Obscure memory card

Posted by: julf

Obscure memory card - 19/05/2005 06:26

OK, this is truly off topic, but as this board has proven to be a fountain of knowledge, no matter how obscure, it's worth a try...

A friend of mine is very keen to locate a reader/writer (or any way to read/write) an old battery-backed SDRAM memory card, originally manufactured by Epson, but also second sourced by Centennial Technologies and Smart Modular Technologies. The cards have not been made since 1998, came in sizes of 32K, 64K and 128K, and were used (apart from Epson systems) in Panasonic word processors and IBM punch card consoles. I am encclosing a couple of pics of the (credit-card-sized) cards.

My friend is working on a vary interesting, computer security-related project that (if my friend is right) might have very interesting implications. All he needs is having a couple of cards read/written, as a one-off thing.

Why is the project interesting? Well, seems pretty well the only remaining major user of the cards is Diebold Systems...
Posted by: julf

Re: Obscure memory card - 19/05/2005 06:27

Second pic
Posted by: pca

Re: Obscure memory card - 19/05/2005 07:46

I have, somewhere, one of the old epson calculator/pocket computers that uses those things. I think. I can't instantly lay hands on it, but I've seen the thing around recently, and I'm pretty sure that the cards are the same. That might allow you to write arbitrary data to the card in question.

I'm also fairly sure that the cards had a very simple static memory interface, with address, data, control, and power pins from te internal chippery simply brought out to the edge connector. Farnell sell one that looks very very similar, although it has 38 pins and your one seems to have 40. Given the pinout, it would be easy to make an adaptor to allow a PC to connect to one of the things via the parallel port.

pca
Posted by: julf

Re: Obscure memory card - 19/05/2005 08:30

Quote:
I have, somewhere, one of the old epson calculator/pocket computers that uses those things. I think. I can't instantly lay hands on it, but I've seen the thing around recently, and I'm pretty sure that the cards are the same. That might allow you to write arbitrary data to the card in question.


If it is programmable enough, yes. If you happen to come across it, could you let me know the type of the calculator? That could be helpful information.
Quote:

I'm also fairly sure that the cards had a very simple static memory interface, with address, data, control, and power pins from te internal chippery simply brought out to the edge connector. Farnell sell one that looks very very similar, although it has 38 pins and your one seems to have 40. Given the pinout, it would be easy to make an adaptor to allow a PC to connect to one of the things via the parallel port.


Hmm, yes. Was thinking on similar lines... Problem is that my friend only has a couple of memory cards, all with valuable data on them, so we don't want to fry one by accident...
Posted by: pca

Re: Obscure memory card - 19/05/2005 08:55

I'll hunt it out. It's definitely somewhere near the top layer of the debris, I saw it no more than three months ago during an unsuccessful hunt for the floor

pca
Posted by: julf

Re: Obscure memory card - 19/05/2005 09:16

Quote:
I'll hunt it out. It's definitely somewhere near the top layer of the debris, I saw it no more than three months ago during an unsuccessful hunt for the floor


Somehow that sounds very familiar...
Posted by: g_attrill

Re: Obscure memory card - 19/05/2005 12:20

Quote:
Quote:
I'll hunt it out. It's definitely somewhere near the top layer of the debris, I saw it no more than three months ago during an unsuccessful hunt for the floor


Somehow that sounds very familiar...

<AOL>me too!</AOL>

I was threatened with eviction (by my mother) or a mandatory skipping unless I cleared some stuff out, so while they were on holiday I filled a wheely bin with old junk.

When I ran the vacuum cleaner across the now-visible floor it went from dark brown to a lighter brown!

Gareth
Posted by: tman

Re: Obscure memory card - 19/05/2005 12:45

Quote:
When I ran the vacuum cleaner across the now-visible floor it went from dark brown to a lighter brown!

Eww!
Posted by: tman

Re: Obscure memory card - 19/05/2005 12:47

I've got huge boxes filled with various junk in the garage. The thing is that chances are I won't ever reuse any of it but I keep it around just because it might be handy in the future. I need to invest in some bigger shelves I think...
Posted by: julf

Re: Obscure memory card - 19/05/2005 13:19

Quote:
I need to invest in some bigger shelves I think...

I think the traditional anglo-saxon solution is called a "shed".
Posted by: tman

Re: Obscure memory card - 19/05/2005 13:21

Quote:
Quote:
I need to invest in some bigger shelves I think...

I think the traditional anglo-saxon solution is called a "shed".

I was actually looking at one yesterday because I was in a large hardware store place. The problem is that I'd fill it up and then need another one and then fill that one up and need another one...
Posted by: canuckInOR

Re: Obscure memory card - 20/05/2005 05:58

Quote:
The thing is that chances are I won't ever reuse any of it but I keep it around just because it might be handy in the future.

I do the same thing. I just moved, and was putting up a towel rack. Due to an unfortunate miscalculation, I got a slightly wrong size of plastic drywall anchor thingy. The old screw didn't fit. The new screw had a head on it that kept the decorative cap from fitting properly. I left the cap off. A week later, I was (finally) clearing out a bunch of "junk" that I'd been carting around for a dozen years, or so, because "I'm honestly never going to use any of this stuff." I found a screw that fit. I couldn't bring myself to throw out any more stuff, because the idea that 'it might be handy in the future' was just validated.
Posted by: frog51

Re: Obscure memory card - 20/05/2005 11:59

And the only times I have ever been forced to throw stuff out I have needed it within the next couple of months.
My cunning solution is to move house every two years...always to one with more rooms/garages/sheds

So my wife doesn't see just how much junk I have, I send her off on holiday while I move. I just give her a new address to come home to.

Got it right every time so far...
Posted by: andym

Re: Obscure memory card - 20/05/2005 15:45

Every two years? When I was a student I moved every year and it used to get on my wick. That said, I'd love to move to a house with a garage and a big study.

For organising my rubbish I found curver boxes to be a godsend.
Posted by: tanstaafl.

Re: Obscure memory card - 22/05/2005 23:16

And the only times I have ever been forced to throw stuff out I have needed it within the next couple of months.

I'm taking the opposite approach. I'm clearing out accumulated "stuff" from my basement, making room for the addition of another person and two more cats to the household. Some of the stuff I am getting rid of has been tucked away out of sight and out of mind for more than 20 years now.

I have already hauled about eight station wagon loads to the landfill, and I figure the job is less thanb half done. My rule of thumb on whether to keep or get rid of something is ",,,do I have a known, specific need for this item in the next 30 days." If not, out it goes!

To that end, I have a LOT of computer stuff that is going away. The impressive part is: it's about $60,000 worth of stuff. The catch is, when it cost $60.000, that was back in the early 1980s. It's probably depreciated in value a liile bit by today... might only be worth $30,000 now.

(Yeah. Right. )

It's a bunch of Altos equipment:

1@ Altos 986 w/5.25" floppy drive
2@ Altos 586 w/5.25" floppy drive
2@ dumb terminals
3@ tape drive backup units + a bunch of tapes
1@ 80 MB external hard drive
1@ Texas Instruments TI-810 dot matrix printer
Xenix operating system with manuals
Informix database system with manuals

This equipment is from a business I was part owner of, and when we sold the business for some reason the new owners didn't want our computer equipment. I mean, who wouldn't want a computer with a 16 MHz 8086 processor running a whole megabyte (I think...) of RAM.

Anybody who wants this stuff can have it for the cost of the shipping. Otherwise it will go to the recycling center where some idiot will pick it up and take it home and store it in his basement for the next 15 or 20 years...

tanstaafl.
Posted by: canuckInOR

Re: Obscure memory card - 23/05/2005 04:12

Quote:
Every two years? When I was a student I moved every year and it used to get on my wick.

Bah. Novice. When I was a student I moved every 4 months. I was in the co-op program, which meant a term at school, followed by a term at work, repeated ad-nauseum until you flunk, quit, or graduate.

As it is, I've never (in my entire life) lived in the same house for longer than 5 years. I don't know how people can stand to live in the same place for their entire lives.
Posted by: canuckInOR

Re: Obscure memory card - 23/05/2005 04:16

Quote:
My cunning solution is to move house every two years...always to one with more rooms/garages/sheds

I'd like to try that. Only problem is that the going rate for anything more than a 1 bedroom apartment in my locale is a minimum of about $250,000. Close to double that, if you want to stay in a reasonably nice neighbourhood.
Posted by: altman

Re: Obscure memory card - 07/06/2005 08:38

Ah Altos.... fond memories of the Altos Munich chatserver (altger) on X25 back in, ooo, must have been '85 or '86. If I tried really hard I could probably remember the address

edit: ...but google found it for me. 26245890040004

Still, as a unix box nowadays it's a tad underpowered (but still beats out the PDP11/23+ running Ultrix that I used to have!)

Hugo
Posted by: julf

Re: Obscure memory card - 07/06/2005 10:13

Well, I was running an even rarer Altos, the 68000. Back in the 80's I was running all of the IT of a sizable architectural firm off one, with 2 x 40 M hard disks, and 8 users (on ASCII terminals, of course).

Beats the russian-built PDP-11 clone I used at university
Posted by: julf

Re: Obscure memory card - 28/11/2005 12:43

Thought you might appreciate an update:
Hacking voting machines
Posted by: Schido

Re: Obscure memory card - 22/12/2005 06:38

And another update:

Devastating hack proven - Leon County dumps Diebold
Posted by: julf

Re: Obscure memory card - 23/12/2005 08:41

Indeed. Harri keeps himself busy