Intellec-mds 800

Somehow I missed the original message in this thread, but maybe I can clear up a bit of Andy's confusion. The Intellec MDS 800 is the development system that Intel sold to create products on their 8080 and later processors. It was itself based on what later became known as the "Multibus" architecture. It ran a 2MHz 8080 cpu and was standard with 16K bytes of RAM. You could add more, up to 64K that the main cpu (the 8080) could address. Intel sold a disk-drive subsystem that consisted of two Shugart 801 8" floppy drives. They could work as single density or double density depending on whether you had the 201 or 202 controller board set. Yes, it was a set of TWO multibus board to control those two floppy drives. Gary Kildall wrote the CP/M operating system for that computer and Intel also sold their own called ISIS-II (there might have been an ISIS without the II, but I never knew of it). The system that Steve mentions here with an integrated CRT and keyboard has to be the follow-on product from Intel called the MDS Series II, a different, but compatible, system from the MDS-800. The 800 needed an external terminal. There is much more, and if Andy wants to e-mail me directly I can give him much more information. Joe Rigdon and Tony Duell are authorities on these systems and they will likely offer their own information.

Good luck with that classic, Andy. Dave Steven N. Hirsch wrote: > On Thu, 2 Sep 2004, Andy Allaway wrote: > > >>I am considering buying a classic pc. The one I might buy is the

>>800. It comes with a drive also. I dont know much about vintage pc's but >>would love to be like you all. I thought starting with one of the best

-- Dave Mabry dmabry(a)mich.com Dossin Museum Underwater Research Team