Another round of... What's This Card?

[Phipli]

Does anyone recognise what this card is?

It has a 62pin DSub, but looks too fancy to just be an 8 port serial card (I mean it could be, but they're pretty much one chip solutions normally, not 12" cards). It has what look like three Altera FPGAs. The PCI MatchMaker chip is a PCI interface chip that simplifies connecting hardware to the PCI bus. It sort of makes it more like a high speed ISA bus. Makes electronic and driver development easier. The only thing that might be a brand is "PAC". I've included close ups of potential part numbers.

Is it perhaps a RIP card? Anyone seen this card before? It came alongside an Audio card and two SCSI cards, but that is likely to be a false lead, given there was also a 8100 style AV card with it.

 

[Phipli]

System Profiler shows it as "pci1203,1"

With model -1 and vendor 1203.

This is apparently "TSC Auto ID Technology Co., Ltd"

... Who apparently make label printers?

 

[chelseayr]

@Phipli I won't be too surprised if its indeed for a 'dumb' label printer and the card is the one that actually controls it around. I recall quite some time ago wondering about the cheap 'lasermax' (I think that was the name it was) nubus cards on ebay and @Unknown_K mentioned about the printer-offload-to-card concept to me at the time.

 

[Phipli]

@Phipli I won't be too surprised if its indeed for a 'dumb' label printer and the card is the one that actually controls it around. I recall quite some time ago wondering about the cheap 'lasermax' (I think that was the name it was) nubus cards on ebay and @Unknown_K mentioned about the printer-offload-to-card concept to me at the time.

Those NuBus cards you are talking about are the RIP cards I mentioned in my initial post. They do the image rasterisation for early laser printers, it meant the host computer was free from having to do all the calculations itself and enabled the user to get on with other work. Later it was more common to put the hardware inside the printers, although I suspect some high end printers kept using RIP cards. I'm not hugely familiar with industrial printers.

 

[cheesestraws]

It's an Agfa card for prepress stuff: https://www.usedctp.com/en/agfa-apis-pac-interface-209733-952c/a480

Is it perhaps a RIP card?

I think it is effectively a RIP, yes: it apparently drives "all AccuSets (800/1000/1500 normal & plus) and all Avantras (20/25/30/36/44 - E/S/XT)" (source) These appear to be imagesetters that transfer digital images onto photographic film as part of the process of making printing plates (?). @Danamania will I'm sure be able to correct my garbled understanding.

 

[Phipli]

It's an Agfa card for prepress stuff: https://www.usedctp.com/en/agfa-apis-pac-interface-209733-952c/a480



I think it is effectively a RIP, yes: it apparently drives "all AccuSets (800/1000/1500 normal & plus) and all Avantras (20/25/30/36/44 - E/S/XT)" (source) These appear to be imagesetters that transfer digital images onto photographic film as part of the process of making printing plates (?). @Danamania will I'm sure be able to correct my garbled understanding.

Good work cheesestraws.

Do we have anyone here who can use it? To me, I can see three nice FPGAs and a cool PCI interface chip that I will make use of (I was actually looking for one cheap), but obviously, if someone has a high end 90s printing setup in their shed, that is a much better use of the card.

 

[joshc]

I vote @mg.man as he seems to like acquiring obscure things he may not need.

 

[Phipli]

I vote @mg.man as he seems to like acquiring obscure things he may not need.

Its only going to someone with video evidence of their "AccuSets (800/1000/1500 normal & plus) and all Avantras (20/25/30/36/44 - E/S/XT)" setup

I quite literally can use the chips on this card to develop my own PCI card, I'm not giving it up without someone having a better use than me

 

[joshc]

‘Put it in a drawer’ is a legit use of an old card though…

 

[Phipli]

‘Put it in a drawer’ is a legit use of an old card though…

I try to store my cards in computers, they're less prone to damage. I blame that for why I need two 9600s. Its efficient storage.

 

[MrFahrenheit]

I try to store my cards in computers, they're less prone to damage. I blame that for why I need two 9600s. Its efficient storage.

I can always rent you some storage space in my machines. Might be cheaper for you.

 

[Phipli]

I can always rent you some storage space in my machines. Might be cheaper for you.

I just need to find more cheap 9600s Perhaps a 950 and a 9500 too. Anyone got one for 99p?

 

[Danamania]

What cheesey said.

In general items like these can be absolute goldmines btw, though from a quick look around the time may be up for this one. If a print house has working equipment, many will be hesitant to get rid of a setup that's done them well for decades. A card like that to the right buyer could go for not just pricey, not just expensive, but please-save-us-and-our-whole-workflow type money.

Thinking of the print place I know who paid multiple 5-figures for someone to come in and fix their digital to plate pipeline, and the fix was replacing a RIP card in a refreshed Pentium II machine that could only run Windows XP SP2 because of weird short-run card incompatabilities and bugs. (Until recently we ran the same system).

Of course you have to find a buyer, know where to find a buyer, and your card may not work or be a weird revision that makes life harder for the folk who'd use it.

 

[mg.man]

he seems to like acquiring obscure things

I'm good - have a few boxes of that sorta stuff from you already...