What is this (information technology related?)

[orangeblood]

This request may not be a good match for this forum but I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction. I'm always amazed at the breadth of experience and opinions routinely displayed by the GJ membership.

I got this at a suburban garage sale a couple of years ago. It was the only thing on the table that looked remotely like it was information technology equipment related. The thickness is about 1/16th" and it has no mounting holes.

I am retired after 40 years in info tech management services at a tier 1 integrator. My first thought was that it was 1960s era "big iron" related...maybe a channel extender, network termination / management or tape drive, I haven't been to find anything through google / bing image searches. The closest matches are some similar size plates that are avionics related.

Anybody know what this is? Thanks

 

[mv213]

Following. Hope somebody chimes in with the answer. Early computer hardware is very interesting to me (30 years in IT starting in the early 1990s.

 

[CoogarXR]

If I had to guess, it looks like a template for filling in the circles on punchcards, like this:

But the spacing doesn't look right...

 

[cleaner]

This appears to be a status indicator bezel for magnetic media I/O control. 1960s–1970s magnetic tape or disk‑drive controller, showing the internal ring‑counter and formatting states used during read/write operations.

Try researching DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) — Early Tape/Disk Controllers to see if you can find a match for this bezel.

You might try to contact someone here for assistance if you are not able to do the research yourself online. They probably have the best collection of equipment that is curated in the USA.

https://computerhistory.org/

 

[cleaner]

Here is an example of DEC equipment panel from that era. Looks very similar.

 

[orangeblood]

Here is an example of DEC equipment panel from that era. Looks very similar.

Cleaner

Thanks for the feedback. hadn't thought of DEC equipment. Almost all of my early years experience was IBM.