1 Mar
2010
1 Mar
'10
2:50 p.m.
I have a S-100 N* Horizon that I have been trying to get to run for years.
Is there anyone out there running one or have one or Interested in one.
I also have a bunch of S-100 Vector Graphic Cards, CPU, Memory, I/O
Cards but no FDC's
I am looking for any S-100 Serial I/O cards that I might be able to just
in a Test Computer setup so I can test some of the Cards I have.
Also Floppy disk controllers for the S-100 Buss.
TIA
Bob in Wisconsin
1 Mar
1 Mar
3:33 p.m.
Robert J. Stevens wrote:
I have a S-100 N* Horizon that I have been trying to
get to run for years.
Is there anyone out there running one or have one or Interested in one.
I also have a bunch of S-100 Vector Graphic Cards, CPU, Memory, I/O
Cards but no FDC's
Personally, I'd love an S-100 machine (N* or otherwise) - I think they're at
about that 'sweet spot' for me where they count as a useful machine, aren't
too complex to completely understand, and allow for a lot of homebrewed
add-ons and boards. (I'm a bit of a graphics nut, though, so I wouldn't want
one unless it had some kind of graphics framebuffer in it; from purely a
software point of view I've kind of had my fill of CP/M crates and text-mode
terminals :-)
I've helped rescue and move more S-100 machines than I care to think about,
but I've never had the chance to own one myself. Maybe one day...
cheers
Jules
2 Mar
2 Mar
6:47 a.m.
I have some of a Horizon to wit the mother board. I cleaned it up when I got
it and will sort out a power supply shortly. I'm on the look out for S100
boards to go with it.
Why the Horizon? I wrote commercial software on it in CBasic using Wordstar
as an editor when the machine was current.
?
Rod Smallwood
?
?
-----Original Message-----
From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org]
On Behalf Of Jules Richardson
Sent: 01 March 2010 15:34
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Does a Northstar S-100 Bus Horizon Classify as a Classic
Robert J. Stevens wrote:
I have a S-100 N* Horizon that I have been trying to
get to run for years.
Is there anyone out there running one or have one or Interested in one.
I also have a bunch of S-100 Vector Graphic Cards, CPU, Memory, I/O
Cards but no FDC's
Personally, I'd love an S-100 machine (N* or otherwise) - I think they're at
about that 'sweet spot' for me where they count as a useful machine, aren't
too complex to completely understand, and allow for a lot of homebrewed
add-ons and boards. (I'm a bit of a graphics nut, though, so I wouldn't want
one unless it had some kind of graphics framebuffer in it; from purely a
software point of view I've kind of had my fill of CP/M crates and text-mode
terminals :-)
I've helped rescue and move more S-100 machines than I care to think about,
but I've never had the chance to own one myself. Maybe one day...
cheers
Jules
9:07 p.m.
On Tue, 2 Mar 2010, Rod Smallwood wrote:
Why the Horizon? I wrote commercial software on it in
CBasic using Wordstar
as an editor when the machine was current.
CBASIC and Wordstar were both VERY portable. Just about any CP/M machine
would satisfy THAT part of the nostalgia.
Is it still possible to get plywood of the right thickness to duplicate
the top of the Horizon?
9:09 p.m.
On Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 4:07 PM, Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> wrote:
Is it still possible to get plywood of the right
thickness to duplicate
the top of the Horizon?
I don't know that I've seen a Horizon since 1980 - what was unusual
about the wood? Too thin to support a terminal without sagging?
-ethan
9:21 p.m.
On Tue, 2 Mar 2010, Ethan Dicks wrote:
I don't know that I've seen a Horizon since
1980 - what was unusual
about the wood? Too thin to support a terminal without sagging?
plenty strong enough
Regular Oak? plywood. Probably from Ashby Lumber.
BUT, . . .
when I go to buy 3/4" plywood these days, it is no longer 3/4"!
Somewhere in my storage, I have two of the three pieces of a Horizon lid;
I might have to plane, or special order, just to get a piece to cut to
replace the missing one! I'll wait until I run across it again, since I
don't even remember for sure what finish and size it was.
9:43 p.m.
On 2 Mar 2010 at 13:21, Fred Cisin wrote:
BUT, . . .
when I go to buy 3/4" plywood these days, it is no longer 3/4"!
Take the standard stuff and stick a layer of veneer to it. (All
sorts of veneer is available for kitchen cabinet refacing and has its
own adhesive backing. Usually 1/32" thick.
There ya go.
--Chuck
10:21 p.m.
Fred Cisin wrote:
On Tue, 2 Mar 2010, Ethan Dicks wrote:
Plain oak ply 3/4" thick. Mine is dark finish
mahogany or thereabouts.
Allison
I don't know that I've seen a Horizon
since 1980 - what was unusual
about the wood? Too thin to support a terminal without sagging?
plenty strong enough
Regular Oak? plywood. Probably from Ashby Lumber.
BUT, . . .
when I go to buy 3/4" plywood these days, it is no longer 3/4"!
Somewhere in my storage, I have two of the three pieces of a Horizon lid;
I might have to plane, or special order, just to get a piece to cut to
replace the missing one! I'll wait until I run across it again, since I
don't even remember for sure what finish and size it was.
3 Mar
3 Mar
6:24 a.m.
Sure they were portable and I even have Wordstar for my Rainbow.
It?s just a case of what would I run on my restored Horizon when it's
completed.
If anybody knows the location of the Horizon heavy bits (Case and
Transformer) in the UK and any shippable Horizon cards (excluding the
motherboard) anywhere I'd be interested.
Regards
?
Rod Smallwood
?
?
-----Original Message-----
From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org]
On Behalf Of Fred Cisin
Sent: 02 March 2010 21:07
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: RE: Does a Northstar S-100 Bus Horizon Classify as a Classic
On Tue, 2 Mar 2010, Rod Smallwood wrote:
Why the Horizon? I wrote commercial software on it in
CBasic using
Wordstar
as an editor when the machine was current.
CBASIC and Wordstar were both VERY portable. Just about any CP/M machine
would satisfy THAT part of the nostalgia.
Is it still possible to get plywood of the right thickness to duplicate
the top of the Horizon?
4 Mar
4 Mar
1:35 p.m.
New subject: An interview with Sir Clive Sinclair
This is an amusing read considering the computer he launched.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/feb/28/clive-sinclair-interview-s…
2 Mar
2 Mar
2:09 p.m.
Jules Richardson wrote:
Robert J. Stevens wrote:
The NS* is clearly a classic S100. It was introduced in 1978 a while
after the MDS and
the CPU boards.
Being a non front panel machine has always made it tricky for those of
minimum
resources. I know as I have two of them operational plus spare boards
enough
to make another two. Once working they tend to be very dependable. I
know that
as I still have the one that I assembled in 1978 and still use!
The debug process is far simplified if there is either a known working
machine
to test all the pieces with or a CPU boarfd with onboard monitor rom
(and known operational). once you can talk to it most problems are
easily diagnosed to
the board level.
Common problems seen..
Bad sockets, some of the side wipe sockets used in the kits were bluntly
crap and fail with age or insert removel cycles of the chips.
Boards with blown bus IO from insertion or removal with DC on the bus
or not waiting for the power supply caps to discharge.
Bad disk drives and or bad /wrong media. Occasional efforts to boot
working systems with IO area customized for another IO (usually the
serial ports).
And misconfiguration of the various jumpers on boards. That includes CPU,
Disk, Ram, and bus IO area.
Also at least one case of everything OK but the terminal IO at the terminal
end bad never minding wrong cable (incorrect CTS and DIN and DOU reversed).
I've worked on more than a few and all only took a few hours to fully
debug and
fix or in some cases replace really messed up boards.
Allison
I have a S-100 N* Horizon that I have been trying
to get to run for
years.
Is there anyone out there running one or have one or Interested in one.
I also have a bunch of S-100 Vector Graphic Cards, CPU, Memory, I/O
Cards but no FDC's
Personally, I'd love an S-100 machine (N* or otherwise) - I think
they're at about that 'sweet spot' for me where they count as a useful
machine, aren't too complex to completely understand, and allow for a
lot of homebrewed add-ons and boards. (I'm a bit of a graphics nut,
though, so I wouldn't want one unless it had some kind of graphics
framebuffer in it; from purely a software point of view I've kind of
had my fill of CP/M crates and text-mode terminals :-)
I've helped rescue and move more S-100 machines than I care to think
about, but I've never had the chance to own one myself. Maybe one day...
cheers
Jules
1 Mar
1 Mar
3:51 p.m.
I have a S-100 N* Horizon that I have been trying to
get to run for years.
Is there anyone out there running one or have one or Interested in one.
I also have a bunch of S-100 Vector Graphic Cards, CPU, Memory, I/O
Cards but no FDC's
I am looking for any S-100 Serial I/O cards that I might be able to just
in a Test Computer setup so I can test some of the Cards I have.
Also Floppy disk controllers for the S-100 Buss.
TIA
Bob in Wisconsin
Hi Bob,
You and I have corresponded before, and I believe regarding your Horizon.
I would certainly count any S-100 system as Classic, and the N*Horizon is
one of the biggies IMHO. I do have a Horizon running with the Double-
Density N* controller, and one my my Altair's is running with the Single-
Density N* controller.
It's not clear from your message ... is your Horizon complete? (at least
CPU, Memory and FDC), or does "No FDC's" apply to the Horizon as well?
I assume it does have the standard Horizon mainboard which also includes
a couple of serial ports.
The Horizon can be a bit difficult to get up and running from a non-
functional state, because it does not have a front panel. If you have
a N* CPU board, you do at least have a 1K ROM socket (2708 or something
newer adapted to a 2708 read pinout). Do you have the capability to
program EPROMs? If so, I can give you a little (~500 byte) monitor that
will run from the Horizon CPU ROM socket and does not need ANY RAM.
This gives you a "window" into the system and lets you check out the
RAM, disk controller registers etc. and makes it *MUCH* easier to bring
the system up. Even if it doesn't run at first, it sits in a tight
loop polling the UART - you can capture the first few bus cycles with
a scope to see if it's getting there, and once you have the loop running,
the repeating select for the UART makes it pretty easy to debug that.
A little more info on exactly the condition and and debugging progress
on your system would be helpful.
Dave
--
dave09 (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Classic Computers: http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/
19 Mar
19 Mar
5:12 p.m.
I have a set of the Steve Ciarcia Circuit Cellar Magazines if Anyone is
Interested
Volume I originally cost $8.00
Volume II originally cost $12.95
Volume III originally cost $16.95
Volume IV originally cost $18.95
WOW
Make an Offer
Bob in Wisconsin
USE below minus spaces
trebor 7 7 @execpc.com
4:50 p.m.
On Fri, 19 Mar 2010, Robert J. Stevens wrote:
I have a set of the Steve Ciarcia Circuit Cellar
Magazines if Anyone is
Interested
Volume I originally cost $8.00
Volume II originally cost $12.95
Volume III originally cost $16.95
Volume IV originally cost $18.95
WOW
Wow? You forgot L@@K!!!111 RARE!!!1111!
g.
--
Proud owner of F-15C 80-0007
http://www.f15sim.com - The only one of its kind.
http://www.simpits.org/geneb - The Me-109F/X Project
ScarletDME - The red hot Data Management Environment
A Multi-Value database for the masses, not the classes.
http://www.scarletdme.org - Get it _today_!
5:05 p.m.
On Mar 19, 2010, at 1:12 PM, Robert J. Stevens wrote:
I have a set of the Steve Ciarcia Circuit Cellar
Magazines if
Anyone is Interested
Volume I originally cost $8.00
Volume II originally cost $12.95
Volume III originally cost $16.95
Volume IV originally cost $18.95
WOW
Wow indeed.
Are these in fact "Circuit Cellar Ink" magazines, or are they the
compendium of Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar columns from BYTE magazine?
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
5398
days inactive
5416
days old
14 comments
11 participants
participants (11)
-
ajp166＠verizon.net -
cclist＠sydex.com -
christian_liendo＠yahoo.com -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
dave09＠dunfield.com -
ethan.dicks＠gmail.com -
geneb＠deltasoft.com -
jules.richardson99＠gmail.com -
mcguire＠neurotica.com -
rodsmallwood＠btconnect.com -
trebor77＠execpc.com