Quick follow-up: I found little on the web, but there is a Usenet FAQ that covers this machine. It sounds interesting enough to get: 1) What is CTOS? CTOS (Convergent Technologies Operating System) is a character based, multi-processing, preemptive multitasking, true message-based, microkernal OS. multiuser operating system developed by Convergent. Convergent was formed in 1979, by a small group of ex-Intel staff. Convergent Technologies merged with 3COM in 1986. Unisys purchased Convergent Techonologies in 1986. CTOS is now supplied by BULL & Unisys. BTOS (Burroughs Terminal Operating System) was a licensed variant of CTOS. [...] B27: (CM-002) First and only F-Bus model. 80186. Up to 1MB memory. Burroughs made these at its Flemington, NJ plant under license from Convergent. There is a module which allows F-Bus and X-Bus modules to be used with each other. Cluster speed is 1.8 Mbps, RS422. -- Doug

Doug Yowza wrote: They are similar to the 25's that I used on Chanute AFB as an instructor up until we closed the base in 1993. There waa also a clone (physically and in working) made by NCR of both the B25 and 27. They did indeed run a BTOS (Burroughs terminal Operating System) and a BASIC using an 80186 processor housed in a square modular system that locked together. They had hard drive modules and even servers that sat on the floor with a weird type of removeable hard drive (Winchester?) When the terminal unit is turned on you should see a series of periods showing activity in logging to the server. If that stops then it's not connecting. I haven't seen one since and after hours of banging away on one to compile lesson plans I'm not too eager to see another too soon. There's a guy that was our custodian for the Burroughs at Chanute that now works at the U of Tennessee at Knoxville. His name is Elmer Baumgardner and his email is ELMERB(a)UTK.EDU. I'm not sure how much of all of that he remembers though since many changes in his duty stations since leaving Chanute and then retiring to a civilian job in a university with who-knows-what type of networks. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Russ Blakeman RB Custom Services / Rt. 1 Box 62E / Harned, KY USA 40144 Phone: (502) 756-1749 Data/Fax:(502) 756-6991 Email: rhblake(a)bbtel.com or rhblake(a)bigfoot.com Website: http://members.tripod.com/~RHBLAKE/ ICQ # 1714857 * Parts/Service/Upgrades and more for MOST Computers* --------------------------------------------------------------------

On Thu, 9 Apr 1998, Sam Ismail wrote: Then what? All I got was the terminal (which I wrongly thought was a standard RS-232 terminal -- it appears to be much smarter and more tightly integrated than that) and the CPU module (plus an internal RAM expansion card). Can I do anything else besides stare at the following message: Burroughs Corporation R 1.1.0000 B27-CLS FM *************** A "couple" of hard disks, as in "one extra"? :-) -- Doug

On Thu, 9 Apr 1998, Sam Ismail wrote: [mistakenly deleted attribution] And was itself manufactured under license from Convergent, whose machine it really was. I've got a Convergent Technologies CM001/8 that I've been (incredibly) slowly learning about for a year and a half. BTOS was licensed from Convergent also, who called it CTOS. The FAQ on the net is for a different series of machines made by Convergent called the 'Miniframe' and the 'Mitiframe', which were almost completely different Where the Miniframe used a Motorola 68k processor and ran CTIX (a sort of Unix), the CM machines were x86 based and ran CTOS, which I am led to believe is a real-time OS. The Miniframe may also have ran CTOS as an option, but I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure I read at least something about this module in one of the systems manuals I've got. I'll try to find the reference again if I remember. I'm pretty sure it's a voicemail/automated menu type system module. If my memory can be trusted, that is... ok r.