It is either a single-board computer or a co-processor of some kind. Sometimes I/O controllers like RAID or SCSI would use full cards like this. The other option would be a custom controller that was made for an industrial application. There are some FPGA chips on there so there is that possibility too. Given that this has a DC/DC converter , Altera FPGAs, and a 386EX younger than 1994 on a ISA bus I would guess prototyping board.

There's a handful of little optocoupler ICs (the little creme chips) sitting next to the isolated DC converter. My guess is an industrial I/O interface with time critical processing capability due to the 386 on board which can run independent of the system host OS.

mwhyena wrote on 2024-05-30, 01:23:

There's a handful of little optocoupler ICs (the little creme chips) sitting next to the isolated DC converter. My guess is an industrial I/O interface with time critical processing capability due to the 386 on board which can run independent of the system host OS.

I thought they were SMD tantalum caps, but timing is wrong, and you are right, they could be optocouplers which means signal isolation--probably analog signals. The DC/DC converter might be from the isolated side. I think you are right, some real-time controller running independent of the CPU but controlled with DMA over the ISA bus.

This is certainly an unusual piece, but hardly worth anything. To the right person it could be worth something, but I doubt it.

Only asking about value and not function...sounds like an ebay reseller

kingcake wrote on 2024-05-30, 05:03:

Only asking about value and not function...sounds like an ebay reseller

Good point, with an account with only one post I almost didn't respond but since it was a two-year old account I figured it was a lurker.