11 Apr
2001
11 Apr
'01
8:23 a.m.
Headstart had a cd to load it with and most people neither have the CD nor
do they have the boot floppy for the cdrom. I retored one back to factory
load about 3 yrs ago but I've since lost all ties with where the Headstart
links have gone.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org
[mailto:owner-classiccmp@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Robert
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2001 2:46 PM
To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: New find: Headstart Explorer
My wife's family still has one although I don't know if her
younger brother has
'experimented' with it yet. It worked when I saw them last and I
know they had
a bunch of games and programs for it. It ran what looked like a
version of
windows. I can ask if they still have any programs for it.
Robert
Mark Gregory wrote:
I came across a neat little PC/XT clone on the
weekend, a Headstart
Explorer (made by Vendex according to some Web info I found).
It's an 8088,
with an unusual level of integration: mono/CGA
video card, modem (300
bps?), serial port, parallel port and external disk drive port
all on the
motherboard. There's an internal 720K
3.5" drive, and a bay for an MFM
drive. Comes in an unusual pseudo-portable case, where the
hinged keyboard
folds up and stores upside down on top of the
case. There's a single ISA
slot under a cover on top. Apparently, there was a monitor
available that
came with a custom stand that fit neatly over the
desktop case.
It has several features I've not seen before: the folding keyboard, a
mono/colour switch on the video output, and the PS/2 style
mouse and heavy
integration on a clone of this vintage. Also, as
far as I could
tell, there
was no trace of the manufacturers name anywhere.
I had to take
the system
to pieces to find the Headstart Explorer name on
the PCB, and the name
Vendex wasn't on it anywhere.
Does anybody have the custom version of DOS that came with this
thing, that
supposedly included a very annoying shell
program, or any
additional info
about this beast? I didn't get any manuals or
docs with it (why
oh why do
thrift stores never keep system components
together?)
and the HD was missing.
Thanks,
Mark Gregory