A while ago Doug wrote... I'll take that as a compliment. King? I doubt it; but I do go to a lot of effort to find things. Case in point: the Mark-8 from 1974. No, I don't have one. But I have been discussing this machine with Jon Titus, its creator. I tracked down Jon and of course tried to convince him I was a great home for some of his stuff. He replied with some interesting information, and I requested that he consent to me posting to the list. This he has done, and so without further ado... ---------- email from Jon Titus, creator of the Mark-8 minicomputer. Feb 9, 1999 Thanks for your note. I think there are a few sites that show a photo of the Mark-8, but I can't recall any URLs. I know that by searching on "Mark-8" or "Mark 8" usinf AltaVista I can usually come up with something. Let me see what I can locate. I do have a 35 mm silde of the cover of the July '74 issue of Radio-Electronics magazine and I could get that scanned and converted to a TIF or GIF file. I'll look into it if you wish. I may have the original schematic drawings in my "computer history" file at home. Years ago I tossed out the PC-board layouts, which were on large sheets on mylar that started to crack and deteriorate. The Mark-8 itself went to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington quite a few years ago. The prototype got pulled apart for bits and pieces over the years. It was hand wired, point to point using Vero board, although I did etch a board that held 1K bytes of memory. I doubt I have anything else related to the Mark-8. Let me see if I can locate the schematics and easily make copies for you. No, I never made a fortune on the Mark-8, but that was not my intent. I had been fooling with logic circuits since I was about 14 years old and used a lot of relays, stepper switches, etc., to build some interesting projects. When I went to graduate school, my work involved linking chemical instruments to minicomputers. I found I liked the computers and electronics more than the chemistry and headed in that direction. I used Digital Equipment Corp. PDP-8/L minicomputers and wanted some sort of computer of my own to fool with. So, when Intel announced the 8008, I got some info and adapted one of Intel's circuits into what became the Mark-8. I got some sample 8008 chips from Intel and get the unit running in late '73. I thought, gee, other hobbyists and experimenters might like to have their own computer, too, so I approached Radio-Electronics magazine about running a construction article, which they did. I gave them a lot of materials, so they published an extra booklet that people could purchase for $5. I got paid by R-E for the article and I collected some royalties on the circuit boards. That was a nice bit of money for a graduate student and I used some of it to buy my own IBM Selectric III typewriter--one that had the self-correcting tape and the typeball. I used that until a few years ago when it died. The Mark-8 did get a lot of people started with microprocessors and microcomputers, and it launched me in a new direction. I still run into people who remember the Mark-8 or who have used some of the books I wrote and edited in the 70s and 80s. That makes me feel very proud, and it's a feeling that money can't buy. So I didn't become rich in dollars from the Mark-8, but it was a rich and rewarding experience. That's plenty. Cheers, Jon ---------- end of email I would ask that you all refrain from chasing up things with Jon. I will post any information/schematics that Jon provides to the 'net, without charge. I think it's important that this interesting source of historical information be "mined" carefully. He is receptive to the idea of answering some questions for a page on the Mark-8 that I've been considering, so I'm inviting you all to discuss on the list a group of questions that you'd like to know about this machine and its design. I will submit them to him once we've settled on some reasonable ones. I'm interested in a project for a 1999 Mark-8. Anyone else want a replica? Cheers A -- adavie(a)mad.scientist.com visit the Museum of Soviet Calculators at http://www.comcen.com.au/~adavie/slide/calculator/soviet.html a Yahoo!, Netscape, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and New Scientist Cool Site!? ?