12 Jul
2024
12 Jul
'24
11:29 p.m.
In keeping with a previous discussion about reducing a collection size,
I have an intel MDS system I am kind of looking to sell. This system
consists of the processor box, dual floppy drives, two keyboards (one
missing a keycap), and monitor. Unfortunately, no manuals or software
came with it when I got it some 30 or so years ago. Also I have never
powered it up and won't since it has been sitting for a long time and
will need a careful checkout to make sure it is safe to power up.
I do plan on attending VCFMW in early September, and can bring it with
me (and Sellam) for pickup at the show. My route will be I5 to I80 from
California so it might be possible for the buyer to make arrangements
with us to transfer the unit to the buyer along the way. Generally
speaking, there won't be much time along the way since I generally drive
24/7 except for short stops for gas and rest as needed
Long winded way of asking here has anyone a clear idea of what to
charge. It has been sitting in my garage since I acquired it.
Marvin
12 Jul
12 Jul
11:50 p.m.
I'm not-so-seriously looking for an Intel MDS system :)
I have no idea what one is worth though. Vintage computer prices are all
over the place.
I had a lot of fun recently restoring an iPDS and building some boards for
it (the multimodule adapter and a few multimodules for it). I have thought
to myself, it would be fun to experiment with a similar system in MDS form
factor, one that ran ISIS-II.
Scott
On Fri, Jul 12, 2024 at 8:38 PM Marvin Johnston via cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
In keeping with a previous discussion about reducing a
collection size,
I have an intel MDS system I am kind of looking to sell. This system
consists of the processor box, dual floppy drives, two keyboards (one
missing a keycap), and monitor. Unfortunately, no manuals or software
came with it when I got it some 30 or so years ago. Also I have never
powered it up and won't since it has been sitting for a long time and
will need a careful checkout to make sure it is safe to power up.
I do plan on attending VCFMW in early September, and can bring it with
me (and Sellam) for pickup at the show. My route will be I5 to I80 from
California so it might be possible for the buyer to make arrangements
with us to transfer the unit to the buyer along the way. Generally
speaking, there won't be much time along the way since I generally drive
24/7 except for short stops for gas and rest as needed
Long winded way of asking here has anyone a clear idea of what to
charge. It has been sitting in my garage since I acquired it.
Marvin
13 Jul
13 Jul
10:55 a.m.
I bought my MDS-220 (labeled MDS-120 with a bunch of Intel asset stickers on it, so
probably just an internal rev which made its way to market with a slightly different model
number??) last year on eBay for $500. It was the starting bid, and it was the only bid on
the auction. The lot included the actual MDS with 8” drive, an 8085 CPU board, a DD disk
drive board set, keyboard, an external dual 8” disk drive unit, an expansion unit to house
additional multibus cards, and a PROMPT48 programmer.
I paid pretty heftily for shipping (~$400 IIRC), but I could have done local pickup with a
little travel if I hadn’t been mere weeks away from having a baby.
Perhaps if I’d let the auction expire, it may have been relisted for less, but we’ll never
know. So to me, at least, this particular lot was worth $500 plus $400 shipping. I was
specifically after it due to the model number not matching anything I’ve found in Intel
docs online, and the property asset stickers being a neat plus.
So that’s at least one price point. Make of it what you will!
- Royce
Sent from my iPhone
On Jul 12, 2024, at 20:50, Scott Baker via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
I'm not-so-seriously looking for an Intel MDS system :)
I have no idea what one is worth though. Vintage computer prices are all
over the place.
I had a lot of fun recently restoring an iPDS and building some boards for
it (the multimodule adapter and a few multimodules for it). I have thought
to myself, it would be fun to experiment with a similar system in MDS form
factor, one that ran ISIS-II.
Scott
> On Fri, Jul 12, 2024 at 8:38 PM Marvin Johnston via cctalk <
> cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
>
> In keeping with a previous discussion about reducing a collection size,
> I have an intel MDS system I am kind of looking to sell. This system
> consists of the processor box, dual floppy drives, two keyboards (one
> missing a keycap), and monitor. Unfortunately, no manuals or software
> came with it when I got it some 30 or so years ago. Also I have never
> powered it up and won't since it has been sitting for a long time and
> will need a careful checkout to make sure it is safe to power up.
>
> I do plan on attending VCFMW in early September, and can bring it with
> me (and Sellam) for pickup at the show. My route will be I5 to I80 from
> California so it might be possible for the buyer to make arrangements
> with us to transfer the unit to the buyer along the way. Generally
> speaking, there won't be much time along the way since I generally drive
> 24/7 except for short stops for gas and rest as needed
>
> Long winded way of asking here has anyone a clear idea of what to
> charge. It has been sitting in my garage since I acquired it.
>
> Marvin
>
>
12:29 a.m.
Just curious what processor and what OS were you running on it, what model
chassis? You dont hear a lot about MDS systems even in this list
Bill
On Fri, Jul 12, 2024, 11:48 PM Marvin Johnston via cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
In keeping with a previous discussion about reducing a
collection size,
I have an intel MDS system I am kind of looking to sell. This system
consists of the processor box, dual floppy drives, two keyboards (one
missing a keycap), and monitor. Unfortunately, no manuals or software
came with it when I got it some 30 or so years ago. Also I have never
powered it up and won't since it has been sitting for a long time and
will need a careful checkout to make sure it is safe to power up.
I do plan on attending VCFMW in early September, and can bring it with
me (and Sellam) for pickup at the show. My route will be I5 to I80 from
California so it might be possible for the buyer to make arrangements
with us to transfer the unit to the buyer along the way. Generally
speaking, there won't be much time along the way since I generally drive
24/7 except for short stops for gas and rest as needed
Long winded way of asking here has anyone a clear idea of what to
charge. It has been sitting in my garage since I acquired it.
Marvin
1:06 a.m.
Ah, the (un)famous "Blue Box" !
I used such a system back in the early 80's. I do not recall which OS
was used, if any. The programming language was PL/M, and the output was
to be burned into an EPROM (2712??)
My system had 3 8" floppy drives, SSSD, 250K , IIRC.
The system we developped (I did the telephone exchange part, another guy
the communication between tower/repeater and the cars) was used for the
gas company, who need for communication between cars, not necessarily
within reach of each other, and the office. The system supported 5-6
simultaneous comminucations between cars, so occupying 10-12 "tasks", 3
local telephone lines (within the office) and IIRC 2 lines into the
normal public system.
The exchange plus communication to/from the towers, could just fit in a
10 x 16 cm Siemens Eurocard, with IIRC 16 K RAM and 16K EPROM (or 32
and 16)
We used normal phones with touch-tone buttons to set up the connection.
In order to break the connection, a special tone was sent when the hook
was put back. This gave some problems, as the tones used for that
purposed, were rather close to the tones used for the "4" button. So
when you dialed a numer with the 4 in it, you never got connected. The
problem was solved with the change of a filter circuit.
it tought me a lot about low-level programmoing.
Nico
Den 2024-07-13 kl. 06:29 skrev Bill Degnan via cctalk:
Just curious what processor and what OS were you
running on it, what model
chassis? You dont hear a lot about MDS systems even in this list
Bill
On Fri, Jul 12, 2024, 11:48 PM Marvin Johnston via cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
> In keeping with a previous discussion about reducing a collection size,
> I have an intel MDS system I am kind of looking to sell. This system
> consists of the processor box, dual floppy drives, two keyboards (one
> missing a keycap), and monitor. Unfortunately, no manuals or software
> came with it when I got it some 30 or so years ago. Also I have never
> powered it up and won't since it has been sitting for a long time and
> will need a careful checkout to make sure it is safe to power up.
>
> I do plan on attending VCFMW in early September, and can bring it with
> me (and Sellam) for pickup at the show. My route will be I5 to I80 from
> California so it might be possible for the buyer to make arrangements
> with us to transfer the unit to the buyer along the way. Generally
> speaking, there won't be much time along the way since I generally drive
> 24/7 except for short stops for gas and rest as needed
>
> Long winded way of asking here has anyone a clear idea of what to
> charge. It has been sitting in my garage since I acquired it.
>
> Marvin
>
>
11:48 a.m.
Sounds like a MDS 800. Separate drive box and machine.
If it is, it is a Multibus system. It likely has a 8080 processor but could have been
upgraded to a 8085. It might have a 8086 but it would likely still have the 8080 as the
boot processor.
Unless it was upgraded to something else, it would have a fm or m2fm disk controller.
Key board and display would likely be a Beehive ( an excellent terminal ) but it could be
most any serial terminal.
It would likely boot to ISIS II from disk.
Which boards it has would be intersting.
Dwight
________________________________
From: Marvin Johnston via cctalk <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Friday, July 12, 2024 8:29 PM
To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Cc: Marvin Johnston <marvin(a)west.net>
Subject: [cctalk] Value of Intel MDS System
In keeping with a previous discussion about reducing a collection size,
I have an intel MDS system I am kind of looking to sell. This system
consists of the processor box, dual floppy drives, two keyboards (one
missing a keycap), and monitor. Unfortunately, no manuals or software
came with it when I got it some 30 or so years ago. Also I have never
powered it up and won't since it has been sitting for a long time and
will need a careful checkout to make sure it is safe to power up.
I do plan on attending VCFMW in early September, and can bring it with
me (and Sellam) for pickup at the show. My route will be I5 to I80 from
California so it might be possible for the buyer to make arrangements
with us to transfer the unit to the buyer along the way. Generally
speaking, there won't be much time along the way since I generally drive
24/7 except for short stops for gas and rest as needed
Long winded way of asking here has anyone a clear idea of what to
charge. It has been sitting in my garage since I acquired it.
Marvin
14
days inactive
14
days old
5 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
Bill Degnan -
dwight -
Marvin Johnston -
Nico de Jong -
Royce Taft -
Scott Baker