14 Dec
1998
14 Dec
'98
12:32 p.m.
Hello, all:
While looking through 1984 Bytes. I came across an ad for the computer
used in the bedroom scene in "Wierd Science". It's the Memotech MTX512.
It's
a sleek black unit and appears to be based on the Z80A.
Does anyone know anything about these?
[ Rich Cini/WUGNET
[ ClubWin!/CW7
[ MCP Windows 95/Windows Networking
[ Collector of "classic" computers
[ http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/classiccmp/
[ http://highgate.comm.sfu.ca/~rcini/pdp11/
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14 Dec
14 Dec
1:19 p.m.
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1:22 p.m.
Richard A. Cini, Jr. wrote:
Hello, all:
While looking through 1984 Bytes. I came across an ad for the computer
used in the bedroom scene in "Wierd Science". It's the Memotech MTX512.
It's
a sleek black unit and appears to be based on the Z80A.
Does anyone know anything about these?
Not too much. I have one in mint condition that IIRC includes the manuals,
etc. I was given about a year ago but haven't done anything with it.
Anything in particular you would like to know?
10:39 p.m.
On Mon, 14 Dec 1998, Richard A. Cini, Jr. wrote:
Hello, all:
While looking through 1984 Bytes. I came across an ad for the computer
used in the bedroom scene in "Wierd Science". It's the Memotech MTX512.
It's
a sleek black unit and appears to be based on the Z80A.
Does anyone know anything about these?
I know a little, though I've never seen one.
The University I go to has a book in its library, entitled "Memotech
Computing", by Ian Sinclair, Granada Publishing, 1984.
I copied as much "useful" information out of that as I could between
borrowing it and returning it. Mostly this includes the parts of the
BASIC that I found interesting, as well as some notes on the "Noddy" text
processing system.
I also found a comparison article in Popular Science entitled "PS
Showdown: 7 Top Home Computers", comparing the Apple //c, Atari 800XL,
Coleco Adam, Commodore 64, IBM PCjr, Memotech MTX512, and Radio Shack
Color Computer 2, in the limited domain of word processing. This is in
the November 1984 issue, pages 108-112, 115, 116, and 134. Not much info,
but at least there's an excellent photo of the MTX512 and the DMX80
printer (also black).
There was also some information on a web page at (hopefully this is
correct):
http://pcsupp1.cc.rl.ac.uk/home/chris/hchof/memotech.html
I have no idea if that page is still there. The address might even be
wrong because I think I grabbed it from a capture of a Lynx session (I
didn't have a graphical browser running on my Amiga yet).
Anyhoo... the basic info I've got is as follows:
MTX500 and MTX512 - personal computer
Processor: Z80A (4MHz)
RAM Min, Max: 32K (MTX500) or 64K (MTX512), expandable to 512K
Included ROM: BASIC, assembler/disassembler, terminal emulator,
"NODDY" text processing system
I/O Ports: cassette (standard phono)
Keyboard: typewriter-style
OS: CP/M option available
Display Type: composite monitor, television
Screen Size: 39? x 24 chars.
Graphics: 256 x 192 pixels, 16 colours, 32 single-colour
sprites, redefinable characters
Sound: 3 channels of sound, 1 noise generator
Dimensions:
Weight: "heavy"
Mass Storage
Included:
Power Supply: external brick
Peripherals: cassette
5.25" and 8" floppy drives
hard drive
DMX80 dot-matrix printer
Release date: 1984
Not a lot of info on the machine, but pretty good for something I'll
likely never see.
I have quite a bit of info on the BASIC, but it's in AmigaGuide format.
(I wish I still had the kind of free time that allowed me to fish out and
transcribe that info. <sigh>)
--
Doug Spence
ds_spenc(a)alcor.concordia.ca
http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
15 Dec
15 Dec
2:43 a.m.
While looking through 1984 Bytes. I came across an
ad for the computer
used in the bedroom scene in "Wierd Science". It's the Memotech MTX512.
It's
a sleek black unit and appears to be based on the Z80A.
A bit brownisch in reality :)
Does anyone know anything about these?
They have been somewhat popular in Germany between 1983 and
1986 - around the thime when the big Commodores where about
to decline, but the PC hadn't catched up. A neat CP/M able
machine with lots of RAM, up to two FDs, possible HD and a
good video out (or, to catch the home market with tape :).
A good Basic and some add ons (assembler ? linker ? ) had
been put into ROM. Also I remember there was some kind of
script language to handle terminal I/O - a bit wired, but
you could start such scripts to have an inteligent terminal,
almost like block mode terminals with mask based foratings.
The timeline is almost the same as for the Enterprise -
AFAIR the Memotech was also English - at least did the
company some _very_ succesfull ZX81 add ons - the Memotech
64K RAM was at this time _THE_ standard upperclass add on
- especialy with this realy nice design.
The MTX512 has been sold in Germany thry several small
dealers and VOBIS, this pushed it a lot. I heared they
had strong sales in England. Tony ?
Gruss
H.
--
Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut
HRK
5:11 a.m.
Hans Franke wrote:
They have been somewhat popular in Germany between
1983 and
1986 - around the thime when the big Commodores where about
to decline, but the PC hadn't catched up. A neat CP/M able
machine with lots of RAM, up to two FDs, possible HD and a
good video out (or, to catch the home market with tape :).
A good Basic and some add ons (assembler ? linker ? ) had
been put into ROM. Also I remember there was some kind of
script language to handle terminal I/O - a bit wired, but
you could start such scripts to have an inteligent terminal,
almost like block mode terminals with mask based foratings.
You mention adding FDs and a HD; when I read through the manual, I didn't
see reference to that. Nor did I see any obvious place to connect them.
What did I miss, and how do they get connected to the unit? Or were there
different configurations available for the same model? When I took a look
at it last night, it sure looks like a nice machine!!!
7:34 a.m.
On Tue, 15 Dec 1998, Marvin wrote:
You mention adding FDs and a HD; when I read through the manual, I didn't
see reference to that. Nor did I see any obvious place to connect them.
What did I miss, and how do they get connected to the unit? Or were there
different configurations available for the same model? When I took a look
at it last night, it sure looks like a nice machine!!!
There were two types of floppy unit, the SDX and the FDX and a single type
of hard disk unit the HDX. The SDX had a controller box that plugged into
the left hand side of the main unit with a ribbon cable from that to a
single 800K (i think) floppy drive. The FDX and HDX units required a
controller board that fitted inside the main unit to the right and side of
the motherboard. The FDX and HDX boxes were identical quite large boxes
that could contain things like an 80 column card for CPM and Silicon
disks for really fast storage although I don't know if they were battery
backed up.
I have owned an MTX512 since they were new. It was a logical next step for
someone who had a ZX80, ZX81, Video Genie (TRS80 clone) and wanted a
colour machine that had decent assembly language support. My yonger
brother bought one two, and then he upgraded it with an SDX drive, an
extra 128Kb of memory and a Pascal ROM. I also now own an RS128 which is
essentially an MTX512 with an FDX box, and 80column card and dual serial
ports.
Finally one common misconception is that they are MSX compatible. The
reason for this is that they use the same graphics chip (that does
sprites etc.) as the MSX machines.
You can find a picture of an MTX512 and a picture of the internal circuit
board at:
http://www.heydon.org/kevan/collection/manufacturer-memotech/mtx512.html
--
Kevan
Collector of old computers: http://www.heydon.org/kevan/collection/
10:48 a.m.
New subject: MTX500/512
You mention adding FDs and a HD; when I read through
the manual, I didn't
see reference to that. Nor did I see any obvious place to connect them.
What did I miss, and how do they get connected to the unit? Or were there
different configurations available for the same model? When I took a look
at it last night, it sure looks like a nice machine!!!
They have been add on cases, AFAIR a single and a dual
drive unit, and a single drive HD unit. THey where
conected by flat ribbon type cable. I'm not shure,
but there was also a type with build in FDs - but
it's a long time ago.
Gruss
H.
--
Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut
HRK
6:17 a.m.
While looking through 1984 Bytes. I came across an
ad for the computer
used in the bedroom scene in "Wierd Science". It's the Memotech MTX512.
It's
a sleek black unit and appears to be based on the Z80A.
Does anyone know anything about these?
Other people covered all of the technical details I know.
I kind of like the machine. (I haven't used one, just seen information on
the Web and the manual on my trip to Bletchley Park.) It's not extraordinary
(even for its time), but it is very well thought out and the parts (software
and hardware) fit together very nicely. There's lots of nice stuff in ROM
(including a debugger). I think the ROM has its own RAM space. (This is
pretty important for a debuger of any real power, I would say.) The company
tried to keep the total configurations reasonable, though they didn't
completely succeed (they offered a number of "combination" packages).
I don't know of any emulators, except one for the Mac that's not released
yet. See
http://www.emulation.net/
for info on the emulator and lots of cool others (for the Mac only). See
http://www.btinternet.com/~jim.mtxinfo/mtxsite/index.htm
for some pictures of the machine, some scanned ads, and information about
the (small number of) games that were sold.
-- Derek
9357
days inactive
9358
days old
8 comments
7 participants
participants (7)
-
ard＠p850ug1.demon.co.uk -
dpeschel＠u.washington.edu -
ds_spenc＠alcor.concordia.ca -
Hans.Franke＠mch20.sbs.de -
kevan＠heydon.org -
marvin＠rain.org -
rcini＠msn.com