I recently acquired an Interact Model One computer. It's a relatively
small unit with calculator-style keys and a built in cassette deck for
data storage. Inside, there is an 8080 CPU and 16 Kbytes of RAM. The
latest date codes on the components place its manufacture in early 1978.
Video output is color NTSC, and there is a built-in RF modulator for
driving a television. The rather large pixels yield a 16 x 12 text
display. The ROM seems to contain only enough code to start the process
of loading programs from tape. Fortunately, I picked up two different
BASIC variants (EDU-BASIC, which is a usable "tiny" BASIC, and Level II
Microsoft BASIC.), as well as about a dozen games on tape.
The 20-year old cassette tapes I obtained with this machine are starting
to deteriorate. Unfortunately, copies made using relatively high-quality
audio cassette decks do not load. The head on the internal cassette deck
is a standard 1/2 track mono head, so copying the tapes should not be
difficult.
Does anyone know if Interact produced their cassettes slightly off
"standard" alignment as a form of copy protection? I'm currently planning
to use one of the prerecorded Interact cassettes to set the azimuth
adjustment on an old cassette deck, and then use this deck for both
playback and recording to make working copies of the Interact tapes if
this is the case. If not, I'll record copies on a properly aligned deck
and then adjust the Interact to read the copies.
--
Scott Ware NUMS-MPBC Macromolecular Crystallography Resource
303 East Chicago Avenue, Ward 8-264, Chicago, IL 60611 (312)503-0813
Finger ware_at_xtal.pharm.nwu.edu for PGP public key
Received on Sun Jan 25 1998 - 12:00:21 GMT