The COAST modules that I am familiar with were only available on early
Pentium Class boards however there may have been something toward the very
end of the 486 run....say on a Local Bus board that I am not aware of.

In this particular situation it is not a COAST module. Back in 93-94 AST
tried to imitate some of Apple's integrated features in their Bravo and
Advantage computers. There motherboards had built in ports, video and one
of the first on board IDE controllers. It sits in a proprietary case
sideways much like todays ATX form factor.This motherboard actually is in
two pieces. While this has to be one of the most proprietary computers I
have come across it is also the most reliable I have owned. I have
continued to use it as a print server or some other specific task with no
problems.

The Ziff Socket is on a separate circuit board and plugs into the
motherboard. This plug in circuit board contains the jumpers and any cache.
It does not plug in like a COAST module which plugs in like a ISA card at a
right angle to the board. This circuit board is parallel to the
motherboard. The part number of this circuit board was 202505-006. The
cache,  jumpers and the Ziff socket were all on this board so when AST sold
you a CPU upgrade they would sell the whole board and all you needed to do
was unplug your existing one and plug in the new one. The only board that
had a 256K cache came with the DX266 CPU and AST sold the upgrade for
around $900 in 1994. Shows how much computer parts prices have dropped in
the past seven years!

m

Hi Mark & the List:
It sounds like you are talking about COAST (Cache on a Stick). I just
happen
to have an old 486 mobo with an intact Coast board.
If it is a COAST, do you have a part number for it?
Robert B. Hemming
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