New find - OSI Challenger 4P

From: Jack Noble <apple_at_cmc.net>
Date: Sat Oct 7 22:39:44 2000

Your message reminded me of a common mod that was done on OSI machines to
avoid inadvertant resets caused by accidently hitting the "break" key. Many
people installed a capacitor across this keyswitch so that it had to be held
down for a couple of seconds to reset the machine. The screen would contain
random gibberish at power up and pushing the break key should give you the
"C/W/M" or "H/D/M" depending on the ROM pages selected for start up.
-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Stek <r.stek_at_snet.net>
To: classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Date: Saturday, October 07, 2000 4:34 PM
Subject: New find - OSI Challenger 4P


>Wheeee! I got an OSI Challenger 4P today (does this complete my collection
>of early micros with walnut sides? I now have my Sol and NorthStar Horizon
>and Challenger.) Of course it would be even better if it worked or at
least
>I had some documentation. A shielded cable terminating in an RCA phono
plug
>exits the cabinet. The fan turns and apparently something is being output.
>I tried a mono composite monitor with no luck, but channel 11 (?) seems to
>give what could be a screen image with several inverse video blocks
>scattered down the left side (we have a STRONG channel 3 here, and 4 is
>garbage). Pressing "return" shows no change in the screen, nor does
>pressing a momentary-contact switch (home-brewed?) above the keyboard
>labeled "Break Enable."
>
>Since I never even saw one of these in the 70's, I could use some help.
>Does anyone have docs they would be willing to copy for a reasonable fee?
>Any other advice cheerfully accepted.
>
>Bob Stek
>Saver of Lost Sols
>
Received on Sat Oct 07 2000 - 22:39:44 BST