followup: Rinky dink hamfest

From: Richard Erlacher <edick_at_idcomm.com>
Date: Mon Mar 29 12:04:02 1999

-----Original Message-----
From: Joe <rigdonj_at_intellistar.net>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu>
Date: Monday, March 29, 1999 8:26 AM
Subject: Re: followup: Rinky dink hamfest


>At 08:40 AM 3/29/99 -0500, you wrote:
>>Joe, CP/M-80 is 2.2,
>
> I looked throgh the XEROX manuals last night. There's a separate manual
>for 2.2, CPM-80 and CPM 86 and MS-DOS 2. 2.2 is the oldest in this bunch.
>
>> and real computers don't need more than 64K...
>
> Yeah I know but 128K is nice to have.
>>
>>The 820, at least the later ones, used big 984K discs. I hardly ever ran
>>out of space. There was an 8 meg rigid drive available too, but I neever
>>filled that up either. WordStar on the 820 just grinds along, and works
>>very satisfyingly.
>
> I got new manaul and 8" disk with WS 3.3. Also D-Base II and some other
>stuff.
>
>> At least 3 word processing packages were avialable
>>plus business graphics, multiplan, quite a few programming languages.
>>XWP wasn't so great, apparently a primitive WordStar, WordStar was superb
>>if cryptic, and there was another nice one, a bit glitzy and modern for
>>my taste, but put WordPerfect to shame, but hey, even a blank screen does
>>that. Don Maislin may remember the name, he likes that particular
>>programme. Ran very well on 5-1/4 inch drives.
>>
>>There was a memory expansion available for the 16/8, but I've never seen
it.
>>The DEM-II is interesting because the card rack is very like the NEC
APC-II.
>>
>>Incidentally, Hyperion's DOS 1.25 runs circles around the Xerox DOS 2.0.
>
> Do you know where I can find a copy of that? Do you still have any of
>your XEROXs? I think I have the CPU portion of an 820-II here but no
>drives (or the controller/daughter board) and no keyboard. The drives and
>keyboard should be a problem but the controller is.
>
> Joe
>>
>>On Mon, 29 Mar 1999, Joe wrote:
>>
>>> Merle,
>>>
>>> At 10:24 PM 3/28/99 -0500, Merle wrote:
>>> >The 16/8 is an interesting machine. It came in 2 versions, the
earliest
>>> >with 8" Shugart drives, a later with a DEM-II expansion case housing
>>> >5-1/4 inch drives. The CP/M-86 is not bad, but the MS-DOS is...well
>>> >MS-DOS.
>>>
>>> Not surprising considering it's only ver 2.0 . At least that's what I
>>> got in this load.
>>>
>>> > Incredibly primitive compared to CP/M 2.2.
>>>
>>> I don't know that much about CPM but this machine only has CPM-80 and
>>> CPM-86. How do they compare to CP/M 2.2?
>>>
>>> One problem is that
>>> >many were shipped with 128K memory. With the dinky drives, the
machines
>>> >are disappointing. The old 8" 820-II is a far better and more usable
>>> >machine.
>>>
>>> Better than the 16/8? I thought it was newer. How much memory did
the
>>> 820-II have?
>>>
>>> Thanks for the info.
>>> Joe
>>>
>>> >
>>> >On Sun, 28 Mar 1999, Joe wrote:
>>> >
>>> >> Today I went to see a couple of the people that I meet at
yesterday's
>>> >> hamfest. One of them used to service XEROX computers. He told me
>that he
>>> >> threw out three rooms full of old XEROX computers less than a year
>ago. :-(
>>> >> He gave me part of the stuff that he had left, I have to take a
Truck
>>> >> (note capital) back to get the rest (estimated at two cubic yards but
no
>>> >> complete machines). So far I've found lots of docs and 8" flopppy
disks
>>> >> for the 820 and 16/8. The 16/8 looks pretty interesting, it ran CPM,
>>> >> CPM-86 and MS-DOS. Does anyone have one of these? What's your
>opinion of
>>> >> them?
>>> >>
>>> >> He has a floppy disk drive control box to manual operate 3.5",
>5.25" and
>>> >> 8" drives during alignment. Anyone have an idea of what one of these
is
>>> >> worth with the alignment disks and manuals?
>>> >>
>>> >> Alos found a Lisa mouse to go with the Lisa that I got yesterday.
>>> >>
>>> >> Joe
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> >
>>> >M. K. Peirce
>>> >Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc.
>>> >215 Shady Lea Road,
>>> >North Kingstown, RI 02852
>>> >
>>> >"Casta est qui nemo rogavit."
>>> >
>>> > - Ovid
>>> >
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>
>>M. K. Peirce
>>Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc.
>>215 Shady Lea Road,
>>North Kingstown, RI 02852
>>
>>"Casta est qui nemo rogavit."
>>
>> - Ovid
>>
>>
>
Received on Mon Mar 29 1999 - 12:04:02 BST