ITT Xtra XP 80286 6MHz clone & An ITT Mmeory Expansion Board

[liqmat]

So I have a fairly hard to find ITT Xtra XP 80286 6MHz system that is basically in mint condition. It just has two 360K floppy drives and no hard drive. It also has 640K on-board. I found this very hard to find ITT 8-bit ISA memory expansion board and from the photos you can see it was specifically made for this motherboard. Without this board installed and playing with the memory dip switches on the motherboard I can toggle it between 512K and 640K. Bank 1 is 128K and Bank 2 is 512K. On the expansion board there is 512K on bank 3 and an empty bank 4. When I turn the machine on without the memory board it reads correctly 640K during post and tests all good with the CheckIt utility software. When I add the expansion board, at post it now will read 1536K RAM which makes no sense unless bank 4 was populated, but it's not. Worse yet DOS does not see the board with Himem.sys. From what I am reading this board would be handled as expanded memory??? Either way, post sees it, but DOS does not. Does this mean I need a driver for this board? If I do I think I am screwed because I can't find a driver for this memory expansion board anywhere on the Interwebs and it did not come with one when I bought it. If you have any insight on this I would much appreciate it. Thanks.

ITTMEMXPAND.jpgITTMEMSLOT.jpgmobomem.jpgxpandmem.jpgpostmemtest.jpg

[SpidersWeb]

640 to 1024KB is reserved, so perhaps in the memory count it's jumping those 384KB to show where the memory ends. [Edit: I had another theory, but after seeing 4164's, realized I was wrong]

I'd also take a guess that it uses expanded memory (EMS). Not too surprising as EMS can actually be more useful for DOS software a lot of the time. Sometimes generic or common brand EMS drivers will work for clone stuff because it was a bit of a standard. A lot of my no-name brand EMS boards run just fine off Intel EMS drivers - guessing the IO port can be fun though and there is no guarantees.

I have the 8088 version of that machine, but finding much about it or parts combined with it having sat under someone's house for a long period of time, equated to me not getting it running. No idea if this post helps, but cool to see another ITT!

[krebizfan]

I believe it does not use EMS. It was released about the same time as the EMS was first announced. It may support the earlier Tall Tree standard or its own memory design. The disk cache and print spooler included with ITT's own DOS seem to be the only programs that work with the extra memory.

Edit: Found Feb 24, 1987 PC Magazine review of it which indicates it did not support either Expanded or Extended Memory even after more than 2 years on the market.

[liqmat]

I believe it does not use EMS. It was released about the same time as the EMS was first announced. It may support the earlier Tall Tree standard or its own memory design. The disk cache and print spooler included with ITT's own DOS seem to be the only programs that work with the extra memory.

Edit: Found Feb 24, 1987 PC Magazine review of it which indicates it did not support either Expanded or Extended Memory even after more than 2 years on the market.

Hmmm... I have the original disks for ITT DOS 2.11 and the ITT Advanced Basic 2.0. Not sure how I would set the disk cache with ITT DOS, but from what you are saying it sounds like the extra memory on that card could only be used for specific purposes and not general purpose. Tell me if I am hearing you right. Thank you.

[liqmat]

I believe it does not use EMS. It was released about the same time as the EMS was first announced. It may support the earlier Tall Tree standard or its own memory design. The disk cache and print spooler included with ITT's own DOS seem to be the only programs that work with the extra memory.

Edit: Found Feb 24, 1987 PC Magazine review of it which indicates it did not support either Expanded or Extended Memory even after more than 2 years on the market.

Man you were absolutely correct. After reading the following article it seems something called FXP from ITT would setup a hard disk cache and/or disk spooler that utilized that memory board if I am reading it right. About four paragraphs down in the article. I have ITT DOS 2.11, but am wondering if FXP was a separate disk that came with the system as I do not see anything on the 2.11 disk that relates to these features. I do see a hdsetup.com. Either way, I can't use it so 640K for me on this sytem. I'll just remove the expansion card and put it into climate controlled storage for now. Thanks for this info. It takes the mystery out of it at least.

Update: Actually I misread it. ITT DOS 2.11 has nothing that will take advantage of that memory expansion board. Only the additional ITT FXP utility will. Further down the article it explains the expansion board.

"Memory can be expanded beyond 640K with a proprietary expansion board from ITT. The board is available with 512K onboard and room for an additional 512K. The board can be used with FXP for cache and print buffering, with VDISK as a RAM disk, or via a software switch, as expansion memory for programs that take advantage of the Protected Virtual Address mode of the 80286."

[liqmat]

Sorry about that. Here is the link to that article.

https://www.atarimagazines.com/creat...e_power_of.php

[2icebitn]

It's not an AT keep in mind, but an XT with an 80286 retrofitted. It has 8 bit expansion slots. Anyome that's familiar with the machine knows this of course.

[liqmat]

It's not an AT keep in mind, but an XT with an 80286 retrofitted. It has 8 bit expansion slots. Anyome that's familiar with the machine knows this of course.

Which probably explains a lot as to why this memory expansion card can only do a couple of proprietary tricks. I did notice the few articles out there about the XP model refer to it as an XT/286 hybrid of sorts. This intrigued me even more of course as I only owned the XT model back in the mid 80s as a teenager.

[liqmat]

From this article it looks like FXP was an upgrade memory software utility from ITT. It also came with new systems. Now I just need to find this FXP software utility so I can actually use this card for once. I don't think this will be an easy find. If anyone comes across ITT's FXP software I would deeply appreciate it if you could let me know. I'll keep hunting.

https://books.google.com/books?id=My...page&q&f=false

[krebizfan]

One of the articles quoted says that VDisk will work. If ITT's VDisk was the same as IBM's, then the memory expansion card would work with software using INT15 to access memory above 1 MB. So track down a copy of VDISK and see if you can get a RAMDISK that way. If that works, then other extended memory utilities that rely on INT15 should also work. INT15 is an unfriendly and slow interface with limited functionality so most programs defaulted to using XMS or tricks to directly access memory which requires adhering to the IBM AT standard. Check for option switches.

[liqmat]

One of the articles quoted says that VDisk will work. If ITT's VDisk was the same as IBM's, then the memory expansion card would work with software using INT15 to access memory above 1 MB. So track down a copy of VDISK and see if you can get a RAMDISK that way. If that works, then other extended memory utilities that rely on INT15 should also work. INT15 is an unfriendly and slow interface with limited functionality so most programs defaulted to using XMS or tricks to directly access memory which requires adhering to the IBM AT standard. Check for option switches.

I'll look into that. Thanks. Because as it stands right now no memory expansion board driver I've tried sees the card. I tried Intel's 8-bit Above Board driver, etc. from this site:

http://ibm-pc.org/drivers/memory/memory.htm

I haven't tried them all, but I am not holding my breath. Shooting in the dark at this point.

Found another weird feature of this system from that article as well. Apparently it had a key command that acted like a turbo toggle button. Going back to 2icebitn's post about it being an XT board with a 80286 stuck on it, this feature sort of shows that. If you use the key combo CTRL-ALT-\ this toggles you from the normal 80286 6MHz speed to an XT class machine. When you do this key command you hear a deeper slow beep when in XT mode and a faster higher pitch beep when in AT mode. Double checked it with the CheckIt utility and sure enough in XT mode I am getting 396 dhrystones and in AT mode I am getting 1417 dhrystones. Why they just didn't stick a button on the front is beyond me. I had to sit there and trial and error on the key command because I could not find it documented anywhere in my search. The first article mentioned just refers to it as CTRL-ALT-command because they just didn't know at the time of the article I'm guessing.

[krebizfan]

Sorry, I made a mistake before. IBM's VDISK did not use the BIOS 15h functions; it used its own method of accessing extended memory. IBM included the source code VDISK.ASM with PCDOS to provide an example of extended memory usage. Did ITT include any source code for drivers?

[liqmat]

Sorry, I made a mistake before. IBM's VDISK did not use the BIOS 15h functions; it used its own method of accessing extended memory. IBM included the source code VDISK.ASM with PCDOS to provide an example of extended memory usage. Did ITT include any source code for drivers?

Unfortunately all I have is the ITT Xtra XP 80286 6MHz system, the ITT memory expansion board, the original full length CGA ISA card, the original ITT keyboard (which was VERY hard to locate and a Vogons.org user happened to stumble across one) and the full set of user manuals in mint condition off of Ebay which really was for the Xtra 8088 XT system and not the XP system, but they are close enough where the dip switches on the main board match. The only software I have are the original disks that come with those manuals which is ITT DOS v2.11 and ITT Advanced Basic v2.0. So unfortunately I have nothing else beyond that. There is so very little info on these ITT clone systems to begin with and very little ITT hardware comes through Ebay as well. I would want to restore a system that is this difficult, but I had one in childhood and now I am restoring it for museum display use. The FXP utility was an upgrade for existing users and it looks like it was $85 according to that article and it came with newer systems. I have this bad feeling most copies were thrown out with the systems or lost in large lots of floppy disks. I am hoping through a cash bounty incentive someone will come across it and image for me or even better, send me a working physical copy so I can image it.

Update: So it turns out this FXP utility supposedly came with ITT DOS 2.11 version 2.1 which was, from what I have been reading, a two disk set. I have the original ITT DOS 2.11, but only version 2.0 which did not come with those extra utilities. If anyone out there might have a copy of these disks or even could image them for me I would be willing to pay for it as I cannot find any download images of 2.11 v2.1.

[2icebitn]

The original ITT XTRA was sold through Service Merchandise, the only place I've ever seen it, a chain store that in some ways (some departments anyway) resembled a pawn shop. I think a portion of their business was through a catalog. There was something "different" about them. Maybe they were a front for some illegal activity LOL. I never saw the XTRA XP in a store, I ordered mine from an ad in Computer Shopper IIRC, some surplus outfit in Ohio. It was absolutely bare bones, not even a floppy drive (no CGA or anything else either). I had to add everything. About 600$. It never gave me a problem. That is, until, I started fiddling with it's circuitry. What a rube. The Tandy 1000 that was comparable, don't ask me the specific model (TX? SX?), with the 80286, was noticeably faster when playing Ikari Warriors. I attributed it to it having onboard CGA (albeit enhanced). I held onto the keyboard and the manual for a long time after I ditched the unit. I should have offered all that on eBay I suppose.

[liqmat]

The original ITT XTRA was sold through Service Merchandise, the only place I've ever seen it, a chain store that in some ways (some departments anyway) resembled a pawn shop. I think a portion of their business was through a catalog. There was something "different" about them. Maybe they were a front for some illegal activity LOL. I never saw the XTRA XP in a store, I ordered mine from an ad in Computer Shopper IIRC, some surplus outfit in Ohio. It was absolutely bare bones, not even a floppy drive (no CGA or anything else either). I had to add everything. About 600$. It never gave me a problem. That is, until, I started fiddling with it's circuitry. What a rube. The Tandy 1000 that was comparable, don't ask me the specific model (TX? SX?), with the 80286, was noticeably faster when playing Ikari Warriors. I attributed it to it having onboard CGA (albeit enhanced). I held onto the keyboard and the manual for a long time after I ditched the unit. I should have offered all that on eBay I suppose.

I don't remember where my parents bought our original Xtra XT system back in 83/84, but I do remember it sat right next to my Atari 1040ST at one point. They both got heavy use and all got sold at one point. I found this current Xtra XP system on Ebay in mint almost new condition for very cheap so I could not resist. I did not even realize ITT had released this weird hybrid XT/80286 system in the first place, but it is kind of a neat crossover system and why it will be on its way to a museum at some point that I regularly donate to. One thing I am actively looking for whether in download or physical copy is ITT DOS 2.11 version 2.1 two disk set. I have the original ITT DOS 2.11 version 2.0 that shipped with the XT system, but it does not have the extra utilities like FXP, VDISK.SYS, etc. that version 2.1 of ITT DOS 2.11 had. I can't find it anywhere on the Interwebs and am thinking of offering a cash reward if someone can find it in their stash of old hardware/software. Working of course.

I remember Service Merchandise and it was a weird store. You would shop for products on their sales floor and then go to a back room and wait for the product to come out on a conveyor belt or something like that. LOL