Tektronix 6800 'Developer Computer'

[Pete Lancashire]

There is a rare chance I might have some information. At Tek anyone could
order a system, and if wanted one for you own use everything was at cost.
The chassis you have does not look like the one I use to see the most, that
chassis has a much simpler front and back that was the same height as the
sides.

They were made to introduce microprocessors to the engineers within the
company, "bit bucket" comes to mind but "board bucket" may have been the
name. There were CPU boards for just about every uP, and a list of
'standard' I/O boards, and accessories like 5-1/4" floppy drives.

One thing that help with their internal success was Tek was a very vertical
company, they made their own metal work, PCBs, transformers, etc, and being
a major buyer of components the cost for parts was much less. For example
many Motorola part prices were based on aggregate quantities.

When I started at Tek in 1977 the list of what you could order was quite
extensive.

Back to what you have. It may predate the buckets. It has been way to long.

As to getting anything from the current Tek, forget it. The company was
sold and the current owners couldn't give a d*** about the past.

The one board I can make out a P/N on  is an engineering number and those
archives were dumpstered long long ago.

On the flip side here is what I would do. Contact the Tek Museum (which is
not tied to Tek in anyway), www.vintagetek.org. And send me an email I will
see what I can dig up, maybe a couple emails of Ex Tekkies that can help

-pete

PS SWTP was the most common O/S for the 6800/6802/6809 buckets.



On Thu, Aug 4, 2016 at 9:25 AM, Brad H <vintagecomputer at bettercomputing.net>
wrote:

> Hey guys,
>
>
>
> In addition to that 6800 SWTPC I got, I also picked up this 'board bucket'
> from ebay:
>
>
>
> http://s1381.photobucket.com/user/unclefalter/library/
> Tektronix%206800%20Dev
> eloper%20Computer?sort=3
> <http://s1381.photobucket.com/user/unclefalter/library/
> Tektronix%206800%20De
> veloper%20Computer?sort=3&page=1> &page=1
>
>
>
> It's a 6800 system of sorts and has BASIC and 'DDE' ROMs.  I've tried
> hooking it up to a terminal but no response.  I think the system isn't
> fully
> running.    This is a video I took:
>
>
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YSUuF6xTAg
>
>
>
> Hard to see with the camera, but when you hit and hold reset the little
> display looks sort of normal.  When you release, it's like some of the
> segments are half-on rather than fully on or off. I tried pulling RAM
> boards
> and such but no action yet.  Step button on the CPU card doesn't do
> anything.
>
>
>
> If anyone has seen one of these or has any ideas on getting her working,
> I'd
> be most interested.  I sent an email to Tektronix to inquire about it as
> there are part numbers and stuff on the boards.   Hopefully they can answer
> questions.
>
>
>
> Brad
>
>
>
>
>
>
>