A local used computer store is moving. Fortunately, they have been
marking their cast off equipment as free and placing it on a table outside
the store instead of tossing it in the dumpster. Tonight, I rode by the
store on my way home from work and saw an interesting system - a
Micro-Expander Model 1. Of course, I picked it up, along with a box of 8
inch floppy disks (apparently, RT11 versions 3 and 4.) I plan to return
tomorrow during business hours to see if they have anything else of interest.
Does anyone know anything about the Micro-Expander? Here's the
information from the case:
Expander Computer
Model 1
Serial No. 1201522
Micro-Expander, Inc.
Chicago, IL 60656 (incidentally, only about 5 miles from where it was found)
The date codes on the chips are almost all in mid-1981.
The main unit is a single piece about the size of a Processor Technology
Sol. There is an external power supply, although the +5v and +12v
regulators are located inside the main unit. The unit has a Z80 CPU and
four S100 slots. The system board boasts 2 kbytes of SRAM (for the
display?) , the CPU, a lot of 7400-series TTL, and two EPROMS marked "EXP
MONITOR" and "SVENSKA BOKSTAVER" (Swedish ???? - possibly the character
ROM?). The keyboard is in Swedish, and the unit was initially configured
for PAL video, although that was easily changed by moving a DIP jumper
block. Video output is (now) 80x24 composite NTSC, and there is a tape
interface as well as RS-232 serial and parallel ports. Powering up the
system brings up a monitor program.
I'm assuming that this machine could run CP/M, given a few S100 cards
with some RAM and a disk controller. Any other information?
--
Scott Ware s-ware_at_nwu.edu
Received on Tue Jul 08 1997 - 22:29:25 BST