Verticom H-256 EGA Card

[Shadow Lord]

Hello All,

I just picked up MerrickD's Verticom H-256 EGA Card (BTW: Excellent packing and a very easy transaction). This thing is a beauty and huge. It gives the PGC a run for its money (pictures to follow). I've been using google fu and have found very minimal info on this unit. I am guessing that is because of its MASSIVE original price back in the day. I thought the PGC was expensive but according to the October, 1986 issue of Infoworld (that was a great magazine) the card cost a whopping $33,795. Yep thats $34 large.

It also mentions the card can do 1024x768@256 out of a color pallet of 4096. The info is at the bottom of page 41.

Anyone have any more info, maybe drivers, etc, for this beastie? Thanks!

Edit: They also apparently had a SW driver for ths card called TwinView for use with Autocad.

 

[Chuck(G)]

Looks like a typo to me.

Look at the H16--same resolution, just 16 colors (of 262K) for $2995. The H256 adds more planes (but the palette is only 4096 colors) and probably sold for $3795--that extra "3" is superfluous.

$33K would have bought a high-end workstation, which would be the logical step when you needed lots of graphics horsepower.

I would guess that any drivers would be application-specific (e.g. AutoCAD), rather than general-purpose.

 

[Shadow Lord]

Looks like a typo to me.

Look at the H16--same resolution, just 16 colors (of 262K) for $2995. The H256 adds more planes (but the palette is only 4096 colors) and probably sold for $3795--that extra "3" is superfluous.

I would guess that any drivers would be application-specific (e.g. AutoCAD), rather than general-purpose.

Chuck(G),

I can definetly accept that it is a typo. Looking through Infoworld I see so many "outlandish prices" (compared to what we are used to now a days) that $34K is not surprising to me. It seemed a bit over the top but then so are $1000 1GB SCSI HDD.

Even at $4K that is hefty price tag in 86 dollars. I also agree that any drivers would have been application specific. For example the TwinView drivers I reference above were for AutoCAD only. I doubt they ever developed a Win 3x or (even a Win 286) driver set for this card.

I would assume the high res would only run on a MultiSync monitor and not on a std. EGA monitor so for now i can't get anything better than std. EGA. Although, it owuld be nice to do some video benchmarks to see if it was any "faster" then a regular old EGA card/STD IBM EGA card!

 

[Chuck(G)]

I looked in my PC Tech product guide for 1987 and while the board is mentioned, no price is given. But generally, the Verticom prices ran between 1-5K. That price isn't particularly outrageous for a high-resolution card of that vintage. It would be faster than an IBM EGA card, simply because of the 16-bit bus.

I wonder about the CRT connector--obviously, the card can support two displays. But a DE9 EGA connector (digital) only supports 6 bits of color--64 colors. There simply aren't enough pins on a standard EGA connector for 256 colors.

 

[Shadow Lord]

Verticom H-256 EGA Card Pictures

Verticom H-256 EGA Card Pictures

As promised pictures:

Front:

Back:

Side:

Top:

Board 1:

Board 2:

Board 3:

Ports:

 

[Shadow Lord]

It would be faster than an IBM EGA card, simply because of the 16-bit bus.

I wonder about the CRT connector--obviously, the card can support two displays. But a DE9 EGA connector (digital) only supports 6 bits of color--64 colors. There simply aren't enough pins on a standard EGA connector for 256 colors.

Chuck(G): Isn't the card 8 bit? I know there are two sets of 8bit connectors but the second one seems to be very minimally used. I am guessing for power only? Verticom also had a 16bit card but it was not he H-256. I am not sure on the connector issue. Maybe Infoworld got the color support wrong as well? It would be nice to have the manual to see how this thing worked.

 

[MerrickD]

Glad to see that it arrived in one piece. I always get a little nervous about shipping things. I'm actually glad you made a thread since I was never able to find any info about it (I never saw that infoworld scan before, very interesting).

 

[Shadow Lord]

Well, half the fun of getting these old items is discussing them with everyone else and trying to figuer out how to use, repair, and best enjoy them. Plus if someone needs info (hopefully) they can refer back to these pages for some knowledge!

 

[Chuck(G)]

Chuck(G): Isn't the card 8 bit? I know there are two sets of 8bit connectors but the second one seems to be very minimally used. I am guessing for power only? Verticom also had a 16bit card but it was not he H-256. I am not sure on the connector issue. Maybe Infoworld got the color support wrong as well? It would be nice to have the manual to see how this thing worked.

No, it's my bad eyes--I was going by the photo over at Recycled Goods (did you get it from them?) and mis-remembering what I saw.

 

[Shadow Lord]

No, it's my bad eyes--I was going by the photo over at Recycled Goods (did you get it from them?) and mis-remembering what I saw.

No I got it form our own MerrickD. Although I am not as much against RG as some of the other guys I rather buy from a forum member any day.

 

[Shadow Lord]

Bumping in hopes some one has a bit more info on this card.... I plan on testing it out w/ a 5154 and a 7534 EGA monitor later this week.

 

[Shadow Lord]

Bumping in hopes some one has a bit more info on this card.... I plan on testing it out w/ a 5154 and a 7534 EGA monitor later this week.

Well, I am still looking for info on this card. I tested it out with a 5154 and here is what I got:

1. Connecting to the top connector produces an out of sync mess.
2. Connecting to the bottom port seems to "work"
2a. Setting dip switch 6 to closed and connecting the EGA monitor to the bottom port causes the computer to beep three times.
2b. If 6 is open then no matter what the other switches are doing (open or closed) I get a picture on the EGA screen but it is blurry and slanted but I can make out the fact that the post RAM check routine is happening. I am almost positive I tried all 32 combinations of switches but since I was going by memory there is a possibility I missed one or two.

So I am left with two possibilites:

1. the card is broken which is why the picture does not come on
2. The card only works with a multisync monitor and not a true EGA
3. I've got a setting off somewhere and thats why itsn't working

These are times I wish I had a good solid multi-sync monitor... Oh well.

So I am still looking for manuals, info, or drivers for this card if anyone has them. Thanks!

So I am

 

[SunDown79]

So as a lot of other people are probably too, I am going through some of my cards and I also have a card like this, only a H-16.
But was wondering if you ever got any further with this card ?

 

[Shadow Lord]

So as a lot of other people are probably too, I am going through some of my cards and I also have a card like this, only a H-16.
But was wondering if you ever got any further with this card ?

Sorry for the late reply. However, until recently the forum has not been informing me of new posts so....

I did not. In fact I am not even sure where I put the card. My plan was/is to try it out with a Multisync monitor and see if it can lock onto anything. The only MultiSync I have at this point is a NEC 2A (hmm... come to think of it I have no idea where that is either....) so hopefully it will work with that monitor.