Help ID'ing a strange NuBus card?

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SpaceBoy's picture
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Help ID'ing a strange NuBus card?

Hi everyone,

I've got an odd card - an "Accelerator Board II" sporting 4 30-pin SIMM sticks and a large IC with the RasterOps logo stamped on it.

I assume it's some sort of video/graphics accelerator card, but I've been completely unable to find any info whatsoever.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Huxley

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I have a couple of the origin

I have a couple of the original accelerators.

The RAM can be used for a RAM drive, or for GWORLD memory (or combinations of both).

The card was used to accelerate quickdraw for the video cards before video cards did it on their own. Drivers can be found in the normal Rasterops video driver disks.

SpaceBoy's picture
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Re: I have a couple of the origin

I have a couple of the original accelerators.

The RAM can be used for a RAM drive, or for GWORLD memory (or combinations of both).

The card was used to accelerate quickdraw for the video cards before video cards did it on their own. Drivers can be found in the normal Rasterops video driver disks.

That's awesome info! Do you think it would do any good to install the board (and drivers) in my IIfx, which is running a SuperMac Spectrum 8 board?

Thanks again - this has been a mystery for a few years now! In fact, if you type "Accelerator Board II" into Google, the only hit was a posting of mine over at the 68kMLA forums.

Best wishes,

Huxley

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The standard Rasterops video

The standard Rasterops video driver install has drivers for the original board and the model II that you have. Just do a custom install and check the accelerator option. I don't know if it speeds up Supermac video cards but it should, also it speeds up all the Nubus video cards in the system. I noticed a speed boost when using the card (16MB RAM installed) with an older Rasterops card in a IIci.You should have a control panel installed that allows you to turn acceleration on and off, and also configure the RAM between Gworld and RAMdisk.

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The accelerator will improve

The accelerator will improve the performance of many NuBus cards -- do a search for NuBus bus master. SuperMac made many versions of the Spectrum 8 (and 24) cards. Early or entry level cards may not support bus mastering and thus will not be accelerated.

RasterOps drivers are hard to find. If any reader has copies, please contact me and I'll sort out distribution.

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Mac driver museum has 'em . . .

in version 3.2 and 3.3, go here to the Knighttech archives.

I have a v3.3.1 tho it might be the same as the 3.3 at MDM above.

from the Read Me:

• Graphics Acceleration 3.3
(For use with the Apple Power Macintosh family)
- Added support for PaintBoard Prism GT and PaintBoard Prism.
- Continued support for Horizon 24, PaintBoard Professional, PaintBoard Turbo XL, PaintBoard Turbo, PaintBoard Lightning, RasterOps 24XLTV and RasterOps 24MxTV

• Accelerator 3.0.4
(For use with the Apple Macintosh II family)
PaintBoard 24
RasterOps 8XLi
RasterOps Accelerator (800 and 801)
RasterOps 24Mx
RasterOps 24Si
RasterOps 24Sx
RasterOps 24XLi
RasterOps 24XLTV
RasterOps 24MxTV
RasterOps PaintBoard Li
RasterOps ProColor 32

• Horizon 24, PaintBoard Professional, PaintBoard Turbo XL, PaintBoard Turbo, PaintBoard Prism and PaintBoard Lightning 1.4.1 Control Panels.
(For use with the 680x0 Macintosh family of computers.)
- Addressed System 7.5 compatibility issues.

• RasterOps Controls 2.2
(Replaces several previous RasterOps utilities. See notes below.) PaintBoard Li, RasterOps 24Mx, and RasterOps 24XLi may now use RasterOps Controls 2.2.

If you plan on using System Software 7.5, it is strongly recommended that you use Graphics Installer 3.2.1 or later. There are known anomalies with previous versions of Graphics Acceleration with System Software 7.5.

Horizon 24, PaintBoard Professional, PaintBoard Turbo XL, PaintBoard Turbo, PaintBoard Lightning, RasterOps 24XLTV, RasterOps 24MxTV, RasterOps 24Mx, and RasterOps 24XLi all require ROM v 2.0 or later for Power Macintosh compatibility.

dan k

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