Northstar Horizon - them's fightin' words!

From: Bob Stek <bobstek_at_ix.netcom.com>
Date: Sun Oct 31 12:16:07 1999

Now just a minute, there! As a founding member (along with John Dvorak when
he sold N* software out of his home in his "Software Review" newsletter) of
the International NorthStar User's Association (INSUA) I take issue! The
NorthStar's "limitations" (so-called) were there because they were one of
the pioneers with an early 4 MHz Z-80 powered S-100 box without the switches
and blinkin' lights so beloved by members of this group (myself included, as
an IMSAI owner w/ N* drives!)- this was prior to CP/M, when 32k was a
mammoth amount of memory. With its sleek, brushed aluminum front panel and
walnut cabinet it could fit into the office environment of those
professionals / pioneers who wanted a micro to do useful office work. N*'s
BCD arithmetic gave exact answers even before MBASIC users began to complain
about "rounding" errors. And for serious number crunching, add N*'s
hardware FP board, and top it off with Allen Ashley's N* BASIC compiler
(under N* DOS or CP/M) and you had a very fast system. A 56k CP/M system
was considered more than adequate for most programs. What programs in
particular couldn't you run? Of course we all wanted a bigger TPA, and
there were ways to achieve this. The most elegant, IMHO, was to replace the
N* controller with one from Morrow which could handle N*'s native
hard-sectored format, as well as soft-sectored 5" and 8" formats. You could
also move N*'s boot PROM from E800 to F800 without too much difficulty, and
add an 8" controller as well.

Curiosity, indeed!

Bob Stek
bobstek_at_ix.netcom.com
Saver of Lost SOLs (and expanding Horizons!)

-----Original Message-----
From: CLASSICCMP-owner_at_u.washington.edu
[mailto:CLASSICCMP-owner_at_u.washington.edu]On Behalf Of Richard Erlacher
Sent: Sunday, October 31, 1999 12:01 PM
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
Subject: Re: Northstar Horizon


I am not, nor have I been, trying to get a Horizon, or any other model of N*
going. I recently arranged to give away my last bit of N* hardware, a Z80A
CPU card. I have had lots of trouble finding people who would take it. The
problem, of course, isn't that they don't work, because they do, and very
well, too, but rather that the N* environment is so limited, particularly in
the Horizon with its 8K ROM space, that many compiled programs won't work
because the TPA is too small. What's more, the FDC isn't capable using of
CP/M-standard (IBM-3740, SSSD 8") diskettes.

They're OK as a curiosity, but back in the lat '70's and early '80's, they
were not well received because of the TPA and FDC issues mentioned above,
and I warn everyone off them due to their resulting limitations.

regards,

Dick
-----Original Message-----
From: JusmeSJ_at_aol.com <JusmeSJ_at_aol.com>
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
<classiccmp_at_u.washington.edu>
Date: Saturday, October 30, 1999 10:30 PM
Subject: Northstar Horizon


>Hi, I ran accross your message in a web search. I have a working and
>currently running Northstar Horizon, I have parts like drive controller,
i/o,
>mamory cards and a few teac drives. I also have alot of documentation on
>northstar Horizon & Advantage computers, plus software like N*Basic, N*Cp/m
>etc. Are u building one? need help getting it goin let me know.
>
>Steve Benedict
>Redwood City, California
Received on Sun Oct 31 1999 - 12:16:07 GMT