8 Mar
2008
8 Mar
'08
11:36 a.m.
Date: Sat, 08 Mar 2008 00:07:55 -0500
From: "Roy J. Tellason"
Which reminds me, does anybody else remember those
machines that had
multiple CPUs in them? Or the option of plugging different ones in?
Seems to me real early on there were some mfrs trying to find as much
compatibility as they could with pursuing options like that. I remember
one Taiwanese-made clone of an Apple II that had a Z80 on the main board,
and of course the c128 has that similar setup (though the way the hardware
was structured the z80 effectively ran at something like 2.5MHz). I
remember some other system where you could literally plug in different
processors for different uses, but the brand name isn't coming to mind at
the moment.
Extremely common in the S-100 world (think Godbout/Compupro,
Cromemco, etc.). Bill Godbout may have offered the widest range of
processor boards from a single manufacturer. Early on, there were
6502 S-100 boards, but not very popular.
There were other non S-100 vendors of optional CPU configurations.
Didn't The Digital Group offer a choice in their boxes?
Cheers,
Chuck
8 Mar
8 Mar
3:39 p.m.
On Saturday 08 March 2008 11:36, Chuck Guzis wrote:
S-100 wasn't really what I was thinking of, though they did tend toward
heavier-duty chips when they became available a little later on. Digital
Group was one name that was in the back of my mind when I posted that. I
think Ohio Scientific also offered a number of choices for CPU, though I
never got to know their equipment well enough to be able to say if one system
could handle multiple choices. They also stand out in my mind as being the
first company I remember seeing advertise a hard drive for personal
computers, a whopping 74MB if I'm remembering right. A place I was working
at considered them for a bit but on being asked if they could provide
references in terms of folks that had bought one, they didn't come through
with that info.
There was one other company, though, and I still can't recall the name,
that tried unsuccessfully to market some system that would let you plug in
different CPU boards to run different software. I'm vaguely thinking of toy
company names, but somehow that doesn't quite seem right. Time frame
would've been a little later than a bunch of this other stuff, maybe early
1980s or so?
--
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Date: Sat, 08
Mar 2008 00:07:55 -0500
From: "Roy J. Tellason"
Which reminds me, does anybody else remember those machines that had
multiple CPUs in them? Or the option of plugging different ones in?
Seems to me real early on there were some mfrs trying to find as much
compatibility as they could with pursuing options like that. I remember
one Taiwanese-made clone of an Apple II that had a Z80 on the main board,
and of course the c128 has that similar setup (though the way the
hardware was structured the z80 effectively ran at something like
2.5MHz). I remember some other system where you could literally plug in
different processors for different uses, but the brand name isn't coming
to mind at the moment.
Extremely common in the S-100 world (think Godbout/Compupro,
Cromemco, etc.). Bill Godbout may have offered the widest range of
processor boards from a single manufacturer. Early on, there were
6502 S-100 boards, but not very popular.
There were other non S-100 vendors of optional CPU configurations.
Didn't The Digital Group offer a choice in their boxes? 
9 Mar
9 Mar
4:49 a.m.
"Roy J. Tellason" wrote:
There was one other company, though, and I still can't recall the name,
that tried unsuccessfully to market some system that would let you plug in
different CPU boards to run different software. I'm vaguely thinking of toy
company names, but somehow that doesn't quite seem right.
Thinker Toys?
(.. 30 years later I finally clue in the name was a play on 'tinker toys'.)
Time frame
would've been a little later than a bunch of this other stuff, maybe early
1980s or so?
4:17 p.m.
On Sun, 9 Mar 2008, Brent Hilpert wrote:
They changed their name to Morrow Designs.
George Morrow (R.I.P.) was a clever fellow; see the book of his quotations
(Sellam got his heirs to release rights).
His chief engineer Howard Fullmer (also R.I.P.) was heavy into S100, Z80,
and then 8088.
The Morrow lunchbox was a nice attempt. Morrow licensed its design to
Zenith. When the IRS wanted to place a BIG order, Zenith and Morrow were
in competition. The IRS waited until Zenith no longer had to pay
royalties, and Morrow Designs went belly up.
--
Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com
company names,
but somehow that doesn't quite seem right.
Thinker Toys?
(.. 30 years later I finally clue in the name was a play on 'tinker toys'.)
5:37 a.m.
New subject: Multi-architecture CPU systems (was Re: 6502 CPU schematics)
On Sat, Mar 08, 2008 at 03:39:57PM -0500, Roy J. Tellason wrote:
There was one other company, though, and I still
can't recall the name,
that tried unsuccessfully to market some system that would let you plug in
different CPU boards to run different software. I'm vaguely thinking of toy
company names, but somehow that doesn't quite seem right. Time frame
would've been a little later than a bunch of this other stuff, maybe early
1980s or so?
Ohio Scientific had the Challenger III with three CPUs - 6502, Z80, and
6800, IIRC. A family friend had one. It was lots of fun to go over and
visit when he had that running.
The factory was only a couple hours from my house, but besides that C3,
I only knew of a couple of folks who bought their "Superboard". They always
looked like neat machines, but not as popular as the big three (Commodore,
Tandy, and Apple).
-ethan
--
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South Pole Station
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Ethan.Dicks at usap.gov http://penguincentral.com/penguincentral.html
8 Mar
8 Mar
5:09 p.m.
Which reminds me, does anybody else remember those
machines that had
multiple CPUs in them? Or the option of plugging different ones in?
Dimension 68000 was deliberately a multi-processor machine: 68000, 8088,
6502, Z80?
and, of course, we hafta mention Dec Rainbow and Eagle machines with 8088
and Z80
Basis? (Apple ][ copy) had Z80 +6502
at one point, somebody at Apple estimated that 20% of all Apple]['s had
Z80 softcards
There were alternate processor cards for PC, including Z80, 6502, 68000,
80386, . . .
9 Mar
9 Mar
2:01 p.m.
On Sat, 8 Mar 2008, Fred Cisin wrote:
Ack. Where did I get Dimension 2000 from? Anyway, yes, same box.
--
Which reminds
me, does anybody else remember those machines that had
multiple CPUs in them? Or the option of plugging different ones in?
Dimension 68000 was deliberately a multi-processor machine: 68000, 8088,
6502, Z80?
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6 comments
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participants (6)
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cclist＠sydex.com -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
ethan.dicks＠usap.gov -
hilpert＠cs.ubc.ca -
rtellason＠verizon.net -
snhirsch＠gmail.com