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List:       sunrescue
Subject:    Re: [rescue] Raster flex SBus card anyone?
From:       Chase Rayfield <cusbrar2 () yahoo ! com>
Date:       2016-06-30 21:34:40
Message-ID: 798563530.1695080.1467322480817.JavaMail.yahoo () mail ! yahoo ! com
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I think it is very unlikely that it is a ZX clone. The chips on the ZX are custom \
ASICs... which means any clones would have had to have been authorized since the \
architecture isn't a common one (potentially reverse engineered but that is \
unlikely), also I doubt Sun would have spent the money to shrink them down any \
further so if the same ASICs were used it wouldn't have fit on a single width double \
stacked board since the ZX is double width double stacked. Alot of that is indeed the \
video memory but at least one side of the whole accelerator is covered in ASICs. The \
main reasons older GX cards were so large is the ram I belive which is already much \
less of an issue on the ZX than the GX. In other words a shrunk ZX would have been a \
too orthogonal a move especially with 64bit Sparc workstations and their graphics \
hardware around the corner it would have been a major overhaul rather than a minor \
change to the memory circuits.


I suppose it could be a partial ZX with a less wide processor pipe the ZX normally \
has 5. But I've never heard of any such card only the ZX and TZX which is a ZX with \
additional cooling If I remember right it occupies the sbus slots above it with fans.


I'll post some high res picks of my ZX, RasterFlex HR and a couple CG6s for the \
interested later this evening.


It does make me wonder what the DB9 port is for... though perhaps it is to interface \
with some projector or other custom equipment that would have required additional \
control signals? It any case it will be very hard to tell anything without photos of \
the other side of the board. _______________________________________________
rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue


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