Grid 1520

From: Dave Mabry <dmabry_at_mich.com>
Date: Sat Dec 11 11:55:12 2004

Climbing back through the cobwebs, I find some information. The 1520
was still when GRiD was making them out of magnesium. The flap just
above the keyboard was for EPROMS. On those EPROMS you could store DOS
files, as big as the memories could hold. I used them in 27010's.
Depending on how many sockets there were, you could even split bigger
files across more than one EPROM. GRiD had a program called ROMBUILD
that would take the files you feed it and create ROM images to burn into
the ROM's you would then plug into those slots. You could make the
ROM's into bootable devices as well, using ROMBUILD.

I sent that program to someone who put it online in the Yahoo group for
Grid computers. So you should be able to get it, along with a scanned
copy of the typewritten instructions on how to use it.

There were several versions of the Gridcase, from 8086 versions through
386SX versions. By the time the 486 came about Grid was making more
conventional looking plastic laptops and soon after that was sold to Tandy.

The 1520 should boot from a floppy or its internal hard drive. If it
powers up but doesn't access the floppy drive, try hitting the "F" key
right after the BIOS <beep> on powerup.

Good luck. The Gridcase was a very cool computer. Lots of military
use. And where I work, DaimlerChrysler Engineering, we used lots of
them in vehicles because of their ruggedness.

Brian Mahoney wrote:
> Hi crew. Question about a Gridacase 1520. Is anyone familiar with
> these laptops? This is a 286, really good shape. It won't boot, dead
> as a doornail. The guy at the thrift shop told me it was working when
> it was brought in the day before, now I see that two (or one) chips
> are missing from under the flap in the top left right above the
> keyboard. I figure they were lifted between dropoff and my buying it.
>
> Any ideas if these chips, which I think are application roms, would
> prevent the thing from booting? If so, is there such a thing as a
> replacement available from someone here or elsewhere? The thing must
> have been the first Toughbook or something, and I'd love to see it
> working.
>
> Thanks for any info anyone can share.
>
> (does anyone still need a gmail invite? I have lots. )
>
> Brian Mahoney
>
Received on Sat Dec 11 2004 - 11:55:12 GMT