mwnorman@bcarh332.bnr.CA (Michael Norman) (02/08/90)
I've been following this group and I am interested in building my own 68k-based system. Some people have mentioned the PT-68K. What is it, where is it, how much is it? etc ... Reply to, Mike Norman,c/o .... uunet!bnrgate!bcarh332!mwnorman Bell-Northern Research P.O. Box 3511 Station 'C' Ottawa, Cute Saying: "Wherever you go, there Ontario Canada K1Y 4H7 (613) 763-7717 you are!" - Buckaroo Bonzai Mike Norman,c/o .... uunet!bnrgate!bcarh332!mwnorman Bell-Northern Research P.O. Box 3511 Station 'C' Ottawa, Cute Saying: "Wherever you go, there Ontario Canada K1Y 4H7 (613) 763-7717 you are!" - Buckaroo Bonzai
marks@mgse.UUCP (Mark Seiffert) (02/10/90)
In article <2124@bnr-rsc.UUCP> mwnorman@bcarh332.bnr.ca (Michael Norman) writes:
-
-
-I've been following this group and I am interested in building
-my own 68k-based system. Some people have mentioned the PT-68K.
-What is it, where is it, how much is it? etc ...
Please post, i am interested too. Does someone have a phone number for them?
are they on the net?
-
-Reply to,
-Mike Norman,c/o .... uunet!bnrgate!bcarh332!mwnorman
-Bell-Northern Research
-P.O. Box 3511 Station 'C' Ottawa, Cute Saying: "Wherever you go, there
-Ontario Canada K1Y 4H7 (613) 763-7717 you are!" - Buckaroo Bonzai
--
Mark Seiffert, Metairie, LA.
uucp: rex!mgse!marks
bitnet: marks%mgse@REX.CS.TULANE.EDU
internet: marks%mgse@rex.cs.tulane.eduwebber@ATHOS.RUTGERS.EDU (Bob Webber) (02/10/90)
In article <1056@mgse.UUCP>, marks@mgse.UUCP (Mark Seiffert) writes: > In article <2124@bnr-rsc.UUCP> mwnorman@bcarh332.bnr.ca (Michael Norman) writes: > -I've been following this group and I am interested in building > -my own 68k-based system. Some people have mentioned the PT-68K. > -What is it, where is it, how much is it? etc ... > Please post, i am interested too. Does someone have a phone number for them? > are they on the net? The PT-68K is a system described in Radio-Electronics starting with issue October 1987 with a series of monthly installments by Peter A. Stark that continued at least until July 1988. Referring to that last article, there is a BBS at 914-241-3307; hardware questions can be handled by Peripheral Technology, 1480 Terrell Mill Rd. #870, Marietta GA, 30067 [Phone: (404) 984-0742]. The software it ran was the HUMBUG monitor program and SK*DOS disk operating system by Star-K Software Systems Corp. P.O. Box 209, Mt. Kisco NY 10549 (914) 241--0287. The system itself could be ordered from Peripheral Technology. In mid-1988, pricing for the full system was running around $500. The Star-K address/contact information is the same in their ad in the May'89 68 Micro Journal; In the same issue, Peripheral Technology shows the same phone but a different street address: 1710 Cumberland Point Dr. Suite 8. As described in the first article, the system could be modularly incremented starting with a $200 base: PC board, MC68000 (8 MHz ($20 extra for 10 MHz and $70 extra for 12 MHz)), clock oscillator, 2K static RAM, two serial ports, power and signal connectors, IC sockets, resistors, capacitors, and other components. To which could be added more memory: 1st 512K for $90: included DRAM controller and 512K of 150-ns DRAM with sockets. 2nd 512K for $50: 512K of 150-ns DRAM with sockets. A floppy controller for $100: the controller and related chips, connectors and sockets, and SK*DOS which included editor, assembler, BASIC, RAM disk, disk cache, and utility programs [disk extra] Parallel port and clock/calendar for $50: the parts. PC-compatible slots for $40: stuff for first 3 bus slots and compatible keyboard. another 3 slots for $10 Recommended 3rd party parts: Baby AT cabinet for $45 150 watt power supply for $60 AT-style keyboard for $60 Samsung 1252G amber monitor for $90 Hercules-compatible monochrome text/graphics card for $50 Western Digital hard-disk controller card for $90 80-track double-sided 720K floppy drive for $120 20 megabyte half-height hard disk for $295. All prices October 1987, who knows what it would cost to build now-a-days -- or what sort of improvements one could pull off to take into account some of the advances in the chip world [like: would using SIMMS help, how best to factor in an MMU and with which CPU, ...]. If I understand things right, one could get color graphics by just choosing from the available PC-boards. The authors leave the impression that running faster than 12Mhz would drastically change the design. --- BOB (webber@athos.rutgers.edu ; rutgers!athos.rutgers.edu!webber)
shepard@UMBER.CS.ORST.EDU (Mark Shepard) (02/11/90)
In article <2124@bnr-rsc.UUCP> mwnorman@bcarh332.bnr.ca (Michael Norman) writes: > >I've been following this group and I am interested in building >my own 68k-based system. Some people have mentioned the PT-68K. >What is it, where is it, how much is it? etc ... Quoting (more or less) from a recent catalog: Processor 68000 Clock speed 8MHz (10 or 12.5 optional) DRAM 512 or 1024k (no wait states) SRAM 4k (optional battery backup) EPROM 32, 64, or 128k ROM monitor HUMBUG (tm) included Serial ports 4 (using two MC68681 DUARTs) Parallel ports 2 (using MC68230), usable for printer Floppy int'f on motherboard # of drives 1 to 4 tracks 35 to 80 sides/density single or double disk capacity to 720k per drive clock/calendar on board (with battery) Interrupt timer 2 (I'm not sure what they mean by this) Expansion 6 PC/XT compatible IO connectors "The unique feature of the PT68K-2 is that is it designed to be physically and electrically compatible with an 'XT-style' motherboard..." "Complete systems mount in an XT-sized 'baby-AT' sytle cabinet with a 150-watt switching power supply..." "The system is operated from an external full-sized keyboard and video display. You may use an RS-232C terminal... Alternatively, you may use an IBM XT/AT- compatible keyboard and either a monochrome or CGA video display board and compatible monitor (plugged into the expansion connectors on the system board)." "A floppy interface is mounted on the system board, or an inexpensive external hard disk controller may be used. The PT68K-2 supports the PC/XT-compatible Western Digital MFM controller card such as the WD1002-WX2 or WD1002-GEN, which will plug into one of the IBM-compatible io slots. Any ST506- or ST412 compatible hard drive up to 64 megabytes can be used;..." The following is from an article in Micro-Cornicopia magazine, Nov-Dec 1988: Partial Kit (w/o DRAM, floppy, DUART, or clock) $200 Full Key (SK*DOS, 10MHz, 512k DRAM, 2 serial) $575 Assembled (SK*DOS, 10MHz, 1Meg 4 serial) $849 " " 12MHz " $899 Mfr Peripheral Tecknology, Inc. 1480 Terrell Mill Rd., Suite 870 Marietta, GA 30067 (404) 984-0742 -------- Hopefully all of this info is more or less correct :-) Mark Shepard shepard@cs.orst.edu || ...!hplabs!hp-pcd!orstcs!shepard