9 Feb
2007
9 Feb
'07
6:39 p.m.
Well... not literally "dropped"...
Someone handed me one at lunch today (he thought it was an ADM2 when
he mentioned it), so I brought it home and started googling around for
it. Didn't see anything on bitsavers, but I did find this...
http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/morrow/mdadm20.pdf
... on Dave Dunfield's pages, I presume. From what I can read, it's a
pre/non-ANSI terminal from 1983. I was going to use it as a console
for this Netra t 1125 (reboxed Sun Ultra 60 w/no holes for keyboard or
video), but the distinct lack of VT-100-compatibility makes me think
that I should dig something else out for a console to at least install
the OS. Once it's up, there _is_ an adm20 entry in the termcap.
To me, at least, the only thing remarkable about it is the company
that made it. At least there's a bit of lore attached to ADM3
terminals (and the historic places they used to be found in). A
non-ANSI terminal from 1983 just isn't that exciting, so if anyone on
the list is really gung-ho for Morrow Designs stuff, make inquiries
off-list, please.
Gotta go dig up that Planar ELT-320 - at least it's small and
low-power (as well as being ANSI-compatible in the terminal (not PC
character graphics) sense).
-ethan
9 Feb
9 Feb
8:16 p.m.
New subject: Speaking of terminals - a Morrow Designs/Lear Siegler ADM20 dropped on me today
On 9 Feb 2007 at 18:39, Ethan Dicks wrote:
Well... not literally "dropped"...
Someone handed me one at lunch today (he thought it was an ADM2 when
he mentioned it), so I brought it home and started googling around for
it. Didn't see anything on bitsavers, but I did find this...
If you have the terminal, you have half of a MD1/MD2/MD3 CP/M system:
http://www.old-computers.com/MUSEUM/computer.asp?st=1&c=613
Coincidentally, I (just minutes ago) finished a batch conversion of a
bunch of MD3 New Word diskettes to RTF. Does anyone need a copy of
an MD3 boot or the NewWord diskette? If not, they'll go back to the
customer.
Cheers,
Chuck
9 p.m.
New subject: Speaking of terminals - a Morrow Designs/Lear Siegler ADM20 dropped on me today
> Well... not literally "dropped"...
>
> Someone handed me one at lunch today (he thought it was an ADM2 when
> he mentioned it), so I brought it home and started googling around for
> it. Didn't see anything on bitsavers, but I did find this...
I've got one of these ... and I have the "technical reference manual" up on
my site (look under Morrow MD2/3) - Note that this is NOT a service manual,
but it does give you the switch settings, control codes etc.
Regards,
Dave
--
dave06a (at) Dave Dunfield
dunfield (dot) Firmware development services & tools: www.dunfield.com
com Collector of vintage computing equipment:
http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/index.html
9:45 p.m.
New subject: Speaking of terminals - a Morrow Designs/Lear Siegler ADM20 dropped on me today
On 2/9/07, Dave Dunfield <dave06a at dunfield.com> wrote:
Right, Dave... I found that and gave a (credited) link to your copy of
the TRM. I'm very glad you put that up because documentation on this
terminal seems to be scarce.
Thanks for your Morrow Designs page.
-ethan
> Well... not literally
"dropped"...
>
> Someone handed me one at lunch today...
> ... Didn't see anything on bitsavers, but I did find this...
I've got one of these ... and I have the "technical reference manual" up
on
my site (look under Morrow MD2/3) - Note that this is NOT a service manual,
but it does give you the switch settings, control codes etc.
9:46 p.m.
New subject: Speaking of terminals - a Morrow Designs/Lear Siegler ADM20 dropped on me today
On 2/9/07, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
On 9 Feb 2007 at 18:39, Ethan Dicks wrote:
Right, but the ADM20 is just a terminal, isn't it? The CP/M part of
an MD1/etc is in the same box as the floppy drives, right?
Well... not literally "dropped"...
Someone handed me one at lunch today...
If you have the terminal, you have half of a MD1/MD2/MD3 CP/M system:
http://www.old-computers.com/MUSEUM/computer.asp?st=1&c=613 Coincidentally, I (just minutes ago) finished a batch
conversion of a
bunch of MD3 New Word diskettes to RTF. Does anyone need a copy of
an MD3 boot or the NewWord diskette? If not, they'll go back to the
customer.
Not as far as I know, but thanks for the offer.
-ethan
10:02 p.m.
New subject: Speaking of terminals - a Morrow Designs/Lear Siegler ADM20 dropped on me today
In article <f4eb766f0702091846j4b47c56dt4b5c7c9bb813da59 at mail.gmail.com>,
"Ethan Dicks" <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> writes:
On 2/9/07, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com>
wrote:
According to the entry on old-computers, yes that's how it was
arranged -- the included terminal was just a terminal.
--
"The Direct3D Graphics Pipeline" -- DirectX 9 draft available for download
<http://www.xmission.com/~legalize/book/download/index.html>
Legalize Adulthood! <http://blogs.xmission.com/legalize/>
If you have the terminal, you have half of a
MD1/MD2/MD3 CP/M system:
http://www.old-computers.com/MUSEUM/computer.asp?st=1&c=613
Right, but the ADM20 is just a terminal, isn't it? The CP/M part of
an MD1/etc is in the same box as the floppy drives, right?
10:02 p.m.
New subject: Speaking of terminals - a Morrow Designs/Lear Siegler ADM20 dropped on me today
On 9 Feb 2007 at 21:46, Ethan Dicks wrote:
Right, but the ADM20 is just a terminal, isn't it?
The CP/M part of
an MD1/etc is in the same box as the floppy drives, right?
Yup. ...and killed off by the 5150 PC. A friend bought one just
before the PC was announced and was sorta bummed by the timing.
Cheers,
Chuck
10:19 p.m.
New subject: Speaking of terminals - a Morrow Designs/Lear Siegler ADM20 dropped on me today
On 2/9/07, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
On 9 Feb 2007 at 21:46, Ethan Dicks wrote:
Ow! Buying a computer is always a gamble, but unless he stuck with
CP/M for a long time after, it sounds like he moved just a wee bit too
hastily (presuming he bought the Morrow Designs box to get "real work"
done rather than as a "big boy toy").
I wasn't into CP/M at the dawn of the PC-DOS era, but in some ways, I
don't mind so much - at the time, I was doing 6502 stuff because I
couldn't afford a CP/M machine. I would have been devastated to have
bought something for a couple (few?) grand to feel like I'd just tied
up a serious amount of capital on the "previous best thing".
-ethan
Right, but the ADM20 is just a terminal,
isn't it? The CP/M part of
an MD1/etc is in the same box as the floppy drives, right?
Yup. ...and killed off by the 5150 PC. A friend bought one just
before the PC was announced and was sorta bummed by the timing.
11:10 p.m.
New subject: Speaking of terminals - a Morrow Designs/Lear Siegler ADM20 dropped on me today
On 9 Feb 2007 at 22:19, Ethan Dicks wrote:
Ow! Buying a computer is always a gamble, but unless
he stuck with
CP/M for a long time after, it sounds like he moved just a wee bit too
hastily (presuming he bought the Morrow Designs box to get "real work"
done rather than as a "big boy toy").
83-84 was a strange time. There was still a lot of uncertainty about
the success of the 5150 enterprise. After all, IBM made of couple of
earlier forays into the "personal computer" area (5100, 5110) and
didn't get anywhere.
So there were vendors peddling CP/M boxes betting agaisnt IBM.
Morrow was one--my friend bought her MD3 in early 83 from a store in
Palo Alto--by the same time in 84, the same place was selling 8088
boxes.
Heck, given the difficulty of getting a 5150 in the early days, I
very seriously considered two other options--the NEC APC and a board
for a Compupro box (the box surplus from Sorcim). After much lost
sleep, I opted for the PeeCee, picked up from a San Jose Confuserland
(remember the stories there?).
I didn't regret it. :)
I think what cemented IBM's position was their publication of the
Tech Ref for the 5150, complete with schematics and BIOS listing and
the emergence of Taiwan's tech sector.
I did end up consulting on Chapter 7 disposal of several Bay Area
alternatetive PC makers, as well as doing some contract programming
for a couple software enterprises who were scrambling to get their
stuff ported to the PC. My investment in the PC was probably the
best financial gamble I ever took.
Cheers,
Chuck
10 Feb
10 Feb
1 a.m.
New subject: Speaking of terminals - a Morrow Designs/Lear Siegler ADM20 dropped on me today
On 2/9/07, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:
My investment in the PC was probably the best
financial gamble I ever took.
I can completely understand that. In my case, since I did _not_ end
up with a PC-compatible until 1992 when I bought a 386DX40 mobo at the
Dayton Hamvention (*specifically* to run Linux, not DOS/Windows,
FWIW), my best financial gamble was buying a used SPARCstation1 for
$800 and then dropping another $1200 in disks and memory. That
investment has paid for itself time and time again in the form of job
and travel opportunities.
The only purchase that I think could rival that one was a Commodore
PET at age 13 that directly led to my first job a few years later (my
future employer was advertising for PET programmers in the local Help
Wanted section, and the job turned out to be programming a developer
pre-release Commodore 64 in the spring of 1982).
I've bought a lot of toys over the last 25-30 years, but those two
machines turned out to be huge investments in my future. I can easily
see how a 5150 in 1982 would be that for someone else.
-ethan
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cclist＠sydex.com -
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