Name that Ware February 2014

The Ware for February 2014 is shown below.

This month’s ware is a handsome bit of retro-computing contributed by Edouard Lafargue (ed _at_ aerodynes.org). The ware was a gift to him from his father.

37 Responses to “Name that Ware February 2014”

  1. Jack says:

    High symmetry, lots of caps, 34 pins divide by 2 get 17.
    Guessing an isolator for a normally 15 pin ( video D-15 ).
    extra pins might be for power. video booster?

  2. jd says:

    a ddp116 “logic” SPAC module. now, which one ?

  3. DavidG says:

    Looks like an RTL or DTL logic board that was part of the cpu of an early computer or desktop calculator. These kinds or boards replaced vacuum tubes in the early computers

  4. Anonymous says:

    The module is marked “FL-36,” which follows the two-letter, two-digit pattern for model numbers of Honeywell/3C S-PAC digital modules, though I didn’t find that model listed in the two instruction manuals posted here:

    http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/honeywell/modules/

    Perhaps “FL” is “flip latch”?

  5. BartLvs says:

    I see transistors, diodes, resistors, and tantalum capacitors, looks like some sort of DTL logic gate board… but the large red tubular PROFILE things are mysterious.

    • Jonathan says:

      Those are just old-school ceramic caps, per Wikipedia.

      • GlennB says:

        The 3 terminal PROFILE components do not seem to be ceramic caps that I have ever encountered. The 2 terminals close together do not seem to be internally “shorted” in the component. In many cases, the end terminal goes to the PCB connector without any other components involved. The middle terminal goes to transistor bases or offboard via a resistor. Could they be tapped metal film resistors, or even a tapped inductors?

  6. steveM2 says:

    From the form factor, it is obviously an iXXX device.
    Very likely the next iPhone 6, with a more hackable connector,
    and more repairable electronics.

  7. Dave says:

    Here’s a catalog of S-PAC cards from the 60s:

    http://www.ddp116.org/products/pacs/s-pacs.pdf

    No mention of an FL-36, or even an FL line, and I don’t see it in either the 1966 1-MC instruction manual or the 1968 supplementary equipment manual. A specialty part for NASA, perhaps?

  8. DavidG says:

    Not sure but Bunnie seems to have decided that my suggestion that this came from the Apollo space program should not be published? Yes I accidently posted it twice because I did not notice that it would only be displayed after moderation…

  9. xws says:

    looks like an old game card

  10. Thomas says:

    The 3C logo gives something away: Computer Control Company. It can be found on Wikipedia. It was sold to Honeywell in 1966 (according to wikipedia) and the products discontinued in 1970. Which matches with the 3468 code stamped on the board (week 34, 1968?). 3C made indeed the DDP series.

    If this board is indeed made in 1968, this board is likely a spare part or continued production of an older model. Maybe a DDP-19 board.

    http://www.p3oriontopsecret.com/3c-computer-control-company-ddp-24-card-rack.html shows a complete rack with similar cards but of a more modern design, with thinner traces and smaller parts.

    The DDP-118 of 1963 (according to http://ummr.altervista.org/before_micros_2.htm) also looks more modern. And in the DDP-416 of 1967, IC’s were used in an edge connector design.

    That leaves the DDP 19: http://www.ddp116.org/products/ddp19/ddp19.jpg . This would be older than 1968. It might an older product still be in production at that time, might be a spare part, or perhaps an aircraft/space/military product manufactured to an older (conservative) spec.

    http://www.ddp116.org/products.html shows a lineup.

  11. Thomas says:

    Looking more closely at http://ummr.altervista.org/before_micros_2.htm I suppose it is an DDP-116 board. Just too close in form factor, even though the parts look a bit different.

    Too many similarities in the frame, connector and keying, holes and stamps. 3C seem to have changed teh form factor quite a lot for new series.

  12. abhilash says:

    it looks like R-2R ladder DAC , may be a daughter card for 4004 SBC , i guess ?

  13. Albert Lee says:

    This is an S-PAC modular logic card produced by Computer Control Company (“3C”) using pre-IC discrete electronics. [1]

    Complex digital circuits could be constructed by inserting a row of different S-PACs into an S-BLOC enclosure. 3C actually entered the minicomputer business by building the DDP-116 and DDP-24/224 out of of S-BLOCs. [2][3]

    These parts wouldn’t have flown in space, though they were widely used at NASA (DDP-224s powered mission simulators for Gemini and Apollo as well as a full instruction set simulator of the Apollo Guidance Computer). [4]

    The abundance of big caps on this particular S-PAC is seems unusual, and the design doesn’t resemble anything in the catalogs of 1-megacycle S-PACs. [5] Maybe some kind of register file?

    [1] http://www.ddp116.org/products/pacs/s-pacs.pdf
    [2] http://www.ddp116.org/products/ddp116/ddp116.pdf
    [3] http://www.textfiles.com/bitsavers/pdf/3c/DDP-24_InstructionMan_Aug64.pdf
    [4] http://history.nasa.gov/computers/Ch9-2.html
    [5] http://www.textfiles.com/bitsavers/pdf/honeywell/modules/130071184B_1MC_Series_S-PAC_Jan66.pdf

  14. RandyKC says:

    Looks like a dual high frequency operational amplifier from an analog computer. (Symmetry around the central axis as well as all traces are curved.) The blade end connectors are very different coming out at a right angles to the board. Are they there to cut down on induced harmonics in the backplane, to provide low noise connections, or meant to be used in a high vibration environment??

    Thanks Bunnie, love following your work.

    • Thomas says:

      The connectors were just common at the time, I think.

      As for the curved connections: these were laid out by hand, with adhesive tape on film. Curved lines were probably easier to do than straight angles.

  15. Paul says:

    bank of delay lines

  16. michimartini says:

    Whatever this is – it is absolutely beautiful – almost has a bit of a steampunkish appeal. SOT-23 transistors and 0603 chip resistors and auto-routed traces are so ugly compared to this utter work of art. I just wonder if something like this could be pulled off with a new line of SMD components that would be created to look good instead of just doing the job while taking as little pcb real estate as possible.
    But I digress.

  17. uwezi says:

    I like especially the jumpers A-B-C D-E-F H-J-K and the cute little bends in the diodes’ leads.

    Others have already pointed out the symmetry which actually is almost a double symmetry, so 4 vertical (on the big image) blocks.

    When overlaying front and back you can see that the 4 big red capacitors in the middle “PROFILE” connect as only component to one leg of a capacitor each – very strange, a transistor circuit where either base, emitter or collector is kept on a floating dc level? Oh no, now I see – the big capacitors have three pins – most probably the two outer pins go to the inner plate on the inside of the ceramics tube and are thus connected. Cool using a component as a jumper at the same time!

    For speculations about 8 latches or flipflops – no the transistor pairs are not connected consistently over the board.

    My best guess would be 4 operational amplifiers.

  18. Baldy says:

    The logo on the card is from Computer Control Company which was purchased by Honeywell in 1966.

    The card appears to be in S-PACS form factor. Not sure of the function but the form factor was used in many of the DDP series machines.

  19. Akir Ikasu says:

    Everyone is saying that it’s a card used in some serious vintage tech. Just to be different, I am going to guess that it is actually an Ion Generator (AKA Ozone Generator). That’s why there are so many pins; that’s where the ions are released.

  20. Steven L says:

    FL-36 does indeed seem to fit the pattern for naming Honeywell/3C S-PAC modules but it doesn’t appear in either of the catalogues I could find. My wild guess is something to do with clock distribution ( (F for frequency? L for locking? Latching? Looping?).

    Or it’s a custom board for some kind of Flight Logic …

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