Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Kennedy 6450/6455 QIC Tape Drive? - Data Format Analysis

Please also visit QICreader.com

Could the Microtech DART / M1 we are reconstructing once been equipped with the Kennedy 6450 Tape Drive, or equivalent?   Here's some clues:

On one of the tapes is written "Kennedy Backup Disc Utility".  Well, does that mean that the Disk being backed up is a Kennedy, or that the Backup Device, for which the Utility was made, is a Kennedy?  Or both?



Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Point 4 Connection

"The Microtech used the Point-4 CPU until 1982 when Microtech merged with Star*Technologies, and then a new proprietary CPU was designed. Microtech's IRIS OS was licensed from Data General or Point 4, but was Microtech's own version."
-Michael Marselle,
 Applications programmer / Technical Support
 Microtech - Prior to merger with Star Technologies
 1982 – 1984 (2 years) Costa Mesa, CA

Dan Paymar read this page, and offered this clarification to Michael's quote above:
"Although the original BASIC interpreter was written by me (as VP of Educational Data Systems) for Data General, the timesharing system was strictly an EDSI product, and later IRIS was strictly a Point 4 product. None of it could have been licensed from Data General."

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Now, we wish we could say that we possess any of the hardware that we picture below, but alas, we do not.  We have culled these pictures from various sources, and we do our best to cite each source under each picture.  Enjoy!

Point 4 Computer, 1979

This is the original.  No "Mark" anything.  It predates the "Mark" nomenclature.



Sunday, September 6, 2015

MINICOM DISK TO TAPE COPY UTILITY

Using the method I developed for reverse-engineering QIC-24 tape format, I have begun to read these old tapes from what I'm guessing is a POINT 4 Mark V or VIII (Mark 5 or 8) system from 1981-1983, re-branded as a Microtech M1.

First on my agenda is researching the first file on the first tape that I read:

MINICOM DISK TO TAPE COPY UTILITY 

The raw binary can be downloaded from here: http://bit.ly/1NklvGj

Since nobody I've talked to yet knows of an operating Microtech M1, I'm wondering if anyone here has ever used Minicom from the early 1980s?  

Here's the only "English" extracted text from the binary: