29 Apr
1999
29 Apr
'99
9:19 p.m.
I went scrounging today and found some interesting
cards. A picture of
the first one is at "http://www.intellistar.net/~rigdonj/card1.jpg" and a
picture of the second is at "http://www.intellistar.net/~rigdonj/card2.jpg".
The first one is interesting because it has a list on the right side that
appears to be a list of memory locations and op codes. It's hard to see in
the photo but the first column is labeled CNT. (count?). Most of the ICs
are dated 1972. The only other markings on the card is "TERADYNE A 794" and
"Made in USA".
Looks like a ROM built out of a diode array. I'd make a WAG that it's
a bootstrap for some computer, but I don't know what. Judging by the
content list, I'd say it's a 18-bit computer of some sort, but I don't
recognize the board form factor or the opcodes.
The second one is a core memory board that I *think*
may be for a Data
General computer. I picked up several of these and they're all made by
Dataram Corporation and appear to date from 1972. Their part number is
3010290. I took the cover off of one. Man, the cores in these are tiny!
They don't plug directly into a Nova's bus, at least. It's very likely
that these core cards plugged into a dedicated array backplane - note
the lack of bus interface circuitry near the edge connector, but obvious
core drivers. The array backplane would've contained other card(s) forming
the bus interface to the actual computer that used these core planes. If
you can give us the X by Y count of the cores, and tell us if the
cores are obviously divided into sections (12? 16? 18?), maybe we can
make more WAG's about where it plugs into :-).
--
Tim Shoppa Email: shoppa(a)trailing-edge.com
Trailing Edge Technology WWW: http://www.trailing-edge.com/
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