Case Preference for Horizon?
John Crane
=J
n0hj
> What do people generally prefer, a wood case or metal?
>
> =J
Why do you ask?
John Crane
"n0hj" <john.ev...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:7ff685e7-2e0f-4e5f...@g18g2000vbn.googlegroups.com...
Why do you ask?
Oh, just curious. I wonder if there are some subtle psychological effects.
In my case, my computer room is filled with metal boxes. Yet my Horizon
with a wood case seems more at home in the den, surrounded by books.
-J
n0hj
> "n0hj" <john.evans.n...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
Well, the Horizon was my first computer, built as a kit. There were
only 2 or 3 companies that made computers with wooden covers. I
thought they looked cool but it wasn't the primary reason for choosing
the Horizon. I read up and looked long and hard at what was out there
- was leaning heavily toward the IMSAI before I bought but at the last
minute changed my mind because the Horizon had built in disk drives
and a Z80A.
Now I own a Horizon that needs to be restored but I would only have
one with the wooden cover because that is what I originally owned. As
for my tiny collection, I also have a working Zorba with a ton of
spare/used parts, and a P112 for experimentation.
John
John Crane
their quality for years, and this one showed up at a good price with the
wood still in good shape, so I went for it. It had an erratic drive B, so I
replaced it with one of my spares, and now it's running just fine. I've
been doing some Forth work on it lately, and I sometimes use it to call BBSs
on the weekend using MEX and a 9600 baud modem. I'm running Lifeboat CP/M
and I have it connected to a Televideo 920 serial terminal.
You mentioned yours needed restoration. What sort of work does it need?
Glad to see another P112 owner. I'm embarrassed to say I only recently got
around to mine. I bought it in 2006 and it's been in storage ever since!
I'm trying to find a nice small case for it, but so far no luck. All I see
online these days are huge monster tower cases that glow in the dark. What
are you using?
-John
"n0hj" <john.ev...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:af2986a9-e314-4abe...@a15g2000yqm.googlegroups.com...
Herbert Johnson
> I got my Horizon a few years ago on ebay. I've heard great things about
> their quality for years, and this one showed up at a good price with the
> wood still in good shape, so I went for it. It had an erratic drive B, so I
> replaced it with one of my spares, and now it's running just fine. I've
> been doing some Forth work on it lately, and I sometimes use it to call BBSs
> on the weekend using MEX and a 9600 baud modem. I'm running Lifeboat CP/M
> and I have it connected to a Televideo 920 serial terminal.
What BBS's are you calling that support dial-up and old CP/M protocols
like MEX? In newsgroup comp.os.cpm, people sometimes ask about BBS's,
to start one or to contact one - but don't know of other BBS.
I have a few Horizons myself, they all have the wood case. I agree
they are well-built and seem to come up with less fuss than most other
S-100 systems of that era.
Herb Johnson
retrotechnology.com
John Crane
"Herbert Johnson" <herbrj...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:24e76904-e10b-4600...@m15g2000yqm.googlegroups.com...
Herb Johnson
retrotechnology.com
Hi Herb,
These BBSs are definitely "endangered". I remember when there were 100+ in
my state alone. Now the list is down to 31 total.
http://www.telnetbbsguide.com/dialbbs/dialbbs.htm
I also use it as a terminal to a local Unix machine, so I get netnews,
telnet, ftp, etc. through the Horizon as well. Pretty useful for 70's tech.
And it looks good sitting on the desk with an aluminum Hayes modem on top.
No Chinese plastic anywhere!
In a similar vein, one of my IMSAI's was used to run a BBS back in the 80's
The hard drive is still loaded with all the software and I've toyed with the
idea of bringing up a BBS catering to the vintage computer crowd. But I
figure I'd spend a week or two getting everything to work the way I want and
then maybe 5 guys call it in the span of a year. So I never thought it
worthwhile.
-John