dev@ei.ecn.purdue.edu (Larry Weeks) (10/23/90)
Hello,
I just dropped into comp.sys.amiga to check out this thread. Word
of it was posted to the COCO Listserver. It's been interesting to
follow. I guess that by now, everyone knows what the MM1 is. An
affordable OSk box with standard graphics and lots of I/O, at long
last. I'll just drop a few notes off:
OS/9: It is an operating system from Microware. It is most
commonly used in industrial controller operations, such as running
manufacturing facilities, the shuttle's ground communication system,
and other various things. It is a real-time, multi-tasking, multi-user
system, and is rather small. Quite powerful and modular. Coupled with
a little 1.8MHz 6809E, OS9 gives a multi-tasking, multi-windowing
environment that is not too shabby. With a 15MHz 68070 and a separate
graphics controller, it should rock. Unlike a typical Intel system,
OSk can multi-task in real-time, with multiple users, in minimal RAM.
The base 1 meg of the MM/1 should be plenty to begin with. More will
speed up the graphics, since the processor and graphics controller can
then work at the same time, rather than waiting for common RAM. In
general, it is Unix-like, and supports most Unix system calls and
such.
MM/1: The history, to the best of my knowledge, which admittedly
could be incorrect. The MM/1 and it's brother the TC70 from Frank Hogg
started out as an OS/9 User Group project. Take all that you think
would make the ideal OSk machine, and design it. It orginally had the
project name of KMA, meaning many things: Kiss My Ass, Kicks My Amiga,
etc... Sort of our revenge for being neglected for so long, even
though we have the best PC OS ever, IMHO. It took two roads, the MM/1
from IMS, and the TC70 (Tomcat) from Frank Hogg. The MM/1 was designed
by Kevin Pease. I don't know much, really, about the TC70.
The MM/1 is based, as you know, around the 68070 and the Philip's
VSC graphics controller. It is a high density motherboard, and with
the extended I/O board, is about the size of a thin brick. The
extended version is rather essential, since it adds the DMA sound,
SCSI, extra serial and parallel ports, etc... Overall extended cost, I
believe, is $1100. That includes the floppy and case and all, but no
keyboard or monitor. The graphics libraries for the machine are being
written by Kevin Darling, and are intended to be generic so that they
are compatible across the MM/1, TC70, and Amiga OSk ports. He will
provide the primitives, and I don't know who is doing the actual GUI.
This is basically a OS9 users dream machine come true, with powerful
hardware, a great price, and complete graphics support.
So, in general, the MM/1 is a promising find. It packs a pretty
hefty punch into an inexpensive, not cheap, package. The graphics are
supposedly quite good, the speed is quite lively, the sound is
awesome, and the people running the show are superb. OS9 people have
been hacking with 1.8MHz machines and a 64K address range for a long
time. We've made that machine multi-task in windows, run communications
reliably while compiling in another window, etc... I can't wait to see
what they come up with on a machine running at 15MHz, with up to nine
megs of addressable memory, and some some very nice graphics and sound
capabilites.
Also, if you were wondering, OS/9 runs on the 6809 series, and
OSk runs on the 680x0 series. OS/9 and the 6809 were sorta made in
unison. Hence you find fierce loyalty in the OS/9 circles as we
are used to hardware and software that mutually benefit each other,
not hamper, such as Intel and DOS. It has been ported to the Amiga and
ST, as well as other systems. Unfortunately, there is no de facto
graphics standard for OSk, but this current offering is trying to fix
that.
Larry
dev@ecn.purdue.edu
p.s. Here is a recently posted summary of the MM/1:
---
Date: Mon, 22 Oct 90 17:57:44 -0300
Reply-To: parent@UG.CS.DAL.CA
From: parent@UG.CS.DAL.CA
Subject: MM/1 Info for New and Old Readers
Most of this information is probably well known by the regulars but some of it
may not. People curious about the MM/1 should definitely read this if they are
interested in what the machine consists of. Information comes from ads in
Rainbow Magazine, the IMS newsletter "The Insider", and the IMS pamphlett on
the MM/1...
Enjoy !!
The Extended system, outlined below, is priced at $1125. The Personal System,
at $779 does NOT include:
powered serial port
parallel ports
SCSI interface
2 additional serial ports
stereo sound and sampling
joystick port
RAM sockets
clock
Both systems have the option of : Keytronic 101-key keyboard ($80)
and/or Magnavox 1CM135 monitor ($298)
The MM/1 by Interactive Media Systems and Kenneth-Leigh Enterprises:
CPU: 15 MHz 68070 (purportedly runs at "about the speed of a Vax 11/780")
MEMORY: 1MB expandable to 3MB or 9MB with two 1MB or 4MB SIMMs
Uses Direct Memory Access (DMA) for smooth multitasking
PORTS:
Two bi-directional parallel ports
Four DB9 serial ports, one of which can be configured for MIDI (see below)
One powered DB9 serial port for serial mouse
RGB analog port
IBM PC keyboard port
SCSI high speed interface - connect up to seven devices
Two-channel (DMA-able) 8-bit analog->digital->analog 5-pin din ports (below)
One 8-bit by 8-bit analog joystick port (coco-compatible)
GRAPHICS: Colors are chosen from palette of 16.7 million...
These are the modes I've seen mentioned:
256 color modes 16 color modes
* 320 by 210 * 640 by 210
* 320 by 420 (interlaced) * 640 by 420 (interlaced)
* 360 by 480 (overscanned) 720 by 480 (overscanned)
720 by 540
Modes marked by an asterisk are supported by the Tandy CM-8 monitor
Graphics are generated by the 66470B Video and System Controller which has:
An onboard Pixel Accelerator (PIXAC) speeds up graphics output.
On board RAM, ROM, IO decoding, memory access control
"Watchdog timer to prevent system lockup..."
SOUND:
Most of the sound will be PC-based from the CPU, but....
MIDI - one of the serial ports can be configured for MIDI, a MIDI board is
predicted to be released "before the end of 1990".
A/D - 8-bit stereo sound comes from dual analog->digital/digital->analog
5-pin din ports. These ports can be used for sound output OR for sampling
and digitizing sounds from external sources. "Utilities for converting
hundreds of existing sound files will be available by the end of 1990".
EXTERNAL STORAGE:
One 1.44 MB, 3.5" floppy drive, operates in 720K or 1.44 MB modes
Controller
Options for more drives offered by IMS
INTERNAL CLOCK:
Real-time clock with 56 bytes of non-volatile memory
Battery backup
BUNDLED SOFTWARE:
All MM/1's come with:
OS-9/68000 Operating System with true multitasking and windows
PC-File Manager for reading writing MS-DOS diskettes
Sequential Block File Manager for tape backups
Network File Manager
Print Spooler
C-Compiler
BASIC
Text Editor
Graphics Editor
Demos
Full Utility Set
NETWORK INTERFACE: cable and driver sold separately
Allows up to 127 MM/1's to be networked to master MM/1
Transmits at 100Kbaud
MS-DOS COMPATIBILITY:
This is somewhat misleading, so allow me to enlighten the naive:
You will not be able to plug in your new MM/1 and insert your Word
Perfect disk and run Word Perfect. You CAN read and write to ascii
text files on the disk.
IMS has announced that Quick Basic will be available sometime in 1991.
This means that IBM programs written in QuickBasic, MBasic, and BasicA
can be run on the MM/1 by compiling the source code using OS-9 Quick
Basic.
Other Developments:
Mike Haaland, the author of MVCanvas, is currently working on a graphics
editor for the MM/1 as well as an extensive library of graphics drivers.
Other software available - complete accounting systems, advanced graphics
and animation utilities, fourth generation languages, and user
configurable word processors.
IMS, in addition to working with IBM vendors, is also working with Amiga,
Atari ST, and Unix software developers.
I will be happy to field any questions or comments from any readers.
Mike Parent
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