11 Dec
1997
11 Dec
'97
4:32 a.m.
Well; on the case; it just says "Zenith"; I believe. It's a square design;
with two horizontally-located 5 1/2" bays; occupied by some kind of black
disk drive. One of the computers IS a Zenith 286; w/ 20MB HDD; 2 FDDs; etc.
and a CGA (EGA?) monitor. The others are Wangs.... not really too peachy
either; but they seem to run like 286's. Of course; at the Embassy; we've
all got our Pentiums; our Windows 95 w/ a Windows NT server.....
But the HDD is just DEAD; from what I can tell. I'd just want to
replace that; hardware-transparently if possible; but if not.... I've got
all my life.
Thanks for the advice,
Tim D. Hotze
-----Original Message-----
From: Zane H. Healy <healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu>
Date: Thursday, December 11, 1997 10:59 AM
Subject: Re: Donation For School Wanted
malfuctioning
PCs that I know of. Remember; this is for a high school;
for >the Department of Defence dependants; and a few others, but their
funding is >not... ideal. So if you could please just send a MFM HDD,
or; if you have
I can guarentee that, the whole base in Bahrain isn't that great. I just
happened to realize something, are these 286's "Zenith 248's"? If so
they
can be a real pain to add anything to. The DOD had ton's of these, back in
'87 the government was getting them for about $1500 apiece. Horrible
design, but I've got "fond" memories of them :^)
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| For Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ |
| For the collecting of Classic Computers with info on them. |
| see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/museum.html |
11 Dec
11 Dec
7:19 p.m.
Well; on the case; it just says "Zenith"; I
believe. It's a square design;
with two horizontally-located 5 1/2" bays; occupied by some kind of black
disk drive. One of the computers IS a Zenith 286; w/ 20MB HDD; 2 FDDs; etc.
and a CGA (EGA?) monitor.
Yeh, that's a Zenith 248. The monitor should be a EGA, either mono or
colour assuming it's one of the Zenith ones. The colour ones were kinda
cool, they're the type that let you switch between mono green, mono amber,
and colour (I can't even remember how many colours EGA is 8 or 16). The
CPU is on a daughterboard, and in the early 90's there was an upgrade to
386, but good luck finding them. If I remember correctly the RAM is on
another board, which plugs into a slot and used ram chips to upgrade. DOS
3.2 or 3.3 and Windows 1 came with them, needless to say the Windows didn't
really get used, and a mouse didn't come with them. The version of MS-DOS
was customized by Zenith. WP 5.0/1 was almost a given on these as it was
the DOD standard, but Enable was also common. The standard printer was a
hidious Alps widecarrage thing, very prone to paper jams in my experience
(I really despised that printer).
One interesting card that was available enabled the Zenith 248 to act as a
terminal to a Harris Minicomputer. Needless to say the Harris was the
cooler of the two systems.
But the HDD is just DEAD; from what I can tell.
I'd just want to
replace that; hardware-transparently if possible; but if not.... I've got
all my life.
Well, it is about ten years old, the first one I saw was in '87.
Considering the fact this machine has probably been on a LOT, and used a
LOT, that's pretty good I think.
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| For Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ |
| For the collecting of Classic Computers with info on them. |
| see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/museum.html |
7:33 p.m.
On Thu, 11 Dec 1997 22:19:17 -0800, you said:
Yeh, that's a Zenith 248. The monitor should be a
EGA, either mono or
colour assuming it's one of the Zenith ones. The colour ones were kinda
cool, they're the type that let you switch between mono green, mono amber,
and colour (I can't even remember how many colours EGA is 8 or 16). The
CPU is on a daughterboard,
Maybe there've been different Z248's: I have one that's got a
traditional motherboard (Utah-shaped) with memory (30-pin SIMMS)
on the motherboard. (It's >10 years old!)
_______________
Barry Peterson bmpete(a)swbell.net
Husband to Diane, Father to Doug,
Grandfather to Zoe and Tegan.
11:49 p.m.
On Thu, 11 Dec 1997 22:19:17 -0800, you said:
>Yeh, that's a Zenith 248. The monitor should be a EGA, either mono or
>colour assuming it's one of the Zenith ones. The colour ones were kinda
>cool, they're the type that let you switch between mono green, mono amber,
>and colour (I can't even remember how many colours EGA is 8 or 16). The
>CPU is on a daughterboard,
That's not in tall cases, this is called LP 286 series I think, and
you can upgrade it to 386sx status and only use 3.5" drives unless
someone chose a taller case with same footprint to get both and one
5.25" bay. In fact, at my U of Q, tech support did that
over 10's of them and I collected all those 286 daughterboards
because those 286 chips is Harris usually and this is very cool
running CPU at 12mhz I have seen (CMOS 80C286). Those little boxes
has video card is on board and VGA only. The early LP series used
ET3000 or ET4000 chipset on a ISA card plugged into slot tree. The
old cases that used 8088 or 286 cards interchangeably along with
slots is much bigger and taller. The old 286 on a card used C&T EGA
card in last slot capble of emulating the VGA frequencies to drive
regular VGA monitors but to s/w is EGA (!!) or plain EGA monitor.
Cool card. :) It's somewhat oddball card enough to require a video
rom upgrade to make it work in other non-zenith machines.
Comment: I have not seen Zenith CGA color or mono, but I have seen
lots of both types old and new in either composite or TTL and VGA
monitor either in old or newer type cases as well. EGA color by
zenith? Dunno. But I loved their FTM but problem was reliability
and cost in '90 and earlier. Recently, few days ago, I overheard one
zenith FTM monitor fell apart from crumbling boards! Which one is
most reliable and least troublesome FTM monitors from Zenith?
Troll (Jason D.)
Maybe there've been different Z248's: I have
one that's got a
traditional motherboard (Utah-shaped) with memory (30-pin SIMMS)
on the motherboard. (It's >10 years old!)
_______________
Barry Peterson bmpete(a)swbell.net
Husband to Diane, Father to Doug,
Grandfather to Zoe and Tegan.
12 Dec
12 Dec
2:46 p.m.
On Thu, 11 Dec 1997 22:19:17 -0800, you said:
Dunno, I attended a Navy class on these back in '91 or '92, and the bit
that really shocked me was the CPU on a daughterboard. I'm also almost
positive it didn't use SIMMs. It could be this design was the DOD version
of the Z-248, or was yours upgraded with a different MB to get a more
expandable system.
I just happened to think of another oddity about this computer, it's the
only IBM clone I can remember using that had a Boot ROM that you could drop
into. I think CNTRL-ALT-INS drops you into it, but I'm not sure. I seem
to remember finding it by accident originally.
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| For Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ |
| For the collecting of Classic Computers with info on them. |
| see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/museum.html |
Yeh, that's a Zenith 248. The monitor should
be a EGA, either mono or
colour assuming it's one of the Zenith ones. The colour ones were kinda
cool, they're the type that let you switch between mono green, mono amber,
and colour (I can't even remember how many colours EGA is 8 or 16). The
CPU is on a daughterboard,
Maybe there've been different Z248's: I have one that's got a
traditional motherboard (Utah-shaped) with memory (30-pin SIMMS)
on the motherboard. (It's >10 years old!)
11:43 a.m.
Zane,
re: Ctrl+Alt+Ins combo and a question.
This is standard feature in Zenith's all the back to early 8088
up to early 486's machines before Zenith got eaten twice once by Bull
Groupe then once by Nec/PB (yuk!).
That CPU daughterboard ones always has SIMM slots and has
IDE/FD/Video on board as standard feature except for early LP 286 has
one video card in one of the 3 slot. Those cases are all breige, 3
slots, has real lock in rear to lock the case along with external U
loop to keep the pc from wandering from the desktop (too secure!) and
height is more like 4" high or plus one HH if it has a 5.25" bay and
has 5 slots. The FD and IDE is on same slot card. The I/O is on the
motherboard usually. The PSU switch is little neater recessed rocker
in a countersunk bezel on right side towards back.
The older pcs starting with 8088 and early 286's used 3 5.25" HH bays
in one cage and a large power cube behind it, all are passive slot,
used 3 or 4 taller special size brackets for the needed processor,
memory and i/o w/ video combo. Top shell is light grey, base is
painted black. I have not seen 386dx's in that type of case because
I recall that passive slot board has space for that and it has also
mounting hardware to support the 32 bit portion. The power switch is
plain-jane narrow black rocker with a white dot on back in PSU area.
The 386dx and EISA ones used wider version of classic 8088
type case (similar to AT case) but the two 52.5" cages are removeable
by one screw each. Dunno on 486 in that case type.
Which one we're are now talking about: newer one or the older model?
Troll (Jason D.)
Dunno, I attended a Navy class on these back in
'91 or '92, and the bit
that really shocked me was the CPU on a daughterboard. I'm also almost
positive it didn't use SIMMs. It could be this design was the DOD version
of the Z-248, or was yours upgraded with a different MB to get a more
expandable system.
I just happened to think of another oddity about this computer, it's the
only IBM clone I can remember using that had a Boot ROM that you could drop
into. I think CNTRL-ALT-INS drops you into it, but I'm not sure. I seem
to remember finding it by accident originally.
Zane
9:04 p.m.
That CPU daughterboard ones always has SIMM slots and
has
IDE/FD/Video on board as standard feature except for early LP 286 has
one video card in one of the 3 slot.
It's been well over a year since I saw a Z-248, and even longer since I saw
inside one, but I seem to recall everything being on cards. With the cards
all plugging into a backplane. I remember thinking this was a inefficent
way to do it because it meant the CPU had to go through the mess to get to
the memory.
I'm not sure why but for some reason I think the Z-248 was made
specifically for the DOD, although DOD employee's could purchase them for
themselves.
Some of them were Tempest machines, externally they looked the same, and
I'm pretty sure the parts were the same. I've no idea what it takes to
make a tempest machine, but I think it's basically the case. All I know is
they weigh a ton!
Now what I'd like to know is why on earth was it called a Zenith 248? I've
always thought that made no sense!
Those cases are all breige, 3
They're at least beige in front, but I think they've got another colour,
just don't remember.
motherboard usually. The PSU switch is little neater
recessed rocker
in a countersunk bezel on right side towards back.
Now there is a feature I definitly don't remeber anything about. Probably
in part because they were always left on. I've seen both on computers and
won't even hazard a guess.
The older pcs starting with 8088 and early 286's
used 3 5.25" HH bays
in one cage and a large power cube behind it, all are passive slot,
used 3 or 4 taller special size brackets for the needed processor,
memory and i/o w/ video combo. Top shell is light grey, base is
painted black.
This pretty much sounds like what I'm thinking of, though I'm fuzzy on the
internal layout. I know it had at least 3 bays, I thought it had 4. There
are two bays for floppies on the top right side. Of course they were 5.25"
floppies, but I've seen 3.5" added.
Which one we're are now talking about: newer one or
the older model?
I'd say older, as I've said I saw the first one in I believe late 1987.
The Z-248 was the first and I think only 286 I've ever used.
Zane
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Adminstrator |
| healyzh(a)ix.netcom.com (primary) | Linux Enthusiast |
| healyzh(a)holonet.net (alternate) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| For Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/ |
| For the collecting of Classic Computers with info on them. |
| see http://www.dragonfire.net/~healyzh/museum.html |
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