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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : Wanted: Time Machine for short term use
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Nick Guru  Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 512 |
Imagine if we could go back to 1983 with our Maximite. What would this ad look like if we could swap it for the Maximite? :) 
The last commercial 100% Australian designed and made computer that wasn't just a copy of something else. |
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stuarts Senior Member  Joined: 15/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 199 |
Nick, I'm not sure that its the last one, I had (and still have hidden somewhere) a Micromaster running in the late 80's/early 90's. Designed in Eltham, Vic. It was an STD bus system using a Hitachi 64780. It was a super z80 that addressed 512K of RAM. There was also another version of the processor that could address 1M. Unlike the Microbee, it used a serial terminal so there was no built in keyboard. I built an STD bus to IBM PC I/O converter so that I could use a Western Digital MFM controller. Before i moved to the dark side and bought a PC, it had 2 56MB drives partitioned as 14 8MB drives as CP/M could only handle hard disks up to 8MB. Unfortunately it didn't have the appeal that a Microbee or a TRS-80 had as it wasn't a nicely packaged all in one computer. It was a great workhorse though. Stuart Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. |
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| Nick Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 512 |
That's why I said 'commercial'. :) The Micromaster was one of many not-so-well-known non-mainstream computers that came out. Interesting CPU though. I remember hearing of the official upgrade to the Z-80 called the Z8000. Is this a Hitachi version of that or a seperate Hitachi version of a Z-80 upgrade? They did that for the Motorola 6809 when they released the improved upgrade version called the Hitachi 6309. I've been reading some of my old ETI magazines from the early 80's. It was good to see the electronic journals embracing computers, popular commercial ones like the Microbee and the featured kits like the Dream 660. That is what's missing in Silicon Chip nowadays, columns about hobby computing not tethered to the PC or MAC. I think there's a market there. The Maximite could be the centre of that in both hardware interfacing and personal software subitted by users (except we'd download it nowadays rather than type!) if it were marketed right. |
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| stuarts Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 199 |
Nick, there was also the Excalibure 64. I think it was 84 that it came out. If it wasn't for incompetent marketing it was much more machine than the Microbee. Like many things, a great idea that was just a bit too late. If it was sold as a machine ready to run and before the IBM PC was too well established it could have been a much more popular machine. I remember the full page ads in EA. I found the marketing brochure for it the other day. It was a nice little bit of nostalgia. Stuart Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. |
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| Gadget Regular Member  Joined: 22/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 70 |
A time machine, now there's an idea, an embedded maximite controlling the flux capacitor |
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| stuarts Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 199 |
I was in Altronics in Springvale the other day and they have a flux capacitor inder glass in the counter. It has lots of warnings printed on it regarding time travel, threshold speeds, etc. I didn't ask what it was worth. Stuart Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. |
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sparkey Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 819 |
sorry guys that was back in 1981-82 and dont rember ..althiugh i do rember putting to gether many "zrt-80" kits as well as bibg board one and big board two the proto types were al wire wrapped on a huge 3 foot by two foot vero board they ran ..c/pm/ and thats about all i rember from the rod irving days i was head of the kit dept from 1982 too 1987 when he moved to clayton i found it too difficult to travel about 60-80 k`s back and forth every day i later went on to microfusion and computer interface..assy ing terminals for schools and hospitals in melbourne we used "xt-turbos " until the first "8-bit "pc came about daisy chaining micro bee`s ans other stuff and alike i used to program in pascal-turbo pascal and fortran but those days are long gone and i dont rember much theses days but if you have a question about dos well i think i have the 6.22 help file imprinted in my brain did a lot of command line stuff with dos but when it comes even to basic as we r now using im way behind and am starting to re learn also had apple`s as well...regards sparky... technicians do it with least resistance |
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| Nick Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 512 |
You mean this one? 
Yes it was a good. Didn't seem to sell too well though. I notice that the Maximite is lacking 2 features that both of these 1983 systems (Microbee and Excaliber) had that I've been suggesting for some time now. Both of them have Colour and Programmable Character Sets. We can't let these antiques have an edge over our Maximite can we?! (Geoff?)  |
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| stuarts Senior Member Joined: 15/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 199 |
Nick, they would have sold much better if the people selling them had any idea of how to run a company. You'll find a few ex Excalibur owners here and you wont find too many that have nice things to say about them. There was also a glossy 4 page brochure. I'll get it out and see if it fits in the scanner. Stuart Now I know why I never throw anything away. BTW, whats the date on that magazine? Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once. |
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donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
That brings back some sad memories Stuart. Well at least we tried. Mick even did a hi-res graphics board for the Excalibur-64. I think I actually sold mine, and got a Chendai XT PC with a whole 640K ram and two floppy drives. Yes two. One for WordStar, and one for data. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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| donmck Guru Joined: 09/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1313 |
Stuart just sent me this on the Excalibur: http://www.themaximitecomputer.com/max/Programs/index.php?di r=Nostalgia%2F so I posted it under Nostalgia. Cheers Don... https://www.dontronics.com |
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ChickenMan Newbie  Joined: 23/09/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2 |
Thats similar to an Electronics Australia July 83 page 134 advert. And the brochure that stuarts posted was also posted in Electronics Australia Dec 83 |
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