17 Feb
2018
17 Feb
'18
10:42 a.m.
This week, I scored four Olympia boxes - an ETX I, an ETX II and two EX 100s.
Googling has not been very fruitful. I have established that the ETX
II and the EX 100 are CP/M machines, SSDD 48 tpi 5.25" and DSDD 48 tpi
5.25" respectively and have seen one assertion that the ETX II is
S-100 based - I won't be able to confirm that until I open it up. I
found nothing on the ETX I. It doesn't seem to have a floppy drive, so
may not be a CP/M box. I guess I'll have to power it on and see if it
gives me a clue as to what's in the firmware.
As best I can figure out, these were sold as add ons for electric
typewriters. You hooked them up, with they typewriter acting as
keyboard and printer and you had a word processor or computer.
I think I have one interface board, that came in a box with the EX I.
Does anybody know anything about these machines? It seems like a boot
disk from an Osborne One would work.
Most immediately, though, does anybody know which typewriters they
worked with? I have an opportunity to go back to where I got them,
today and it would be great if I didn't have to haul off every damn
typewriter with "Olympia" on it!
Thanks
-- Robert
17 Feb
17 Feb
3:18 p.m.
On 02/17/2018 07:42 AM, Robert via cctalk wrote:
Does anybody know anything about these machines? It
seems like a boot
disk from an Osborne One would work.
I've got disks for both the ETV II and EX 100 and no, an O1 disk
wouldn't work. Different geometry for starters.
--Chuck
5:54 p.m.
On Sat, 17 Feb 2018, Robert via cctalk wrote:
This week, I scored four Olympia boxes - an ETX I, an
ETX II and two EX
100s.
Googling has not been very fruitful. I have established that the ETX
II and the EX 100 are CP/M machines, SSDD 48 tpi 5.25" and DSDD 48 tpi
5.25" respectively
and the ETXIII ("Boss"?) seems to have been a
newer version of EYXII with
3.5" drives, and the Olympia People was some sort of XT.
and have seen one assertion that the ETX II is
S-100 based - I won't be able to confirm that until I open it up. I
found nothing on the ETX I. It doesn't seem to have a floppy drive, so
may not be a CP/M box.
What connectors does it have?
In those days, DC37 was used for floppies, and occasionally other things,
so do not connect anything until you confirm what the connector is
connected to.
In some cases, other connectors were used for floppies, including DB25 and
DA15.
I guess I'll have to power it on and see if it
gives me a clue as to what's in the firmware.
DO NOT POWER IT ON!, until you open it up and make a visual inspection.
Does anybody know anything about these machines? It
seems like a boot
disk from an Osborne One would work.
ABSOLUTELY NOT.
Well, it would physically fit into the drive, AND they are both
soft-sector, so you COULD bulk-erase the Osborne disk (cue: screams from
Osborne people), and then create an Olympia boot disk.
The Osborne disk will also not work as a boot disk for a Windows 10
computer. :-)
There were thousands of different disk formats. And each one had a boot
disk that was mutually incompatible with the others.
It IS possible that it might share a boot disk with the Olympia Boss
http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=95
Most immediately, though, does anybody know which
typewriters they
worked with? I have an opportunity to go back to where I got them,
today and it would be great if I didn't have to haul off every damn
typewriter with "Olympia" on it!
Well, you can start by leaving behind any Olympia typewriters that are
non-electric :-). and the electric ones that have no provision for
connectors other than power, although sometimes the connectors are
hidden internally and require an additional board, cable, and/or
replacement exterior panel.
This guy
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.os.cpm/NkaVTwT11dM
thinks that it was the 200 series. But, his mention of "Microsoft
Wordstar" casts some doubt on the accuracy of his details. Micropro was
never affiliated with Microsoft.
(Olympia, being a German? company would definitely have spelled it "disK",
as you did, not "disC")
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