18 Jul
2022
18 Jul
'22
12:32 a.m.
Well, auction is over, I didn't bid on it, and I hope someone here got it.
That said, the more I look at it, and the more I look at a true MVII
card the more I wonder just what was missing on this card. A true MVII
has a pair of rather large custom ASICs in the center of the board and I
can't believe the 80186 (or whatever that chip is on the top center of
the board) could emulate it all.
So it would be interesting to see what this thing was and what it did.
C
On 7/12/2022 12:58 PM, Bjoren Davis via cctalk wrote:
Hello Classic fans,
Recently eBay seller smhelectronics261 posted a very interesting
prototype board: https://www.ebay.com/itm/295087630609
The description is "Dec Digital PRO 350/380 Professional Microvax II
Proto 54-16707 Collectors", and the board art mentions "MICROVAX
SOFTCARD."
Does anyone know anything about this card? Especially curious is the
daughtercard connector: is it just for RAM expansion or is the
daughtercard necessary for card operation?
The photographs are fuzzy, but the more recent chip date I can see is
8536 (on one of the QFPs). This puts the board in the time period of
the MicroVAX II development.
The internal "MicroVAX Business Plan"
(http://bitsavers.org/pdf/dec/vax/610/memos/Microvax_Business_Plan_Dec83.pdf)
mentions a "Meteor" project (p. 11). It describes Meteor as:
Meteor is Digital's first single-user MicroVAX product. Developed
within Low End Engineering, the product is positioned as a strong
competitor in the low end, technical/scientific and the high end
office/business graphics workstation market. Meteor should be an
effective follow-on product to the Professional Series and high end
VAX/Seahorse workstations. Although not a replacement product per
se, Meteor represents a clear migration path for PRO users upward in
functionality, and for VAX Workstation applications downward to a
lower cost, single user design.
Does anyone know if this board is Meteor?
I'll be bidding on the board, but given how pricey CTI boards have
gotten recently (a DECNA card from the same seller recently sold for
$422.99), I probably won't win. If the winner of the auction reads
this, could they please contact me? I'd like to collect an image of the
boot ROM from the board, if possible.
Thanks.
--Bjoren