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What is this? Post Photos of Mystery Items Here (vintage computers only)

You can look these things up for yourself, but:

- MCM6810AP: 128 byte (128x8) Static RAM
- MC6820P: PIA (Peripheral Interface Adapter), similar to the 6821
- M762P, M763P: vintage parts, check old databooks and datasheets (bitsavers?) -- could be a ROM or some sort of linear/analog chip

This is just speculation, but the section in the third picture seems like some sort of analog I/O circuitry. They don't look like 555 timers but could be op-amps or another analog IC.

I think the text is M 4N26? If so it's some sort of optocoupler.


https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pdf/2847/MOTOROLA/4N26.html

^ see page 155
 
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On the surface, it looks like an ordinary PCMCIA to PCI adapter. But why does it have that DIM slot on the back? And what is that white connector? Oh, and, also, how come the product manager from xircom in 1998 had no clue they ever made a branded PCI card of any sort? So many questions!!!
 
I thought the audio connectors were even stranger.

Caching could be useful with some PCMCIA cards. Probably something in one of the trades in the late 90s regarding this card even if it seems to be an inefficient solution.
 
mark0x01 said:
For something like a laptop Wifi card?
Click to expand...
XirCom never made wifi cards. In fact that's what killed off the brand. They failed to anticipate the rise of wifi.

krebizfan said:
I thought the audio connectors were even stranger.
Click to expand...

Me too. But I didn't want to say it.

krebizfan said:
Caching could be useful with some PCMCIA cards. Probably something in one of the trades in the late 90s regarding this card even if it seems to be an inefficient solution.
Click to expand...
XirCom only ever made PCMCIA network or modem cards. Or combination network/modem cards. To the best of my knowledge nothing like that requires caching or audio jacks. Weirder still those are CD Audio headers.

I am flumuxed. I'm reaching out to my ex-XirCom contacts for answers. But that could take time.
 
I think what you have is a card with a CardBus (PCMCIA) slot and a Mini-PCI slot designed to interface those to a regular PCI slot.

Perhaps it is some kind of test jig for verifying the operation of a product for laptops in a regular PC?

-----

There were also CF form factor interface cards for PDA/smartphone style devices that include Bluetooth, WiFi, and possibly other options.
 
Istarian said:
Perhaps it is some kind of test jig for verifying the operation of a product for laptops in a regular PC?
Click to expand...
I agree that it is likely intended for internal development and not an end-user product. Commercial PCMCIA to PCI adapters have a bridge chip. The Xircom card looks like it is designed to connect to another device to provide bridge/monitor/debug capability. I don't think it will function as-is.
 
Istarian said:
Perhaps it is some kind of test jig for verifying the operation of a product for laptops in a regular PC?
Click to expand...
I'm attempting to get in touch with some former engineers who will probably know. But if it were an internal testing jig, why include the logo, part#s, etc?

Plasma said:
I agree that it is likely intended for internal development and not an end-user product. Commercial PCMCIA to PCI adapters have a bridge chip. The Xircom card looks like it is designed to connect to another device to provide bridge/monitor/debug capability. I don't think it will function as-is.
Click to expand...
Its the CD audio headers that have me scratching my head the hardest. And the RAM slot. And everything else. This is a weird card.
 
Plasma said:
I agree that it is likely intended for internal development and not an end-user product. Commercial PCMCIA to PCI adapters have a bridge chip. The Xircom card looks like it is designed to connect to another device to provide bridge/monitor/debug capability. I don't think it will function as-is.
Click to expand...

I would bet that commercial adapters usually support both PC Card (16-bit, 5V; ISA-like interface) and CardBus (32-bit, usually 3.3V; PCI-like interface) devices.

Moreover those are much more likely to have been intended to be installed in a standard PC by a consumer or a business that merely uses computers (not generaly involved in the desohn or manufacture of electronics).

It's a distinct possiblility thaf this card was used with one of those single board x86 PCs on a card which slot into passive ISA/PCI backplanes. Additional hardware on the backplane for a custom use case is not out of the question

I would surmise, speculatively, that we might talking about a backplane-based systems intended for development of portable/embedded computing hardware (laptops, early mini PCs, etc).
 
hunterjwizzard said:
Its the CD audio headers that have me scratching my head the hardest. And the RAM slot. And everything else. This is a weird card.
Click to expand...

I'm 90-95% certain that the slot on the back is NOT a ram slot. The plastic nub sticking out on the one end and the pin separated from the rest by it are a big clue here.

As I previously mentioned, that is most likely to be a Mini-PCI/mini-PCI slot (not the miniature PCI Express).

https://www.amp-usa.com/mini-pci/

minipci.jpg
 
hunterjwizzard said:
But if it were an internal testing jig, why include the logo, part#s, etc?
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Just guessing, but the logo is probably a graphic asset in easy reach of the PCB designer and easy to whack onto the board.

Still guessing: the part numbers may also be part of some kind of integrated manufacturing system --- a large database that tells you that if you want to make a widget like this board with your own internal part number 12345, then you need sockets from AMP with your internal part number 54321, an IC from TI with internal part number 90210, and so on. All this tracking can help the factory source parts and bring them together when it's time to build the board. Think of the long lists you find in the backs of '70s or '80s Tektronix service manuals for a 'scope or some other piece of equipment, with all the parts itemised and associated with both Tektronix and the part manufacturer's IDs...
 
Istarian said:
As I previously mentioned, that is most likely to be a Mini-PCI/mini-PCI slot (not the miniature PCI Express).
Click to expand...
You are correct. Upon closer examination it is missing the notch for RAM, so definitely Mini PCI. Which is a lateral move as far as solving the mystery. The card is marked as being from 1998, a year in which XirCom was not manufacturing any mini PCI cards. I'm fairly sure they never did. Maybe some kind of diagnostic logger that fit into the mini pci slot?
 
Istarian said:
Perhaps it is some kind of test jig for verifying the operation of a product for laptops in a regular PC?
Click to expand...
Agree, and in particular since it seems to only have a few TO220 semiconductors, I.E. no glue logic or whatnot, I would think that it's intended for connecting to some smaller prototype device. I.E. they didn't want to make large boards (populated with somewhat expensive stuff like the PCMCIA connector) for something they probably knew they would have to do multiple iterations of.
I.E. the glue logic or whatnot went through revisions and sat in one of the non-PCMCIA connectors.
Or maybe it wasn't glue logic, but rather something else that in an early prototype stage was connected to a PC with a PCI slot that perhaps pushed firmware into the device under development, rather than having it's own full size ROMs, and the PC was also used for debugging and whatnot?
 
I seen that card before in a old system I got from a local public school system years ago and if left me stumped too. I thought it might be for a PCMCIA sound car and the slot was for sound font cache??? 🤷‍♂️ but that ram slot... doesn't look quite right, maybe mini pci as hunter said?

my guess it's just a laptop to desktop pci card adapter that's forwarded thinking with the audio connectors as pcmcia sound cards were a thing and a adio pass through for a modem wouldn't be out of the ordinary ether.
 
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HaHa I said:
I seen that card before in a old system I got from a local public school system years ago and if left me stumped too. I thought it might be for a PCMCIA sound car and the slot was for sound font cache??? 🤷‍♂️ but that ram slot... doesn't look quite right, maybe mini pci as hunter said?

my guess it's just a laptop to desktop pci card adapter that's forwarded thinking with the audio connectors as pcmcia sound cards were a thing and a adio pass through for a modem wouldn't be out of the ordinary ether.
Click to expand...
Do you happen to live in the greater Los Angeles/Thousand Oaks region? When XirCom went belly-up a lot of their gear ended up in the schools(this was back when having any kind of computer at all was a big deal and schools still regularly took whatever they could get their hands on), so that would explain it.

Did yours have anything in the mini PCI slot?

XirCom never made sound cards, sound pass through for a modem is the most likely explanation.
 
hunterjwizzard said:
XirCom never made sound cards, sound pass through for a modem is the most likely explanation.
Click to expand...

There was an era where programmable (?) DSP (Digital Signal Processors) were becoming increasingly common in both contexts, as opposed to a purely analog circuit.

And then of course there were soft-modem/WinModem devices.

So being able to look at the generated audio at more than just the final output could have been useful in testing.
 
hunterjwizzard said:
Do you happen to live in the greater Los Angeles/Thousand Oaks region? When XirCom went belly-up a lot of their gear ended up in the schools(this was back when having any kind of computer at all was a big deal and schools still regularly took whatever they could get their hands on), so that would explain it.

Did yours have anything in the mini PCI slot?

XirCom never made sound cards, sound pass through for a modem is the most likely explanation.
Click to expand...
i'm from ohio and so was the school, I don't have the card anymore but I clearly recall having the exact same card. xircom didn't need to make a pcmcia sound card in order to make a adaptor that could fit one.

also the white conector on the back is likely a type of mini pci as well.

xircom3.jpg
 
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