Zenith ?????

From: Marvin <marvin_at_rain.org>
Date: Wed Jul 30 16:57:28 1997

>



> On Wed, 31 Dec 1969, Marvin wrote:
>
> > Among the things I picked up yesterday was a Zenith Data Systems
> > keyboard, model ZTX-1-A. The top of the keyboard looks like a
> regular

Gotta love the date above; I didn't know Zenith Data Systems existed
then :). Needless to say, my computer clock was set wrong.

Regarding the ZTX-1-A, thanks to those who responded. I just found the
description of it in the Summer, 1982 issue of Sextant. Turns out it is
a Smart Communications Terminal that was officially announced at the
1982 West Coast Computer Faire. It has its own internal 300 baud modem,
and is used with the Zenith ZVM video monitor, and was priced at $695.
It does contain an internal battery so the unit can "remember" the names
and phone numbers that are input.

On a side note, when I opened up the case and saw the battery, it was
just starting to corrode and would have eventually ended up ruining the
circuit board. So just a reminder to all that if you are going to store
computers that have batteries in them, it would be a VERY good idea to
remove the batteries. In this case, the battery was soldered onto the
board and I just cut the wires and put the battery in a zip-lock bag to
be kept with the unit. This way if I ever go to get the unit running
again, I will know what the proper battery is. I probably wouldn't
remove nicads though unless the unit was going to be stored for an
unknown (long) period of time and I suspected the nicads were over about
5 years old.
Received on Wed Jul 30 1997 - 16:57:28 BST