The snap on modules could possibly be old Convergent Technologies boxes,
since bought by Unisys. We used those systems in the Coast Guard. Do the
have a large row of double pin connectors on the right side at the base and
lock in place with a black lever?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wayne M. Smith" <wmsmith(a)earthlink.net>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Friday, June 29, 2001 12:22 AM
Subject: Re: Old stuff found + help identifying...
On Thu, 28 Jun
2001, Carlos Murillo wrote:
> A few days ago one of the storage rooms at the
university
> was cleaned up and I grabbed all the
computer-related
stuff
> that I could. Not a lot of variety, though.
Besides
> from the wintel carcasses and Mac plus remains, I found
> one Datapoint 1550 and several modules from a type
system that
> I have never seen. The cpu, floppy disk
drives and
graphics
> modules snap onto each other's side very
neatly. There
are
> several of these systems, with the
corresponding
monitors and
> keyboards. Alas, the only power supply unit
that I
found
is
incomplete and badly damaged. Do you guys have some
info about these systems? Pics can be found at
The Datapoint 1550 is I believe just a terminal, but it
may well be a
full-fledged computer. I know the model 1600 and
1800 are
all-in-one
computers which were actually meant to be the CPU
in a
multi-node
Datapoint network (connected via ARCNET).
Look inside the unit and if there is a card cage then it's
most likely a
CPU. Late 1970's vintage.
The book "Computer Power for the Small Business" by
Sippl/Dahl (1979) profiles the Datapoint 1500. The 1500
looks a lot like the 1550 you have, except that the keyboard
and CPU/display are separate units. Storage is in a
separate dual side-by-side floppy drive. According to my
specs, the 1500 came with 32K of memory and sold for $5,950.
Datapoint was HQ'd in San Antonio, TX.