Canberra ND584 MCA NIM ?

[ChrisSmolinski]

Does anyone know anything about this beast? I've done some web
searches, but can't seem to find any info. I have a line on one (an ebay
seller who didn't meet reserve for his), but it would be a bear to play with,
without any pinouts. It might be a bear to play with even *with* pinouts.

[Richard Hester]

You might try Canberra themselves or Don Orie at Oetech for documentation on this MCA. From experience, however, Canberra is not too keen on providing documentation for what they consider obsolete devices. If they have said data ( that's sometimes a BIG if), they will charge an arm and a leg. Don is more reasonable if he happens to have the documentation.

As a second thought, the ND prefix on the part number might mean that this an old Nuclear Data module taken over by Canberra. In that case, it's probably really ancient.

[Richard Hull]

ND prefix is indeed old Nuclear Data Corp. Recognized by the the dull green, nearly olive drab front bezel, they are very obsolete and all attempts by myself to get data on these has met with abject failure. I have several NIM modules by NDC most are obvious in function (SCA, dual amp, fast integrator, etc) and easily usable, however a really nice 100mhz ADC I have by them is forever a mystery.

ADC's are the real heart of a full blown MCA. Unfortunately, most manufacturers went out of their way, tripping over themselves, to hide, obfuscate and confound any attempt by even the adroit to decode their often weird and nonesensical handshakes to make the things go. Even with a printed schematic and discription of the circuit's operation would often demand a herculean effort to interface the device.

Richard Hull