Met@box (originally Pios) started primarily as computer developer. They had a clone sublicense from Motorola and developed a CHRP Mac Clone (Maxxtrem) that was also planned (sans the Mac Chipset) as a new Amiga (many of the guys behind pios were ex Amiga/Commodore guys from germany and the US). I also played with the Tatung clone those days and that was planned to be used as basis for other Pios computers. In parallel they also had a sublicense from Umax. They (we) had clones based on UMAX S900 boards (Magna) in a unique housing and Tanzania I based units in the standard housing (Keenya) with just a special front plate. In the beginning they used daughtercards from a variety of suppliers but then went on to do our own. First a 604r with up to 300 Mhz (but without inline cache like Apple‘s Mach 5) and later G3 and G4 (even with 2mb BS Cache). When the clone license was basically useless, the company only focussed on Upgrades and developed a set-top box as the new main goal (Was not involved in that at all). Next came ZIF upgrades for G3s and then - to suit the Tanzania base - the Joecard T. We never really focussed on Alchemy/Gazelle and as far as i remember never got it running in the Alchemy testbeds. We also had a US subsidiary for a year or so. In the very late 90s, Metabox only focussed on the Set-top-box business and the Mac business slowly dwindled down. No more new developments like Sawtooth etc. made it past the drawing board. Finally in 2001 - as the set-top business failed - the company went bankrupt.That's really neat Thanks for chiming in. It's not often we get a developer/engineer to add what they can on these kinds of topics. I know a lot of times NDAs etc. can prevent eve the more earnest ones, but I for one appreciate the comments!
I somehow never put 2 and 2 together until now that Metabox was a German company—makes sense now that I've seen a couple of mentions of clone licensees bundling JoeCards in Europe (I think Umax did this at some point to circumvent the language of the license agreement? but those were daughter card CPU replacements, not cleverly designed upgrades). Also, perhaps that's why I haven't seen them pop up here in the States or even so much as seen a photo beyond this horribly low-res one on EveryMac:
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This is very neat! If it's not too much trouble, it'd be really fascinating to at least see photos of them (if that's possible).I still have prototypes of all JoeCards that Thomas and I developed somewhere but just found a G4 one in original package in the attic. I suppose after 25 years, it is no longer in working condition
Well, I left the USA after a three year tenure in Cupertino in 1994This is very neat! If it's not too much trouble, it'd be really fascinating to at least see photos of them (if that's possible).
Too bad I don't live in the EU, otherwise I'd offer to test it or even send you a spare tanzania board
Wow that is super super cool.A G3/500 from 1998 in its original box sans the cooler/fan…….
Huh interesting I’ve never seen one that’s full height like that from interware I’ve owned 4 or 5 and they have all been low profile. I’ve got two in my possession right now in fact and they are both short.I know the perspective is a tad off on the Sonnet, but I matched the scale of the connectors
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edit: this was something I was kind of concerned about at one point with fill-length PCI cards, especially the thicker ones like the PC Compatibility Cards with their heatsink in the 4400 specifically:
top
middle
The middle was just a bit too close (or touching) for my liking, but still sort of fit with the lower profile card.
I'm guessing so. And yeah, no way that'd fit with 12" cards in there.Really meant for Tanzania clones?
JoeCard was always the version with 1mb Cache, LittleJoe the one with 512kb. There has been a JoeCard T and a LittleJoe T - both having the same form factor. Let me see if i can find the actual card‘s dimension as the cover shot on the box does make them all ( T, Ziff and regular Processor card) all look the same….Ditto! Thanks for sharing @Coloruser
Based on the photos, is it correct to assume the JoeCard T was more of a 'full height' and the littleJoe was a more compact design for the LPX-40/Tanzania machines?
The Interware/Vimage cards were also pretty tall, based on photos I've seen.
I think you got the dimension quite well.Forgive the wonky perspective. (I'm still learning Affinity, migrating from Photoshop), but something like this? Found it on the box pic you uploaded. The pin pattern matches, so I'm assuming this is one of the 'T' cards