On Saturday 18 May 2002 18:02, der Mouse wrote:
> >> [...] some SBus cards I didn't recognize.
> >>
> >> IOtech,sbiti at sbus0 slot 1 offset 0x7000 level 1 not configured
> >>
> >> Based on googling [...] [t]he IOtech board is probably an IEEE-488
> >> interface of some sort.  The back-panel connector is physically
> >> compatible with HP-IB cables I have lying around from my hp300
> >> machines, reinforcing this theory.
> >
> > and IOtech does make HP-IB cards.
>
> Is HP-IB a variant of IEEE-488, or an ancestor, or what?  I know
> they're related somehow, but don't know how.  In particular, can a
> 488 interface drive HP-IB, or vice versa?

HP-IB is HP's name. IEEE488 is the same thing, but as an industry 
standard. AFAICR, there is NO difference except the name.
>
> - Surface-mount chip of approximately 120 pins, with a boxed LSI as
>   logo, labeled with printing
> 	L64853AQC
> 	SPARC DMA+
> 	WK84162
> 	XXG 9550[*]	<- [*] represents a thing that looks like a
> 	0A84C8 PE FAA	   capital delta followed by a circle
> 	HONG KONG	   containing the letters SG.

Probably a Sparc DMA chips.
>
> - 40-pin DIP from NEC, labeled "D7210C" and "9536XD001"
>
Probably an IEE488 controller (see someone else's post)

> - Socketed chip that looks like an EPROM, physically compatible with
> a 27512.  Sticker covers most of it; the sticker has printing from a
> dot-matrix printer saying "SB488" and "Rev.1.2".
>
Probably an EPROM with firmware in it.

> - Three socketed 20-pin DIPs, all marked the same with manufacturer
>   printing; one is pencil-marked 0, one 1, and the third 2.  The
>   manufacturer markings are
> 	GAL18V10
> 	20LP
> 	A608C01
A GAL is an enhanced kind of PAL (programmable logic chip)
>
> Some miscellanous logic, all soldered to the baord:
>
> - SN74HCT652NT
> - SN74LS244N
> - SN74HCT244N

These are bus drivers

> - SN75162BN
> - SN75160BN

These are analogue chips

> - SN74LS273N
>
This is an octal latch.

> There's also a four-terminal device that I suspect is a clock
> generator, marked
> 	SG531P  C
> 	16.0000 M
> 	4372A
>
16MHz crystal oscillator

I think its an IEE488 card too. The DMA might be quite useful, as 
IEE488 can go quite fast, and might use a lot of CPU without it. (I 
know, cos I made a PC to IEE488 adaptor with no intelligence at all, 
and it needed most of a 286 to feed a line printer).

andrew