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View Full Version : Is bus termination needed with the 18-slot motherboard?


rickc
01-09-2009, 03:11 PM
Dear all:
I'm furiously building kit #22 now: 1MCS board and CPU boards done, front panel almost. This is the coolest thing I've done in _years_ . I would have given a body part for one of these in the mid 1970's, but I was a teenager and didn't have the cash.

My question is this: I got the 18-slot motherboard, with 8 S-100 connectors. I recall from the old days that bus termination was an issue with bigger S-100 motherboards, longer than a few inches, especially as bus speeds go up. What have other 18-slot users done with regard to termination? Is the frequency low enough on the 8800 that it is not an issue? If termination is required, either just resistors or active, a schematic or even text description of what you did would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Richard

Geoff Harrison
01-09-2009, 10:18 PM
I've never looked at the signals on the bus to see how noisy they are, but I've run my unterminated 18 slot machine for days at a time with boards all grouped together at one end as well as spread out across all 18 slots, and I've never had a crash or noticed any problems. Some boards may be more finicky than others, of course, but so far so good.

Geoff.