9 Oct
1998
9 Oct
'98
5:26 a.m.
Kai -
Please don't confuse Morrow (a "good" guy) with the Xitan scammers. TDL
made a Z-80 board and then some decent software, and then some Xitan
computer systems. TDL got into trouble using some bad memory chips and had
cash flow problems. Some "business consultants" were brought in who
dissolved TDL and started Xitan and heavily promoted an advanced Z80 system,
the General. They took orders and disappeared in '78. But George Morrow
wasn't involved - he was in California, and TDL / Xitan was in New Jersey.
Bob Stek
bobstek(a)ix.netcom.com
Saver of Lost SOLs
9 Oct
9 Oct
5:31 a.m.
On Fri, 9 Oct 1998, Bob Stek wrote:
Please don't confuse Morrow (a "good"
guy) with the Xitan scammers. TDL
made a Z-80 board and then some decent software, and then some Xitan
computer systems. TDL got into trouble using some bad memory chips and had
cash flow problems. Some "business consultants" were brought in who
dissolved TDL and started Xitan and heavily promoted an advanced Z80 system,
the General. They took orders and disappeared in '78. But George Morrow
wasn't involved - he was in California, and TDL / Xitan was in New Jersey.
Ok, that clears a couple of things up. I was wondering if it was "Xitan"
that the story was coming around to.
In their brief history, they did manage to make some decent products
before falling to 'the dark side'. Turns out that I have a fairly
complete set of their original boards and most of their paper tape
released software in the collection. ...of course, I just need to get the
pictures shot and added to the web site...
-jim
---
jimw(a)agora.rdrop.com
The Computer Garage - http://www.rdrop.com/~jimw
Computer Garage Fax - (503) 646-0174
5:34 a.m.
But can anyone point me to a particular issue of Byte or other
magazine that has a World Power Systems ad?
- John
8:37 a.m.
New subject: RAM card Identification help?
I have a board I'm hoping I can get help on identifying. It is a RAM
expansion board copyright 1983 by Convergent Technologies. It has the
numbers A-60-00095-00-9(or 0)-8431 printed and stamped on it. It has 4
banks x 9 - HM4864AP-15s on it, and a 50-pin double-Inline female pinout
configuration.
Can anyone help as to what it is, what it works with? Going through stuff,
don't want to throw away anything anyone wants. -Jim Weiler
"Recyclable" is the politically-correct term for "Garbage"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
mailto:heavy@ctesc.net * Jim Weiler * http://pages.tstar.net/~heavy
http://home.talkcity.com/HardDiskDrive/yacccht/index.html
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
9:45 a.m.
Bob Stek wrote:
Please don't confuse Morrow (a "good" guy) with the Xitan scammers. TDL
made a Z-80 board and then some decent software, and then some Xitan
computer systems. TDL got into trouble using some bad memory chips and had
cash flow problems. Some "business consultants" were brought in who
dissolved TDL and started Xitan and heavily promoted an advanced Z80 system,
the General. They took orders and disappeared in '78. But George Morrow
wasn't involved - he was in California, and TDL / Xitan was in New Jersey.
For those who are interested, there is a pretty good description of what
happened there in Stan Veit's "History of the Personal Computer."
11:51 a.m.
New subject: Morrow
We must be carefuyl to differentiate between companies that legitimately
fold v ones such as World Power, where the intent had been to defraud.
Although you can still lose money on unfulfilled orders from legitimate
comnapnies that fold unexpectedly.
Morrow seems to have been a company with integrity. But they misguessed
some significant business issues. Such as betting the farm on the IRS
portables contract. First the whole deal was delayed for quite a long
time based on speculation about IBM's upcoming portable. Then they
competed for a long time with the rumors about it - "It'll be a COLOR
machine, that runs for a month on a flashlight battery, ..." Then, when
the IRS contract was finally awarded, it went to Zenith who built the
Morrow design with royalties, BUT the contract had been delayed until the
point where the royalty agreement was running out.
A few years ago, Howard Fullmer who had been the chief engineer died. I
don't know details.
Does anyone have a spare copy to sell of "Quotations from Chairman Morrow"?
"Standards are wonderful - everyone should have a unique one of their own"
--
Fred Cisin cisin(a)xenosoft.com
XenoSoft http://www.xenosoft.com
2210 Sixth St. (510) 644-9366
Berkeley, CA 94710-2219
9424
days inactive
9424
days old
5 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
bobstek＠ix15.ix.netcom.com -
cisin＠xenosoft.com -
heavy＠ctesc.net -
jfoust＠threedee.com -
jimw＠agora.rdrop.com -
marvin＠rain.org