I have one purely for completeness and curiosity. As a computer, it makes a great brick. It's frankly a terrible computer. It's the worst of several worlds. All the portability of paving stone. 8086 cpu but not one bit of any other x86 pc platform standards, so no MS-DOS or any other os. All the limitations of the M100/102/200 menu/ram/rom memory arrangement without *any* of the software that did manage to get written for 100-200, or even the thorough dcumentation and build tools to write software like we have for 100-200. Most units didn't even come with BASIC. The serial port is amazingly actually slower than the M100's (due to rom routines as far as anyone can tell). Though the built-in telcom has xmodem built-in so that's actually a big deal for bootstrapping. That alone allows you to create yourself a new copy of the original utility disk purely from downloads.
It's way collossally heavier than m100, if anything actually slower at most tasks, even though it has more ram and a more powerful cpu on paper. Similarly on paper, many more dots on a larger screen, built-in disk drive and disk drive support in rom (no need to install a dos like what it takes to use a tpdd). For pure document writing, yes you can write more and larger documents before needing to put away on disk, and when you do, the disk is right there built-in. I can't comment of the typing quality of the keyboard as I don't touch type myself and haven't played with that one recently enough to have a useful impression. It has a large heavy 4xD cell nicd battery pack permanently installed inside, aside from the same sort of soldered-on memory backup battery on the motherboard like M100 has. It's not soldered in, it's a removble plug, but, you have to open the case to get inside and unscrew it from a mount. It's not an operation you can do periodically except in periods of years. By now, the plastic case is very brittle. That heavy internal battery breaks screw posts where it's mounted easily. Opening the case you will almost certainly break other parts like around the floppy drive no matter how careful you are just because of the awkward size & weight of the screen. There was only ever 2 option roms ever made as far as I can tell. Multiplan which most units shipped with, and BASIC which seems to be rare. There was practically no other software ever made for it, at least, none you can still find today. I've seen rumors and references to a few commercial utilities that may have actually existed once, but never seen the software itself. There is a service manual, but it has not been scanned & uploaded yet. Garrett Meiers of bithistory.org has it. He posted a picture of the spine on FB once. It has never been seen again... There is a developer kit, which I have never seen and is not anywhere on-line that I can find so far. All I have is a partial documentations from that dev kit which describes the overall structure of a rom. I don't know if it's enough info to actually create a working hello-world rom. On the positive side, the machine uses no asics or other custom chips. It's all off-the shelf generic parts, at least the chips. I *think* I read somewhere that there's not even any pals or gals, but I am not so sure about that right now without checking again. The screen is obviously custom and the disk drive is a bit uncommon too. The option rom socket uses the same special Molex chip carrier socket that the M100 has, but unlike M100-200 the pinout is at least straight 27C256, AND, there are multiple 3d-printable models of the chip carrier. So, you can totally buy a generic 27C256 and a 3d printed chip carrier, burn the BASIC rom with any ordinary burner (ex: tl-866), and slap it in there. And experiment with trying to dissect the multiplan and basic roms and possibly making a new rom that actually runs. If you do get one, there is at least now both a disk/ram version of BASIC readily available for download, and recently the rom version was finally found, dumped, and shared by someone who wished to remain anonymous. I have all the files, links to known good properly wired serial cables, and a detailed procedures written up to download the support files to a modern pc, xmodem them over to the M600, and use the M600 to create a new utility disk from there. And a scan of the user manual, and that reverse-engineered ram module, and links to get new batteries & power supply. http://tandy.wiki/Model_600 If you get one from anyone that has to ship it to you, be prepared, the battery will likely bust free inside during shipping even with pretty good packing. But the only way to avoid that would be for the seller to open the case and remove the battery and pack it in the box outside the computer, and that may just cause some other breakage, maybe even worse because the keyboard & lcd ribbon cables are a bit tight and finnicky, and that's if they are even willing to try it. I suggest bubble wrap on the unit itself, AND loose peanuts around that, to try to absorb all bumps and bangs. This is all not to say that it's terrible *project*, only to say that it's a terrible *computer*. :) If it was 1986 or whenever it came out, no way in hell should you get one, and in fact few did. But today to pore over it as a curiosity, well that's different. On Tue, Feb 26, 2019 at 9:19 AM Tom Dison <fretina...@gmail.com> wrote: > There is a model 600 for sale at a good price on eBay, but I'm kind of > hesitant. It seems to be quite the oddball model in the series. Does anyone > have experience with it? > > On Tue, Feb 26, 2019, 6:34 AM Stephen Adolph <twospru...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> I'm just surprised that something as minor as attribution got you riled >> up - should have put your name(s) on the silkscreen. Your comment about >> side deal also struck me as a bit surprising - Oshpark is based on free >> sharing. >> >> >> >> On Tue, Feb 26, 2019 at 2:03 AM Brian White <bw.al...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> It was public from the beginning. Jayeson made it after I asked on FB if >>> anyone could/would do so. I sent him the interface information and a >>> working original sample, and eventually a whole not-quite-working model 600 >>> as a gift (shipping to AU was worth a lot more than the M600 even if it was >>> fully working), and after a couple revisions he emailed me gerbers as well >>> as created the >>> oshpark entry, I built a set and tested them in a working M600, alone >>> and combined with an original module in the same machine, and found no >>> problems, posted some pics of my completed units and gave Jayeson permision >>> to use them in his oshpark entry. I asked if someone wanted to design it >>> under some form of open source license right from the outset. Didn't have >>> to be public domain. I actually would have liked gpl or some version of >>> cc-with-attribution myself, but public domain is certainly "gpl or free-er". >>> >>> I already articulated the concern, and the lowness of it's level, as >>> clearly as I could. What part of "They are not violating any actual >>> laws, because this pcb design is explicitly placed in the public domain. >>> It's just that it would be at least minimally considerate to give a little >>> attribution where they got something from." failed at that? >>> >>> It ain't the end of the world, but does something have to be the end of >>> the world to talk about it? >>> >>> On Mon, Feb 25, 2019 at 11:11 PM Stephen Adolph <twospru...@gmail.com> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> Never mind. I see the fine print now. >>>> >>>> So..... it is now public. What is the concern? Someone is >>>> commercializing it. Price is less than oshpark. Sounds like a gòod thing. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On Monday, February 25, 2019, Stephen Adolph <twospru...@gmail.com> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> How waa the design explicitly placed in the public domain? Juat >>>>> curious. De facto via oshpark? >>>>> >>>>> The 2nd one not mine. >>>>> >>>>> On Monday, February 25, 2019, Brian White <bw.al...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> Is this somebody here, or does anyone recogize or know them? >>>>>> http://ebay.com/itm/113662788499/ >>>>>> >>>>>> They are not violating any actual laws, because this pcb design is >>>>>> explicitly placed in the public domain. It's just that it would be at >>>>>> least >>>>>> minimally considerate to give a little attribution where they got >>>>>> something >>>>>> from. >>>>>> >>>>>> They even (re)used the pictures right from the original oshpark >>>>>> listing: >>>>>> https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/8HMgno1x >>>>>> >>>>>> The designer (and oshpark account) is Jayeson Lee-Steere and the >>>>>> oshpark pics came from me. >>>>>> The ebay seller is not Jayeson nor does he know them, so it's not a >>>>>> deal he set up with the seller. >>>>>> >>>>>> Same seller: >>>>>> http://ebay.com/itm/113662802362/ >>>>>> and the origin: >>>>>> https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/V0tpeuMg >>>>>> >>>>>> That one actually says copyright right on it. I believe this one is >>>>>> Steven Adolph right? >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>>> bkw >>>>>> >>>>> >>> >>> -- >>> bkw >>> >> -- bkw
