Under the Covers

XD88 'compute engine'

Covers off. I've removed the framebuffer board in this photo; normally it sits upside-down between the CPU board and the top of the case.

The remaining small upside-down board in this photo holds the Ethernet control chip - presumably Ethernet support was an optional extra?

To the right of the Ethernet board are the main system ROM chips, the m88k CPU, and no less than two 88200 MMU chips. Why it needs two, I don't know.

80 pin Proprietary SIMMS

To the right of the CPU / MMU chips is the huge connector that the framebuffer plugs into. The smaller square chip top-middle is the DMA controller. Finally on the right are 16 memory sockets for proprietary Tek 80-pin memory modules - 8 fitted to this machine for a total of 16MB.

8 bit (256 colour) framebuffer

The framebuffer board is pretty large all on its own, and plugs upside-down onto the CPU board ("compute engine" in Tektronix terms). It contains 2MB of VRAM (not bad for late 1980's!) and four Tektronix chips labelled as "0628660" - I haven't been able to find any data on those anywhere.

The keyboard (and therefore mouse) interface lives on the framebuffer board too, with associated control logic.

Opened up

In true Tek style, the whole circuitry and cradle hinges open to give access to the drive bays beneath. Tape drive sits on the front-right of the photo, original (broken) 300MB disk in the middle, and the power supply on the left. My replacement 1GB 3.5" drive lives bottom-right and is bolted to the side of the chassis (3.5" devices didn't exist when this machine was made, so there's nowhere 'official' to fasten one)

[next: Machine in Operation]