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S-100 Serial cards

This is a collection of technical info I gathered here from reading manuals, viewing websites and online group discussion. One of the biggest issues regarding S-100 systems is the incompatible serial cards and software in order to connect your system to serial terminal. One of the very first steps when you have a S-100 system running is to upgrade this with a serial card so you can try running a Rom Monitor to further increase the capabilities of you computer.

Typically, S-100 companies built systems and developed software which supported only their serial cards. So I made this webpage after some discussion with friends about how it's important to keep in mind which UART/USART is on your serial card, that you arbitrarily can't insert the first serial card that you find into your system.

These days, it can be difficult to find the right serial card to match the configuration settings which is expected by the computer's software. There are times when it's possible to patch the code to make it software compatible with the serial card you currently own (providing the source code is available) - this is what I did with IMSAI Basic. But sometimes it's necessary to find a serial card which is hardware compatible with the software instead - thus avoiding any software changes.


The information below is divided into 3 categories,
                1. List of UART, USART Chips
                2. Compatibility Table
                3. List of S-100 Serial cards and the UARTs/USARTs they contain
                4. Intialize code for UARTs, USARTs

    *if you have addt'l info which you can share, feel free to send me an [email]

This webpage is a work in progress to collect and sort the various types, datasheets, cards and test software. This info should help navigate the jungle of S-100 serial cards. Help was also provided from friends and the valuable information contained on their websites, Bill Degnan Vintagecomputer.net, Rich Cini Altair32.com, Tom Sanderson VirtualAltair.com, John Monaham S100computers.com, Dave Dunfield Dave's Old Computers, Herb Johnson Retrotechnology.com and Howard Harte Hartetechnoligies.com



List of UART's and USART's used on S-100 Serial cards  [TOP]
    Below is a list of various UARTs and USARTs with a link to their datasheets. The first
    group is sorted with the most common type found on these cards. While the other group
    are those found on various other cards. If there are other UARTs/USARTs used on S-100
    cards please feel free to share [email]
   
    For Additional notes on each chip, click here
        2502 [pdf]
        6850 ACIA, Motorola [pdf]
        8251, Intel [pdf]
        9551, AMD [pdf]
        2651, Signetics [pdf]

      Other Types:     
        PT1472, Western Digital [pdf]
        PT1482, Western Digital [pdf]
        INS1671, National Semiconductor                       
        INS6402, National Semiconductor [pdf]
        1854, RCA [pdf]
        AY-3-1013 [pdf]
        AY-3-1015 [pdf]
        AY-3-6402 [pdf]
        1602, ??? [pdf]
        1863, ??? [pdf]
        8250, Intel [pdf]
        2661, Signetics [pdf]
        6551 [pdf]
        6852, Motorola [pdf]
        6853, Motorola [pdf]
        6854, Motorola [pdf]
        8274  Dual Uart [pdf]
        Z80 SIO, Zilog [pdf]
        Z80 DART, Zilog [pdf]
        8530, Zilog [pdf]
        8531, Zilog [pdf]
        NEC7201, NEC, Siemens [pdf]
        TMS5501, TI [pdf]
        TMS6011, TI [pdf]


Compatibility Table  [TOP]
    This table should help you find if the UART/UASRT is compatible with an exisiting chip
    on your serial card. Several of the chips are left out as there's no current info about
    any compatible chips for them. This table is a work in progress, feel free to share
    any info that could be added to this [email]

	2502	6850	8251	9551	2651	1472	1482	1671	6402	1013	1015	1602	1863	8250	2661	6551
2502	\
6850		\
8251			\	X	X
9551			X	\	X
2651			X	X	\
1472						\
1482							\
1671								\
6402									\		X			X
1013										\		X	X
1015									X		\			X
1602										X		\	X
1863										X		X	\
8250									X		X			\
2661															\
6551																\

Various S-100 Serial cards (alphabetical)  [TOP]
    This list also includes S-100 cards which have mulitple interfaces besides a serial
    port. There are some manuals which are not available online, please share via email any
    links you might find to help make this complete. Also, if you are aware of any other
    S-100 serial cards, please feel free to share any info via email too. [email]

Initialize code for various UART's and USARTs  [TOP]



Here's an additional website which have some good references for UART, USART chips.
ChipDir

Updated Sep. 30, 2007