What did this HP-IL device do?

[Joe Horn]

(06-15-2015 01:37 PM)4ster Wrote:  Hewlett Packard 82166-60013 HP-IL Interfacing board
This Guy

It's kinda the same shape, and it has the same number of pins, and they are labeled the same, as the parallel-port pins on the HP 82166A "HP-IL Converter" which "provides the capability to convert an external device with general purpose input/output (GPIO) capabilities into a device compatible with the Hewlett-Packard Interface Loop (HP-IL)." [from the 82166A Technical Manual]



So I'm guessing that it's either the board inside an 82166A or a board that lets you build your own equivalent of an 82166A. I don't know why it has two identical parallel ports, though; perhaps for pass-through operation? (wild guess only).

It also looks similar to the board included in the "HP 82166A Prototyping Kit":

... about which I know nothing. It's mentioned here with no details: http://www.hp-collection.org/hpil.html

"And that's all I have to say about that." -- Forrest Gump