MIT flea

From: Don Maslin <donm_at_cts.com>
Date: Mon May 18 15:13:22 1998

On Sun, 17 May 1998, Kirk Scott wrote:

>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Max Eskin [SMTP:maxeskin_at_hotmail.com]
> Sent: Sunday, May 17, 1998 6:26 PM
> To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
> Subject: MIT flea
>
> I only managed to go there for 50min. and only found out about a
> west end when I left. It was cheaper than last time though. I bought
> nothing. THe things I saw that were of interest, however:
> A Xerox machine that looked like a PC clone, but the monitor plugged
> into the system unit with a wide ribbon-like cable, very crude-
> looking. What was this?
>
> Sounds like an 820 or a 16/8; both of them have large flat ribbon cables
> that connect to the drive housing. The system unit is actually the
> monitor assembly, that's where the motherboard and memory is. The drives
> (rigid, floppy, or both) are housed in a separate unit with it's own
> power supply. If you think that vonnection looks crude, you ought to see
> how the centronic printer connector is hooked up....with the same flat
> ribbon cable and the user had to go inside the monitor housing to
> install it. Very crude indeed...not at all Plug and Play!!! Just as a
> matter of curiousity, how much were they asking for it? >
> Kirk Scott
> scottk5_at_ibm.net

That is not the way that Xerox built the 820 series, Kirk, though I
cannot speak authoritatively about the 16/8 I believe that it is not true
of them either. The cable for the 8" drive box was terminated with two
50-pin edge connectors on the drive end and a 37-pin D connector on the
monitor/cpu end. The cable for the 5.25" drives was similar except for
having 34-pin edge connectors. That cable carried the power for the
floppies, as the drive box had no power supply.

                                                 - don
 
Received on Mon May 18 1998 - 15:13:22 BST