2 Sep
2004
2 Sep
'04
5:38 p.m.
I am considering buying a classic pc. The one I might buy is the intellec
mds 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
pc's would be good. So my question is, if I were to buy this pc, what type
of monitor/keyboard do I hook up to it? Where can I get one?
I think I need a tty serial monitor/keyboard. (Thats what I read online,
what does that mean?) Is the ebay below a terminal that will work on the
this intellec?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=170&item=511…
Or do I have to buy a vintage one like this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1247&item=51…
I want to test this intellec before I buy it and want a monitor/keyboard to
hook up to it before I buy it.
I also dont want to spend alot for the monitor/keyboard since the pc is
quite costly.
Thanks for your advice,
Andy
ps, if I buy this intellec, what can I do with it?
4 Sep
4 Sep
6:54 a.m.
On Thu, 2 Sep 2004, Andy Allaway wrote:
I am considering buying a classic pc. The one I might
buy is the intellec mds
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 pc's
would be good. So my question is, if I were to buy this pc, what type of
monitor/keyboard do I hook up to it? Where can I get one?
I'm not an authority on the MDS800, but the one I have is actually
integral with the display and came with a keyboard. Certainly, I'm able
to use it without an RS232 terminal.
ps, if I buy this intellec, what can I do with it?
Please don't take this the wrong way, but if you have to ask that question
you may want to reconsider buying it. The MDS800 provided a complete
hardware and software environment for developing products using some of
the older Intel CPUs. It is not really what I'd think of as being a "pc".
Steve
7:42 a.m.
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:
--
Dave Mabry dmabry(a)mich.com
Dossin Museum Underwater Research Team
I am considering buying a classic pc. The one I
might buy is the intellec mds
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 pc's
would be good. So my question is, if I were to buy this pc, what type of
monitor/keyboard do I hook up to it? Where can I get one?
I'm not an authority on the MDS800, but the one I have is actually
integral with the display and came with a keyboard. Certainly, I'm able
to use it without an RS232 terminal.
ps, if I buy this intellec, what can I do with it?
Please don't take this the wrong way, but if you have to ask that question
you may want to reconsider buying it. The MDS800 provided a complete
hardware and software environment for developing products using some of
the older Intel CPUs. It is not really what I'd think of as being a "pc".
Steve
10:49 a.m.
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,
Dave <g>).
7 Sep
7 Sep
9:16 a.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>).
9:42 a.m.
From: "Joe R." <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com>
>> 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).
I used the system with whopping 3 floppy drives !
It was used by a Philips subsidiary, "ap radiotelefon", much like Pye in the
UK.
I managed to program a switchboard, with 11 local phones, 2 trunk lines, and
path to 3 radio transceivers, each with 3 channels.
The computer part of it consisted of 1 Siemens Eurocard with an 8085, with
28K EPROM and 4K RAM, IIRC.
The whole system was mounted in a 19" rack, about 7 feet high. The bottom
third pard was used exclusively for batteries, as it had to be able to work
without external power for 12 hours.
Nico
---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
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9:07 a.m.
At 12:42 PM 9/4/04 -0400, you wrote:
--
Dave Mabry dmabry(a)mich.com
Dossin Museum Underwater Research Team
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.
Currently I can tell you that they're too heavy to fly away during TWO
hurricanes!
Seriously I have a pile of docs and SW for both the 800s and 2xx models.
but at the rate things are doing I'll never have time to organize them.
Joe
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
intellec
mds
>>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
pc's
would be good. So my question is, if I were to buy
this pc, what type of
monitor/keyboard do I hook up to it? Where can I get one?
I'm not an authority on the MDS800, but the one I have is actually
integral with the display and came with a keyboard. Certainly, I'm able
to use it without an RS232 terminal.
ps, if I buy this intellec, what can I do with it?
Please don't take this the wrong way, but if you have to ask that question
you may want to reconsider buying it. The MDS800 provided a complete
hardware and software environment for developing products using some of
the older Intel CPUs. It is not really what I'd think of as being a "pc".
Steve
4 Sep
4 Sep
2:40 p.m.
I am considering buying a classic pc. The one I might buy is the intellec
mds 800. It comes with a drive also. I dont know much about vintage pc's
I have one, I also have the manuals, including schemmatics..
but would love to be like you all. I thought starting
with one of the best
pc's would be good. So my question is, if I were to buy this pc, what type
Deifne 'best'. Best for what purpose? It's certainly not the fastest
machine ever made. It's certainly not the first 8080 system (that honour
may well go to the Intellec MSC8i). It is a very solid 8080 development
system (and can be used to cross-develop programs for other processors,
things like the 8048 and Intel's DSP (2900 IIRC)).
What are you planning to use it for? Why do you want it?
of monitor/keyboard do I hook up to it? Where can I
get one?
It uses a serial terminal. You can use just about any serial terminal, or
a PC (deskop, laptop, even a palmtop) with a serial port running a
terminal emulator (I often use my HP95LX or HP100LX for testing machines
like this, those machines have a terminal emulator in ROM). In the end
you mioght want to get a terminal from the same historical period, but
you don't need to do this to start with.
The only problem may be that the MDS800 is expecting a current loop
interface, not an RS232 interface. I built a converter for this _years_
ago (and can probably still find the schematics), I think such things
were also made comemrcially at one point. However, if you're not
comfortable with the idea of a serial termianl, then you probably don't
want to start making interfaces...
I want to test this intellec before I buy it and want
a monitor/keyboard to
hook up to it before I buy it.
I also dont want to spend alot for the monitor/keyboard since the pc is
quite costly.
Thanks for your advice,
Andy
ps, if I buy this intellec, what can I do with it?
Err, why on earth do you want to buy it if you don't know what you can do
with it? Well, OK, I've bought machines not knowing exactly what they can
do, but I generally have a fairly good idea as to what they were used for.
To be honest, I am not convinced you'd be happy with the MDS800. It
sounds like you have very little old computer experienec at all. This is
not a bad thing -- we all started somewhere, we all had to learn (and
most of us, including myself, are still learning). But the MDS800 is not
a totally trivial machine to get going or keep going. I would suggest
starting out with one of the all-in-one CP/M machines (my favourite is
the Epson QX10, but there are many, many, more that people here can
recomed) at least to get he feel of 8080/Z80 based computing.
-tony
7253
days inactive
7258
days old
7 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
aaallaway＠hotmail.com -
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
dmabry＠mich.com -
nico＠farumdata.dk -
rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com -
shirsch＠adelphia.net