Post Aw4d0maWRryIMF8gvQ by tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org
 (DIR) More posts by tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org
 (DIR) Post #Aw4d0lJ7D6SANxzH9c by TechTangents@dialup.space
       2025-07-12T15:10:47Z
       
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       This is a huge video for me: https://youtu.be/AR5i9BnJqlAThis is the Computer Devices Dot. An IBM PC compatible(-ish) that used 3.5in Floppy Drives *in 1983*!It's woefully unknown and unpreserved, today that changes.
       
 (DIR) Post #Aw4d0maWRryIMF8gvQ by tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org
       2025-07-13T00:20:32Z
       
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       @TechTangents Wow! Thats a great find, the new one.I installed the MSDOS on that machine, from a bare motherboard using an EPROM burner. For CDI, I was working for Phoenix Software Associates.  I distinctly remember the machine, but I had to bring up bare iron -- no boot ROM of any kind, just a list of IP ports and addresses, and the unique drive, first time I saw a hard case floppy. Which is why I remember it. I did a lot of msdos installs at that time, 1.25 and 2.0. I had an 808x debugger, rom resident, of my own, and recall writing the console in and out routines, burning eproms, inserting and power on etc the old hard way. With the debugger up, I brought up disk drivers (usually one of the two popular chips), assembled bios and ROM on another machine (I had a big multibuss 8086 machine). But I have absolutely no memory of overcoming the weirdness of the Sony drive. Likely hand importing a terminal program (.hex file through debugger console) and then xmodem over a serial link.  Usually I got them (OEM machines like this) to boot, them wrote format and whatever tools and then the OEM got it back. More or less. The Dot, no recollection past making it boot. Clearly they had lots of ROM resident code so they weren't without programmers. Msdos bring up on my part usually took less than a week.  I had a modular bios. I also remember the motherboard being screwed to a sheet of plywood! No chassis!But what you have is pretty great. There was so much innovative stuff in that brief moment. Some of them were actually good! Lol. Victor 9000 for example. Great find and good geeky video. And great of to you find all these ads and such. While the Dot may not be "important" it's a perfect example of its era and so few are complete like that!!Thanks!
       
 (DIR) Post #Aw4fQLw6MW5T8TYMTY by wotsac@mastodon.social
       2025-07-13T00:47:33Z
       
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       @tomjennings @TechTangents that was a real Cambrian explosion era of just trying things to see what sold. For me Zenith was kinda the Zenith of that, with so many 8088 platforms it tried, from the Z100 out to the (80186) ezPC, from the z170 lunchbox (which I think they got from Morrow- I forget the details) to the Minisport with its 2.5" floppy.
       
 (DIR) Post #Aw58FEBDkxHeZ8fkzg by tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org
       2025-07-13T06:10:33Z
       
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       @wotsacWs the morrow z170 the fold up CPM box?! There was one, I saw it on Ezra Shapiro's BYTE mag office, tried to describe it to people over the years, no one recalled it. I could even remember who made it. Google image search, USELESS for " morrow z170 clamshell" and variants.  @TechTangents
       
 (DIR) Post #Aw5kR5sqDzKIZHA2PA by wotsac@mastodon.social
       2025-07-13T13:18:28Z
       
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       @tomjennings @TechTangents it was fold up, but it was a solid PC compatible, especially once Zenith got a good full size supertwist screen in it.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morrow_Pivothttps://oldcomputers.net/zenith-z-171.html
       
 (DIR) Post #Aw5q4wCe8SzFtlF7bM by TechTangents@dialup.space
       2025-07-13T14:21:39Z
       
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       @tomjennings That's awesome! You might have some insight into this then, in the officially produced MS-DOS disk there was actually some deleted MS-DOS development code for the Dot left in the "blank" space.Does this seem at all like what you may have done with the machine?
       
 (DIR) Post #Aw60awTLfVa3XfxFtQ by tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org
       2025-07-13T16:19:33Z
       
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       @wotsacThanks for that! I didn't pay much attention to morrows stuff then. My loss. I'm fairly sure the things not I'm thinking of was more rounded, and earlier, maybe 83. But memory that old is unreliable... And I think it was a CPM machine.  @TechTangents
       
 (DIR) Post #Aw60tJmXk6hz32hARc by tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org
       2025-07-13T16:22:52Z
       
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       @TechTangents Hmmm that does not look like my code. Sorry! Totally different style.
       
 (DIR) Post #Aw6116Fbw2M7Om0Bfc by tomjennings@tldr.nettime.org
       2025-07-13T16:24:16Z
       
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       @TechTangents I used pasm then too, different assembler....
       
 (DIR) Post #Aw7uhEenWjZ1g8HjSC by TechTangents@dialup.space
       2025-07-14T02:58:28Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       Today I pretty much finished archiving everything I got with and for the Dot!You can find it all here: https://archive.org/search?query=creator%3A%22Computer+Devices+Inc.%22I even managed to get my hands on and scan a complete technical service manual for the machine!