8 Oct
2005
8 Oct
'05
5:01 p.m.
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 23:57:02 -0400
From: Stuart Pomerantz <stuartpomerantz at gmail.com>
To: jfoust at threedee.com
Subject: questions about Sanyo MBC 55x collectors
Dear Mr. Foust,
I came across your website and your interest in old computers. I have a Sanyo MBC-555
computer in perfect condition with both color and amber monitors, all the old
documentation/packing and several years worth of SoftSector, a Sanyo MBC 55x enthusiast
magazine. Is there anyone in the world interested in this hardware/material or is it time
to add to the world's landfills? Hope you can be of help (and can have first dibs, if
interested).
Sincerely,
Stuart Pomerantz
8 Oct
8 Oct
2:10 p.m.
Yuck! I had a 555 and it's the worst "clone" ever made IMO! Feed it to
the landfill!
Joe
At 04:01 PM 10/8/05 -0500, you wrote:
>Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 23:57:02 -0400
>From: Stuart Pomerantz <stuartpomerantz at gmail.com>
>To: jfoust at threedee.com
>Subject: questions about Sanyo MBC 55x collectors
>
>Dear Mr. Foust,
>
>I came across your website and your interest in old computers. I have a
Sanyo
MBC-555 computer in perfect condition with both color and amber
monitors, all the old documentation/packing and several years worth of
SoftSector, a Sanyo MBC 55x enthusiast magazine. Is there anyone in the
world interested in this hardware/material or is it time to add to the
world's landfills? Hope you can be of help (and can have first dibs, if
interested).
Sincerely,
Stuart Pomerantz
9:23 p.m.
On Sat, 08 Oct 2005 18:10:59
"Joe R." <rigdonj at cfl.rr.com> wrote:
Yuck! I had a 555 and it's the worst
"clone" ever made IMO! Feed
it to
the landfill!
Joe
Machines like that have historical value. I remember the Sanyo PC
Clones, too. They wouldn't boot from anything except the specific Sanyo
version of MS-DOS. They were 'closed' without expandability. Still,
they were early enough systems to have some historical value, as a
'kinda clone' system. The Columbia Data Systems was a 'kinda' too, and
I remember frowning on them back in the day at swapmeets and junkshops,
and I would LOVE to have one now (one of the very first IBM 'clones'
from before Compaq's success).
There's a lot of historical worth in machines from that era that were
'stinkers.' In particular, people who have bad memories of them and
want them destroyed will ensure that they are more rare than usual
eventually.
I have similar bad memories of the AT&T 6300. I remember all the time
wasted at work trying to get a high density floppy disk to work (not my
time, but the engineers who futzed with it grew to hate the machine.)
And yet, there are people here who would be happy to have an AT&T 6300
now. There are probably still people who consider them 'superior' to
the IBM-PC because they used an 8086 and a 16-bit wide data path.
Machines like the Sanyo belong in somebody's collection. (no room here,
sadly)
At 04:01 PM 10/8/05 -0500, you wrote:
Sanyo
MBC-555 computer in perfect condition with both color and amber
monitors, all the old documentation/packing and several years worth of
SoftSector, a Sanyo MBC 55x enthusiast magazine. Is there anyone in
the world interested in this hardware/material or is it time to add to
the world's landfills? Hope you can be of help (and can have first
dibs, if interested).
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 23:57:02 -0400
From: Stuart Pomerantz <stuartpomerantz at gmail.com>
To: jfoust at threedee.com
Subject: questions about Sanyo MBC 55x collectors
Dear Mr. Foust,
I came across your website and your interest in old computers. I
have a
Sincerely,
Stuart Pomerantz
10:30 p.m.
Two comments:
I remember seeing the useless book on how to get the most from
your Sanyo Icon book at Micro Center here in Santa Ana, Ca tore.
The thing stayed there till a purge, around 1998 or so.
About 2 months ago, another one showed up at full price.
This is the same store that marked all their copies of K&R
C manuals down because of the copyright date to $5 each.
I of course bought all of them.
As to the CDP units, Columbia had a keyboard "ICE" or
debugger. You could rig it to go immediatly into a software
debugger on one of the serial ports before booting your OS.
Also you could set it so that control-alt-1 or something like
would drop into the debugger at any time, and I solved a lot
of mysterious hangs early on with it.
Sad that feature (letting the user figure out what the hell
his system is doing) is missing on Windows these days.
You only have your own lack of initiative if you use Linux
in figuring out what your system is doing, which is how
it should be.
Jim
BTW if we are voting I'd not toss the thing. It was pretty
in its plastic case, and it should boot msdos at least,
since the older ones were XT or PC compatable and should
not have had any setup disk requirements.
On 10/8/05, Scott Stevens <chenmel at earthlink.net> wrote:
On Sat, 08 Oct 2005 18:10:59
"Joe R." <rigdonj at cfl.rr.com> wrote:
Yuck! I had a 555 and it's the worst
"clone" ever made IMO! Feed
it to
the landfill!
Joe
Machines like that have historical value. I remember the Sanyo PC
Clones, too. They wouldn't boot from anything except the specific Sanyo
version of MS-DOS. They were 'closed' without expandability. Still,
they were early enough systems to have some historical value, as a
'kinda clone' system. The Columbia Data Systems was a 'kinda' too, and
I remember frowning on them back in the day at swapmeets and junkshops,
and I would LOVE to have one now (one of the very first IBM 'clones'
from before Compaq's success).
There's a lot of historical worth in machines from that era that were
'stinkers.' In particular, people who have bad memories of them and
want them destroyed will ensure that they are more rare than usual
eventually.
I have similar bad memories of the AT&T 6300. I remember all the time
wasted at work trying to get a high density floppy disk to work (not my
time, but the engineers who futzed with it grew to hate the machine.)
And yet, there are people here who would be happy to have an AT&T 6300
now. There are probably still people who consider them 'superior' to
the IBM-PC because they used an 8086 and a 16-bit wide data path.
Machines like the Sanyo belong in somebody's collection. (no room here,
sadly)
At 04:01 PM 10/8/05 -0500, you wrote:
Sanyo
MBC-555 computer in perfect condition with both color and amber
monitors, all the old documentation/packing and several years worth of
SoftSector, a Sanyo MBC 55x enthusiast magazine. Is there anyone in
the world interested in this hardware/material or is it time to add to
the world's landfills? Hope you can be of help (and can have first
dibs, if interested).
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 23:57:02 -0400
From: Stuart Pomerantz <stuartpomerantz at gmail.com>
To: jfoust at threedee.com
Subject: questions about Sanyo MBC 55x collectors
Dear Mr. Foust,
I came across your website and your interest in old computers. I
have a
Sincerely,
Stuart Pomerantz
9 Oct
9 Oct
12:08 p.m.
At 08:23 PM 10/8/05 -0500, you wrote:
On Sat, 08 Oct 2005 18:10:59
"Joe R." <rigdonj at cfl.rr.com> wrote:
THREE of my friends bought 6300s. They were GREAT compared to the
Sanyos. They actually had ISA expansion slots instead of the ONE
propriatary connector that the Sanyo had. They would run true IBM PC DOS
and all the IBM PC software. I don't remember exactly what speed they ran
at (6MHz?) but I'm pretty sure that it was faster than the PC (plus it used
the 8086 processor). The Sanyo ran at 3.58MHz (8088) so that they could use
CHEAP color burst crsytals for the oscillator. The Sanyos also used part of
the main memory for the video memory instead of having video memory at a
fixed address ala the IBM PC so a LOT of the MS DOS software would not run
on it. The Sanyo had about a 30 Watt power supply, you literally could not
run an 8087 coprosessor and a 2nd floppy drive at the same time! The Sanyo
could not be expanded over 256k without serious hardware hacks, etc etc
etc. The **&*&) non-standard keyboard and keycodes, non-standard IO
connectors. I think everything was non-standard on it! The DOS for the
Sanyo was highly tailored for it and it was FULL of bugs and the manuals
were plain S**T! Like I said, I HAD a 555. It was THE worst compatible
computer ever made! No make that plain WORST computer ever made. I don't
believe any other computer had as many problems and as little support as
the Sanyos did! I had friends that had Columbias, AT&Ts, and just about any
other that you could name and none of them had a fraction of troubles that
I constantly had. I was a poor college student and could afford anything
else so I stuck with (or got stuck with!) a Sanyo for three years and I
used it A LOT. I DESPISE the things!
</rant>
Joe
I remember all the time
Yuck! I had a 555 and it's the worst
"clone" ever made IMO! Feed
it to
the landfill!
Joe
Machines like that have historical value. I remember the Sanyo PC
Clones, too. They wouldn't boot from anything except the specific Sanyo
version of MS-DOS. They were 'closed' without expandability. Still,
they were early enough systems to have some historical value, as a
'kinda clone' system. The Columbia Data Systems was a 'kinda' too, and
I remember frowning on them back in the day at swapmeets and junkshops,
and I would LOVE to have one now (one of the very first IBM 'clones'
from before Compaq's success).
There's a lot of historical worth in machines from that era that were
'stinkers.' In particular, people who have bad memories of them and
want them destroyed will ensure that they are more rare than usual
eventually.
I have similar bad memories of the AT&T 6300. wasted at work trying to get a high density floppy disk
to work (not my
time, but the engineers who futzed with it grew to hate the machine.)
And yet, there are people here who would be happy to have an AT&T 6300
now. There are probably still people who consider them 'superior' to
the IBM-PC because they used an 8086 and a 16-bit wide data path.
Machines like the Sanyo belong in somebody's collection. (no room here,
sadly)
At 04:01 PM 10/8/05 -0500, you wrote:
Sanyo
MBC-555 computer in perfect condition with both color and amber
monitors, all the old documentation/packing and several years worth of
SoftSector, a Sanyo MBC 55x enthusiast magazine. Is there anyone in
the world interested in this hardware/material or is it time to add to
the world's landfills? Hope you can be of help (and can have first
dibs, if interested).
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 23:57:02 -0400
From: Stuart Pomerantz <stuartpomerantz at gmail.com>
To: jfoust at threedee.com
Subject: questions about Sanyo MBC 55x collectors
Dear Mr. Foust,
I came across your website and your interest in old computers. I
have a
Sincerely,
Stuart Pomerantz
7:24 p.m.
On Sun, October 9, 2005 5:08 pm, Joe R. said:
<snip rantage>
other that you could name and none of them had a
fraction of troubles that
I constantly had. I was a poor college student and could afford anything
else so I stuck with (or got stuck with!) a Sanyo for three years and I
used it A LOT. I DESPISE the things!
That's what makes them collectable, no? :)
--
adrian/witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UKs biggest home computer collection?
10 Oct
10 Oct
3:02 p.m.
HERE HERE! And I would imagine there must have been a
game or two that people would enjoy again playing on
the thing. Hmmm maybe Starflight would run on one.
More then could be said for my Tandy 2000 :(
--- Witchy <witchy at binarydinosaurs.co.uk> wrote:
On Sun, October 9, 2005 5:08 pm, Joe R. said:
<snip rantage>
__________________________________
Yahoo! Music Unlimited
Access over 1 million songs. Try it free.
http://music.yahoo.com/unlimited/
other that you could name and none of them had a
fraction of troubles that
I constantly had. I was a poor college student
and
could afford anything
else so I stuck with (or got stuck with!) a Sanyo
for three years and I
used it A LOT. I DESPISE the things!
That's what makes them collectable, no? :)
--
adrian/witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UKs biggest home
computer collection?
6:40 p.m.
On Mon, October 10, 2005 8:02 pm, Chris M said:
HERE HERE! And I would imagine there must have been a
game or two that people would enjoy again playing on
the thing. Hmmm maybe Starflight would run on one.
More then could be said for my Tandy 2000 :(
It'd be nice to find some, I've only got apps and OS disks for mine....
--
adrian/witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UKs biggest home computer collection?
3:25 p.m.
The Sanyo ran at 3.58MHz (8088)
so that they could use
CHEAP color burst crsytals for the oscillator.
Almost all the pc's used a crystal that was some
multiple of color burst frequency. Did the Sanyo
actually use a 3.58mhz crystal? The PC had a crystal
that was 4x that, and divided it by 3 to get 4.77mhz.
Sanyos also used part of
the main memory for the video memory instead of
having video memory at a
fixed address ala the IBM PC so a LOT of the MS DOS
software would not run
on it.
The PCjr's video memory was physically located low in
ram, yet appeared to be in the b-block (through the
use of a "video gate array"). Is this what the Sanyo
did? Otherwise I don't understand what is meant by
"used part of main memory".
All in all it sounds like a groovy machine ;). I'd
love to get my hands on one. And I already have 2
6300's, and 1 Xerox something, which were clones of
one another (both made by Olivetti).
__________________________________
Yahoo! Music Unlimited
Access over 1 million songs. Try it free.
http://music.yahoo.com/unlimited/
8 Oct
8 Oct
7:56 p.m.
Curses, wrong side of the pond I'm guessing! I have a pair of 555s that
look like they've seen the world on the back of a donkey so a good
condition one would be nice!
(yes, I know I'm weird :))
On Sat, October 8, 2005 10:01 pm, John Foust said:
--
adrian/witchy
Binary Dinosaurs creator/curator
www.binarydinosaurs.co.uk - the UKs biggest home computer collection?
Date: Tue, 4 Oct 2005 23:57:02 -0400
From: Stuart Pomerantz <stuartpomerantz at gmail.com>
To: jfoust at threedee.com
Subject: questions about Sanyo MBC 55x collectors
Dear Mr. Foust,
I came across your website and your interest in old computers. I have a
Sanyo MBC-555 computer in perfect condition with both color and amber
monitors, all the old documentation/packing and several years worth of
SoftSector, a Sanyo MBC 55x enthusiast magazine. Is there anyone in the
world interested in this hardware/material or is it time to add to the
world's landfills? Hope you can be of help (and can have first dibs, if
interested).
Sincerely,
Stuart Pomerantz
9 Oct
9 Oct
3:07 p.m.
As with all Sanyo MBC-555 computers that come around, they should all be
sent COD to Joe Rigdon.
;)
On Sat, 8 Oct 2005, John Foust wrote:
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
Date: Tue, 4
Oct 2005 23:57:02 -0400 From: Stuart Pomerantz
<stuartpomerantz at gmail.com> To: jfoust at threedee.com Subject: questions
about Sanyo MBC 55x collectors
Dear Mr. Foust,
I came across your website and your interest in old computers. I have a
Sanyo MBC-555 computer in perfect condition with both color and amber
monitors, all the old documentation/packing and several years worth of
SoftSector, a Sanyo MBC 55x enthusiast magazine. Is there anyone in the
world interested in this hardware/material or is it time to add to the
world's landfills? Hope you can be of help (and can have first dibs, if
interested).
Sincerely,
Stuart Pomerantz
12:30 p.m.
At 12:07 PM 10/9/05 -0700, Sellam wrote:
As with all Sanyo MBC-555 computers that come around, they should all be
sent COD to Joe Rigdon.
Let's send them all to New Orleans. They need the fill :-) And what the
hell, it's already polluted.
Joe
;)
On Sat, 8 Oct 2005, John Foust wrote:
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer
Festival
Date: Tue,
4 Oct 2005 23:57:02 -0400 From: Stuart Pomerantz
<stuartpomerantz at gmail.com> To: jfoust at threedee.com Subject: questions
about Sanyo MBC 55x collectors
Dear Mr. Foust,
I came across your website and your interest in old computers. I have a
Sanyo MBC-555 computer in perfect condition with both color and amber
monitors, all the old documentation/packing and several years worth of
SoftSector, a Sanyo MBC 55x enthusiast magazine. Is there anyone in the
world interested in this hardware/material or is it time to add to the
world's landfills? Hope you can be of help (and can have first dibs, if
interested).
Sincerely,
Stuart Pomerantz
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
International Man of Intrigue and Danger
http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers
]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at
http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
6866
days inactive
6868
days old
11 comments
7 participants
participants (7)
-
chenmel＠earthlink.net -
chrism3667＠yahoo.com -
james.w.stephens＠gmail.com -
jfoust＠threedee.com -
rigdonj＠cfl.rr.com -
vcf＠siconic.com -
witchy＠binarydinosaurs.co.uk