I am a newcomer to this forum. Please tell me whether I can install MARK-V <I> (IDOS based) on a P3 or P4 system? Will it work with MARK-V panel?

Is there anybody who has done this successfully??

Thanks

 

There has been a lot written about using non GE-certified PCs as CPUs for <I>s running IDOS on control.com. In the far right corner of the menu bar at the top of every control.com page is a 'Search' field, and to the right of that a '?' for Search Help. The Search function here takes a little getting used to, but it works pretty well.

IDOS was written for specific versions of BIOS chips, and consequently it doesn't run, or doesn't run very well, on some PCs.

To convert a generic PC to an <I>, the CPU needs to have a motherboard with a legacy ISA bus for the ARCnet card. And sometimes, even though IDOS will run on the CPU it can't find or communicate with/through the ARCnet card.

Several people writing to control.com have tried P3 and P4 CPUs, many without success, a couple with success. I believe sometimes it was necessary to change interrupts for the ISA bus, but we never got any details when we asked.

So, you can search the control.com archives using the 'Search' feature (using Search Help first is highly recommended) to see what you can find, but there's not much in the way of help or information if you have trouble. Again, IDOS was not written to be able to run on any x86-compatible PC, so it's mostly a trial-and-error proposition.

I would sincerely recommend contacting any of the vendors who have posted here with their <I> replacements, because while you may be able to get a generic PC to run IDOS and communicate with/through the ARCnet card to Mark Vs, when the ARCnet card expires they are no longer available new in the marketplace. There are some sources of used and/or 'new old stock' (unused, but aged cards) but they're not inexpensive.

Best of luck, and welcome to the forum. A lot has been written about Mark V Speedtronic and heavy duty gas turbine controls and operation in the past; please use the 'Search' to determine if your question has already been asked and answered. We are happy to provide clarification or additional information when asked, but you should find in the previous postings that when people found the information helpful they usually replied to let others know, making past posts very helpful to other now and in the future!