I came across a deliciously mysterious computer today in a local thrift
store.
I took the following photos of it in various states of undress:
http://www.siconic.com/crap/BMC-1.jpg
http://www.siconic.com/crap/BMC-2.jpg
http://www.siconic.com/crap/BMC-3.jpg
http://www.siconic.com/crap/BMC-4.jpg
http://www.siconic.com/crap/BMC-5.jpg
http://www.siconic.com/crap/BMC-6.jpg
It's a machine made by OKI of Japan (the same company apparently that made
the Okidata printer line). It's called the Small Computer Model 10 (as
indicated by the photo of the nameplate). At first I thought it was just
some dumb terminal until I started looking closer at it and discovered it
was indeed a computer.
Upon examining the innards I found that it has a Z80 processor and seems
to be circa 1982. I couldn't tell how much RAM it had because the chips
are all funky Japanese types. My guess would be 32K-64K.
As one can see from the photos, it incorporates a dot matrix printer in
the main unit. If you've got one to compare to, the machine is almost
exactly the same dimensions as a Sol-20 (and just as heavy). It has an
expansion bus inside, and two cards are plugged in: a floppy drive
controller (marked 5-FDD) and some sort of CRT interface (marked C-CRT,
probably color CRT).
The right-hand side has three DIN connectors, labelled L-PEN (lightpen),
TV (probably an RF connector), A-CMT (?). Finally, there is a DB-25
RS-232C connector.
The left-hand side features the power switch and two momentary buttons,
one marked IPL and the other NMI.
I was hoping when I plugged the machine in I would get output to the
printer but no go. I tried blindly typing some BASIC commands like LPRINT
but that had no effect. When it first turns on, there is a 3 second beep
that comes out of the speaker. If I hit the IPL button it seems to reset
the machine: there's a moment of about 3 seconds after pushing the button
where nothing happens but then the speaker beeps for about 3 seconds
again.
I tried pressing various keys (like HARD COPY) but could not get any
action out of the printer. I imagine it wants to be connected to a CRT.
I didn't know at the time to look for a CRT so I'll probably go back
tomorrow to check around. I'm also going to check for any floppy drives
that might go with it.
I'd like to try to hook it up to a TV but I don't know what pins I should
use. I have a working scope but it's huge, old and is at my warehouse.
What would be a good way to try to determine which pins carry the signal?
Any help or info would be appreciated.
Sellam International Man of Intrigue and Danger
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking for a six in a pile of nines...
VCF 4.0 is September 30-October 1
San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, California
See
http://www.vintage.org for details!
Received on Sat Jul 29 2000 - 01:59:49 BST
