help identifying a PC card

[reckthor]

i found this today and even after searching google i cant find anything on this card.

thank you for any help

 

[NathanAllan]

Well, I didn't find anything on that card in particular, but did find Orchid as a company;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchid_Technology

It looks like they were beat out by competition. What kind of connector is that? That may be a video card, but doubt it. Might be a memory expansion, and the battery is to remember things.

 

[reckthor]

here is a photo of the connector

 

[Jorg]

Looks like a multi-function card, memory expansion + real time clock (battery) +serial + ..?

 

[Old Thrashbarg]

Looks like a multi-function card, memory expansion + real time clock (battery) +serial + ..?

Yep, that's exactly what it is. It also has a parallel port header next to the memory sockets. There was probably some sort of optional daughtercard too, I see a couple other headers next to the ISA connector, and some mounting pegs at the top of the card... it probably would have added additional ports or memory sockets or something.

There were a bunch of those multifunction cards back in the '80s, probably the most well-known being the AST 'Sixpack'.

I wonder what that Orchid card came out of... the cut-off slot bracket looks like it may have been used in some strange form factor case.

 

[reckthor]

thanks all the help

any idea if it has a value?

 

[Chuck(G)]

That large chip under the battery holder is a realtime clock; the empty socket is for an 8250 UART.

Valuable? Perhaps to someone who can find the software disk for it and who has a PC or XT clone and needs more memory. But as Thrash mentioned, not unusual in the PC universe.

Orchid itself was an interesting company in that their first product was a high-speed serial networking protocol (1Mbps) called PCNet LAN (not to be confused with other later uses of the term which have nothing to do with Orchid). It was pretty cool, being able to skunk early IBM PC networking cards. Orchid was founded by a Vietnamese immigrant who came up with the idea of a PC-based LAN card. "Lan" turns out to be Vietnamese for "Orchid"....

There was a PCNet Blossom card, which was similar to yours (memory, serial, parallel, clock) but also had the PCNet hardware on board.

 

[firebottle]

Does anyone have the original driver disk for this card? Or better yet, is there some repository on the 'net of ancient PC driver disks?

I have one of these cards, but it appears you need a device driver in order to set the clock.

 

[modem7]

Does anyone have the original driver disk for this card? Or better yet, is there some repository on the 'net of ancient PC driver disks?
I have one of these cards, but it appears you need a device driver in order to set the clock.

Welcome to these forums.
One of the many at http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/rtc.htm may work.
I suggest that you try the "Unknown Cards - PC TIMER" ones first.

 

[twolazy]

Its an Orchid Conquest , pretty much the main rival to the AST sixpack / sixpack plus


edit
Found a pic of one, knew I was right! Damn I'm good ^_^ :
http://mastodonpc.tripod.com/personal/images/conquest.jpg

Now if I remember right, the strip at the bottom was for a port addon kit, and the card then take up 2 slots with it installed. I think it was a parallel port and i think another serial port, god its been ages >.> I kinda recall an ems addon too now that I think about it so maybe its just a bus passthrough.

Was designed for 5150s and compatible 5 slot clones.