GearTechWolf
Experienced Member
Conzemius, eh? Wonder if it was used by Conzemius Oil in Breckenridge MN? Not too far from your location.
Love those classic purple-n-gold chips!
Love those classic purple-n-gold chips!
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What is this? Post Photos of Mystery Items Here (vintage computers only)
- Thread starter billdeg
- Start date
twolazy
Veteran Member
Definitely a DEC card as the top mount says as such. Main chips are 4k SRAM so 64x4k = 256kb SRAM. Most likely QBUS due to the (4) 36 trace finger connectors.
What is the thought behind this 8-bit card? There are two cards connected to the 8 bit bus. One is clearly marked as a QIC-02 card, and has an external 50 pin DSUB connector, which I've always associated with early SCSI. The QIC-O2 card has cable connectors that look to be MFM hard drive connectors that connect to the 2nd card. To me, it looks like an early MFM hard drive controller. This is from Mountain, which I would assume is some kind of tape product. Is this some kind of SCSI/QIC-02 bridge?
Chuck(G)
25k Member
QIC-02 is not SCSI, or even a relative of it. It's reserved for some types of quarter-inch tape drives. For yours, see https://www.scosales.com/ta/kb/105387.html. A related 50-conductor tape interface is QIC-36, which is a kind of dumb QIC-02.
Of course, if you don't have the tape drive, the discussion is irrelevant
Don't feel bad about it--several years ago, there were a couple of eBay sellers trying to flog QIC-02 controllers as SCSI ones. I wrote them pointing out the error, but it didn't do any good.
Of course, if you don't have the tape drive, the discussion is irrelevant
Don't feel bad about it--several years ago, there were a couple of eBay sellers trying to flog QIC-02 controllers as SCSI ones. I wrote them pointing out the error, but it didn't do any good.
I totally understand, but why is this QIC-02 card connected to an MFM controller? All the other QiC-02 cards I have are pretty simple interfaces with assignment jumpers.
Chuck(G)
25k Member
Might it be a QIC-36 interface? Then the data separator and 8039 MCU might make some sense. Mountain (Scotts Valley, CA, IIRC) was a strange outfit; I think Nakamichi eventually bought them sometime before 1990.
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I bet it went to one of these early filesafe combos. The review says the card takes two slots, which sounds like this card. It looks like they just merged the QIC-02 and MFM hard drive to a single 50 pin connector.
Chuck(G)
25k Member
Could be--and that would explain the MFM controller. Combos like this weren't uncommon back in the day. I've got an old Ampex Megastore SASI card that worked with a similar tape+disk combo unit.
NeXT
Veteran Member
Is this like those external combo boxes that gave you a hard drive and a tape drive without stealing internal drive bays?
Thinking like the Cipher 5210.
Thinking like the Cipher 5210.
Chuck(G)
25k Member
You have to understand that most of this stuff was current around 1985, when there were still a lot of 5150s around with 62.5 watt PSUs and 5 expansion slots.
So in this October, 1984 issue of PC magazine, you can find combo units from Tallgrass (PDF page 29), Maynard and Ampex (PDF Page 146) being advertised. Maynard had an interesting "combo" unit--a hard disk with a floppy.
So in this October, 1984 issue of PC magazine, you can find combo units from Tallgrass (PDF page 29), Maynard and Ampex (PDF Page 146) being advertised. Maynard had an interesting "combo" unit--a hard disk with a floppy.
mountainking
Experienced Member
Anyone know this board or what company put it out? Date codes are mostly 1980. I really want to know what the ic with the "8085" sticker on it is but I don't want to remove the sticker (I prefer to leave the pieces in my collection in the same condition as when I found them) just seems odd that it has that sticker on it, right?
Attachments
GearTechWolf
Experienced Member
I'd recommend dumping the ROMs, see what clues are there. The sticker seems like it's just denoting that that chip belongs to that board.
I also like keeping things as-found in my collection where possible, but I've had good luck with using tape to preserve labels when using a razor to peel them up.
I also like keeping things as-found in my collection where possible, but I've had good luck with using tape to preserve labels when using a razor to peel them up.
mountainking
Experienced Member
Unfortunately I can't dump the proms at the moment but I will definitely make them available when I can. Was really hoping that with all of the markings on the board that someone would recognize the maker. I actually started looking through Byte issues from 1980 hoping I would find an ad for the board but nothing yet.
If the sticker just denotes that the ic belongs on the board then why the sticker on just the one ic? I mean really it's probably just some run of the mill TTL but I like these little artifacts left by the original builder and I like to ponder their meaning/reason for being, even when they are just some insignificant note (like you said), which is probably what this is....
falter
Veteran Member
I'm wondering if this is part of a computer.. the seller says it was part of an S100 system but I think he's using S100 as shorthand for old computer. Don't think anything S100 ever involved an 8008?
Vintage Intel 8008 CPU board - VERY RARE | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vintage Intel 8008 CPU board - VERY RARE at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
NeXT
Veteran Member
That isn't S100 at all.
It IS however horrific.
It IS however horrific.
mountainking
Experienced Member
I just purchased three S100 boards (plus some docs/paperwork) from that seller, look at his sold items. I haven't received them yet, hopefully this coming week. I will probably make a post about them.I'm wondering if this is part of a computer.. the seller says it was part of an S100 system but I think he's using S100 as shorthand for old computer. Don't think anything S100 ever involved an 8008?
Vintage Intel 8008 CPU board - VERY RARE | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vintage Intel 8008 CPU board - VERY RARE at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!www.ebay.com
mountainking
Experienced Member
What a weird coincidence, I only saw your post because it came up as a reply to my post above about a mystery SBC I just picked up.I'm wondering if this is part of a computer.. the seller says it was part of an S100 system but I think he's using S100 as shorthand for old computer. Don't think anything S100 ever involved an 8008?
Vintage Intel 8008 CPU board - VERY RARE | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vintage Intel 8008 CPU board - VERY RARE at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!www.ebay.com
falter
Veteran Member
Darn they're already gone from ebay. Were they anything interesting?
GearTechWolf
Experienced Member
Why's that? I notice the 8008 chip looks kinda funky, like a knock-off, and the whole thing is very much a messy home-built look.
mountainking
Experienced Member
Here's a screen shot of the description from the listing. I don't think the boards are anything particularly interesting or special, though the homebrew I/O board is kind of cool, imo:
Q & T SBC+2/4 (Z80 CPU)
Ithaca Audio 8k SRAM
Homebrew I/O board made with Seals Electronics protoboard
