Unknown ISA card

[Robin4]

What is it?

Made by TallGrass Technologies corp ( i think in 1986?)

FCC ID: DC47E5AITC

 

[Chuck(G)]

What's on the PLCC? Tallgrass made tape drive systems; mostly QIC in 1986. This is likely the controller for same. Many of Tallgrass's early controllers were combo tape/disk combos--I don't know if this is one of them. The tape/disk combos were mostly external units--this looks like something for an internal drive. That is, there's no external connector on the card bracket.

Just guessing, here.

 

[Robin4]

If its a tape controller card, i cant use it.. So i will remove those ICs instead..

 

[Eudimorphodon]

If its a tape controller card, i cant use it.. So i will remove those ICs instead..

Why? It looks like it has maybe $4 worth of generic LS logic on it, tops. It seems like more hassle to strip it than it’s worth.

A clear picture of the markings on the PLCC chip might help ID its function if it’s a generic part.

 

[Timo W.]

All it takes is to check the Wikipedia article:

By the spring of 1981 the hard disk controller design was complete. Tallgrass initially tried marketing Allen's unorthodox hard disk controller alone, to system manufacturers.
[...]
Tallgrass was able to supply its hard disk subsystems for the PC, in production quantities in November 1981, almost immediately after IBM started revenue shipments of PCs, in October.
[...]
The manufacturing cost of the disk and tape controllers was low because Allen's unorthodox controller design was shared by both disk and tape and, being 100% digital including the data-separator, it was easily reduced to a single LSI microchip.

Too bad the ROM is missing (probably the only difference between it being for tapes or hard disks). Other than that, an interesting card. Of course, you will probably never find a drive to use it with. But I would highly recommend *not* to destroy it by removing the bog-standard ICs. You can get these from any other source.