Re: Mystery card

[A2Aviator <a2aviator@gmail.com>]

The Corvus name was synonymous, closest today with what we might refer
to as a NAS, but Managed.

The Corvus external hard drive is a networkable, multi-user compatible
storage solution that provided for multi-workstation access to the
same drive - in 1980, on the Personal Computer we became to be known.
Nothing new in the enterprise world..  That rendition of the system
used 34 pin ribbon cables that all ran into a multiplexor, of which
the PCB is shown next to the card in one of the links.

Multiple multiplexors could be used, but as you can see- the stations
had to be semi close, and the cabling had the potential to be as nasty
as phone systems of the era, but without the distance capability.

The next product in their lineup expanded on that and also shifted to
two-wire cabling, daisy chain style. The later was called Corvus
OmniNet.

OmniNet was also multi-platform. A2, ///, and later on PC-XT (ISA),
Macintosh, TRS-80 and even Atari. Though the latter ones were not very
mainstream.

They went public in 1981 and all but vanished by 1987.

Ethernet pretty much did them in, and making PC clones didn't help
either.