qsfa1@unx1.UUCP (Graham Thomas) (07/19/86)
this for the lineater
A friend of mine has just inherited an ancient micro and would be
grateful for any information (especially a memory map) that anyone
can provide. It's 6502-based and was made by Ohio Scientific, though
there's no model name visible. It has a whole 24k of RAM and twin
8-inch floppies. The only software he's got for it is a BASIC
interpreter, a database program that's only good for address files
and a primitive word processor.
I realise that this is very little information to go on, but would
be really glad to hear of any hints which might help us to identify
the beast and track down some documentation and software.
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696119 (home)hsu@eneevax.UUCP (Dave Hsu) (08/10/86)
In article <119@unx1.UUCP> qsfa1@unx1.UUCP (Graham Thomas) writes: >this for the lineater > >A friend of mine has just inherited an ancient micro and would be >grateful for any information (especially a memory map) that anyone >can provide. It's 6502-based and was made by Ohio Scientific, though >there's no model name visible. It has a whole 24k of RAM and twin >8-inch floppies. The only software he's got for it is a BASIC >interpreter, a database program that's only good for address files >and a primitive word processor. Hot dang! The memories come back already... Quick guide to (semi-) popular OSI boxes: (only the Challenger series:) If the keyboard is integral to the unit and it has wooden sides, what you have is probably a C1-P, although I think the C-4 was similar. Otherwise, you should be looking at a detached keyboard and a large steel case with a single reset switch for a processor box. This means you probably have either a C2 variant, or a C3. I think you would notice a C3 (triple processors, I think 6502, 6800, Z80) so odds are it's a C2 variant. If the box comes up with "D/W/M", what you have is the C8-P with basic and dos on a disk, occupying 12.75k of memory. I'm not that familiar with the other old OSI's, so I'll go ahead and babble about the C8P. First, a warning. The dual drives were (I think) made by Siemens, and the control circuitry is very poor. That is to say, never turn the drive off/trip over the power cord with a disk inside, because it will completely trash the disk. Also, be sure you have pushed the floppy all the way in, or else you'll experience a remarkable crunching sound when you try to close the door, and the floppy will have a wrinkled hub. They are, of course, soft-sectored, single-density, single-sided. Quick overview: the display is selectable 64x32 or 32x32, based on the setting of a switch location I can't remember. In fact, the only memory location I can remember right now is poking 2073 with the right values enables/disables control-C. The display is of course bitmapped, and the keyboard is polled (of course it's polled, look at it, it's a bit-paired layout). In 32x32 mode, the display controller displays the left half of the 64x32 bitmap, and I guess you've already browsed the character set. Yup, no true descenders. The 8 little tanks from 248 through 255 are quite useful for games. The UART, if I remember, was a standard 6850, and I think you'll find that OSI basic (one of the earliest Microsoft jobs) was very limited and if you disassemble it, you'll find that it did lots of grungy things. BTW, I guess I should point out that your friend is very fortunate to have any editor at all; OSI didn't provide one. As the company was sold to a firm 1/10 their size and dismantled about 3 years ago, getting old docs from them is highly unlikely. Well, I don't remember too much else about the unit; it was the first micro I hacked on, and except for the puny memory, I have somewhat fond memories of it. Oh, and also, the DISK!"IO ,8" business was gross. -dave -- David Hsu (301) 454-1433 || -8798 || -8715 "I know no-thing!" -eneevax Communications & Signal Processing Laboratory / EE Systems Staff Systems Research Center, Bldg 093 / Engineering Computer Facility The University of Maryland -~- College Park, MD 20742 ARPA: hsu@eneevax.umd.edu UUCP: [seismo,allegra,rlgvax]!umcp-cs!eneevax!hsu "Evil...pure and simple!"
ant3@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Butch Anton) (08/13/86)
Since I didn't get to see the original article, please bear
with me.
For the person who posted the note about the OSI stuff:
Back when I was first learning about these wonderful little toys
they call computers, I learned on OSI machines. (Gasp!) Therefore,
I have access to the documentation for most all of them. In fact,
I have access to someone who can REPAIR the things, correctly.
Therefore, when you decide what kind of machine it is, or can
give a resonable description, I'll be more than happy to send you all
of the documentation I can get. There's only one catch: the
documentation is back home in Montana. That's right, there really
is a state called Montana, and we even have new-fangled things like
computers. Anyhow, I'm going home on 8/15, and will be home for
~1.5 weeks. Therefore, either send mail to me BEFORE I leave, or
call me at home (406) 873-5389 or (406) 873-2732.
BTW, just from the description that I got, I would bet that you
have a C-4P (if the floppies are 5.25").
--
Butch Anton
University of Chicago
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Chicago, IL 60615 (312) 962-3049 workant3@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Butch Anton) (08/13/86)
Ok, OK, so I can't read. Since I looked back at
the follow-up article that I got my info from, I noticed that it
mentioned the floppies were 8". Therefore, I'll lay money on
C-8P, which I can also get docs for. If in fact you have
the three-processor version (C-3P), I can also get you that stuff,
as the Cut Bank High School still uses both the C-3P and C-8P to
teach computer science on. Just in case your interested, they
use the C-8P as a disk server for two C-1P's, and they use
the C-3P with Denver Boards (each has its own processor) to serve
three other terminals (Hazeltines, I think). Anyhow, I just
thought you'd like to know that there are still people out there
that use them, and that software is still available. If your
friend needs software, get in touch with me and I'll see what I can do.
--
Butch Anton
University of Chicago
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Chicago, IL 60615 (312) 962-3049 workjimc@iscuva.UUCP (Jim Cathey) (08/14/86)
In article <119@unx1.UUCP> qsfa1@unx1.UUCP (Graham Thomas) writes: > >A friend of mine has just inherited an ancient micro and would be >grateful for any information (especially a memory map) that anyone >can provide. It's 6502-based and was made by Ohio Scientific, though >there's no model name visible. It has a whole 24k of RAM and twin >8-inch floppies. The only software he's got for it is a BASIC >interpreter, a database program that's only good for address files >and a primitive word processor. It sounds like a C2-8P DF unit. Ick. I myself owned a C1P and only know about the C2 because of porting programs from it. I assume your beast has the built-in keyboard and video and was not one of the early terminal based ones. Quick and Dirty Hardware (jes' like me ;-) ) memory map (let me know if you want more, I may be able to resurrect some stuff from my files...) 0000-0100 Page Zero, lots of interesting stuff here related to BASIC... 0100-0200 Stack, and probably the Software INT and NMI vectors, they were at $0130 and $01C0 on the C1P 0200-0300 In the C1, this was scratch ram, but the C2 may have added it to the next entry... 0300-C000 RAM, depending on how much you had. BASIC sat in the bottom, DOS just above it, and your programs started somewhere at 31xx. C000-D000 Disk I/O chips (6850 and 6821) D000-E000 Video RAM, only 2K on the C2. E000-F000 Unused, or maybe something I've forgotten about. FC00-FD00 ACIA ports FD00-FE00 Keyboard. FF00-FFFF Boot ROM. Hope this helps. The OSI computers were somewhat ahead of their time at introduction, and very fast compared to their competitors. They failed completely to grow, most particularly in the software department. I think they ended up being laughed out of existance. ;-) -- +----------------+ ! II CCCCCC ! Jim Cathey ! II SSSSCC ! ISC Systems Corp. ! II CC ! Spokane, WA ! IISSSS CC ! UUCP: ihnp4!tektronix!reed!iscuva!jimc ! II CCCCCC ! (509)927-5757 +----------------+ "With excitement like this, who is needing enemas?"