GreenSpring Computers

GreenSpring Computers was started in 1984 as VME Specialists. The original product focus was VMEbus cards for industrial automation. The company was founded by Leonard Lehmann and his father Henry Lehmann in Redwood City, California, United States.

Change of name

Around 1988, the company changed its name to GreenSpring Computers. With the name change came a change of focus away from VMEbus specific products to industrial automation products. The company worked with Apple Computers and SuperMac Technologies to design and manufacture the first video cards for the new Macintosh II product family. With the new Macintosh computers came the vision that the embedded market was looking for alternatives to industrial PCs running DOS. The RackMac became the only industrial version of the Macintosh computer available. In addition to the main computer (RM1200) was a 14" monitor available with a touchscreen (RM1240 w/o touchscreen and RM1250 w/ touchscreen).

Acquisition

GreenSpring Computers was acquired by SBS Technologies in April 1995.[1] In 2006, SBS Technologies was acquired by GE Fanuc Embedded Systems.[2] The SBS headquarters in Albuquerque is now the headquarters for GE Fanuc Embedded Systems.

Original product line
Product name Product description
SBC1 Motorola 68000/ Motorola 68010 based VMEbus CPU module
SBC2 Motorola 68000/ Motorola 68010 based VMEbus CPU module with dual-ported memory
SBC3 Motorola 68020 based VMEbus CPU module
DRAM 512/2M 512 and 2M VMEbus memory module. Memory was DIP and populated into sockets.
DRAM 4M 4M VMEbus memory module. Memory was ZIP (Zig zag inline package).
VME360 VMEbus video card
VME490 VMEbus RS232/422 serial card
VME620 VMEbus SCSI interface
VME750 Floating Point module for SBC1. Motorola 68881

Mezzanine modules

With the focus moving away from VMEbus only, Leonard brought on Kim Rubin to develop a bus independent module called IndustryPacks (IP). IndustryPack became recognized as an industry standard for mezzanine modules and was adopted by ANSI as VITA 4. These mezzanine modules are approximately the size of a business card (99mm x 45mm). Featuring a 16 or 32 bit wide I/O interface and 50 User defined I/O pins.

Original IPs

IP name IP description
IP-Digital24 24-channel TTL input and output, programmable bits, supports RMW, bit set/reset, 64mA sink
IP-Digital48 48 general purpose lines of bit I/O including a 24-bit timer
IP-DUAL PI/T Two MC68230s for timers/interface, 68230 includes two 8-bit or one 16-bit programmable port, two 24-bit timers
IP-488 IEEE-488 Interface. Talker, listener, controller
IP-Serial Two Channel Serial, 2 multi-protocol RS-232/422/485, async/sync to 2 megabaud, SDLC, HDLC, X.25. Interrupts.
VME310 VMEbus 3U A24/D16, IRQ1,3,4,6 selectable. Supports 2 IP's
VME610 VMEbus 6U A24/D16, IRQ 1-7 selectable. Supports 4 IP's
RM1260 NuBus intelligent carrier. Supports 2 IP's
RM1270 NuBus support Carrier. Supports 2 IP's

The big advancements for IPs was when Motorola adopted the standard for their MVME162 processor line (see Motorola Single Board Computers) based on the Motorola 68040. In a short time, there were multiple IP manufacturers and over 100 different IP modules available.

Final product line
Category Product Form Channels Description
Analog Converters IP-16ADC IP 16 High accuracy 16 bit ADC
Analog Converters IP-16DAC IP 3 High stability 16 DAC
Analog Converters IP-AD12SS IP 8 Simultaneous sampling 12 bit ADC
Analog Converters IP-AD16SS IP 8 Simultaneous sampling 16 bit ADC
Analog Converters IP-DAC IP 6 General purpose 12 bit DAC
Analog Converters IP-DAC-SU IP 16 Simultaneous update 16 bit DAC
Analog Converters IP-HIADC IP 16 "High speed, simultaneous sampling 16 bit ADC"
Analog Converters IP-OPTOAD12 IP 16 Opto-isolated 12 bit ADC
Analog Converters IP-OPTOAD16 IP 16 Opto-isolated 16 bit ADC
Analog Converters IP-OPTODA12 IP 8 Opto-isolated 12 bit DAC
Analog Converters IP-OPTODA16 IP 4 Opto-isolated 16 bit DAC
Analog Converters IP-PRECADC IP 20+2 Resistive bridge driver and 12 bit ADC and DAC
Analog Converters IP-UL-ADC40 IP 40 General purpose 12 bit ADC with timer and strobe
Analog Converters IP-UL-AUDIO IP 2+2 Audio 16-bit sigma-delta ADC and DAC
Analog Converters IP-UL-AUDIO-4 IP 4+4 Audio 16-bit sigma-delta ADC and DAC
Analog Converters IP-UL-DAQ200 IP 2+2 High speed 16-bit sigma-delta ADC and DAC with FIFO
Analog Converters PMC-UL-GPIO PMC 8+8 General purpose 12 bit ADC and DAC with digital I/O
Audio P1-AUDIO PCMIP Stereo Soundblaster compatible audio I/O with amplifier
Audio PMC-AUDIO PMC Stereo Soundblaster compatible audio I/O with amplifier
Avionics Communication IP-1553 IP 1 Dual-redundant with ILC DDC module
Data Storage IP-FLASH IP Up to 8 Mbytes Flash memory
Data Storage IP-NVRAM IP 1 Mbyte battery-backed SRAM
Data Storage P-D64 PCMIP 64 Mbytes DRAM
Data Storage P-F64 PCMIP 64 Mbytes Intel StrataFlash
Data Storage PMC-PCMCIA PMC PCMCIA (PC Card) type I or II card socket
Data Storage PMC-USCSI PMC 1 Ultra Wide SCSI to 40 Mbytes/sec front/rear/SE/DIFF
Digital I/O – Buffered TTL IP-ALTERA-TTL IP 32 User-programmable FPGA
Digital I/O – Buffered TTL IP-UNIDIG IP 24 General purpose I/O
Digital I/O – Buffered TTL IP-UNIDIG-I IP 24 General purpose I/O with interrupts
Digital I/O – Buffered TTL IP-UNIDIG-IO-12I12O IP 24 Opto-isolated with interrupts
Digital I/O – Buffered TTL IP-UNIDIG-IO-24I IP 24 Opto-isolated with interrupts
Digital I/O – Buffered TTL IP-UNIDIG-IO-24IO IP 24 Opto-isolated with interrupts
Digital I/O – Buffered TTL IP-UNIDIG-O-12I12O IP 24 Opto-isolated
Digital I/O – Buffered TTL IP-UNIDIG-O-24I IP 24 Opto-isolated
Digital I/O – Buffered TTL IP-UNIDIG-O-24IO IP 24 Opto-isolated
Digital I/O – Buffered TTL IP-UNIDIG-P IP 16 Parallel transfers with hardware handshake modes
Digital I/O – Buffered TTL IP-XILINX-BUF IP 24 User-programmable FPGA
Digital I/O – Buffered TTL IP-XILINX-XX-BUF IP 24 Two user-programmable FPGAs
Digital I/O – Buffered TTL P1-IO32 PCMIP 32 General purpose I/O with interrupts
Digital I/O – Buffered TTL P2-IO32 PCMIP 32 "General purpose I/O with interrupts, front panel I/O"
Digital I/O – Buffered TTL PMC-UL-GPIO PMC 16 "Also includes ADC, DAC, and timers"
Digital I/O – Differential 422 IP-ALTERA IP 20 User-programmable FPGA
Digital I/O – Differential 422 IP-UNIDIG-D IP 24 General purpose I/O
Digital I/O – Differential 422 IP-UNIDIG-I-D IP 24 General purpose I/O with interrupts
Digital I/O – Differential 422 IP-UNIDIG-P-D IP 16 Parallel transfers with hardware handshake modes
Digital I/O – Differential 422 IP-XILINX-422 IP 24 User-programmable FPGA
Digital I/O – Differential 422 IP-XILINX-XX-422 IP 24 Two user-programmable FPGAs
Digital I/O – High-side (FET) IP-OPTO-DRV IP 16 Opto-isolated
Digital I/O – Low-side (FET) IP-DRIVER40 IP 40 User-programmable FPGA
Digital I/O – Low-side (FET) IP-UNIDIG-HV-16I8O IP 24 High voltage
Digital I/O – Low-side (FET) IP-UNIDIG-HV-8I16O IP 24 High voltage
Digital I/O – Low-side (FET) IP-UNIDIG-IHV-16I8O IP 24 High voltage with interrupts
Digital I/O – Low-side (FET) IP-UNIDIG-IHV-8I16O IP 24 High voltage with interrupts
Digital I/O – Mechanical Relay IP-RELAY IP 8 "Each is DPDT, latching"
Digital I/O – Opto-Isolated IP-OPTO-DRV IP 16 Outputs only
Digital I/O – Opto-Isolated IP-OPTO-INT IP 8 Supports interrupts
Digital I/O – Opto-Isolated IP-UNIDIG-IO-12I12O IP 24 Inputs and outputs
Digital I/O – Opto-Isolated IP-UNIDIG-IO-24I IP 24 Input only
Digital I/O – Opto-Isolated IP-UNIDIG-IO-24IO IP 24 Programmable as input or output
Digital I/O – Opto-Isolated IP-UNIDIG-O-12I12O IP 24 Inputs and outputs with interrupts
Digital I/O – Opto-Isolated IP-UNIDIG-O-24I IP 24 Input only with interrupts
Digital I/O – Opto-Isolated IP-UNIDIG-O-24IO IP 24 Programmable as input or output with interrupts
Digital I/O – Unbuffered TTL IP-ALTERA IP 8 User-programmable FPGA includes EIA-422
Digital I/O – Unbuffered TTL IP-ALTERA-TTL IP 16 User-programmable FPGA
Digital I/O – Unbuffered TTL IP-UNIDIG-E IP 24 ESD protected
Digital I/O – Unbuffered TTL IP-UNIDIG-E-48 IP 48 ESD protected
Digital I/O – Unbuffered TTL IP-UNIDIG-I-E IP 24 ESD protected with interrupts
Digital I/O – Unbuffered TTL IP-XILINX-ESD IP 24 User-programmable FPGA
Digital I/O – Unbuffered TTL IP-XILINX-XX-ESD IP 24 Two user-programmable FPGAs
Ethernet CP-3101 CPCI 3U 2 Dual 10BaseT/100BaseTX Ethernet with front panel RJ45
Ethernet IP-ETHERNET-10B2 IP 1 10Base2 Ethernet when used with transition module
Ethernet IP-ETHERNET-10B5 IP 1 10Base5 Ethernet when used with transition module
Ethernet IP-ETHERNET-10BT IP 1 10BaseT Ethernet when used with transition module
Ethernet P2-100BT-ER PCMIP 1 10BaseT/100BaseTX Ethernet with front panel RJ45
Ethernet PMC-100BT PMC 1 Single 10BaseT/100BaseTX Ethernet with front panel RJ45
Ethernet PMC-3101 PMC 2 Dual 10BaseT/100BaseTX Ethernet with front panel RJ45
Industrial Busses IP-488 IP GPIB IEEE-488 bus controller/talker/listener
Industrial Busses PMC-ARCNET PMC ARCNET with isolated 485 or traditional interface
Industrial Busses PMC-ECAN PMC Dual isolated CAN busses using Intel 82527
IndustryPack Carriers ATC30 ISA 3 Short ISA carrier
IndustryPack Carriers ATC40 ISA 4 Long ISA carrier
IndustryPack Carriers CPCI-100A-BP CPCI 3U 2 Rear panel I/O via J2
IndustryPack Carriers CPCI-100A-FP CPCI 3U 2 Front panel I/O via Champ50s
IndustryPack Carriers CPCI-200A-BP CPCI 6U 4 "Rear panel I/O via J4, J5"
IndustryPack Carriers CPCI-200A-FP CPCI 6U 4 Front panel I/O via SCSI-style connectors
IndustryPack Carriers FLEX104A PC/104 2 Slightly larger than standard PC/104
IndustryPack Carriers IPOC-1747 AB 2 Allen-Bradley Open Controller
IndustryPack Carriers IPPC-2636A VME 6U 4 Fits onto Motorola MVME 2300/2600 series CPUs
IndustryPack Carriers PCI-40A PCI 4 Full length PCI slot size
IndustryPack Carriers PCI-60A PCI 6 Full length ISA slot size
IndustryPack Carriers SPI-200 ISA 4 DSPLink3 bus provides access to modules
IndustryPack Carriers SPV-200 VME 6U 4 DSPLink3 bus provides access to modules
IndustryPack Carriers VIPC310 VME 3U 2 Front panel ribbon connectors
IndustryPack Carriers VIPC310-HD51 VME 3U 2 High density 51-pin connectors on front panel
IndustryPack Carriers VIPC310-TX VME 3U 2 Twinax connectors for IP-1553
IndustryPack Carriers VIPC360 VME 3U 2 Carrier with MC68360 CPU
IndustryPack Carriers VIPC616 VME 6U 4 Ribbon cable connectors on front panel
IndustryPack Carriers VIPC618 VME 6U 4 Shielded SCSI-style connectors on front panel
IndustryPack Carriers VIPC664 VME 6U 4 I/O is via rear panel VME64x connectors
IndustryPack Carriers VIPC860-BP VME 6U 4 Carrier with PowerPC 860 CPU and I/O via rear panel VME64x
IndustryPack Carriers VIPC860-FP VME 6U 4 Carrier with PowerPC 860 CPU and I/O via front panel Champ50s
Motion Control and Measurement IP-ENCODER6 IP 6 16 bit quadrature position encoder
Motion Control and Measurement IP-QUADRATURE IP 4 Quadrature decoder with 24 bit resolution
Motion Control and Measurement IP-STEPPER IP 2 Two-axis stepper motor controller
Motion Control and Measurement IP-SYNCHRO IP 2 Synchro and resolver with 16 bit resolution
PC•MIP and PMC Carriers MC-101 PCI 1 PCMIP mechanical adaptor to short PCI slot
PC•MIP and PMC Carriers MC-101DB PCI 1 PCMIP mechanical adaptor to PCI slot with debug headers
PC•MIP and PMC Carriers MC-303 CPCI 3U 3 Front and rear I/O for PCMIP
PC•MIP and PMC Carriers MC-607 CPCI 6U 6 Front and rear I/O for PCMIP
PC•MIP and PMC Carriers MC-804 PCI 4 Full length PCI slot PCMIP
Reflective Memory IP-FIBERIO IP 1 1 Gbit optical ring with 512 kbytes shared memory and interrupts
Serial Communication Modules CP-6201 CPCI 6U 16 "General purpose async 232 to 115.2 k front and rear I/O, FIFO"
Serial Communication Modules IP-COMM360 IP 4 MC68360 CPU with TTL serial interfaces
Serial Communication Modules IP-COMM360-EN IP 4 MC68360 CPU with TTL serial interfaces for Ethernet
Serial Communication Modules IP-COMM360-MH IP 4 MC68360 CPU with TTL serial interfaces for E1/T1
Serial Communication Modules IP-MP-SERIAL IP 2 High speed sync 232/422 with modem lines
Serial Communication Modules IP-MP-SERIAL-232 IP 2 High speed sync with modem lines EIA-232 only
Serial Communication Modules IP-MP-SERIAL-423 IP 2 High speed sync with modem lines EIA-423 only
Serial Communication Modules IP-OCTAL-232 IP 8 General purpose async 232 with flow control
Serial Communication Modules IP-OCTAL-422 IP 8 General purpose async 422
Serial Communication Modules IP-OCTAL-423 IP 8 General purpose async 423 with flow control
Serial Communication Modules IP-OCTAL-485 IP 8 General purpose async 485
Serial Communication Modules IP-OCTALOPTO IPDW 8 General purpose opto-isolated 232/422/423/20mA
Serial Communication Modules IP-OCTALPLUS-232 IP 8 General purpose async 232 with flow control and deep FIFOs
Serial Communication Modules IP-OCTALPLUS-422 IP 8 General purpose async 422 with deep FIFOs
Serial Communication Modules IP-OCTALPLUS-485 IP 8 General purpose async/sync 485
Serial Communication Modules IP-OCTALPLUS-TTL IP 8 General purpose async TTL with flow control and deep FIFOs
Serial Communication Modules IP-SERIAL IP 2 General purpose async 232/422 with modem lines
Serial Communication Modules P1-OCTAL-232 PCMIP 8 General purpose async 232 to 115.2 k
Serial Communication Modules P1-OCTAL-422 PCMIP 8 General purpose async 422 to 480.6 k
Serial Communication Modules P2-HSS2 PCMIP 2 "High speed sync 232/422/449/530 with modem lines FIFO, DMA"
Serial Communication Modules P2-OCTAL-232 PCMIP 8 General purpose async 232 to 115.2 k front panel I/O
Serial Communication Modules P2-OCTAL-422 PCMIP 8 General purpose async 422 to 480.6 k front panel I/O
Serial Communication Modules PMC-HSSERIAL PMC 4 "High speed sync 232/422/449/530 with modem lines FIFO, DMA"
Serial Communication Modules PMC-OCTPRO-232 PMC 8 General purpose async 232 to 115.2 k front and rear I/O
Serial Communication Modules PMC-OCTPRO-422 PMC 8 General purpose async 422 to 480.6 k front and rear I/O
Telecommunications IP-COMM360 IP 4 Synchronous serial and ISDN
Telecommunications PMC-8260-400 PMC 4 Quad intelligent PowerPC 8260-based E1/T1 with SCSA bus
Telecommunications VIPC860 VME 6U 4 High speed synchronous serial
Temperature Measurement IP-THERMISTOR IP 16 12 bit thermistor measurement for 2 or 4 wire devices
Timers IP-UL-ADC40 IP 1 Includes ADCs
Timers IP-UL-AUDIO IP 2 "Includes ADCs, DACs"
Timers IP-UL-DAQ200 IP 2 "Includes ADCs, DACs"
Timers IP-UNIDIG-T IP 4 "16-bit timers cascadable into two 32-bit, buffered I/O"
Timers IP-UNIDIG-T-D IP 4 "16-bit timers cascadable into two 32-bit, differential I/O"
Timers PMC-UL-GPIO PMC 2 "Includes ADCs, DACs, digital I/O"
Transition Modules TM-680 CPCI 6U 6 Rear panel I/O for MC-607
Transition Modules XM-360-16 VME 6U 16 VME-mounted with RJ45s for four IP-COMM360s 422 only
Transition Modules XM-360-4 VME 6U 4 VME-mounted with HD26s for IP-COMM360
Transition Modules XM-360-EN VME 6U 3 VME-mounted with Ethernet for IP-COMM360-EN
Transition Modules XM-360-MH VME 6U 4 T1 interfaces up to four IP-COMM360-MH
Transition Modules XM-664-60 VME 4 Rear panel IndustryPack I/O for VIPC664 and VIPC860-BP
Transition Modules XM-664-61 VME 4 Rear panel IndustryPack I/O for VIPC664 and VIPC860-BP
Transition Modules XM-664-80 VME 4 Rear panel IndustryPack I/O for VIPC664 and VIPC860-BP
Transition Modules XM-860 VME 6U 4 Rear panel serial I/O for VIPC860-FP
Transition Modules XM-LCD - 1 Power supply and connector for flat panel displays
Transition Modules XM-OCTAL 19” 16 19 inch rack mount bar for two IP-Octal series modules
Transition Modules XM-OCTAL-6U-D VME 6U 8 VME-mounted with DB25s for IP-Octal series modules
Transition Modules XM-OCTAL-6U-RJ16 VME 6U 16 VME-mounted with RJ11s for IP-Octal series modules
Transition Modules XM-OCTAL-6U-RJ8 VME 6U 8 VME-mounted with RJ45s for IP-Octal series modules
Transition Modules XM-SYNCHRO - 1 Provides reference and connections for IP-Synchro
Video Displays IP-LCD IP 1 SVGA CRT and LCD display 640x480
Video Displays P2-VIDEO PCMIP 1 CRT display to 1024x768 with front panel output
Video Displays PMC-VIDEOPLUS PMC 1 CRT display to 1280x1024 with front panel output

References
  1. "SBS ENGINEERING, INC. ANNOUNCES LETTER OF INTENT TO ACQUIRE GREENSPRING COMPUTERS, INC". The Free Library. 12 September 1994. Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  2. "GreenSpring Computers Adds Eight New Products and PC/104 Solution to IndustryPack Line". GE Automation. 14 February 1997. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
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