On Fri, 26 Jun 1998, Lawrence Walker wrote:
> > If I sit it vertically (a position the box looks very comfortable in), it
> > measures about 15" high, by 6.5" wide, by 23" long.
> >
> Yup, thats the beast. Mine is labelled Model PC-S3-2 .
I wonder if there's any significance to the different model numbers. :)
> Now you've gone and done it. I was compelled to dig it out and once
> more face the monster, leaving my more mundane tasks of turning
> my 5150 into an awesome Win 95ers confronter.
Hummm... I always wanted to put an Amiga into a PET case, just to freak
people out, but I've never found an adequately destroyed PET to use. :)
> > In the back, I can see the backs of various cards. One of them has the
> > connector for the keyboard (4-pin DIN) as well as one serial and one
> > parallel port, so it must be the motherboard.
>
> Its an L-shaped board extending the length of the case the L surrounds
> the PS.
Yup, now that I've got the case off, I can see that. I haven't
disassembled it beyond removing the case and pulling the cards, however.
But I do see an 8086 on the motherboard, and two EPROMs with absolutely
_nothing_ covering the windows! (Eeek!)
> > Beside that ( or above > depending on orientation) is a board with a sticker
> > reading "PM032-B 512K Memory Expansion".
>
> My next card's sticker reads " PM021/022-B Winchester controller "and has
> blue 34 pin and 20 pin M sockets.
Is an M socket a card-edge connetor, or... ? At any rate, at least you
can shove a hard drive in yours.
> > Next to that, is what appears to be an empty slot, and
> > then there is what appears to be some kind of networking card. It has two
> > coaxial cable connectors and a toggle switch. There is another card
> > beside (or above) that, with no ports or labels, but I can see chips
> > through the air holes. Beside (or above) the mystery card is a board with
> > a label reading "PM101 IBM Mono Emulation". It has an 8-pin DIN connector
> > and a 5-pin DIN connector, which I would guess are for monitor and PC
> > keyboard(?).
>
> In mine the 2nd card is the PM101. No networking card. My 3rd card is cabled
> to the second by edge-card connectors. I would imagine this is your mystery
> card. Likely emulator related. But if it doesn't have the cabling I also
> have a mystery card, only mine is related to PC emu. : ^ ))
My mystery card isn't connected to the emulator card, but there is a
card-edge connector on the emulator card. My mystery card is connected to
the networking card via a (very short) 50-pin ribbon cable, plugged into
edge connectors at the top of both cards. So my mystery card is probably
networking-related. ;)
The mystery card has a Z80 on it. I'll examine it later to see what other
goodies it has.
> All 5 slots are filled in mine. My 4th card is identical to the second only
> the connectors are black. Another winchester controller.
> My top card has a red lamp (not a LED) I forget what they're called ,
My memory board has a red LED in one corner, labeled "PAR ERR".
Thankfully, it hasn't lit up. :)
> about half the board is empty traces and it has a string of 18 Motorola MCM
> 6665AP20 some low-power Schotskys and appears to be some kind of circuit
> controller. it has a chip labelled Bellpage 8321 with VCC Out 1-3 ,In 1-3
> and grnd.
I'll have to take a closer look at the parts on all my boards.
> > Does anyone know the pinouts of the various ports, or anything else about
> > this machine? Will it read PC disks or do I need to boot it up with some
> > wacky Wang-format disk? Does the machine require some kind of terminal,
> > or will a monitor connect into the back of the IBM Emulation board and let
> > me see what's going on?
>
> I searched for info on this machine cause Wang was as innovative in his own
> way as Woz. He never locked into one particular manufacturer and his machines
> like this one has , as you will discover if you get down to the MB, Motorola,
> Zilog, Intel ,and whatever he could use.
Which is cool. I saw a lot of Toshiba parts, Zilog, Intel, and either MOS
or Mostek (don't remember now).
> The Wang community of collectors focus fervently on the CPM machines and
> the PC's seem to be pretty much ignored. There are quite a few sites devoted
> to the CPM Wang. A pretty inbred community. Reminds me of the TRS people
> that ignore the model 2.
> There's a Wang Users Group in England that seems fairly active and they
> have a Web page with a few PD programs and some history but they want $40 or
> so to access their archives.
Ouch!
> They give a history of the machines but the PC's get short shrift. I was
> able to somehow access a setup program for the PC and I'll
> e-mail it to you. For obvious reasons I was not able to check it out. As a
> matter of fact I insist you check it out . : ^ ))
I'll see what I can do, as soon as I figure out how to plug in a monitor.
:)
<snippage>
> > Anyway, I haven't opened it up yet, or done anything with it but look at
> > it. Disassembly looks like it might be difficult, because I have to slip
> > the innards through the full length metal sleeve. I won't be up to that
> > until my arms recover. I've even got bruises and some kind of blood
> > blisters or something, from carrying that thing. :/
>
> Actually it slips quite easily out of the case. The boards are mounted like
> PC boards with one screw, only much bigger like S-100 boards.
> When you do disassemble it there are 2 34 pin older style connectors on
> the MB above two slots leading to the drive bays.. In mine I can find no
> floppy connectors. Were there also 34 pin winchester floppies ? Let me know
> what your FDD's are connected to.
They appear to be connected to the motherboard via ribbon cables. There
are connectors at the (looking from the front of the machine) right edge
of the motherboard, with plastic clips to hold the connectors in place. I
haven't pulled one out to see what it looks like, and there are tons of
other wires hanging from the full-height drive, but I'll check those out.
Doug Spence
ds_spenc_at_alcor.concordia.ca
http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
Received on Sat Jun 27 1998 - 07:49:35 BST