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Offline orangeTopic starter

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identifying Zorro cards?
« on: May 28, 2008, 08:45:27 AM »
what is the easiest way to identify unknown card as usable in Amiga and not ISA/VLB/.. etc?
Better sorry than worry.
 

Offline Chain

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Re: identifying Zorro cards?
« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2008, 09:04:08 AM »
too lazy to use shift key properly...
 

Offline spirantho

Re: identifying Zorro cards?
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2008, 10:32:39 AM »
Easiest way - stick it in the slot. If it fits, it's right. [1]

Zorro cards are quite distinctive because they have one long cardedge with 100pins on. ISA has 2 sections (unless they're 8-bit in which case they're much smaller), PCI has much more dense, smaller connector, VLB is ISA with even more stuff tagged on the end. AGP is PCI sized but has two sets of pins on the connector edge.



[1] This applies to many facets of life, not just Amiga boards.
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Offline Hodgkinson

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Re: identifying Zorro cards?
« Reply #3 on: May 28, 2008, 05:17:05 PM »
On a similar note, does anyone know (Or can measure) the length of the zorro slot PCB edge-connector - Eg, the board edge, as opposed to the connector into which it fits (On any Zorro version)?

Could be useful to help ID Zorro boards in assorted PC-bits boxes...
Main A1200D: WB3.0, 3.1 ROMs, 2GB HDD, Blizzard 1230IV (64MB RAM + FPU) and a whole load of custom heatsinks... :flame:
 

Offline spirantho

Re: identifying Zorro cards?
« Reply #4 on: May 28, 2008, 05:26:36 PM »
Shouldn't be necessary, they're quite distinctive.

Take a look here:
http://www.daffi.org/Busslot.htm

The Zorro cards look of a similar length connector to the ISA, but slightly longer and with no gap.

Also, of course, because the Amiga was designed for bridgeboards using ISA slots, the Zorro slots are in line with the ISA. Hence any Zorro slot with a blanking plate (most are) will be full-length. If the blanking plate is next to the connector, it's not a Zorro card (but it could feasibly be an Amiga card for the video slot).
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Offline alexh

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Re: identifying Zorro cards?
« Reply #5 on: May 28, 2008, 09:15:15 PM »
Quote

orange wrote:
what is the easiest way to identify unknown card as usable in Amiga and not ISA/VLB/.. etc?

Send in a picture and I'll tell you what it is in minutes ;-)
 

Offline spirantho

Re: identifying Zorro cards?
« Reply #6 on: May 28, 2008, 09:33:30 PM »
That sounds like a challenge. :)
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Offline Boot_WB

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Re: identifying Zorro cards?
« Reply #7 on: May 28, 2008, 10:10:41 PM »
Quote
On a similar note, does anyone know (Or can measure) the length of the zorro slot PCB edge-connector - Eg, the board edge, as opposed to the connector into which it fits (On any Zorro version)?

Zorro 2 or 3:
2.54 mm pitch connectors (0.1") x 50 + 2.54 = ~130mm

Regards



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Offline Hodgkinson

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Re: identifying Zorro cards?
« Reply #8 on: May 30, 2008, 09:22:33 AM »
Thanks for the info! Time to make a Zorro ruler, me thinks...

Hodgkinson.
Main A1200D: WB3.0, 3.1 ROMs, 2GB HDD, Blizzard 1230IV (64MB RAM + FPU) and a whole load of custom heatsinks... :flame:
 

Offline darksun9210

Re: identifying Zorro cards?
« Reply #9 on: May 30, 2008, 09:36:43 AM »
personally, i'd love to know where there is a "card bin" with old kit in it that has amiga zorro cards in there. i'd have thought they would either have been sold, or recycled/metal re-claimed by now. nothing like scavenging and finding gems of kit

maybe its just inconceivable to me that anyone would dump amiga parts :-o  :lol:

A500 Vampire2/minimegachip/lazarus/indyECS
A600 Vampire2/604n/subway/IndyECS
A1200 PiStorm32+Pi4/subway/IndyAGA
A1200 PiStorm32+Pi4/subway/IndyAGA
A1200 PiStorm32+Pi4/subway/IndyAGA
A3k C=040/CV64-3D/Xsurf100+RRoadUSB/Zoram256/acard scsi-ide-CF/IndyECS,
A4k CSMk3-060/CV64-3D/Xsurf100+RRoadUSB/Bigram256/IndyAGA, mediator+pci cards
CD32 TF360/IndyAGA
Plus an SGI O2 & consoles.
 

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Re: identifying Zorro cards?
« Reply #10 on: May 30, 2008, 11:12:15 AM »
I've seen that kind of bin, but not for a good dozen years.... I've even seen old altairs and similar vintage hardware just stacked under 20 years of 'miscellanous metal boxes with switches' in scrap yards, but not in a long time.