Ultimedia Module

for Models 40, 57 & 77

Ultimedia Module
Ultimedia Module PCB, Top
Ultimedia Module PCB, Bottom
Ultimedia Panel Parts & Cables
Adding Ultimedia Module to 85xx
92F0110 Interposer
Ultimedia Audio Port Pinout
DIY IBM Ultimedia-to-CT 5330

Based on content by William R. Walsh (original HERE). Edited by Major Tom. Photos from Supervinx.


Ultimedia Module [P] [P] [P] [P]

M Microphone Jack
H Stereo Headphones Jack
HD Hard-drive Activity LED
VOL Volume Control
PWR Power Good LED
SW Power On/Off Switch

Both standard and MM control panels have a speaker. Only the MM control panel has Microphone and Headphone jacks (1/4" stereo jacks). The MM speaker (behind the grille) is rated 1.5 W / 8 Ω as compared to 0.5 W at 4 or 8 Ω. The shape is an oval cone set into a square frame.


Ultimedia Module PCB, Top FRU P/N 41G3929 [P]

CR1 Hard-drive Activity LED
CR2 Power Good LED
JA Microphone Jack
JB Headphone Jack
L6,7 TDK ZJYS-4
U1,3 LM837M Quad Op-amp
U2 Philips TDA1015 power amp
SW1 Power Switch

Ultimedia Module PCB, Bottom FRU P/N 41G3929 [P]

F1 Fuse for Headphone Output?
JA Microphone Jack
JB Headphone Jack
J1 Ultimedia Audio Port
J2 Front Panel Connector
J3 Module Speaker Header
R40 Volume Potentiometer

J2 - Plug / Socket on Ultimedia PCB

Provided by Daniel Hamilton.


Ultimedia Panel Parts & Cables

  • Control assembly w/volume control - 92F0109
  • Interposer (for connector P2) - 92F0110
  • Cable, front panel to system board - 92F0111 (or 96F7762?)
  • Cable, CD to M-Audio Adapter - 92F0112
  • Cable front panel to M-Audio Adapter - 92F0113

It is not clear what version of the ACPA is being used. Revisions A and B lack the 16 pin Ultimedia header. The Rev C has the Ultimedia header.

The CD to ACPA can't be for the Rev A (no signal headers), probably a 3-pin cable for the Rev B, 4-pin for Rev C.


Adding Ultimedia Module to 85xx

You can add the Ultimedia Module to a non-premium 85xx machine (8-pin Control Panel header), but not without some additional steps. You will have to either modify the cable (smaller receptacle, external +/-12 V source) or use a special interposer (see below).

92F0110 Interposer [P] [P] | [P] (photos from pleonard on Vogons and Supervinx)

IBM solved the Ultimedia/85xx incompatibility with an 8-pin receptacle -AND- an interposer to dog-rob +/- 12 V from the P2 Power-supply connector. You could get the +/- 12 V from a HD power plug, just keep in mind that the system board header probably sources low-power voltages, while the HD plug provides more power.

Note: the Control Panel header to Control Panel cable is ribbon cable. You will not be driving tower speakers with this.


Sound Cards with Ultimedia Port

The following sound cards feature the Ultimedia Panel header:


Ultimedia Audio Port Pinout

Pinout of the header found on Ultimedia-compatible cards:

Odd # pins top, Even # pins bottom.

Pin Signal Pin Signal
1 Out R 2 N/C
3 Gnd 4 Out L
5 N/C 6 N/C
7 Mic R 8 N/C
9 N/C 10 Mic L
11 N/C 12 N/C
13 N/C 14 Key
15 N/C 16 N/C

Pinout courtesy of Christian Hansen and pleonard on Vogons.


DIY IBM Ultimedia-to-CT 5330 by pleonard (original post on VOGONS)

Those of us (un)lucky enough to have collected an Ultimedia PS/2 know that the audio features of this machine are a mix of good and bad: great front-panel amplified speaker with volume control and headphone/mic jacks, coupled to a terminally-unsupported audio card (M-ACPA or AudioVation, choose your MWAVE DSP poison). The question is: how to connect that great front-panel speaker up to a useful sound card?

As you might expect, audio is connected through a proprietary 16-pin connector that plugs into IBM's own audio cards. A few 3rd-party boards (ChipChat among them) include this "Ultimedia Header", but Creative's own Sound Blaster (Pro) MCV does not.

But since we have the pinout, and since you can buy 2x8-pin dual row headers, it should be relatively easy to solder up a R/L/Gnd cable from the line out jack on the back of the SoundBlaster Pro:


(believe it or not, those pins aren't shorted :>)

Ed. pleonard connected Pins 1 (R), 2 (Gnd), and 10 (L). But the wiring doesn't quite match the pinout! Yet it supposedly worked for him... hmm. Needs verification.

As you'd expect, best results are obtained by disabling the built-in amp on the SBPro. The result is very clean sound - contemporary (1991) reviews of the Ultimedia mention how these machines' own sound hardware obviated the need for external speakers for most users. Best of all, you can completely uninstall the original DSP sound card. (Your sympathies for the original IBM sound card will dramatically decrease when you discover how many dozens of KB of RAM it requires to produce sound of any kind in DOS...!)

Content created and/or collected by:
Louis F. Ohland, Peter H. Wendt, David L. Beem, William R. Walsh, Tatsuo Sunagawa, Tomáš Slavotínek, Jim Shorney, Tim N. Clarke, Kevin Bowling, and many others.

Ardent Tool of Capitalism is maintained by Tomáš Slavotínek.
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