IBM System/23 problems

From: Guy Sotomayor <ggs_at_shiresoft.com>
Date: Thu Sep 25 10:15:54 2003

On Wed, 2003-09-24 at 15:27, Ian Primus wrote:
> Yeah, I'm here in the states, New York to be specific. I would be very
> interested in getting ahold of a copy of the ROM chip to replace the
> nonfunctional chip on my machine's board, as well as copies of whatever
> software I can find. I don't know what software was available for the
> System/23, probably mostly just business software, right? What
> operating system did it run, or was it just some flavor of BASIC with
> disk commands?

The ROM (ROS in IBM terminology) contained a flavor of BASIC (compatible
with system/34). It was completely self contained (ie it doesn't boot
from the floppies). The CSFs (Customer Support Functions) which are on
diskette are utilities for managing among other things diskettes (like
formatting them and copying them) but they were not standalone. They
required/used many functions in the ROMs. They were written in 8085
assembly (as was the BASIC).

>
> Ian Primus
> ian_primus_at_yahoo.com
>
> On Wednesday, September 24, 2003, at 03:53 PM, Geoffrey Thomas wrote:
>
> > I have a complete working system - at least it was last time I fired
> > it up,
> > other members of the list have expressed an interest in parts,
> > software etc.
> > Both are in the states , assume you are too ?
> >
> > Geoff.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Ian Primus" <ian_primus_at_yahoo.com>
> > To: <cctech_at_classiccmp.org>
> > Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 8:14 PM
> > Subject: IBM System/23 problems
> >
> >
> >> My IBM System/23 doesn't work properly. When turned on, it displays a
> >> series of numbers on the screen, and stops at "FD". Of the numbers
> >> printed, "0B" is inverted and flashing. I found a listing of the error
> >> codes in google's cache of classiccmp.org (part of the archive seems
> >> to
> >> be down).
> >> http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:83dbK69EHG8J:www.classiccmp.org/
> >> mail-archive/classiccmp/1997-07/0566.html+IBM+System/
> >> 23+error+site:www.classiccmp.org&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 According to this,
> >> the error code "0B" indicates that one of the ROM chips on the logic
> >> board has failed. I looked at it, and it is soldered to the board.
> >> Desoldering and replacing it with a socket shouldn't be a problem, but
> >> I will need to find another ROM chip. Does anyone have a spare chip,
> >> or
> >> the ability to copy a good chip? Also, once I get this machine
> >> working
> >> again, I will need to find some software for it. I would assume that
> >> there is no place to download System/23 software, or even a way to get
> >> files to usable 8 inch floppies. I have a few disks given to me with
> >> the computer that may be bootable, but I don't know. I don't really
> >> know a lot about the System/23 other than the fact that it's really
> >> heavy. Any information would be appreciated. Thanks!
> >>
> >> Ian Primus
> >> ian_primus_at_yahoo.com
> >>
> >
-- 
TTFN - Guy
Received on Thu Sep 25 2003 - 10:15:54 BST

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