Roy J. Tellason wrote:
Got one 8-bit card here that also has an internal edge connector and I'm
guessing it's a floppy interface -- there's a crystal, one big chip labeled
Zilog Z765APS and what I'm guessing is a data separator chip socketed, looks
like UM8326, and a bunch of LSTTL glue logic.
------------------------------------
Billy: Very likely - the Z765 was a cross license chip from NEC. I think
they got the best of the deal, being able to use Zilog cores. The 765 never
impressed me.
---------------------------------------
Got one which is an 8-bit card only there's a little sticker near the card
edge connector that says "pls plug into the 16 bits slot only" -- why would
they do that? This one has a DB25M on the metal bracket, which is also
labeled "Scanner Interface", is this supposed to be some kind of crude
SCSI?
There are a couple of chips labeled "SPOT" (a logo actually), and
silkscreened on the board it says "SPOT Fototak 2E-Card". The note on the
bag says "Parallel port" but I'm not sure that means anything. About four
chips on the board (2 of which look like RAM) and a jumper block, 2x3 with
2
on there.
-----------------------------------------
Billy: This sounds like the primitive SCSI that a lot of scanner folks
would send out with the early scanners. PCs had moved over to IDE, so a lot
of low cost systems didn't have native SCSI boards. Adaptec made a slew of
these. Even new and at that time, you could find them at Fry's for $12-15.
I remember seeing a few of them with the early external CD burners. Many
were SCSI, at least up to the 8X level. Then ATA won, again demonstrating
that cheap beats capability every time.
-----------------------------------------------
The next one is labeled (in the foil) "ICS2110 Demo Board Rev. A" and sure
enough there seems to be a square socketed chip labeled ICS2110 in there.
An
array of eight of what I'm guessing are RAM, some LSTTL, two 8-pole DIP
switches, and four jumper blocks with one jumper on each. A TDA1545
("Stereo Continuous Calibration DAC"), a couple of NE5532 op amp chips, a
whole mess of capacitors, two trimpots (?) and two of what appear to be
audio jacks at the metal bracket. This one's a 16-bit card.
The last one is also a 16-bit card. On the metal brack is a 50-pin
connector
(same thing you'd see on an Adaptec 1520, 1540, etc.) and on the opposite
end
is a 4-pin "drive power" (like in any PC) connector for power to apparently
be supplied_to_ the card, a small button ("tac" switch), and a 2x5 pin
shrouded connector. And across the top of the card is a big 2.4 ohm 10W (!)
power resistor, not the sort of thing I'm used to seeing on "PC" hardware.
This one's all surface mount, and the one square chip in there is marked
"Altera", not a name I'm at all familiar with. No other markings on the
board except a sticker hiding under that big resistor with a barcode and a
rather long number on it.
------------------------------------------------
Billy: I'm guessing on this one. The big resistor sounds like a current
source for some sort of burner. Altera is a programmable logic company. I
wonder if you have one of their early programmers? The programmers had two
parts, the PCB and another box with ZIF sockets external to the PCB. The
cables were about 24 inches long, but I remember them as plugged into Molex
connectors.
Can you get us some photos? Might bring back more accurate memories.
--------------------------------------------------
Anybody know what these are, any of them?