11-Dec-91 16:09:26-MST,1682;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Wed, 11 Dec 91 16:09:20 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA22284; Wed, 11 Dec 91 14:39:44 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT From: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Bob Croft) Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc. Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: |> Hi. |> |> I had a Northstar. It was my first computer. I was swayed away from the |> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches. |> |> H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! |> |> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs UNIX!) that we used to use... Bob Croft croft_bob@Tandem.com *** This not the opinion of Tandem Computers *** *** Tandem Computers is not Tandon or Tandy *** 12-Dec-91 08:37:28-MST,2051;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Thu, 12 Dec 91 08:37:24 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA21734; Thu, 12 Dec 91 03:48:53 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 11 Dec 91 01:42:53 GMT From: amethyst!salado!root@arizona.edu (Thomas J. Trebisky) Organization: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec11.014253.26953@salado.rc.arizona.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: > Hi. > > I had a Northstar. It was my first computer. I was swayed away from the > Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches. > > H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! > > Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. I still have several stacked up providing extra mass in my house. When I ever get my 680x0 S100 board wire-wrapped up, I want to put it in the northstar box, just for fun. (Kind of like putting a V8 engine in a volkswagen). But I doubt I will ever run CP/M on a N* again. Several reasons -- (1) CP/M is the pits. (2) I have sworn never again to use a computer without a hard drive. (3) Those awful hard-sectored north star floppies a such a nuisance -- man oh man! If I am ever forced to run CP/M, I will run CDOS on my cromemco system instead, at least it is soft-sectored, and it supports 8-inch floppies (talk about nostalgia, nothing like the grind and clank of a good 8-inch floppy drive doing a long seek, especially in some of the boxes I have them in that really reverberate (sound like a rat throwing a fit inside a trash can) -- those are MAN-sized floppies ... but I digress. -- Tom Trebisky ttrebisky@as.arizona.edu 12-Dec-91 08:52:48-MST,1680;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Thu, 12 Dec 91 08:52:35 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA03028; Wed, 11 Dec 91 19:40:26 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:17:34 GMT From: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!news.bbn.com!star-trek!ckhan@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Chico Khan) Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: >H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! >Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. It's a lonely world, isn't it? You ARE probably the only one since the only reason I saw this is because there never was a message here before so I never unsubscribed to this group. Chico. p.s Hope you've gotten yourself a new computer. :-) Hasmatallie A. Khan | | InterNet: ckhan@bbn.com Bolt, Beranek and Newman |___. |___. .___. SneakerNet: 20/317 B 150 CambridgePark Drive | | | | | | AT&T Net: 617-873-6119 Cambridge, MA 02140 |___! |___! | | CompuServe: 72770,1507 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As you go through life, watch out for the googly! 12-Dec-91 10:18:21-MST,1265;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Thu, 12 Dec 91 10:18:16 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA23657; Thu, 12 Dec 91 09:10:10 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 11 Dec 91 08:59:53 GMT From: sakura!freund@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Jason Freund) Organization: U C Davis, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <10583@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> References: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> brian@amc.com (Brian Crowley) writes: >From article , by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan): >> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: >> >>>H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! >> >>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. Yeah. I just asked everyone. You are the only person who has a Northstar ;) 12-Dec-91 12:50:47-MST,1809;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from silver.lcs.mit.edu by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Thu, 12 Dec 91 12:50:38 MST Received: by silver.lcs.mit.edu id AA04764; Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:47:26 -0500 Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:47:26 -0500 From: devon@silver.lcs.mit.edu (Devon Sean McCullough) Message-Id: <9112121947.AA04764@silver.lcs.mit.edu> To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil Subject: [MAILER-DAEMON@ucdavis.edu: Returned mail: Service unavailable] From: MAILER-DAEMON@ucdavis.edu (Mail Delivery Subsystem) Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 11:16:02 -0800 To: Subject: Returned mail: Service unavailable ----- Transcript of session follows ----- >>> RCPT To: <<< 554 ... Host wupost not known--please specify domain 554 ... Service unavailable ----- Unsent message follows ----- Received: from SILVER.LCS.MIT.EDU by ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (5.61/UCD2.03) id AA18758; Thu, 12 Dec 91 11:06:53 -0800 Received: by silver.lcs.mit.edu id AA04562; Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:05:28 -0500 Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:05:28 -0500 From: devon@silver.lcs.mit.edu (Devon Sean McCullough) Message-Id: <9112121905.AA04562@silver.lcs.mit.edu> To: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu In-Reply-To: Bob Croft's message of 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> Subject: nostalgia I still have a Sol-20 or so, running N*DOS of course. Haven't powered it up in maybe ten years, but it worked fine last time I booted it. 13-Dec-91 19:17:13-MST,3731;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Fri, 13 Dec 91 19:16:53 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA23606; Fri, 13 Dec 91 17:48:48 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 11 Dec 91 06:39:10 GMT From: milton!sumax!amc-gw!brian@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Brian Crowley) Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil From article , by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan): > klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: > >>H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! > >>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. I worked my way through college repairing Northstar's for a little firm which bundled accounting software, terminal and printer with the Northstar and sold the entire package as a system. I repaired hundreds of both the Horizon and Advantage versions. Some of the things I remember: - The old single-density disk controllers were *junk*. We had all kinds of problems with them. The double-density controller were better, but they had a failure mode which affected almost everyone I saw: there was a mylar capacitor mounted just above the 5V regulator. Over time the heat coming off the regulator would "cook" the capacitor, causing it to fail, resulting in a distinctive ka-chunck, ka-chunck, ka-chunck sound when you tried to boot off a floppy (I sometimes had customers put their phone against the floppy and flip the reset switch - the sound was so distinctive I could recognize it long- distance!). I reported the problem to Northstar several times, but they never fixed it. - Remember the 1488, 1489 drivers mounted on the motherboard, along with the +5 and +-12V regulators? They were forever failing (both the drivers and regulators), what a hassle to remove the motherboard to replace the defective part! - The Horizon front-end power supply (transformer, diode bridge) has to be one of the biggest, herkiest things I ever saw! Of all the units I repaired, however, I think I replaced the diode bridge once. - I remember when the 64K memory boards came out. We used to buy the 32K version, remove the wire jumpers disguised as resistors, and install the other 32K ourselves - at a fraction of the price Northstar charged. - When the Advantage came out, it was great fun playing with the bit-mapped screen. The reset of the Advantage was somewhat of a dissapointment, just a repackaged Horizon. - Remember Northstar's attempt to allow reading of MS-DOS diskettes? Back then I don't think anyone realized what a force the IBM-PC would become (especially Northstar). Oh well, great memories. I used to spend all day working on my EE, then spend the evening hours working on Horizon's and Advantages. It was great fun. Even today, with my SPARCstation and 33MHZ 386 PC, is miss the simplicity of the Horizon running CPM. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Brian Crowley | DNS: brian@amc.com | |Applied Microsystems Corp. | UUCP: uunet!amc-gw!brian | |Redmond, WA | ATT: 206-882-2000 Ext. 328 | 16-Dec-91 08:15:24-MST,1605;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 16 Dec 91 08:15:18 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA20825; Mon, 16 Dec 91 04:55:51 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 13 Dec 91 16:57:41 GMT From: csus.edu!wupost!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!aplcomm!craig@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Craig Myers) Organization: JHU/APL, Laurel, MD Subject: Northstar Dimension Message-Id: <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil I just acquired a Northstar Dimension from my Church (were churches the only ones to buy these things?). The system had intermittent problems and ha been shoved in a corner for the last year. This box does not have an s100 bus, It appears to be similar to the IBM PC's (62 pins). Also, has a custom CPU chip and an 80186. I don't have software or any terminals, so its doubtful I can use it as a system. Does anyone know if the disk drives are usable on a PC system (one 15 meg and a 35 meg drive)? Well at least its a nice big case with a heavy power supply and a couple of fans. I now have : A Timex Sinclair 1000 Atari 400 Comodore 64 Apple II e (I still use this one) and a wife who wonders what all the junk is for! craig@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu 16-Dec-91 08:21:49-MST,3202;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 16 Dec 91 08:21:45 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA24909; Mon, 16 Dec 91 07:10:56 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 13 Dec 91 18:42:45 GMT From: seas.gwu.edu!biby@uunet.uu.net (Rich Biby) Organization: George Washington University Subject: Re: Northstar Dimension Message-Id: <1991Dec13.184245.4111@seas.gwu.edu> References: <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU> craig@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU (Craig Myers) writes: >I just acquired a Northstar Dimension from my Church (were >churches the only ones to buy these things?). The system had >intermittent problems and ha been shoved in a corner for the >last year. This box does not have an s100 bus, It appears to >be similar to the IBM PC's (62 pins). Also, has a custom CPU >chip and an 80186. I don't have software or any terminals, so >its doubtful I can use it as a system. Does anyone know if >the disk drives are usable on a PC system (one 15 meg and a > 35 meg drive)? Well at least its a nice big case with a > heavy power supply and a couple of fans. > > I now have : > A Timex Sinclair 1000 > Atari 400 > Comodore 64 > Apple II e (I still use this one) > >and a wife who wonders what all the junk is for! > >craig@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu > Well, I owned a N* dealership, but never did I use a dimension. I went to high skool with two guys I opened the store with (We were all in high skool), both of whom went of to do more with N* that I. The first guy I know I talked about before, Chip White. He has a bad habbit of not returning fone calles, but for Advantage/Horizon stuff, try hime a 216-775-1314. He is a tour manager for a musician (sp?) and will be back in Ohio after Sunday. Chip became one of a very few guys in the country to fix/support N* after N* droped A/H. He is pretty much out of "the biz", but may have some good contacts. The second guy I have not seen in a while, but we were like borhters many years ago, Tom Johnston. Tom went to work for N* in CA, and did stuff with the dimensions. I don't really know what. Tom worked at Northern Lights Computers in Berkley also. I know Tom no longer has much of anything to do with N*/and any corporate remains, but he might know someone who knows.... I don't have a number for Tom handy, but if you are interested, drop me a note. He lives in Berkley -- try information if you like. Closing arguments: Don't remind me how much I paid for that ST506 5 MB hard disk..... Best regards to all, Rich -- Rich Biby | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA 22203 (703) 528-8489 KD4DSX | Communications Data Services, Inc. we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA 22044 people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884 (800) 441-0034 16-Dec-91 09:33:31-MST,2223;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 16 Dec 91 09:33:21 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA25217; Sun, 15 Dec 91 16:25:06 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 12 Dec 91 22:35:28 GMT From: hsdndev!adm!amsaa-cleo!dileo@rutgers.edu (John J. DiLeo) Organization: Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <5390@amsaa-cleo.brl.mil> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>, <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu> biby@seas.gwu.edu (Rich Biby) writes: > >Well, this is the most activity I've seen here in a long time. Last >time someone asked a question about N*, I gave away my entire colection >of 4. And most of them are humming along quite nicely. Thank you very much 8-). I still haven't actually gotten any actual copies of the hard disk OS for the Horizon Rich gave me. I did get a couple of e-mailed promises, but no disks have yet arrived. So, I make my plea once again. Does anyone out there have copies of the Hard Disk OS (HDOS or, if it exists/ed, CP/M) for the Horizon? >I once had a N* dealership. Time have changed. I just >got may 20 MHZ 68030 Macintosh NOTEBOOK.... > >Still, I miss the S-100..... > >Regards to all, >Rich And, on a mostly unrelated question, how are things with your GPS set since the DOD activated the S/A degradation (you did know it's active now, right 8-)?? >-- >Rich Biby | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA 22203 (703) 528-8489 >KD4DSX | Communications Data Services, Inc. >we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA 22044 >people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884 (800) 441-0034 John DiLeo dileo@brl.mil --Proprietor, Aberdeen North*Star Museum and Emporium 8-) 16-Dec-91 10:48:59-MST,1680;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 16 Dec 91 10:48:51 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA19680; Sat, 14 Dec 91 04:41:39 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:11:15 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!doherty@ames.arc.nasa.gov (AE Doherty kevin mich) Organization: Johns Hopkins University Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221115.12849@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil I STILL have a Northstar...Still works fine, though my DOS was corrupted a while back; all I can do is listen to it try to boot :)! There were two features that attracted me to the Northstar: that nifty walnut case and the company's willingness to send the unit out as a crate of loose parts. I was looking for a computer I could BUILD, and they were willing to support it after I'd done so. I've been thinking of donating mine to a museum (one down in Blacksburg VA is advertising for pre-1980 computers; I need to check my invoice but think I qualify). I've lost track of the company; are they still around? If so, I'd like to get another copy of their DOS diskette (those weird 10 sector (hard sectored!) diskettes!). 17-Dec-91 10:10:09-MST,745;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from NMSU.Edu by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Tue, 17 Dec 91 10:09:46 MST Received: from acoma (acoma.NMSU.Edu) by NMSU.Edu (4.1/NMSU-1.18) id AA01966; Tue, 17 Dec 91 10:08:58 MST Date: Tue, 17 Dec 91 10:08:58 MST From: Message-Id: <9112171708.AA01966@NMSU.Edu> Received: by acoma (4.1/NMSU-2.2) id AA08872; Tue, 17 Dec 91 10:08:50 MST To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil Subject: Games I still have a N* horizon running. Occasionaly my kids turn it on and play a game (PAC MAN). It is the only game I have. Do any of you have any games like PACMAN that will run on N* horizon? It is a two floppy disk system. Herb Hamilton hamilton%nmsu.edu 30-Dec-91 08:59:07-MST,1265;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 08:59:01 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA08855; Sun, 29 Dec 91 18:25:54 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 11 Dec 91 08:59:53 GMT From: sakura!freund@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Jason Freund) Organization: U C Davis, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <10583@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> References: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> brian@amc.com (Brian Crowley) writes: >From article , by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan): >> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: >> >>>H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! >> >>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. Yeah. I just asked everyone. You are the only person who has a Northstar ;) 30-Dec-91 09:00:09-MST,3731;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:00:00 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA08180; Sun, 29 Dec 91 18:09:28 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 11 Dec 91 06:39:10 GMT From: milton!sumax!amc-gw!brian@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Brian Crowley) Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil From article , by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan): > klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: > >>H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! > >>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. I worked my way through college repairing Northstar's for a little firm which bundled accounting software, terminal and printer with the Northstar and sold the entire package as a system. I repaired hundreds of both the Horizon and Advantage versions. Some of the things I remember: - The old single-density disk controllers were *junk*. We had all kinds of problems with them. The double-density controller were better, but they had a failure mode which affected almost everyone I saw: there was a mylar capacitor mounted just above the 5V regulator. Over time the heat coming off the regulator would "cook" the capacitor, causing it to fail, resulting in a distinctive ka-chunck, ka-chunck, ka-chunck sound when you tried to boot off a floppy (I sometimes had customers put their phone against the floppy and flip the reset switch - the sound was so distinctive I could recognize it long- distance!). I reported the problem to Northstar several times, but they never fixed it. - Remember the 1488, 1489 drivers mounted on the motherboard, along with the +5 and +-12V regulators? They were forever failing (both the drivers and regulators), what a hassle to remove the motherboard to replace the defective part! - The Horizon front-end power supply (transformer, diode bridge) has to be one of the biggest, herkiest things I ever saw! Of all the units I repaired, however, I think I replaced the diode bridge once. - I remember when the 64K memory boards came out. We used to buy the 32K version, remove the wire jumpers disguised as resistors, and install the other 32K ourselves - at a fraction of the price Northstar charged. - When the Advantage came out, it was great fun playing with the bit-mapped screen. The reset of the Advantage was somewhat of a dissapointment, just a repackaged Horizon. - Remember Northstar's attempt to allow reading of MS-DOS diskettes? Back then I don't think anyone realized what a force the IBM-PC would become (especially Northstar). Oh well, great memories. I used to spend all day working on my EE, then spend the evening hours working on Horizon's and Advantages. It was great fun. Even today, with my SPARCstation and 33MHZ 386 PC, is miss the simplicity of the Horizon running CPM. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Brian Crowley | DNS: brian@amc.com | |Applied Microsystems Corp. | UUCP: uunet!amc-gw!brian | |Redmond, WA | ATT: 206-882-2000 Ext. 328 | 30-Dec-91 09:11:58-MST,1692;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:11:46 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA20810; Sun, 29 Dec 91 12:04:33 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:17:34 GMT From: agate!spool.mu.edu!yale.edu!think.com!news.bbn.com!star-trek!ckhan@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Chico Khan) Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: >H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! >Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. It's a lonely world, isn't it? You ARE probably the only one since the only reason I saw this is because there never was a message here before so I never unsubscribed to this group. Chico. p.s Hope you've gotten yourself a new computer. :-) Hasmatallie A. Khan | | InterNet: ckhan@bbn.com Bolt, Beranek and Newman |___. |___. .___. SneakerNet: 20/317 B 150 CambridgePark Drive | | | | | | AT&T Net: 617-873-6119 Cambridge, MA 02140 |___! |___! | | CompuServe: 72770,1507 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As you go through life, watch out for the googly! 30-Dec-91 09:12:14-MST,2670;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:12:08 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA20035; Sun, 29 Dec 91 11:46:04 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 23:02:24 GMT From: seas.gwu.edu!biby@uunet.uu.net (Rich Biby) Organization: George Washington University Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> bobc@cyclops.mis.Tandem.com (Bob Croft) writes: >In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: >|> Hi. >|> >|> I had a Northstar. It was my first computer. I was swayed away from the >|> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches. >|> >|> H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! >|> >|> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. > >A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it >and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). >It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs >UNIX!) that we used to use... > >Bob Croft >croft_bob@Tandem.com Well, this is the most activity I've seen here in a long time. Last time someone asked a question about N*, I gave away my entire colection of 4. I once had a N* dealership. Time have changed. I just got may 20 MHZ 68030 Macintosh NOTEBOOK.... Still, I miss the S-100..... Regards to all, Rich Rich Biby | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA 22203 (703) 528-8489 KD4DSX | Communications Data Services, Inc. we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA 22044 people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884 (800) 441-0034 parents | WORK: rich@comm-data.com SKOOL: biby@seas.gwu.edu warned us | "I am not an idiot, but I play one on usenet!" about | Root Emergency Procedure: type "rm -rf /* " -- Rich Biby | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA 22203 (703) 528-8489 KD4DSX | Communications Data Services, Inc. we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA 22044 people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884 (800) 441-0034 30-Dec-91 09:13:15-MST,1684;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:13:10 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA15694; Sun, 29 Dec 91 10:12:28 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Bob Croft) Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc. Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: |> Hi. |> |> I had a Northstar. It was my first computer. I was swayed away from the |> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches. |> |> H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! |> |> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs UNIX!) that we used to use... Bob Croft croft_bob@Tandem.com *** This not the opinion of Tandem Computers *** *** Tandem Computers is not Tandon or Tandy *** 30-Dec-91 09:15:58-MST,1075;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:15:49 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA06900; Sun, 29 Dec 91 06:57:47 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 20:21:25 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!nntp-server.caltech.edu!news@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Michael Klein) Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena Subject: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil Hi. I had a Northstar. It was my first computer. I was swayed away from the Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches. H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. 31-Dec-91 10:25:59-MST,1680;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Tue, 31 Dec 91 10:25:53 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA07438; Tue, 31 Dec 91 09:11:01 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:11:15 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!doherty@ames.arc.nasa.gov (AE Doherty kevin mich) Organization: Johns Hopkins University Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221115.12849@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil I STILL have a Northstar...Still works fine, though my DOS was corrupted a while back; all I can do is listen to it try to boot :)! There were two features that attracted me to the Northstar: that nifty walnut case and the company's willingness to send the unit out as a crate of loose parts. I was looking for a computer I could BUILD, and they were willing to support it after I'd done so. I've been thinking of donating mine to a museum (one down in Blacksburg VA is advertising for pre-1980 computers; I need to check my invoice but think I qualify). I've lost track of the company; are they still around? If so, I'd like to get another copy of their DOS diskette (those weird 10 sector (hard sectored!) diskettes!). 11-Dec-91 16:09:26-MST,1682;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Wed, 11 Dec 91 16:09:20 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA22284; Wed, 11 Dec 91 14:39:44 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT From: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Bob Croft) Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc. Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: |> Hi. |> |> I had a Northstar. It was my first computer. I was swayed away from the |> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches. |> |> H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! |> |> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs UNIX!) that we used to use... Bob Croft croft_bob@Tandem.com *** This not the opinion of Tandem Computers *** *** Tandem Computers is not Tandon or Tandy *** 12-Dec-91 08:37:28-MST,2051;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Thu, 12 Dec 91 08:37:24 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA21734; Thu, 12 Dec 91 03:48:53 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 11 Dec 91 01:42:53 GMT From: amethyst!salado!root@arizona.edu (Thomas J. Trebisky) Organization: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec11.014253.26953@salado.rc.arizona.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: > Hi. > > I had a Northstar. It was my first computer. I was swayed away from the > Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches. > > H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! > > Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. I still have several stacked up providing extra mass in my house. When I ever get my 680x0 S100 board wire-wrapped up, I want to put it in the northstar box, just for fun. (Kind of like putting a V8 engine in a volkswagen). But I doubt I will ever run CP/M on a N* again. Several reasons -- (1) CP/M is the pits. (2) I have sworn never again to use a computer without a hard drive. (3) Those awful hard-sectored north star floppies a such a nuisance -- man oh man! If I am ever forced to run CP/M, I will run CDOS on my cromemco system instead, at least it is soft-sectored, and it supports 8-inch floppies (talk about nostalgia, nothing like the grind and clank of a good 8-inch floppy drive doing a long seek, especially in some of the boxes I have them in that really reverberate (sound like a rat throwing a fit inside a trash can) -- those are MAN-sized floppies ... but I digress. -- Tom Trebisky ttrebisky@as.arizona.edu 12-Dec-91 08:52:48-MST,1680;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Thu, 12 Dec 91 08:52:35 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA03028; Wed, 11 Dec 91 19:40:26 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:17:34 GMT From: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!news.bbn.com!star-trek!ckhan@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Chico Khan) Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: >H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! >Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. It's a lonely world, isn't it? You ARE probably the only one since the only reason I saw this is because there never was a message here before so I never unsubscribed to this group. Chico. p.s Hope you've gotten yourself a new computer. :-) Hasmatallie A. Khan | | InterNet: ckhan@bbn.com Bolt, Beranek and Newman |___. |___. .___. SneakerNet: 20/317 B 150 CambridgePark Drive | | | | | | AT&T Net: 617-873-6119 Cambridge, MA 02140 |___! |___! | | CompuServe: 72770,1507 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As you go through life, watch out for the googly! 12-Dec-91 10:18:21-MST,1265;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Thu, 12 Dec 91 10:18:16 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA23657; Thu, 12 Dec 91 09:10:10 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 11 Dec 91 08:59:53 GMT From: sakura!freund@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Jason Freund) Organization: U C Davis, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <10583@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> References: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> brian@amc.com (Brian Crowley) writes: >From article , by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan): >> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: >> >>>H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! >> >>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. Yeah. I just asked everyone. You are the only person who has a Northstar ;) 12-Dec-91 12:50:47-MST,1809;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from silver.lcs.mit.edu by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Thu, 12 Dec 91 12:50:38 MST Received: by silver.lcs.mit.edu id AA04764; Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:47:26 -0500 Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:47:26 -0500 From: devon@silver.lcs.mit.edu (Devon Sean McCullough) Message-Id: <9112121947.AA04764@silver.lcs.mit.edu> To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil Subject: [MAILER-DAEMON@ucdavis.edu: Returned mail: Service unavailable] From: MAILER-DAEMON@ucdavis.edu (Mail Delivery Subsystem) Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 11:16:02 -0800 To: Subject: Returned mail: Service unavailable ----- Transcript of session follows ----- >>> RCPT To: <<< 554 ... Host wupost not known--please specify domain 554 ... Service unavailable ----- Unsent message follows ----- Received: from SILVER.LCS.MIT.EDU by ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (5.61/UCD2.03) id AA18758; Thu, 12 Dec 91 11:06:53 -0800 Received: by silver.lcs.mit.edu id AA04562; Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:05:28 -0500 Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:05:28 -0500 From: devon@silver.lcs.mit.edu (Devon Sean McCullough) Message-Id: <9112121905.AA04562@silver.lcs.mit.edu> To: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu In-Reply-To: Bob Croft's message of 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> Subject: nostalgia I still have a Sol-20 or so, running N*DOS of course. Haven't powered it up in maybe ten years, but it worked fine last time I booted it. 13-Dec-91 19:17:13-MST,3731;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Fri, 13 Dec 91 19:16:53 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA23606; Fri, 13 Dec 91 17:48:48 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 11 Dec 91 06:39:10 GMT From: milton!sumax!amc-gw!brian@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Brian Crowley) Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil From article , by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan): > klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: > >>H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! > >>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. I worked my way through college repairing Northstar's for a little firm which bundled accounting software, terminal and printer with the Northstar and sold the entire package as a system. I repaired hundreds of both the Horizon and Advantage versions. Some of the things I remember: - The old single-density disk controllers were *junk*. We had all kinds of problems with them. The double-density controller were better, but they had a failure mode which affected almost everyone I saw: there was a mylar capacitor mounted just above the 5V regulator. Over time the heat coming off the regulator would "cook" the capacitor, causing it to fail, resulting in a distinctive ka-chunck, ka-chunck, ka-chunck sound when you tried to boot off a floppy (I sometimes had customers put their phone against the floppy and flip the reset switch - the sound was so distinctive I could recognize it long- distance!). I reported the problem to Northstar several times, but they never fixed it. - Remember the 1488, 1489 drivers mounted on the motherboard, along with the +5 and +-12V regulators? They were forever failing (both the drivers and regulators), what a hassle to remove the motherboard to replace the defective part! - The Horizon front-end power supply (transformer, diode bridge) has to be one of the biggest, herkiest things I ever saw! Of all the units I repaired, however, I think I replaced the diode bridge once. - I remember when the 64K memory boards came out. We used to buy the 32K version, remove the wire jumpers disguised as resistors, and install the other 32K ourselves - at a fraction of the price Northstar charged. - When the Advantage came out, it was great fun playing with the bit-mapped screen. The reset of the Advantage was somewhat of a dissapointment, just a repackaged Horizon. - Remember Northstar's attempt to allow reading of MS-DOS diskettes? Back then I don't think anyone realized what a force the IBM-PC would become (especially Northstar). Oh well, great memories. I used to spend all day working on my EE, then spend the evening hours working on Horizon's and Advantages. It was great fun. Even today, with my SPARCstation and 33MHZ 386 PC, is miss the simplicity of the Horizon running CPM. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Brian Crowley | DNS: brian@amc.com | |Applied Microsystems Corp. | UUCP: uunet!amc-gw!brian | |Redmond, WA | ATT: 206-882-2000 Ext. 328 | 16-Dec-91 08:15:24-MST,1605;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 16 Dec 91 08:15:18 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA20825; Mon, 16 Dec 91 04:55:51 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 13 Dec 91 16:57:41 GMT From: csus.edu!wupost!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!aplcomm!craig@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Craig Myers) Organization: JHU/APL, Laurel, MD Subject: Northstar Dimension Message-Id: <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil I just acquired a Northstar Dimension from my Church (were churches the only ones to buy these things?). The system had intermittent problems and ha been shoved in a corner for the last year. This box does not have an s100 bus, It appears to be similar to the IBM PC's (62 pins). Also, has a custom CPU chip and an 80186. I don't have software or any terminals, so its doubtful I can use it as a system. Does anyone know if the disk drives are usable on a PC system (one 15 meg and a 35 meg drive)? Well at least its a nice big case with a heavy power supply and a couple of fans. I now have : A Timex Sinclair 1000 Atari 400 Comodore 64 Apple II e (I still use this one) and a wife who wonders what all the junk is for! craig@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu 16-Dec-91 08:21:49-MST,3202;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 16 Dec 91 08:21:45 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA24909; Mon, 16 Dec 91 07:10:56 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 13 Dec 91 18:42:45 GMT From: seas.gwu.edu!biby@uunet.uu.net (Rich Biby) Organization: George Washington University Subject: Re: Northstar Dimension Message-Id: <1991Dec13.184245.4111@seas.gwu.edu> References: <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU> craig@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU (Craig Myers) writes: >I just acquired a Northstar Dimension from my Church (were >churches the only ones to buy these things?). The system had >intermittent problems and ha been shoved in a corner for the >last year. This box does not have an s100 bus, It appears to >be similar to the IBM PC's (62 pins). Also, has a custom CPU >chip and an 80186. I don't have software or any terminals, so >its doubtful I can use it as a system. Does anyone know if >the disk drives are usable on a PC system (one 15 meg and a > 35 meg drive)? Well at least its a nice big case with a > heavy power supply and a couple of fans. > > I now have : > A Timex Sinclair 1000 > Atari 400 > Comodore 64 > Apple II e (I still use this one) > >and a wife who wonders what all the junk is for! > >craig@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu > Well, I owned a N* dealership, but never did I use a dimension. I went to high skool with two guys I opened the store with (We were all in high skool), both of whom went of to do more with N* that I. The first guy I know I talked about before, Chip White. He has a bad habbit of not returning fone calles, but for Advantage/Horizon stuff, try hime a 216-775-1314. He is a tour manager for a musician (sp?) and will be back in Ohio after Sunday. Chip became one of a very few guys in the country to fix/support N* after N* droped A/H. He is pretty much out of "the biz", but may have some good contacts. The second guy I have not seen in a while, but we were like borhters many years ago, Tom Johnston. Tom went to work for N* in CA, and did stuff with the dimensions. I don't really know what. Tom worked at Northern Lights Computers in Berkley also. I know Tom no longer has much of anything to do with N*/and any corporate remains, but he might know someone who knows.... I don't have a number for Tom handy, but if you are interested, drop me a note. He lives in Berkley -- try information if you like. Closing arguments: Don't remind me how much I paid for that ST506 5 MB hard disk..... Best regards to all, Rich -- Rich Biby | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA 22203 (703) 528-8489 KD4DSX | Communications Data Services, Inc. we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA 22044 people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884 (800) 441-0034 16-Dec-91 09:33:31-MST,2223;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 16 Dec 91 09:33:21 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA25217; Sun, 15 Dec 91 16:25:06 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 12 Dec 91 22:35:28 GMT From: hsdndev!adm!amsaa-cleo!dileo@rutgers.edu (John J. DiLeo) Organization: Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <5390@amsaa-cleo.brl.mil> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>, <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu> biby@seas.gwu.edu (Rich Biby) writes: > >Well, this is the most activity I've seen here in a long time. Last >time someone asked a question about N*, I gave away my entire colection >of 4. And most of them are humming along quite nicely. Thank you very much 8-). I still haven't actually gotten any actual copies of the hard disk OS for the Horizon Rich gave me. I did get a couple of e-mailed promises, but no disks have yet arrived. So, I make my plea once again. Does anyone out there have copies of the Hard Disk OS (HDOS or, if it exists/ed, CP/M) for the Horizon? >I once had a N* dealership. Time have changed. I just >got may 20 MHZ 68030 Macintosh NOTEBOOK.... > >Still, I miss the S-100..... > >Regards to all, >Rich And, on a mostly unrelated question, how are things with your GPS set since the DOD activated the S/A degradation (you did know it's active now, right 8-)?? >-- >Rich Biby | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA 22203 (703) 528-8489 >KD4DSX | Communications Data Services, Inc. >we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA 22044 >people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884 (800) 441-0034 John DiLeo dileo@brl.mil --Proprietor, Aberdeen North*Star Museum and Emporium 8-) 16-Dec-91 10:48:59-MST,1680;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 16 Dec 91 10:48:51 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA19680; Sat, 14 Dec 91 04:41:39 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:11:15 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!doherty@ames.arc.nasa.gov (AE Doherty kevin mich) Organization: Johns Hopkins University Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221115.12849@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil I STILL have a Northstar...Still works fine, though my DOS was corrupted a while back; all I can do is listen to it try to boot :)! There were two features that attracted me to the Northstar: that nifty walnut case and the company's willingness to send the unit out as a crate of loose parts. I was looking for a computer I could BUILD, and they were willing to support it after I'd done so. I've been thinking of donating mine to a museum (one down in Blacksburg VA is advertising for pre-1980 computers; I need to check my invoice but think I qualify). I've lost track of the company; are they still around? If so, I'd like to get another copy of their DOS diskette (those weird 10 sector (hard sectored!) diskettes!). 17-Dec-91 10:10:09-MST,745;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from NMSU.Edu by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Tue, 17 Dec 91 10:09:46 MST Received: from acoma (acoma.NMSU.Edu) by NMSU.Edu (4.1/NMSU-1.18) id AA01966; Tue, 17 Dec 91 10:08:58 MST Date: Tue, 17 Dec 91 10:08:58 MST From: Message-Id: <9112171708.AA01966@NMSU.Edu> Received: by acoma (4.1/NMSU-2.2) id AA08872; Tue, 17 Dec 91 10:08:50 MST To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil Subject: Games I still have a N* horizon running. Occasionaly my kids turn it on and play a game (PAC MAN). It is the only game I have. Do any of you have any games like PACMAN that will run on N* horizon? It is a two floppy disk system. Herb Hamilton hamilton%nmsu.edu 30-Dec-91 08:59:07-MST,1265;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 08:59:01 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA08855; Sun, 29 Dec 91 18:25:54 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 11 Dec 91 08:59:53 GMT From: sakura!freund@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Jason Freund) Organization: U C Davis, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <10583@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> References: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> brian@amc.com (Brian Crowley) writes: >From article , by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan): >> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: >> >>>H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! >> >>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. Yeah. I just asked everyone. You are the only person who has a Northstar ;) 30-Dec-91 09:00:09-MST,3731;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:00:00 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA08180; Sun, 29 Dec 91 18:09:28 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 11 Dec 91 06:39:10 GMT From: milton!sumax!amc-gw!brian@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Brian Crowley) Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil From article , by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan): > klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: > >>H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! > >>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. I worked my way through college repairing Northstar's for a little firm which bundled accounting software, terminal and printer with the Northstar and sold the entire package as a system. I repaired hundreds of both the Horizon and Advantage versions. Some of the things I remember: - The old single-density disk controllers were *junk*. We had all kinds of problems with them. The double-density controller were better, but they had a failure mode which affected almost everyone I saw: there was a mylar capacitor mounted just above the 5V regulator. Over time the heat coming off the regulator would "cook" the capacitor, causing it to fail, resulting in a distinctive ka-chunck, ka-chunck, ka-chunck sound when you tried to boot off a floppy (I sometimes had customers put their phone against the floppy and flip the reset switch - the sound was so distinctive I could recognize it long- distance!). I reported the problem to Northstar several times, but they never fixed it. - Remember the 1488, 1489 drivers mounted on the motherboard, along with the +5 and +-12V regulators? They were forever failing (both the drivers and regulators), what a hassle to remove the motherboard to replace the defective part! - The Horizon front-end power supply (transformer, diode bridge) has to be one of the biggest, herkiest things I ever saw! Of all the units I repaired, however, I think I replaced the diode bridge once. - I remember when the 64K memory boards came out. We used to buy the 32K version, remove the wire jumpers disguised as resistors, and install the other 32K ourselves - at a fraction of the price Northstar charged. - When the Advantage came out, it was great fun playing with the bit-mapped screen. The reset of the Advantage was somewhat of a dissapointment, just a repackaged Horizon. - Remember Northstar's attempt to allow reading of MS-DOS diskettes? Back then I don't think anyone realized what a force the IBM-PC would become (especially Northstar). Oh well, great memories. I used to spend all day working on my EE, then spend the evening hours working on Horizon's and Advantages. It was great fun. Even today, with my SPARCstation and 33MHZ 386 PC, is miss the simplicity of the Horizon running CPM. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Brian Crowley | DNS: brian@amc.com | |Applied Microsystems Corp. | UUCP: uunet!amc-gw!brian | |Redmond, WA | ATT: 206-882-2000 Ext. 328 | 30-Dec-91 09:11:58-MST,1692;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:11:46 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA20810; Sun, 29 Dec 91 12:04:33 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:17:34 GMT From: agate!spool.mu.edu!yale.edu!think.com!news.bbn.com!star-trek!ckhan@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Chico Khan) Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: >H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! >Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. It's a lonely world, isn't it? You ARE probably the only one since the only reason I saw this is because there never was a message here before so I never unsubscribed to this group. Chico. p.s Hope you've gotten yourself a new computer. :-) Hasmatallie A. Khan | | InterNet: ckhan@bbn.com Bolt, Beranek and Newman |___. |___. .___. SneakerNet: 20/317 B 150 CambridgePark Drive | | | | | | AT&T Net: 617-873-6119 Cambridge, MA 02140 |___! |___! | | CompuServe: 72770,1507 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As you go through life, watch out for the googly! 30-Dec-91 09:12:14-MST,2670;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:12:08 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA20035; Sun, 29 Dec 91 11:46:04 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 23:02:24 GMT From: seas.gwu.edu!biby@uunet.uu.net (Rich Biby) Organization: George Washington University Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> bobc@cyclops.mis.Tandem.com (Bob Croft) writes: >In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: >|> Hi. >|> >|> I had a Northstar. It was my first computer. I was swayed away from the >|> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches. >|> >|> H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! >|> >|> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. > >A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it >and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). >It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs >UNIX!) that we used to use... > >Bob Croft >croft_bob@Tandem.com Well, this is the most activity I've seen here in a long time. Last time someone asked a question about N*, I gave away my entire colection of 4. I once had a N* dealership. Time have changed. I just got may 20 MHZ 68030 Macintosh NOTEBOOK.... Still, I miss the S-100..... Regards to all, Rich Rich Biby | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA 22203 (703) 528-8489 KD4DSX | Communications Data Services, Inc. we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA 22044 people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884 (800) 441-0034 parents | WORK: rich@comm-data.com SKOOL: biby@seas.gwu.edu warned us | "I am not an idiot, but I play one on usenet!" about | Root Emergency Procedure: type "rm -rf /* " -- Rich Biby | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA 22203 (703) 528-8489 KD4DSX | Communications Data Services, Inc. we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA 22044 people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884 (800) 441-0034 30-Dec-91 09:13:15-MST,1684;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:13:10 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA15694; Sun, 29 Dec 91 10:12:28 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Bob Croft) Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc. Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: |> Hi. |> |> I had a Northstar. It was my first computer. I was swayed away from the |> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches. |> |> H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! |> |> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs UNIX!) that we used to use... Bob Croft croft_bob@Tandem.com *** This not the opinion of Tandem Computers *** *** Tandem Computers is not Tandon or Tandy *** 30-Dec-91 09:15:58-MST,1075;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:15:49 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA06900; Sun, 29 Dec 91 06:57:47 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 20:21:25 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!nntp-server.caltech.edu!news@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Michael Klein) Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena Subject: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil Hi. I had a Northstar. It was my first computer. I was swayed away from the Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches. H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. 31-Dec-91 10:25:59-MST,1680;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Tue, 31 Dec 91 10:25:53 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA07438; Tue, 31 Dec 91 09:11:01 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:11:15 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!doherty@ames.arc.nasa.gov (AE Doherty kevin mich) Organization: Johns Hopkins University Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221115.12849@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil I STILL have a Northstar...Still works fine, though my DOS was corrupted a while back; all I can do is listen to it try to boot :)! There were two features that attracted me to the Northstar: that nifty walnut case and the company's willingness to send the unit out as a crate of loose parts. I was looking for a computer I could BUILD, and they were willing to support it after I'd done so. I've been thinking of donating mine to a museum (one down in Blacksburg VA is advertising for pre-1980 computers; I need to check my invoice but think I qualify). I've lost track of the company; are they still around? If so, I'd like to get another copy of their DOS diskette (those weird 10 sector (hard sectored!) diskettes!). 11-Dec-91 16:09:26-MST,1682;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Wed, 11 Dec 91 16:09:20 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA22284; Wed, 11 Dec 91 14:39:44 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT From: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Bob Croft) Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc. Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: |> Hi. |> |> I had a Northstar. It was my first computer. I was swayed away from the |> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches. |> |> H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! |> |> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs UNIX!) that we used to use... Bob Croft croft_bob@Tandem.com *** This not the opinion of Tandem Computers *** *** Tandem Computers is not Tandon or Tandy *** 12-Dec-91 08:37:28-MST,2051;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Thu, 12 Dec 91 08:37:24 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA21734; Thu, 12 Dec 91 03:48:53 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 11 Dec 91 01:42:53 GMT From: amethyst!salado!root@arizona.edu (Thomas J. Trebisky) Organization: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec11.014253.26953@salado.rc.arizona.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: > Hi. > > I had a Northstar. It was my first computer. I was swayed away from the > Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches. > > H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! > > Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. I still have several stacked up providing extra mass in my house. When I ever get my 680x0 S100 board wire-wrapped up, I want to put it in the northstar box, just for fun. (Kind of like putting a V8 engine in a volkswagen). But I doubt I will ever run CP/M on a N* again. Several reasons -- (1) CP/M is the pits. (2) I have sworn never again to use a computer without a hard drive. (3) Those awful hard-sectored north star floppies a such a nuisance -- man oh man! If I am ever forced to run CP/M, I will run CDOS on my cromemco system instead, at least it is soft-sectored, and it supports 8-inch floppies (talk about nostalgia, nothing like the grind and clank of a good 8-inch floppy drive doing a long seek, especially in some of the boxes I have them in that really reverberate (sound like a rat throwing a fit inside a trash can) -- those are MAN-sized floppies ... but I digress. -- Tom Trebisky ttrebisky@as.arizona.edu 12-Dec-91 08:52:48-MST,1680;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Thu, 12 Dec 91 08:52:35 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA03028; Wed, 11 Dec 91 19:40:26 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:17:34 GMT From: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!news.bbn.com!star-trek!ckhan@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Chico Khan) Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: >H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! >Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. It's a lonely world, isn't it? You ARE probably the only one since the only reason I saw this is because there never was a message here before so I never unsubscribed to this group. Chico. p.s Hope you've gotten yourself a new computer. :-) Hasmatallie A. Khan | | InterNet: ckhan@bbn.com Bolt, Beranek and Newman |___. |___. .___. SneakerNet: 20/317 B 150 CambridgePark Drive | | | | | | AT&T Net: 617-873-6119 Cambridge, MA 02140 |___! |___! | | CompuServe: 72770,1507 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As you go through life, watch out for the googly! 12-Dec-91 10:18:21-MST,1265;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Thu, 12 Dec 91 10:18:16 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA23657; Thu, 12 Dec 91 09:10:10 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 11 Dec 91 08:59:53 GMT From: sakura!freund@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Jason Freund) Organization: U C Davis, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <10583@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> References: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> brian@amc.com (Brian Crowley) writes: >From article , by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan): >> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: >> >>>H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! >> >>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. Yeah. I just asked everyone. You are the only person who has a Northstar ;) 12-Dec-91 12:50:47-MST,1809;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from silver.lcs.mit.edu by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Thu, 12 Dec 91 12:50:38 MST Received: by silver.lcs.mit.edu id AA04764; Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:47:26 -0500 Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:47:26 -0500 From: devon@silver.lcs.mit.edu (Devon Sean McCullough) Message-Id: <9112121947.AA04764@silver.lcs.mit.edu> To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil Subject: [MAILER-DAEMON@ucdavis.edu: Returned mail: Service unavailable] From: MAILER-DAEMON@ucdavis.edu (Mail Delivery Subsystem) Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 11:16:02 -0800 To: Subject: Returned mail: Service unavailable ----- Transcript of session follows ----- >>> RCPT To: <<< 554 ... Host wupost not known--please specify domain 554 ... Service unavailable ----- Unsent message follows ----- Received: from SILVER.LCS.MIT.EDU by ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (5.61/UCD2.03) id AA18758; Thu, 12 Dec 91 11:06:53 -0800 Received: by silver.lcs.mit.edu id AA04562; Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:05:28 -0500 Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:05:28 -0500 From: devon@silver.lcs.mit.edu (Devon Sean McCullough) Message-Id: <9112121905.AA04562@silver.lcs.mit.edu> To: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu In-Reply-To: Bob Croft's message of 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> Subject: nostalgia I still have a Sol-20 or so, running N*DOS of course. Haven't powered it up in maybe ten years, but it worked fine last time I booted it. 13-Dec-91 19:17:13-MST,3731;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Fri, 13 Dec 91 19:16:53 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA23606; Fri, 13 Dec 91 17:48:48 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 11 Dec 91 06:39:10 GMT From: milton!sumax!amc-gw!brian@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Brian Crowley) Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil From article , by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan): > klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: > >>H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! > >>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. I worked my way through college repairing Northstar's for a little firm which bundled accounting software, terminal and printer with the Northstar and sold the entire package as a system. I repaired hundreds of both the Horizon and Advantage versions. Some of the things I remember: - The old single-density disk controllers were *junk*. We had all kinds of problems with them. The double-density controller were better, but they had a failure mode which affected almost everyone I saw: there was a mylar capacitor mounted just above the 5V regulator. Over time the heat coming off the regulator would "cook" the capacitor, causing it to fail, resulting in a distinctive ka-chunck, ka-chunck, ka-chunck sound when you tried to boot off a floppy (I sometimes had customers put their phone against the floppy and flip the reset switch - the sound was so distinctive I could recognize it long- distance!). I reported the problem to Northstar several times, but they never fixed it. - Remember the 1488, 1489 drivers mounted on the motherboard, along with the +5 and +-12V regulators? They were forever failing (both the drivers and regulators), what a hassle to remove the motherboard to replace the defective part! - The Horizon front-end power supply (transformer, diode bridge) has to be one of the biggest, herkiest things I ever saw! Of all the units I repaired, however, I think I replaced the diode bridge once. - I remember when the 64K memory boards came out. We used to buy the 32K version, remove the wire jumpers disguised as resistors, and install the other 32K ourselves - at a fraction of the price Northstar charged. - When the Advantage came out, it was great fun playing with the bit-mapped screen. The reset of the Advantage was somewhat of a dissapointment, just a repackaged Horizon. - Remember Northstar's attempt to allow reading of MS-DOS diskettes? Back then I don't think anyone realized what a force the IBM-PC would become (especially Northstar). Oh well, great memories. I used to spend all day working on my EE, then spend the evening hours working on Horizon's and Advantages. It was great fun. Even today, with my SPARCstation and 33MHZ 386 PC, is miss the simplicity of the Horizon running CPM. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Brian Crowley | DNS: brian@amc.com | |Applied Microsystems Corp. | UUCP: uunet!amc-gw!brian | |Redmond, WA | ATT: 206-882-2000 Ext. 328 | 16-Dec-91 08:15:24-MST,1605;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 16 Dec 91 08:15:18 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA20825; Mon, 16 Dec 91 04:55:51 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 13 Dec 91 16:57:41 GMT From: csus.edu!wupost!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!aplcomm!craig@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Craig Myers) Organization: JHU/APL, Laurel, MD Subject: Northstar Dimension Message-Id: <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil I just acquired a Northstar Dimension from my Church (were churches the only ones to buy these things?). The system had intermittent problems and ha been shoved in a corner for the last year. This box does not have an s100 bus, It appears to be similar to the IBM PC's (62 pins). Also, has a custom CPU chip and an 80186. I don't have software or any terminals, so its doubtful I can use it as a system. Does anyone know if the disk drives are usable on a PC system (one 15 meg and a 35 meg drive)? Well at least its a nice big case with a heavy power supply and a couple of fans. I now have : A Timex Sinclair 1000 Atari 400 Comodore 64 Apple II e (I still use this one) and a wife who wonders what all the junk is for! craig@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu 16-Dec-91 08:21:49-MST,3202;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 16 Dec 91 08:21:45 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA24909; Mon, 16 Dec 91 07:10:56 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 13 Dec 91 18:42:45 GMT From: seas.gwu.edu!biby@uunet.uu.net (Rich Biby) Organization: George Washington University Subject: Re: Northstar Dimension Message-Id: <1991Dec13.184245.4111@seas.gwu.edu> References: <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU> craig@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU (Craig Myers) writes: >I just acquired a Northstar Dimension from my Church (were >churches the only ones to buy these things?). The system had >intermittent problems and ha been shoved in a corner for the >last year. This box does not have an s100 bus, It appears to >be similar to the IBM PC's (62 pins). Also, has a custom CPU >chip and an 80186. I don't have software or any terminals, so >its doubtful I can use it as a system. Does anyone know if >the disk drives are usable on a PC system (one 15 meg and a > 35 meg drive)? Well at least its a nice big case with a > heavy power supply and a couple of fans. > > I now have : > A Timex Sinclair 1000 > Atari 400 > Comodore 64 > Apple II e (I still use this one) > >and a wife who wonders what all the junk is for! > >craig@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu > Well, I owned a N* dealership, but never did I use a dimension. I went to high skool with two guys I opened the store with (We were all in high skool), both of whom went of to do more with N* that I. The first guy I know I talked about before, Chip White. He has a bad habbit of not returning fone calles, but for Advantage/Horizon stuff, try hime a 216-775-1314. He is a tour manager for a musician (sp?) and will be back in Ohio after Sunday. Chip became one of a very few guys in the country to fix/support N* after N* droped A/H. He is pretty much out of "the biz", but may have some good contacts. The second guy I have not seen in a while, but we were like borhters many years ago, Tom Johnston. Tom went to work for N* in CA, and did stuff with the dimensions. I don't really know what. Tom worked at Northern Lights Computers in Berkley also. I know Tom no longer has much of anything to do with N*/and any corporate remains, but he might know someone who knows.... I don't have a number for Tom handy, but if you are interested, drop me a note. He lives in Berkley -- try information if you like. Closing arguments: Don't remind me how much I paid for that ST506 5 MB hard disk..... Best regards to all, Rich -- Rich Biby | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA 22203 (703) 528-8489 KD4DSX | Communications Data Services, Inc. we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA 22044 people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884 (800) 441-0034 16-Dec-91 09:33:31-MST,2223;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 16 Dec 91 09:33:21 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA25217; Sun, 15 Dec 91 16:25:06 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 12 Dec 91 22:35:28 GMT From: hsdndev!adm!amsaa-cleo!dileo@rutgers.edu (John J. DiLeo) Organization: Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <5390@amsaa-cleo.brl.mil> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>, <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu> biby@seas.gwu.edu (Rich Biby) writes: > >Well, this is the most activity I've seen here in a long time. Last >time someone asked a question about N*, I gave away my entire colection >of 4. And most of them are humming along quite nicely. Thank you very much 8-). I still haven't actually gotten any actual copies of the hard disk OS for the Horizon Rich gave me. I did get a couple of e-mailed promises, but no disks have yet arrived. So, I make my plea once again. Does anyone out there have copies of the Hard Disk OS (HDOS or, if it exists/ed, CP/M) for the Horizon? >I once had a N* dealership. Time have changed. I just >got may 20 MHZ 68030 Macintosh NOTEBOOK.... > >Still, I miss the S-100..... > >Regards to all, >Rich And, on a mostly unrelated question, how are things with your GPS set since the DOD activated the S/A degradation (you did know it's active now, right 8-)?? >-- >Rich Biby | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA 22203 (703) 528-8489 >KD4DSX | Communications Data Services, Inc. >we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA 22044 >people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884 (800) 441-0034 John DiLeo dileo@brl.mil --Proprietor, Aberdeen North*Star Museum and Emporium 8-) 16-Dec-91 10:48:59-MST,1680;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 16 Dec 91 10:48:51 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA19680; Sat, 14 Dec 91 04:41:39 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:11:15 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!doherty@ames.arc.nasa.gov (AE Doherty kevin mich) Organization: Johns Hopkins University Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221115.12849@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil I STILL have a Northstar...Still works fine, though my DOS was corrupted a while back; all I can do is listen to it try to boot :)! There were two features that attracted me to the Northstar: that nifty walnut case and the company's willingness to send the unit out as a crate of loose parts. I was looking for a computer I could BUILD, and they were willing to support it after I'd done so. I've been thinking of donating mine to a museum (one down in Blacksburg VA is advertising for pre-1980 computers; I need to check my invoice but think I qualify). I've lost track of the company; are they still around? If so, I'd like to get another copy of their DOS diskette (those weird 10 sector (hard sectored!) diskettes!). 17-Dec-91 10:10:09-MST,745;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from NMSU.Edu by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Tue, 17 Dec 91 10:09:46 MST Received: from acoma (acoma.NMSU.Edu) by NMSU.Edu (4.1/NMSU-1.18) id AA01966; Tue, 17 Dec 91 10:08:58 MST Date: Tue, 17 Dec 91 10:08:58 MST From: Message-Id: <9112171708.AA01966@NMSU.Edu> Received: by acoma (4.1/NMSU-2.2) id AA08872; Tue, 17 Dec 91 10:08:50 MST To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil Subject: Games I still have a N* horizon running. Occasionaly my kids turn it on and play a game (PAC MAN). It is the only game I have. Do any of you have any games like PACMAN that will run on N* horizon? It is a two floppy disk system. Herb Hamilton hamilton%nmsu.edu 30-Dec-91 08:59:07-MST,1265;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 08:59:01 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA08855; Sun, 29 Dec 91 18:25:54 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 11 Dec 91 08:59:53 GMT From: sakura!freund@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Jason Freund) Organization: U C Davis, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <10583@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> References: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> brian@amc.com (Brian Crowley) writes: >From article , by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan): >> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: >> >>>H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! >> >>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. Yeah. I just asked everyone. You are the only person who has a Northstar ;) 30-Dec-91 09:00:09-MST,3731;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:00:00 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA08180; Sun, 29 Dec 91 18:09:28 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 11 Dec 91 06:39:10 GMT From: milton!sumax!amc-gw!brian@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Brian Crowley) Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil From article , by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan): > klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: > >>H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! > >>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. I worked my way through college repairing Northstar's for a little firm which bundled accounting software, terminal and printer with the Northstar and sold the entire package as a system. I repaired hundreds of both the Horizon and Advantage versions. Some of the things I remember: - The old single-density disk controllers were *junk*. We had all kinds of problems with them. The double-density controller were better, but they had a failure mode which affected almost everyone I saw: there was a mylar capacitor mounted just above the 5V regulator. Over time the heat coming off the regulator would "cook" the capacitor, causing it to fail, resulting in a distinctive ka-chunck, ka-chunck, ka-chunck sound when you tried to boot off a floppy (I sometimes had customers put their phone against the floppy and flip the reset switch - the sound was so distinctive I could recognize it long- distance!). I reported the problem to Northstar several times, but they never fixed it. - Remember the 1488, 1489 drivers mounted on the motherboard, along with the +5 and +-12V regulators? They were forever failing (both the drivers and regulators), what a hassle to remove the motherboard to replace the defective part! - The Horizon front-end power supply (transformer, diode bridge) has to be one of the biggest, herkiest things I ever saw! Of all the units I repaired, however, I think I replaced the diode bridge once. - I remember when the 64K memory boards came out. We used to buy the 32K version, remove the wire jumpers disguised as resistors, and install the other 32K ourselves - at a fraction of the price Northstar charged. - When the Advantage came out, it was great fun playing with the bit-mapped screen. The reset of the Advantage was somewhat of a dissapointment, just a repackaged Horizon. - Remember Northstar's attempt to allow reading of MS-DOS diskettes? Back then I don't think anyone realized what a force the IBM-PC would become (especially Northstar). Oh well, great memories. I used to spend all day working on my EE, then spend the evening hours working on Horizon's and Advantages. It was great fun. Even today, with my SPARCstation and 33MHZ 386 PC, is miss the simplicity of the Horizon running CPM. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Brian Crowley | DNS: brian@amc.com | |Applied Microsystems Corp. | UUCP: uunet!amc-gw!brian | |Redmond, WA | ATT: 206-882-2000 Ext. 328 | 30-Dec-91 09:11:58-MST,1692;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:11:46 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA20810; Sun, 29 Dec 91 12:04:33 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:17:34 GMT From: agate!spool.mu.edu!yale.edu!think.com!news.bbn.com!star-trek!ckhan@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Chico Khan) Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: >H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! >Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. It's a lonely world, isn't it? You ARE probably the only one since the only reason I saw this is because there never was a message here before so I never unsubscribed to this group. Chico. p.s Hope you've gotten yourself a new computer. :-) Hasmatallie A. Khan | | InterNet: ckhan@bbn.com Bolt, Beranek and Newman |___. |___. .___. SneakerNet: 20/317 B 150 CambridgePark Drive | | | | | | AT&T Net: 617-873-6119 Cambridge, MA 02140 |___! |___! | | CompuServe: 72770,1507 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As you go through life, watch out for the googly! 30-Dec-91 09:12:14-MST,2670;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:12:08 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA20035; Sun, 29 Dec 91 11:46:04 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 23:02:24 GMT From: seas.gwu.edu!biby@uunet.uu.net (Rich Biby) Organization: George Washington University Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> bobc@cyclops.mis.Tandem.com (Bob Croft) writes: >In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: >|> Hi. >|> >|> I had a Northstar. It was my first computer. I was swayed away from the >|> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches. >|> >|> H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! >|> >|> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. > >A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it >and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). >It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs >UNIX!) that we used to use... > >Bob Croft >croft_bob@Tandem.com Well, this is the most activity I've seen here in a long time. Last time someone asked a question about N*, I gave away my entire colection of 4. I once had a N* dealership. Time have changed. I just got may 20 MHZ 68030 Macintosh NOTEBOOK.... Still, I miss the S-100..... Regards to all, Rich Rich Biby | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA 22203 (703) 528-8489 KD4DSX | Communications Data Services, Inc. we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA 22044 people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884 (800) 441-0034 parents | WORK: rich@comm-data.com SKOOL: biby@seas.gwu.edu warned us | "I am not an idiot, but I play one on usenet!" about | Root Emergency Procedure: type "rm -rf /* " -- Rich Biby | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA 22203 (703) 528-8489 KD4DSX | Communications Data Services, Inc. we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA 22044 people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884 (800) 441-0034 30-Dec-91 09:13:15-MST,1684;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:13:10 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA15694; Sun, 29 Dec 91 10:12:28 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Bob Croft) Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc. Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: |> Hi. |> |> I had a Northstar. It was my first computer. I was swayed away from the |> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches. |> |> H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! |> |> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs UNIX!) that we used to use... Bob Croft croft_bob@Tandem.com *** This not the opinion of Tandem Computers *** *** Tandem Computers is not Tandon or Tandy *** 30-Dec-91 09:15:58-MST,1075;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:15:49 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA06900; Sun, 29 Dec 91 06:57:47 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 20:21:25 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!nntp-server.caltech.edu!news@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Michael Klein) Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena Subject: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil Hi. I had a Northstar. It was my first computer. I was swayed away from the Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches. H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. 31-Dec-91 10:25:59-MST,1680;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Tue, 31 Dec 91 10:25:53 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA07438; Tue, 31 Dec 91 09:11:01 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:11:15 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!doherty@ames.arc.nasa.gov (AE Doherty kevin mich) Organization: Johns Hopkins University Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221115.12849@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil I STILL have a Northstar...Still works fine, though my DOS was corrupted a while back; all I can do is listen to it try to boot :)! There were two features that attracted me to the Northstar: that nifty walnut case and the company's willingness to send the unit out as a crate of loose parts. I was looking for a computer I could BUILD, and they were willing to support it after I'd done so. I've been thinking of donating mine to a museum (one down in Blacksburg VA is advertising for pre-1980 computers; I need to check my invoice but think I qualify). I've lost track of the company; are they still around? If so, I'd like to get another copy of their DOS diskette (those weird 10 sector (hard sectored!) diskettes!). 11-Dec-91 16:09:26-MST,1682;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Wed, 11 Dec 91 16:09:20 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA22284; Wed, 11 Dec 91 14:39:44 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT From: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Bob Croft) Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc. Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: |> Hi. |> |> I had a Northstar. It was my first computer. I was swayed away from the |> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches. |> |> H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! |> |> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs UNIX!) that we used to use... Bob Croft croft_bob@Tandem.com *** This not the opinion of Tandem Computers *** *** Tandem Computers is not Tandon or Tandy *** 12-Dec-91 08:37:28-MST,2051;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Thu, 12 Dec 91 08:37:24 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA21734; Thu, 12 Dec 91 03:48:53 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 11 Dec 91 01:42:53 GMT From: amethyst!salado!root@arizona.edu (Thomas J. Trebisky) Organization: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec11.014253.26953@salado.rc.arizona.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: > Hi. > > I had a Northstar. It was my first computer. I was swayed away from the > Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches. > > H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! > > Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. I still have several stacked up providing extra mass in my house. When I ever get my 680x0 S100 board wire-wrapped up, I want to put it in the northstar box, just for fun. (Kind of like putting a V8 engine in a volkswagen). But I doubt I will ever run CP/M on a N* again. Several reasons -- (1) CP/M is the pits. (2) I have sworn never again to use a computer without a hard drive. (3) Those awful hard-sectored north star floppies a such a nuisance -- man oh man! If I am ever forced to run CP/M, I will run CDOS on my cromemco system instead, at least it is soft-sectored, and it supports 8-inch floppies (talk about nostalgia, nothing like the grind and clank of a good 8-inch floppy drive doing a long seek, especially in some of the boxes I have them in that really reverberate (sound like a rat throwing a fit inside a trash can) -- those are MAN-sized floppies ... but I digress. -- Tom Trebisky ttrebisky@as.arizona.edu 12-Dec-91 08:52:48-MST,1680;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Thu, 12 Dec 91 08:52:35 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA03028; Wed, 11 Dec 91 19:40:26 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:17:34 GMT From: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!news.bbn.com!star-trek!ckhan@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Chico Khan) Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: >H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! >Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. It's a lonely world, isn't it? You ARE probably the only one since the only reason I saw this is because there never was a message here before so I never unsubscribed to this group. Chico. p.s Hope you've gotten yourself a new computer. :-) Hasmatallie A. Khan | | InterNet: ckhan@bbn.com Bolt, Beranek and Newman |___. |___. .___. SneakerNet: 20/317 B 150 CambridgePark Drive | | | | | | AT&T Net: 617-873-6119 Cambridge, MA 02140 |___! |___! | | CompuServe: 72770,1507 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As you go through life, watch out for the googly! 12-Dec-91 10:18:21-MST,1265;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Thu, 12 Dec 91 10:18:16 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA23657; Thu, 12 Dec 91 09:10:10 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 11 Dec 91 08:59:53 GMT From: sakura!freund@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Jason Freund) Organization: U C Davis, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <10583@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> References: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> brian@amc.com (Brian Crowley) writes: >From article , by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan): >> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: >> >>>H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! >> >>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. Yeah. I just asked everyone. You are the only person who has a Northstar ;) 12-Dec-91 12:50:47-MST,1809;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from silver.lcs.mit.edu by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Thu, 12 Dec 91 12:50:38 MST Received: by silver.lcs.mit.edu id AA04764; Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:47:26 -0500 Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:47:26 -0500 From: devon@silver.lcs.mit.edu (Devon Sean McCullough) Message-Id: <9112121947.AA04764@silver.lcs.mit.edu> To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil Subject: [MAILER-DAEMON@ucdavis.edu: Returned mail: Service unavailable] From: MAILER-DAEMON@ucdavis.edu (Mail Delivery Subsystem) Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 11:16:02 -0800 To: Subject: Returned mail: Service unavailable ----- Transcript of session follows ----- >>> RCPT To: <<< 554 ... Host wupost not known--please specify domain 554 ... Service unavailable ----- Unsent message follows ----- Received: from SILVER.LCS.MIT.EDU by ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (5.61/UCD2.03) id AA18758; Thu, 12 Dec 91 11:06:53 -0800 Received: by silver.lcs.mit.edu id AA04562; Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:05:28 -0500 Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:05:28 -0500 From: devon@silver.lcs.mit.edu (Devon Sean McCullough) Message-Id: <9112121905.AA04562@silver.lcs.mit.edu> To: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu In-Reply-To: Bob Croft's message of 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> Subject: nostalgia I still have a Sol-20 or so, running N*DOS of course. Haven't powered it up in maybe ten years, but it worked fine last time I booted it. 13-Dec-91 19:17:13-MST,3731;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Fri, 13 Dec 91 19:16:53 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA23606; Fri, 13 Dec 91 17:48:48 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 11 Dec 91 06:39:10 GMT From: milton!sumax!amc-gw!brian@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Brian Crowley) Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil From article , by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan): > klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: > >>H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! > >>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. I worked my way through college repairing Northstar's for a little firm which bundled accounting software, terminal and printer with the Northstar and sold the entire package as a system. I repaired hundreds of both the Horizon and Advantage versions. Some of the things I remember: - The old single-density disk controllers were *junk*. We had all kinds of problems with them. The double-density controller were better, but they had a failure mode which affected almost everyone I saw: there was a mylar capacitor mounted just above the 5V regulator. Over time the heat coming off the regulator would "cook" the capacitor, causing it to fail, resulting in a distinctive ka-chunck, ka-chunck, ka-chunck sound when you tried to boot off a floppy (I sometimes had customers put their phone against the floppy and flip the reset switch - the sound was so distinctive I could recognize it long- distance!). I reported the problem to Northstar several times, but they never fixed it. - Remember the 1488, 1489 drivers mounted on the motherboard, along with the +5 and +-12V regulators? They were forever failing (both the drivers and regulators), what a hassle to remove the motherboard to replace the defective part! - The Horizon front-end power supply (transformer, diode bridge) has to be one of the biggest, herkiest things I ever saw! Of all the units I repaired, however, I think I replaced the diode bridge once. - I remember when the 64K memory boards came out. We used to buy the 32K version, remove the wire jumpers disguised as resistors, and install the other 32K ourselves - at a fraction of the price Northstar charged. - When the Advantage came out, it was great fun playing with the bit-mapped screen. The reset of the Advantage was somewhat of a dissapointment, just a repackaged Horizon. - Remember Northstar's attempt to allow reading of MS-DOS diskettes? Back then I don't think anyone realized what a force the IBM-PC would become (especially Northstar). Oh well, great memories. I used to spend all day working on my EE, then spend the evening hours working on Horizon's and Advantages. It was great fun. Even today, with my SPARCstation and 33MHZ 386 PC, is miss the simplicity of the Horizon running CPM. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Brian Crowley | DNS: brian@amc.com | |Applied Microsystems Corp. | UUCP: uunet!amc-gw!brian | |Redmond, WA | ATT: 206-882-2000 Ext. 328 | 16-Dec-91 08:15:24-MST,1605;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 16 Dec 91 08:15:18 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA20825; Mon, 16 Dec 91 04:55:51 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 13 Dec 91 16:57:41 GMT From: csus.edu!wupost!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!aplcomm!craig@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Craig Myers) Organization: JHU/APL, Laurel, MD Subject: Northstar Dimension Message-Id: <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil I just acquired a Northstar Dimension from my Church (were churches the only ones to buy these things?). The system had intermittent problems and ha been shoved in a corner for the last year. This box does not have an s100 bus, It appears to be similar to the IBM PC's (62 pins). Also, has a custom CPU chip and an 80186. I don't have software or any terminals, so its doubtful I can use it as a system. Does anyone know if the disk drives are usable on a PC system (one 15 meg and a 35 meg drive)? Well at least its a nice big case with a heavy power supply and a couple of fans. I now have : A Timex Sinclair 1000 Atari 400 Comodore 64 Apple II e (I still use this one) and a wife who wonders what all the junk is for! craig@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu 16-Dec-91 08:21:49-MST,3202;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 16 Dec 91 08:21:45 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA24909; Mon, 16 Dec 91 07:10:56 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 13 Dec 91 18:42:45 GMT From: seas.gwu.edu!biby@uunet.uu.net (Rich Biby) Organization: George Washington University Subject: Re: Northstar Dimension Message-Id: <1991Dec13.184245.4111@seas.gwu.edu> References: <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU> craig@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU (Craig Myers) writes: >I just acquired a Northstar Dimension from my Church (were >churches the only ones to buy these things?). The system had >intermittent problems and ha been shoved in a corner for the >last year. This box does not have an s100 bus, It appears to >be similar to the IBM PC's (62 pins). Also, has a custom CPU >chip and an 80186. I don't have software or any terminals, so >its doubtful I can use it as a system. Does anyone know if >the disk drives are usable on a PC system (one 15 meg and a > 35 meg drive)? Well at least its a nice big case with a > heavy power supply and a couple of fans. > > I now have : > A Timex Sinclair 1000 > Atari 400 > Comodore 64 > Apple II e (I still use this one) > >and a wife who wonders what all the junk is for! > >craig@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu > Well, I owned a N* dealership, but never did I use a dimension. I went to high skool with two guys I opened the store with (We were all in high skool), both of whom went of to do more with N* that I. The first guy I know I talked about before, Chip White. He has a bad habbit of not returning fone calles, but for Advantage/Horizon stuff, try hime a 216-775-1314. He is a tour manager for a musician (sp?) and will be back in Ohio after Sunday. Chip became one of a very few guys in the country to fix/support N* after N* droped A/H. He is pretty much out of "the biz", but may have some good contacts. The second guy I have not seen in a while, but we were like borhters many years ago, Tom Johnston. Tom went to work for N* in CA, and did stuff with the dimensions. I don't really know what. Tom worked at Northern Lights Computers in Berkley also. I know Tom no longer has much of anything to do with N*/and any corporate remains, but he might know someone who knows.... I don't have a number for Tom handy, but if you are interested, drop me a note. He lives in Berkley -- try information if you like. Closing arguments: Don't remind me how much I paid for that ST506 5 MB hard disk..... Best regards to all, Rich -- Rich Biby | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA 22203 (703) 528-8489 KD4DSX | Communications Data Services, Inc. we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA 22044 people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884 (800) 441-0034 16-Dec-91 09:33:31-MST,2223;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 16 Dec 91 09:33:21 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA25217; Sun, 15 Dec 91 16:25:06 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 12 Dec 91 22:35:28 GMT From: hsdndev!adm!amsaa-cleo!dileo@rutgers.edu (John J. DiLeo) Organization: Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <5390@amsaa-cleo.brl.mil> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>, <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu> biby@seas.gwu.edu (Rich Biby) writes: > >Well, this is the most activity I've seen here in a long time. Last >time someone asked a question about N*, I gave away my entire colection >of 4. And most of them are humming along quite nicely. Thank you very much 8-). I still haven't actually gotten any actual copies of the hard disk OS for the Horizon Rich gave me. I did get a couple of e-mailed promises, but no disks have yet arrived. So, I make my plea once again. Does anyone out there have copies of the Hard Disk OS (HDOS or, if it exists/ed, CP/M) for the Horizon? >I once had a N* dealership. Time have changed. I just >got may 20 MHZ 68030 Macintosh NOTEBOOK.... > >Still, I miss the S-100..... > >Regards to all, >Rich And, on a mostly unrelated question, how are things with your GPS set since the DOD activated the S/A degradation (you did know it's active now, right 8-)?? >-- >Rich Biby | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA 22203 (703) 528-8489 >KD4DSX | Communications Data Services, Inc. >we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA 22044 >people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884 (800) 441-0034 John DiLeo dileo@brl.mil --Proprietor, Aberdeen North*Star Museum and Emporium 8-) 16-Dec-91 10:48:59-MST,1680;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 16 Dec 91 10:48:51 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.42) id AA19680; Sat, 14 Dec 91 04:41:39 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:11:15 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!doherty@ames.arc.nasa.gov (AE Doherty kevin mich) Organization: Johns Hopkins University Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221115.12849@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil I STILL have a Northstar...Still works fine, though my DOS was corrupted a while back; all I can do is listen to it try to boot :)! There were two features that attracted me to the Northstar: that nifty walnut case and the company's willingness to send the unit out as a crate of loose parts. I was looking for a computer I could BUILD, and they were willing to support it after I'd done so. I've been thinking of donating mine to a museum (one down in Blacksburg VA is advertising for pre-1980 computers; I need to check my invoice but think I qualify). I've lost track of the company; are they still around? If so, I'd like to get another copy of their DOS diskette (those weird 10 sector (hard sectored!) diskettes!). 17-Dec-91 10:10:09-MST,745;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from NMSU.Edu by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Tue, 17 Dec 91 10:09:46 MST Received: from acoma (acoma.NMSU.Edu) by NMSU.Edu (4.1/NMSU-1.18) id AA01966; Tue, 17 Dec 91 10:08:58 MST Date: Tue, 17 Dec 91 10:08:58 MST From: Message-Id: <9112171708.AA01966@NMSU.Edu> Received: by acoma (4.1/NMSU-2.2) id AA08872; Tue, 17 Dec 91 10:08:50 MST To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil Subject: Games I still have a N* horizon running. Occasionaly my kids turn it on and play a game (PAC MAN). It is the only game I have. Do any of you have any games like PACMAN that will run on N* horizon? It is a two floppy disk system. Herb Hamilton hamilton%nmsu.edu 30-Dec-91 08:59:07-MST,1265;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 08:59:01 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA08855; Sun, 29 Dec 91 18:25:54 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 11 Dec 91 08:59:53 GMT From: sakura!freund@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu (Jason Freund) Organization: U C Davis, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <10583@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu> References: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> brian@amc.com (Brian Crowley) writes: >From article , by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan): >> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: >> >>>H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! >> >>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. Yeah. I just asked everyone. You are the only person who has a Northstar ;) 30-Dec-91 09:00:09-MST,3731;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:00:00 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA08180; Sun, 29 Dec 91 18:09:28 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 11 Dec 91 06:39:10 GMT From: milton!sumax!amc-gw!brian@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Brian Crowley) Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil From article , by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan): > klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: > >>H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! > >>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. I worked my way through college repairing Northstar's for a little firm which bundled accounting software, terminal and printer with the Northstar and sold the entire package as a system. I repaired hundreds of both the Horizon and Advantage versions. Some of the things I remember: - The old single-density disk controllers were *junk*. We had all kinds of problems with them. The double-density controller were better, but they had a failure mode which affected almost everyone I saw: there was a mylar capacitor mounted just above the 5V regulator. Over time the heat coming off the regulator would "cook" the capacitor, causing it to fail, resulting in a distinctive ka-chunck, ka-chunck, ka-chunck sound when you tried to boot off a floppy (I sometimes had customers put their phone against the floppy and flip the reset switch - the sound was so distinctive I could recognize it long- distance!). I reported the problem to Northstar several times, but they never fixed it. - Remember the 1488, 1489 drivers mounted on the motherboard, along with the +5 and +-12V regulators? They were forever failing (both the drivers and regulators), what a hassle to remove the motherboard to replace the defective part! - The Horizon front-end power supply (transformer, diode bridge) has to be one of the biggest, herkiest things I ever saw! Of all the units I repaired, however, I think I replaced the diode bridge once. - I remember when the 64K memory boards came out. We used to buy the 32K version, remove the wire jumpers disguised as resistors, and install the other 32K ourselves - at a fraction of the price Northstar charged. - When the Advantage came out, it was great fun playing with the bit-mapped screen. The reset of the Advantage was somewhat of a dissapointment, just a repackaged Horizon. - Remember Northstar's attempt to allow reading of MS-DOS diskettes? Back then I don't think anyone realized what a force the IBM-PC would become (especially Northstar). Oh well, great memories. I used to spend all day working on my EE, then spend the evening hours working on Horizon's and Advantages. It was great fun. Even today, with my SPARCstation and 33MHZ 386 PC, is miss the simplicity of the Horizon running CPM. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Brian Crowley | DNS: brian@amc.com | |Applied Microsystems Corp. | UUCP: uunet!amc-gw!brian | |Redmond, WA | ATT: 206-882-2000 Ext. 328 | 30-Dec-91 09:11:58-MST,1692;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:11:46 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA20810; Sun, 29 Dec 91 12:04:33 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:17:34 GMT From: agate!spool.mu.edu!yale.edu!think.com!news.bbn.com!star-trek!ckhan@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Chico Khan) Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: >H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! >Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. It's a lonely world, isn't it? You ARE probably the only one since the only reason I saw this is because there never was a message here before so I never unsubscribed to this group. Chico. p.s Hope you've gotten yourself a new computer. :-) Hasmatallie A. Khan | | InterNet: ckhan@bbn.com Bolt, Beranek and Newman |___. |___. .___. SneakerNet: 20/317 B 150 CambridgePark Drive | | | | | | AT&T Net: 617-873-6119 Cambridge, MA 02140 |___! |___! | | CompuServe: 72770,1507 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As you go through life, watch out for the googly! 30-Dec-91 09:12:14-MST,2670;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:12:08 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA20035; Sun, 29 Dec 91 11:46:04 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 23:02:24 GMT From: seas.gwu.edu!biby@uunet.uu.net (Rich Biby) Organization: George Washington University Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> bobc@cyclops.mis.Tandem.com (Bob Croft) writes: >In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: >|> Hi. >|> >|> I had a Northstar. It was my first computer. I was swayed away from the >|> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches. >|> >|> H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! >|> >|> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. > >A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it >and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). >It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs >UNIX!) that we used to use... > >Bob Croft >croft_bob@Tandem.com Well, this is the most activity I've seen here in a long time. Last time someone asked a question about N*, I gave away my entire colection of 4. I once had a N* dealership. Time have changed. I just got may 20 MHZ 68030 Macintosh NOTEBOOK.... Still, I miss the S-100..... Regards to all, Rich Rich Biby | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA 22203 (703) 528-8489 KD4DSX | Communications Data Services, Inc. we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA 22044 people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884 (800) 441-0034 parents | WORK: rich@comm-data.com SKOOL: biby@seas.gwu.edu warned us | "I am not an idiot, but I play one on usenet!" about | Root Emergency Procedure: type "rm -rf /* " -- Rich Biby | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA 22203 (703) 528-8489 KD4DSX | Communications Data Services, Inc. we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA 22044 people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884 (800) 441-0034 30-Dec-91 09:13:15-MST,1684;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:13:10 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA15694; Sun, 29 Dec 91 10:12:28 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Bob Croft) Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc. Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes: |> Hi. |> |> I had a Northstar. It was my first computer. I was swayed away from the |> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches. |> |> H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! |> |> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs UNIX!) that we used to use... Bob Croft croft_bob@Tandem.com *** This not the opinion of Tandem Computers *** *** Tandem Computers is not Tandon or Tandy *** 30-Dec-91 09:15:58-MST,1075;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Mon, 30 Dec 91 09:15:49 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA06900; Sun, 29 Dec 91 06:57:47 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 20:21:25 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!nntp-server.caltech.edu!news@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Michael Klein) Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena Subject: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil Hi. I had a Northstar. It was my first computer. I was swayed away from the Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches. H E L L O ! I S A N Y B O D Y O U T T H E R E ! ! ! ! Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here. 31-Dec-91 10:25:59-MST,1680;000000000000 Return-Path: Received: from ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU by WSMR-SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL with TCP; Tue, 31 Dec 91 10:25:53 MST Received: by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (5.63/1.43) id AA07438; Tue, 31 Dec 91 09:11:01 -0800 Received: from USENET by ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU with netnews for northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil) (contact usenet@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU if you have questions) Date: 10 Dec 91 22:11:15 GMT From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!doherty@ames.arc.nasa.gov (AE Doherty kevin mich) Organization: Johns Hopkins University Subject: Re: nostalgia Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221115.12849@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu> References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu> Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil I STILL have a Northstar...Still works fine, though my DOS was corrupted a while back; all I can do is listen to it try to boot :)! There were two features that attracted me to the Northstar: that nifty walnut case and the company's willingness to send the unit out as a crate of loose parts. I was looking for a computer I could BUILD, and they were willing to support it after I'd done so. I've been thinking of donating mine to a museum (one down in Blacksburg VA is advertising for pre-1980 computers; I need to check my invoice but think I qualify). I've lost track of the company; are they still around? If so, I'd like to get another copy of their DOS diskette (those weird 10 sector (hard sectored!) diskettes!).