IBM FC8244 - the shittiest soundcard ever made (AIX) - Printable Version

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IBM FC8244 - the shittiest soundcard ever made (AIX) - micrex22 - 05-02-2020

I've had a chance to use the 'feature code 8244' which is a 32-bit 3.3v PCI soundcard IBM made for the RS/6000 and subsequently recycled for the later IntelliStations. It was basically the final 'official' sound option IBM did for official audio under the system--specifically with Ultimedia, although the FC8224 will in fact operate *without* Ultimedia and OSS/AIX--with what? I don't know but I imagine it's just some super basic AIX driver. Not a whole lot of documentation on the many ways audio gets routed around in AIX.



At any rate the card has some major major flaws:
#1 the frequency response of the DAC is fairly lacklustre, super basic options
#2 there's no amplifier on the card!!!!
#3 most of the reference layout Crystal Semiconductor advised for the DAC was ignored

As a result of all of these problems (and even recapping the card), the frequency response is super flat and the card clips easily as there's no proper amplifier. Even if an amplifier was horribly jerry rigged, the DAC is a write-off.

It's so awful that it's not at all acceptable for playback of music, let alone anything else. Stay away from this piece of crap -- although I guess not many have tried running complex music through these things. So I seen a lot of people use these as quiet sound upgrades to their systems but I doubt many have been putting them through their paces.

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RE: IBM FC8224 - the shittiest soundcard ever made (AIX) - Irinikus - 05-02-2020

Just looking at it, you can tell it sucks!!!! (There's certainly no Burr-Brown present here!)

Or one of these!!! (I know this is much newer!!!)



I really don't know why you'd release such a thing as an optional card!!! :(

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RE: IBM FC8224 - the shittiest soundcard ever made (AIX) - micrex22 - 04-27-2021

(05-02-2020, 08:41 AM)Irinikus Wrote:  Just looking at it, you can tell it sucks!!!! (There's certainly no Burr-Brown present here!)

Or one of these!!! (I know this is much newer!!!)

I really don't know why you'd release such a thing as an optional card!!! :(

The best part is that they didn't actually sell it as an option with the computer you had to get it elsewhere:

Quote:The IntelliStation POWER 185 system supports a PCI audio adapter (FC 8244). It is a 3.3 volt, 32-bit PCI adapter that runs at 33 MHz and requires one short 32-bit or 64-bit PCI-X slot. The adapter provides external jacks for headphones, speaker output, line input, microphone input, and an internal connector for CD or DVD drive audio input (Figure 2-9 on page 22). Note: This adapter is not orderable with the POWER 185. However, it is supported if the client has an existing adapter to migrate from an existing workstation.

I guess they just really stopped caring near the end of the 'AIX workstation'. IBM doesn't even list AIX 7.1 being compatible on that thing when it is. However since it only has one PSU, it will start alerting of a power failure, as AIX 7.1 is now hard coded to always look for *two* PSUs. They didn't add an exceptions list for workstations (maybe the 285 is exempt, but I don't have one to test and I kind of doubt it anyways).

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RE: IBM FC8244 - the shittiest soundcard ever made (AIX) - Shiunbird - 04-28-2021

Hi guys,

I had a 285 (sadly sold it two years ago).
I ran 5.3 and 7.1 there.

It doesn't complain about power failures with a single PSU. After I replaced the CMOS battery, I had no alerts whatsoever.

And yes... the sound card sucks, the level is super low. It's a bit less intolerable passing the audio through from the CD drive, but hey, why on Earth would you do that.
AIX 7.1 works with it.

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RE: IBM FC8244 - the shittiest soundcard ever made (AIX) - micrex22 - 06-06-2021

(04-28-2021, 11:57 AM)Shiunbird Wrote:  Hi guys,

I had a 285 (sadly sold it two years ago).
I ran 5.3 and 7.1 there.

It doesn't complain about power failures with a single PSU. After I replaced the CMOS battery, I had no alerts whatsoever.

And yes... the sound card sucks, the level is super low. It's a bit less intolerable passing the audio through from the CD drive, but hey, why on Earth would you do that.
AIX 7.1 works with it.

The 285 can support dual PSUs whereas the 185 cannot; if the 285 runs with one PSU versus its two, AIX 7.1 is coded to respond more appropriately to that system. IBM never even publicly reported 7.1 was 'possible' to run on the 185 even though it is. But clearly there was some oversight as you always have to silence the alerts.

I say the soundcard is a writeoff because the sound card fails to give a proper frequency response -- so it's impossible to restore the (important) frequencies it's removing; it's bad enough that it's impossible to use with some of my favourite pieces of music I am familiar with. Even bottom of the barrel realtek integrated sound is better than this. 0_0

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RE: IBM FC8244 - the shittiest soundcard ever made (AIX) - IBM_9595 - 12-21-2022

Yes the IBM Ultimedia 7-6 Microchannel was so basic that I can drive it with Windows Sound System source code. If you are familiar with the legacy Microsoft card, it was an ISA sound card that came out in the windows 3.1 days. IBM sold this card for high end RS/6000 users and made bank.

https://www.ardent-tool.com/RS6000/Ultimedia_NT.html

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RE: IBM FC8244 - the shittiest soundcard ever made (AIX) - robespierre - 12-21-2022

(05-02-2020, 08:36 AM)micrex22 Wrote:  the frequency response is super flat and the card clips easily as there's no proper amplifier.

A flat frequency response is desirable.
Clipping is when the input into a gain stage is "too hot" and the signal becomes cut off as a result of the limited power supply voltage. An un-amplified signal is by definition not clipped.

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RE: IBM FC8244 - the shittiest soundcard ever made (AIX) - micrex22 - 09-06-2023

(12-21-2022, 07:20 AM)robespierre Wrote:  

(05-02-2020, 08:36 AM)micrex22 Wrote:  the frequency response is super flat and the card clips easily as there's no proper amplifier.

A flat frequency response is desirable.
Clipping is when the input into a gain stage is "too hot" and the signal becomes cut off as a result of the limited power supply voltage. An un-amplified signal is by definition not clipped.

Right, I meant that the EQ has no highs or lows.

This card is cilpping even without gain saturation.

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RE: IBM FC8244 - the shittiest soundcard ever made (AIX) - Irinikus - 09-07-2023





Maybe you could improve the sound quality from this device by swapping out C31 and C32 with 220uF caps?

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