Can anyone identify this 80's 68020 Board / Card?

[Fuzion]

Hi All,


I saw this board for sale the other day and had to have it (The components looked so similar to an older Amiga accelerator that I was intrigued). The owner didn't know anything about it (Except that it's copped a knock at some stage on the traces).

Whatever it is, it's been now been saved from becoming someones wedding ring anyway.


From what I can tell:


A) ISA?
B) Pretty epic for it's time!
C) Motorola MC68020RP16E CPU & MC68440R10 MMU
D) 4x “Topless Germany” (Soldered) Ram sticks.
E) 15Pin DSUB
F) The long IC (which you can’t read in photo) is Intel P82592 / SZ158 / L0381327 (’87) (Might be programmable IC)


It could be one of a million custom boards for industrial use and perhaps impossible to identify. I’m more interested in what the card does, rather than it’s exact designation. Whatever it is, it would have cost a fortune in the 80's.


It has a 15 pin DSUB which I thought might have something to do with an Apple display? But after hours of Googling, I kind of got the picture that the older 8-bit ISA (IF that is what it is) could mean it was meant as some kind of CPU accelerator board for AT/XT Machines? Surely 16Mhz is too way fast for both of those machines? Is it a bridge board perhaps?


It says "LAN LABORATORY - LA-ETHERv1.0/I3 on the reverse side, but Google slammed the door in my face when I asked what that was.


I’m attempting to attach readable high-res images, not sure if they will still be clear after the upload process optimises the photos.


Has anyone seen anything like this before? Very interested in any theories. Thanks.

 

[SaviorX]

15pin DSUB may also be AUI network interface. (also if i recall correctly, XILINX chips are on some of my older network/modem cards as well)

 

[Fuzion]

Thanks SaviorX! That certainly fits in with the "LAN" & "Ether" nomenclature on the PCB.

 

[SaviorX]

it certainly is a 'robust' card in any case....especially given it was most likely intended for an XT type system.

if i were absolutely forced to guess, i'd say an accelerated/buffered AUI network card, possibly intended for a server XT system.

the only conceivable reason i can think of for a math processor to be on it however (in that case) would be for the real-time generation/handling of 'CRC' type data (and possibly on-the-fly compression of data), being that this card would actually be faster than the PC it would be in. (16mhz vs possibly 4.77-8mhz, which would also be in line with the ISA slot speed (16/2=8 )

the Intel chip presumably handles irq/communication with the host.

but...this is just a guess.

for all i know it could've been intended to operate heavy machinery via the network interface...

whatever the case, i am seeing absolutely no reference to anything on the net in regards to this card, drivers, or any software related to this card seems to be non-existant....so unless someone has an identical card somewhere...

oh yeah..and the on-board RAM is 30-pin, indicating they are likely standard 30-pin SIPPS, and given its an 8-bit card I would assume 256k x4 / 1MB

 

[Fuzion]

Thanks again!

That's incredibly thorough! I think you're on to it.

You're right, there's nothing on that manufacturer at all, that's why I thought it may have been purpose-built. There is a sticker on the inside of it (out of shot) that said it was serviced in 1997.

I guess domestic cards tend not to get serviced. The fact that it was checked / serviced circa 10 years after it was made is probably a good sign that it was industrial. After having a look around at your mention of AUI, it also looks like the "Slide locking mechanism" on the DSUB is typical of an AUI drop cable (learning as I go). This cable

You have to be on track with your guess. Surely! Good job!

 

[SaviorX]

well, AUI is also the precursor to the more standardized 8P8C connection (also mistakenly referred to as RJ45) for Ethernet, so...it all fits given that its made by a LAN company and referred to as an 'ether' card...

and now you mention it was serviced in '97 (couldn't quite make out the date on the sticker on the back of the bracket), more likely an industrial purpose than an actual 'network' application, the Motorola processors presumably for running specific code... (after all, who would still need this card in an actual network situation in '97...long past time to upgrade your network i think )

 

[Fuzion]

Haha agreed! And even then you would think that any servicing to the machine in '97 was done to ensure it had continued use moving forward for more years to come.

So this might have controlled anything back then from a Wind tunnel at a jet engine manufacturer to a machine that stuck faces on Lego...

Nice pick-up on the servicing, glad I asked now. Thanks SaviorX.

 

[hooverphonique]

the xilinx is a CPLD/FPGA type of device, not a dedicated network chip..

DP8421 is a DRAM controller, so likely for the four sims...

Intel P82592 is a network controller chip, so likely this could be a PIC containing an AUI interface, but the memory and processing power suggests that it is more than just a plain network card..

 

[SaviorX]

yes, i think we've decided it was a little too powerful for just some plain network device (was just an initial guess given the AUI connection)

and probably spent it's life controlling a robot arm that put the caps on tubes of toothpaste or some other such 'industrial' purpose

 

[cugar124]

One way plug into amiga isa slot power up looks a bit like an rgb socket maybe mac meter out the outputs if u have the know how could be a mac emulator

 

[SaviorX]

I am fairly certain it is probably some industrial device... (a kitted out network controller for an XT was wishful thinking , though that'd be kind of cool, Network server on a card, an XT capable of handling 255 network connections, tho the MFM/RLL drives would probably grind to dust...)

if it were an emulator it would have at the very minimum a floppy disk controller on it as well, i would think....

if it were an accelerator for an Amiga for instance, it wouldn't be 8-bit ISA (let's make a CPU upgrade, but make it for the slowest slot of the 3 or 4 types the computer has...)... (if it were for a Mac, it'd be NuBus or something, Amiga would be for the CPU upgrade slot or Zorro(?))