen one anywhere in recent history. Look like a great find. What did you have to give up for it?

framer
 
$36 shipped , which seems a bit high , but I had been looking for this card for
some time so I couldn't pass it up. It even came with a one year warranty, and the original
box, packaging and documentation. I have a few old JDR catalogs laying around which show the card
....originally sold for $79 back in the early 90's.

There's more info on the card on the JDR web site at this link :
http://www.jdr.com/PDF/mct-ide8.PDF
 
Does anyone have a scan of the full manual for this card? All I can find is JDR's ad for it, which doesn't list the jumper settings.
 
$36.00 shipped was a steal, IMHO.

framer

About 13 years ago, 2008, you couldn't find a 8-bit IDE anyware. Maybe not rare as they say, but definitely scarce, hence the forum's own XT-IDE. Yeah, it's been that long.
 
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I have the manual, not a lot of info there but here's a few pages ......

EDIT: The images are out of order ...... can't figure out how to reorder them :-(


Click image for larger version  Name:	6.jpg Views:	0 Size:	121.1 KB ID:	1209687 Click image for larger version  Name:	3.jpg Views:	0 Size:	144.0 KB ID:	1209688 Click image for larger version  Name:	5.jpg Views:	0 Size:	103.0 KB ID:	1209689 Click image for larger version  Name:	2.jpg Views:	0 Size:	158.7 KB ID:	1209690 Click image for larger version  Name:	1.jpg Views:	0 Size:	140.7 KB ID:	1209691 Click image for larger version  Name:	4.jpg Views:	0 Size:	127.8 KB ID:	1209692
 
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Thanks, I copied the images and save them for future reference. That's a card I'd buy if it could be had a a reasonable price. I've always like most of the MCT line of cards.

11 years between posts, cool...
 
"-Tested and Working condition"

Somehow I doubt that (the tested bit that is - I'm sure it works fine). :)

vwestlife, would you mind dumping the BIOS when you receive the card? Perhaps I can add support for it to the XUB. BTW, it's funny how the manual says JP4 is used during "factory testing" when it's very obvious that it's used for selecting the ROM size. :)
 
I'd also be interested in getting a copy of the BIOS to see if it's a more recent version.

My card's BIOS contains the following string:
Centos CI-1020 ROM BIOS Version 3.30for ISA 286, 386SX, 386DX, 486SL, 486 System.
(c) Copyright 1990, 91. Centos Inc. All rights reserved.
 
Adding that BIOS file here......
BTW, mine also contains this header info, I think this is from the program I used to extract the BIOS (years ago)

Filename: CE00.bin
Created: 1980-01-01 00:03:26
Desc: PCJRCART v1.1 ROM Extension dump
Start: CE00:0000, len 0x1800
 

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  • CE00.zip
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Adding that BIOS file here......
BTW, mine also contains this header info, I think this is from the program I used to extract the BIOS (years ago)

Filename: CE00.bin
Created: 1980-01-01 00:03:26
Desc: PCJRCART v1.1 ROM Extension dump
Start: CE00:0000, len 0x1800
1. I removed the header that was added by Mike Brutman's PCJRCART utility.
2. Then I padded out the image to make an 8 KB sized file.
3. Then I added the image to [here].

A possible problem:
The 'ROM size' byte (see [here]) is 0C indicating that the code size in the 2764 ROM (8 KB) ROM is 6 KB.
Because of that, the PCJRCART utility fetched and wrote 6 KB to file.
I have encountered BIOS ROM's where the code extends past what the 'ROM size' byte indicates.
 
A possible problem:
The 'ROM size' byte (see [here]) is 0C indicating that the code size in the 2764 ROM (8 KB) ROM is 6 KB.
Because of that, the PCJRCART utility fetched and wrote 6 KB to file.
I have encountered BIOS ROM's where the code extends past what the 'ROM size' byte indicates.
It looks like the area after the BIOS is actually RAM. The BIOS appears to be storing variables in offset 1Cxxh (beyond the 7 KB boundary).

EDIT: You're right, the BIOS ends with a cut off string.
 
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The card has jumpers for 2 KB and 8 KB, and 2 KB is the factory default. So maybe the ROM is only 2 K in size? There is no setup or formatting routine in it. It just auto-identifies whatever drive(s) you connect to it. And yes, it does work with a CF card adapter, although it may display "Drive failure" during POST and then proceed to actually work fine with it.
 
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