26 Dec
2008
26 Dec
'08
2:07 a.m.
Google is failing me on this one. A while back, I picked up some random boards on ePay.
The boards all have the name TRIAD, and they include a passive backplane, what appears to
be a central controller with an FPGA and a bunch of RAM, and several boards that each
contain two Z80s and ten 8530 serial communication chips. One of the oddest things in the
silk screening is the identification of two of the ribbon connectors across the top of
these latter boards: "LAMB/DROID, ODD HALF" and "EVEN HALF".
(Ironically, I just finished a really good science fiction story regarding a sheep,
entitled "The Android's Dream"....)
The only hints I've found are that this may be the guts of a PBX or other telecom
unit. Does anyone have any insight on this? I'm asking because there are a lot of
cool chips on these boards, but before I render them down for spare parts I want to be
sure I'm not destroying anything significant. It sure looks like some sort of
distributed processing architecture, but I have no idea what it was processing. Thanks
for any ideas -- Ian
26 Dec
26 Dec
2:40 a.m.
On 25 Dec 2008 at 23:07, Ian King wrote:
Google is failing me on this one. A while back, I
picked up some
random boards on ePay. The boards all have the name TRIAD, and they
include a passive backplane, what appears to be a central controller
with an FPGA and a bunch of RAM, and several boards that each contain
two Z80s and ten 8530 serial communication chips. One of the oddest
things in the silk screening is the identification of two of the
ribbon connectors across the top of these latter boards: "LAMB/DROID,
ODD HALF" and "EVEN HALF". (Ironically, I just finished a really good
science fiction story regarding a sheep, entitled "The Android's
Dream"....)
Triad used to be very big in POS systems, particularly in the auto
parts business. Does that make any sense with your gizmo? Is that
an FPGA or just a custom gate array?
Cheers,
Chuck
12:07 p.m.
My bad on that "FPGA". I got out my 'serious' reading glasses, looked
at it more closely and it's a Z180 processor. There's a lot of connectivity on
these boards, so it makes sense they could have been part of a POS system: serial lines to
communicate with the terminals.
These are really well made boards, and about half the chips are socketed. -- Ian
________________________________________
From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of
Chuck Guzis [cclist at sydex.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 25, 2008 11:40 PM
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Weird cardset - any ideas?
On 25 Dec 2008 at 23:07, Ian King wrote:
Google is failing me on this one. A while back, I
picked up some
random boards on ePay. The boards all have the name TRIAD, and they
include a passive backplane, what appears to be a central controller
with an FPGA and a bunch of RAM, and several boards that each contain
two Z80s and ten 8530 serial communication chips. One of the oddest
things in the silk screening is the identification of two of the
ribbon connectors across the top of these latter boards: "LAMB/DROID,
ODD HALF" and "EVEN HALF". (Ironically, I just finished a really good
science fiction story regarding a sheep, entitled "The Android's
Dream"....)
Triad used to be very big in POS systems, particularly in the auto
parts business. Does that make any sense with your gizmo? Is that
an FPGA or just a custom gate array?
Cheers,
Chuck
12:27 p.m.
On 26 Dec 2008 at 9:07, Ian King wrote:
My bad on that "FPGA". I got out my
'serious' reading glasses, looked
at it more closely and it's a Z180 processor. There's a lot of
connectivity on these boards, so it makes sense they could have been
part of a POS system: serial lines to communicate with the terminals.
These are really well made boards, and about half the chips are
socketed. -- Ian
Any ROMs or EPROMs on the board that you could dump for a clue?
Cheers,
Chuck
12:18 p.m.
Triad used to be very big in POS systems, particularly
in the auto
parts business. Does that make any sense with your gizmo? Is that
an FPGA or just a custom gate array?
You see Triad systems at Autoparts dealers and Automobile franchises.
They started with Data general minis and I look for old parts in
automotive dealer auctions.
They migrated to PC based systems in the 1990s
I think your cards are terminal cards for multiple serial
conncections. They used to use Wyse 50 terminals along with TI 8XX
printers.
Paxton
--
Paxton Hoag
Astoria, OR
USA
2:55 a.m.
Ian King wrote:
Google is failing me on this one. A while back, I picked up some random boards on ePay.
The boards all have the name TRIAD, and they include a passive backplane, what appears to
be a central controller with an FPGA and a bunch of RAM, and several boards that each
contain two Z80s and ten 8530 serial communication chips. One of the oddest things in the
silk screening is the identification of two of the ribbon connectors across the top of
these latter boards: "LAMB/DROID, ODD HALF" and "EVEN HALF".
(Ironically, I just finished a really good science fiction story regarding a sheep,
entitled "The Android's Dream"....)
The only hints I've found are that this may be the guts of a PBX or other telecom
unit. Does anyone have any insight on this? I'm asking because there are a lot of
cool chips on these boards, but before I render them down for spare parts I want to be
sure I'm not destroying anything significant. It sure looks like some sort of
distributed processing architecture, but I have no idea what it was processing. Thanks
for any ideas -- Ian
Just a guess or possibility, as it could be lots of things, but perhaps a
serial/RS232 switch, the sort of thing that Gandalf and Develcon made in the
80's to permit many terminals to selectively connect to one or more machines...?
8:32 p.m.
that may be another piece to the puzzle, as I remember that autozone,
before z-net came in with diskless pcs(i think that's what they are)
they were basic rs232 terminals on redhat linux....hope that helps
On 12/26/08, Brent Hilpert <hilpert at cs.ubc.ca> wrote:
Ian King wrote:
Google is failing me on this one. A while back, I picked up some random
boards on ePay. The boards all have the name TRIAD, and they include a
passive backplane, what appears to be a central controller with an FPGA
and a bunch of RAM, and several boards that each contain two Z80s and ten
8530 serial communication chips. One of the oddest things in the silk
screening is the identification of two of the ribbon connectors across the
top of these latter boards: "LAMB/DROID, ODD HALF" and "EVEN HALF".
(Ironically, I just finished a really good science fiction story regarding
a sheep, entitled "The Android's Dream"....)
The only hints I've found are that this may be the guts of a PBX or other
telecom unit. Does anyone have any insight on this? I'm asking because
there are a lot of cool chips on these boards, but before I render them
down for spare parts I want to be sure I'm not destroying anything
significant. It sure looks like some sort of distributed processing
architecture, but I have no idea what it was processing. Thanks for any
ideas -- Ian
Just a guess or possibility, as it could be lots of things, but perhaps a
serial/RS232 switch, the sort of thing that Gandalf and Develcon made in the
80's to permit many terminals to selectively connect to one or more
machines...?
1:13 p.m.
A company a friend worked for was acquired by a Triad which is in the
business of providing inventory management for auto supply stores. The
store systems would maintain the local inventory but Triad's central
system would tell them what to order. The stores were indepentent,
hence the need for local inventory.
I have seen systems old enough to have been Z80 systems and lost out on
one on Ebay with removable hard drive platter type technology in the
last 2 years.
Jim
Ian King wrote:
Google is failing me on this one.
5720
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