Strange VGA board - possibly a prototype

[k2x4b524[]

Along with my Tiny Turbo 286, i have several other good cards. One of which though, is a Chips and Technologies INC 82C451 Evaluation Board C1988

Its got a sticker that says, return to graphics lab, but it appears it is missing it's video processor. It looks, to me like a prototype VGA board, that has db-15 and db-9 on it aswell. I would love to try and find the video processor on it and get it working if i could. And what's that 486 socket doing on it?

 

[Chuck(G)]

Boards like this were often distributed to OEMs to develop their own graphics hardware and software. The 82C451 is a VGA controller; assuming that the PLCC at the right hand side is a RAMDAC, my guess is that the empty PGA socket is likely for a coprocessor such as a TMS34020.

 

[k2x4b524[]

so would it be worth my while to try and find the chips to get this board to work considering this may be almost a one of a kind board. Hell, could you even GET those chips anymore? considering the board can accommodate the surface mounted 82C451 or one that plugs in, or is this board an oddity and is gonna be cool to have?

 

[Chuck(G)]

Well, I'm not speaking as a collector, but as an engineer. I wouldn't bother--this was a manufacturer's evaluation card--they still are used today for all sorts of new ICs. Usually, these things get raided for parts after they've served their purpose. For example, I've got some WD1002FOX ptototype cards. They don't have a BIOS and are minimally populated. They work, but I don;'t think that they're particularly worth anything.

 

[luckybob]

i always get a huge kick out of people taking pictures of STATIC SENSITIVE devices on CARPET. /Sarcasm

But seriously, I think its worth more as-is than the mess with it trying to "make it work" It would most likely be much easier and more stable to find a working model of the same card.

 

[k2x4b524[]

hmm ok, i'll mount it on the wall as a memento then. and as for the pics on the carpet luckybob, i've had less luck killing parts on carpet than in the esd bag, in other words, i have killed more parts in the bags then out of them. So chuck, this board is actually an engineering sample, meaning, while it could be made working, it's not really worth it at all for various reasons?

 

[Chuck(G)]

That's my take on it. "Prototype" doesn't mean one-of-a-kind in normal parlance; just that it's a pre-production evaluation model not intended for sale.

If you want to really scare Bob, take a photo of a board sitting on the top dome of a Van de Graff generator.

 

[luckybob]

or clingy packing peanuts... Those things drive my OCD into overdrive.

 

[k2x4b524[]

cool, i shoulda kept my packing peanuts from my ASUS 21.5" LED flat. BUT I can give him something just as nasty. I work in the air cargo industry, and ALL the freight comes covered in sheets of plastic, drag one of those across the warehouse floor and you get some green lantern style static electricity.