JLS Vidtek Big Board Xerox 820

[M South]

Hi,

It was my company that produced that and I was one of the designers...

JLS Computers (aka Vidtek). produced in Toronto similar to SBC BB1
Enrico Lazzerini enrico.lazzerini at email.it
Mon Feb 9 16:30:06 CST 2015
Previous message: Memorex MRX IV 6250 BPI SuperReel Tape on sale - 4 
reels maybe new
Next message: begging drivers/docs for obscure old PC/Mac hardware
Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]
Hi, I'm a bit curious on this old historical motherboard derived from
original Ferguson Bigboard 1. Is there anybody who have it and he can send a
pic of it? Or Is there anybody who can describe it? I not found anything on
internet, just all I report below:

Micro/Access
               | Toronto, Ontario      (1983-1993)
         SYSOP | Max Southall
      SOFTWARE | Custom by Bob Kamins and Max Southall
      COMMENTS | "The Micro/Access BBS system grew out of the need to
               | service the product line of the JLS/Vidtek Big Board
               | project. The JLS Big Board was a reincarnation with
               | hardware and software enhancements of the original
               | Ferguson Big Board Z80 single board computer system sold
               | to hobbyists. Redesigned by Joe L. Sutherland, with input
               | from Bob Kamins, with later hardware, firmware and
               | software fixes by Max Southall, it was a solid CP/M-80
               | based system which also was the basis for the Xerox 820
               | series. Customers (or any others) of the Big Board were
               | charged $50 a year for access, which eventually included
               | email access to the then research-oriented internet.
               | There were hundreds of paying customers.  The BBS
               | software based on Bob Kamins' work was written in
               | Microsoft's BASIC, and compilation was with Microsoft's
               | M80 compiler. <p> "Eventually Max Southall completely
               | rewrote Stuart Lynne's (yes, the later ICANN chairman)
               | UUPC program and incorporated an email program interface,
               | all in assembler, which connected the Micro/Access BBS
               | users via UUCP to Unix-based internet-based
               | communications. <p> "Prior to 1985, the system was known
               | online as the Vidtek system, which grew out of
               | manufacturing video and CP/M boards for the Apple ][
               | clone systems. SCSI hard disk subsystems were
               | manufactured and sold for the Big Board and sold all over
               | the world, and the BBS used the same hardware as was sold
               | to customers." - Max Southall

Regards
Enrico