Does anyone have a copy of an MP/M, CP/M, or XENIX boot disk for the
Altos model 8600-12A?
Don Maslin doesn't have what I need. Maybe the archivists at
Trailing-edge, or Sellam's VCF archive has something.
It has an 8" 20 MB HD and an 8" 512 K FD (SSDD Shugart 80?).
Unfortunately it is unable to boot off the HD. I receive a 'record not
found' error. I verified that the FD works by borrowing a friend's
IMSAI-DOS disk and attempting to boot from it. After reseting and entering
the ROM monitor, I found 'IMSAI' in the RAM. I have some 8" SSSD disks I
can send to copy the software on. Any other Altos 8600 - related software,
such as diagnostics and client software would be much appreciated.
This computer, built in 1983 as a server, was much more powerful than
the PC or the XT. It has 1 MB of ECC RAM (11 bits per byte), an 8086 CPU,
memory protection, 3 - 8089s for interrupts, and several Z-80s for serial
I/O. It has expansion ports for 8 serial devices, a parallel device, 2
Multibus units, a tape drive and a hard drive. Damn, this must have cost a
lot at the time! I'd like to see how this performs compared to other
micros I have.
Thanks in advance for your help,
Edwin
Davis, CA