7 Sep
2004
7 Sep
'04
1:16 p.m.
At 03:49 PM 9/4/04 -0400, you wrote:
Here are some pictures of a couple of my 800s
<http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/mds800_3/> and
<http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/mds800_4/>. Here
<http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/mds.htm> is a webpage that I started (but
never finished) that describes some of the 2xx models. Here is a MOL
finished webpage about one of my other MDS-800s,
<http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/mds-800/mds-800.htm>. It includes pictures
and descriptions of most of the various MDS-800 cards.
Here, <http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/multibus/multibus.html> is a webpage
that I swtarted about Multibus cards. It includes both Intel and non_intel
cards. I'm WAY behind with the updates for it.
Joe
On Sat, 4 Sep 2004, Dave Mabry wrote:
> 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.
Thanks for filling that in. I don't know a lot about this unit. It came
from the local university surplus outlet, and was accompanied by reams of
documentation, diskettes and EPROM burner modules. It has the dual drive
subsystem, but I have not gone into it to see what the controllers are.
It keeps my HP64000 company. Picked one of them up at the same time,
along with probably every bit of documentation, pods and software ever
made for it. Hard to find anyone who's even heard of them (besides you,
I have two of them sitting in storage. But I'm not really interested in
them and I shipped most of the docs and SW and small parts to Frank McConnell.
Joe
Dave <g>).