intellec MDS80 on eBay

[ED SHARPE]

Our system at SMECC  has  the  big Blue orig. drives... no idea what controller is inside.. cpu box and  drive look  AS NEW  but  we  have never applied power. If anyone  has a set  of  Manuals  for  this  system and  drives  please let  us  know.
A  dream  would be  to buy  a  Intelect 4  system also!
Ed Sharpe archivist  for SMECC
In a message dated 6/2/2020 3:55:59 PM US Mountain Standard Time, cctalk at classiccmp.org writes:



Sent from my iPhone.

> On Jun 2, 2020, at 6:22 PM, dwight via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> 
> I take it back, there are not the typical two card intel disk controller. I don't see what is the controller. I was the ribbon cable but realize now that was the ICE interface.
> I suspect the card near the bottom of the picture is the controller. It likely still had ISIS software to run the ICE boards but it likely wasn't a compatible disk controller. They'd need to write a BIOS for it as I doubt there is any after market disk controllers that match the original Intel boards.
> Dwight
> 

It looks to me like it IS a standard Intel diskette controller board set. It has the more unusual cable that was meant for the Series II that was meant to upgrade the internal disk drive from single density to double density. See the unused edge connector? It has the sticker that came with that upgrade kit that says internal drive upgraded to double density on the front of the chassis.

The Intel two-board set is in the photo just below the ICE boards. It is dark but you can see there are two boards because of the board ejectors. Follow the cable off one of those boards and it goes to that unused edge connector.

On another topic, not in this system, there WAS a third party controller that emulated the Intel board set and required no BIOS modification. Zendex was the manufacturer. I never used one but it sounded interesting.
It was only one board.

Dave

> ________________________________
> From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> on behalf of dwight via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 2, 2020 3:15 PM
> To: ED SHARPE <couryhouse at aol.com>; General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> Subject: Re: intellec MDS80 on eBay
> 
> The drives don't look like a standard box but are likely fine as it has the two card controller on the card cage.
> The drives are still likely SA800s.
> Dwight
> 
> ________________________________
> From: cctalk <cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org> on behalf of ED SHARPE via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
> Sent: Sunday, May 31, 2020 9:28 AM
> To: cctech at classiccmp.org <cctech at classiccmp.org>
> Subject: RE: intellec MDS80 on eBay
> 
> 
> I assume this are not the standard Intel floppy drives?
> On Sunday, May 31, 2020 Jan-Benedict Glaw via cctech <jbglaw at lug-owl.de; cctech at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> I just wanted to drop an email that there's a MDS 80 on eBay:
> 
>    https://www.ebay.de/itm/333612000595
> 
> (Please note: The seller, Michael, is a friend of mine, and a former
> coworker.)
> 
> Thanks,
>  Jan-Benedict
> 
> --