IBM PC Multifunction Boards

Abstract

The purchase of additional expansion boards does not guarantee effortless enhancement once the full quota of corresponding expansion slots has been filled up. Given the manual dexterity required to fit some boards, and the wear and tear on electrical contacts with insertion and removal, the replacement of one board by another, as the application changes, is to be avoided whenever possible. The problem of ‘expansion’ slot capability arises with the IBM PC because three of these slots are normally occupied by boards performing basic rather than ‘expansion’ functions; the disk controller and video board occupy two slots and the parallel printer boards takes a third. If additional RAM is required from a fourth board there is only one slot left for the myriad of opportunities made available from add-in boards.