MadModder

The Breakroom => The Water Cooler => Topic started by: awemawson on February 26, 2019, 11:16:09 AM

Title: What is this strange programming card?
Post by: awemawson on February 26, 2019, 11:16:09 AM

Found in an Olive Grove in Sax in Spain, this obviously is an 8x8 matrix programming card

Nothing to  measure it by and I cannot resize the pictures as staying in Sax with B in L and only have my iPad

So come on sleuths, what is it?

(Any mods reading this can you please resize the pictures to 800x600)

Title: Re: What is this strange programming card?
Post by: PekkaNF on February 26, 2019, 12:28:42 PM

Not exactly like that, but very close was used as a keycard somewhere in France sometimes late eighties - still trying to remember exactly where.

Title: Re: What is this strange programming card?
Post by: awemawson on February 27, 2019, 01:57:20 AM

Thanks Steve for the resizing. Very frustrating only having the iPad with me and no proper PC

Title: Re: What is this strange programming card?
Post by: AdeV on February 27, 2019, 01:59:23 PM

I'd concur that it looks like an old-ish hotel keycard; plenty of possibilites with a 8x8 matrix, and of course the door latch is batteryless. I presume they weren't massively difficult to "reprogram" should one or more keys go missing.  I've stayed in hotels in the past which use cards not entirely dissimilar to that.

Title: Re: What is this strange programming card?
Post by: Pete. on February 27, 2019, 03:28:40 PM

If I can offer a couple of observations:

Pattern is totally symmetrical. Would that not be unusual for a programming card?
If it's a 8x8 card why don't the vertical columns line up?

Title: Re: What is this strange programming card?
Post by: awemawson on February 27, 2019, 03:36:54 PM

Yes Pete, we've been cogitating exactly that over a large bottle of the local red wine (5 euros for 5 litres and actually pretty good!

I'm sure that I've seen something similar on the seals of containers in transit