HP50960A

[Tony Duell]

> 
> Any ideas as to what it is, and if it can be made to do something
> interesting?
> 
> --
> 
> Sounds like some variant of the 9817 / 9000/210

It sure looks like a 9817, and the backplane has a 09817- part number, 
which would indicate that it came from that machine. The mainboard has a 
50960- part number, but it's on a stuck-on (HP printed) label, not in the 
etch or silk-screen. There doesn't appear to be any other number under 
the label, though.

Did either of the 9817 or 9000/210 have ethernet as standard? The 
mainboard looks to be laid out for it. There's a 10MHz oscillator can 
fitted inside the footprint for what seems to be the ethernet controller 
chip, my guess is that if the ethernet stuff was fitted, there was a 
10MHz clock available on one of the pins of that.

Of course I have no idea (yet) if the firmware had been changed. At least 
it's socketed 28 pin ROM chips...

> 
> http://hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=7
> http://hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=120
> 
> you'll find some field service manuals hiding under "Product Documentation"
> there

Thanks, I will take a(nother) look.

> 
> googling 50960A turns up "200/SRM Server"
> 
> SRM is a 700kbit networking scheme which uses the 5096x DIO-I interfaces

There is one of those interfaces in this machine, I think I mentioned it. 
Of course I've got nothing to connect it to.


> 
> So it was probably the server side box for an SRM network

Presumably it expects normal HP disk units on one of the HPIB buses.

-tony