Collectables? - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

13 Nov 2005

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Subject: Re: Collectables?
   From: Dave Dunfield <dave04a at dunfield.com>
   Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2005 21:40:36 -0500
     To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at
classiccmp.org>

 Ah, IMS and IMSAI are not the same people.  I have
a number of IMS boards
and they were also a s100 systems supplier, decent stuff too. 

IMS Corp.     >>> IMS
IMS Asoc Inc  >>> IMSAI 
Ah (he echos) - I hadn't clued into this either, but yes, there are two
IMSs (confused the heck out of me the first time I ran into IMS (corp.)
boards) - this makes sense (I also had not heard of IMS (IMSAI) making
Altair 4-slot backplane boards).

 Two different companies.  IMS was a bit later time
frame and did produce 
upgrades for Altair.  In fact just about everyone produced upgrades of 
one form or another.  Typically backplanes, power supplies, RAM, CPU and
of course FDC were often seen. About the only part not commonly upgraded 
in an Altair was the front pannel though that could be done as well. 
Really? I don't recall ever seeing a third-party front panel on an Altair
(at least not a commercially produced one) - who made one, and are there
any links to photos anywhere?

Regards,
Dave
--  
Godbout had one that was hex keyboard and multi digit numeric led diplays
rather than toggle switches. There was also the 8800B FP which was very 
different from the A version in implmentation.  The 8800 (and A) FP was 
a nightmare of oneshots and was wired to the backplane with a bundle of 
wires (can you say rinngggg!) plus an wire connection to the CPU card 
as well. 

Allison