blarson@oberon.UUCP (Bob Larson) (11/14/85)
I sent this message to the info-68k mailing list, and a pointer
to net.micro.68k. I have gotten about ten request for it and
two request to be added to info-68k in the few days since I posted
the pointer, so I think there is enough demand to send it to
net.micro.68k also.
For those of you not knowing about info-68k, it is a mailing list
oriented twords small 68000 systems running operating systems that
will run on reasonably cheap systems. (os9 and cpm/68k) Requests
to be added (or deleted) from the list should be sent to
ucbvax!info-68k-request or info-68k-request@Berkely.edu or
info-68k-request@berkely.arpa. Postings should go to info-68k at the
same system.
--------------------
This is a comparison of three single board os9/68000 computers.
(and systems using them.) Prices range from $1000 (assembled and
tested board with software) up. This information was mostly obtained
at the microware os9 seminar last weekend, where I saw all of them
working and found out some information probably not normally released.
I did decide to buy one of them.
All three boards are very close to the same phisical size (designed to
mount over a 5.25" disk drive) and run off of the same +5 and +12 volt
power supplies as the disk drives. All have four serial ports and one
or two parellel printer ports (centronics). All have ROB and one or
more timers.
Hazelwood makes both a 68008 (8-bit bus) and a 68000 system. The smaller
system is upgraded by replacing the RAM chips, and the larger by adding
a piggy-back board with the additional chips. (The piggy-back board is
not yet in production, but there were working prototypes at the show.)
One or more boards to fit the expantion port of the Uniquad 2 are being
designed. The serial ports do not have the voltage swing required to
meet rs232-c, but should work fine with most rs232 peripherals for short
cable distances. These system include Os9/68k, Basic09, DynaCalc, and
Stylograph.
Gimex makes a 68020 system. The board is quite dense, including 2Mb of
RAM (in SIP pakages), a battery-backup time of day clock, and a socket
for a 68881 math coprocessor. The rs232 buffers and voltage converter
are on a small separate board with the 25-pin connectors. The first
production run of this system was scheduled for this week. There were
two working prototypes at the show. No software is included with this
board, and Microware does not yet support os9 on the 68020. (It works,
but is not yet supported. Buss faults and rewriting the assembler and
compilers to produce 68020 (and 68881) code are the major changes needed.)
Model CPU Clock Memory Par. Floppy I/O Price
(Mhz) std (Max) Ports Drives Expantion
Uniquad 1 68008 8 128k (512k) 2 2 (none) $995
Uniquad 2 68000 10 512k (1M) 2 4 32x8 $1495
Micro-20 68020 12.5 2M 1 2 128x16 $2750
Neither Hazelwood nor Gimex plan on offering their boards in boxes.
Frank Hogg Labs sells systems based on all three boards. The box isn't
much larger than a full sized disk drive, and has a 1/2 height floppy drive
and optionally a hard drive or a second floppy drive. There is also some
additional software included with the Uniquad systems, (some "under
development") and optionally for the Gimex system.
AAA Chicago Computer Center offers the Uniquad boards in a case that will
hold four 1/2 drives (or two full hight.)
There is one other company offering the Gimex board in a case, but since
it was not demonstrated I will not mention the company and the rumors I
heard about them.
I ordered the FHL QT+ (uniquad 2) with two floppies. A system based on the
Gimex board would have been almost twice as much. I'll do a review of it
if there is interest.
Phone numbers:
Hazelwood: 314-281-1055 Gimex: 312-927-5510
Frank Hogg Labs:315-474-7856 AAA Chicago: 312-459-0450
--
Bob Larson
Arpa: Blarson@Usc-Ecl.Arpa
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