New find: Headstart Explorer

From: Robert <pbboy_at_mindspring.com>
Date: Wed Apr 11 14:45:35 2001

My wife's family still has one although I don't know if her younger brother has
'experimented' with it yet. It worked when I saw them last and I know they had
a bunch of games and programs for it. It ran what looked like a version of
windows. I can ask if they still have any programs for it.

Robert

Mark Gregory wrote:

> I came across a neat little PC/XT clone on the weekend, a Headstart
> Explorer (made by Vendex according to some Web info I found). It's an 8088,
> with an unusual level of integration: mono/CGA video card, modem (300
> bps?), serial port, parallel port and external disk drive port all on the
> motherboard. There's an internal 720K 3.5" drive, and a bay for an MFM
> drive. Comes in an unusual pseudo-portable case, where the hinged keyboard
> folds up and stores upside down on top of the case. There's a single ISA
> slot under a cover on top. Apparently, there was a monitor available that
> came with a custom stand that fit neatly over the desktop case.
>
> It has several features I've not seen before: the folding keyboard, a
> mono/colour switch on the video output, and the PS/2 style mouse and heavy
> integration on a clone of this vintage. Also, as far as I could tell, there
> was no trace of the manufacturers name anywhere. I had to take the system
> to pieces to find the Headstart Explorer name on the PCB, and the name
> Vendex wasn't on it anywhere.
>
> Does anybody have the custom version of DOS that came with this thing, that
> supposedly included a very annoying shell program, or any additional info
> about this beast? I didn't get any manuals or docs with it (why oh why do
> thrift stores never keep system components together?)
> and the HD was missing.
>
> Thanks,
> Mark Gregory
Received on Wed Apr 11 2001 - 14:45:35 BST