Heathkit H8 donated

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Howard Poe

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Jun 19, 2018, 3:31:57 PM6/19/18
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At the non-profit I volunteer for, we have a donated Heathkit H8 system, with boxes of documentation, software, and additional cards (including an extender card). When I get a chance, I'll go through and document what we have.

Is there anyone in the Reno, NV or northern California area that would be interested in purchasing a system such as this?

I know there is the main computer, diskette drives, and what looks like a terminal, all Heathkit. Working status is unknown, but all of the original documentation / schematics / assembly instructions are there.

If I were into early CP/M computers, I'd be interested myself. There are a few hard sector but mostly soft sector 5.25" diskettes, and one box of 8" disks. Along with a few cassette tapes, and a cassette interface.

Mark Garlanger

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Jun 19, 2018, 3:50:47 PM6/19/18
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Hey Howard, 
  I sent a message to you on vcfed, last night. I may be interested in some of the software, depending on the titles. When you make the list, or even just start taking photos of it, let me know.

Thanks,
Mark

Sent from my iPhone
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Howard Poe

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Jul 1, 2018, 11:40:19 AM7/1/18
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I took pictures of the H8 system today, and will get them resized and uploaded soon.

It includes the H8 computer, H14 dot matrix printer, H17 floppy drives, H19 terminal, Heath-Zenith color monitor, HA-8-3 color graphics / sound / joystick board (with manuals and software), and Smith-Carona TP-I daisywheel printer with tractor feed.  The H8, H17 and H19 include the original dust covers, in good condition.

The system includes an H8 computer with HA-8-6 Z80 CPU, 64k RAM (I didn't remove it but there are 4 banks of 8 memory chips), floppy controller and H8-4 four port serial.  Spare cards include two H8-16 16k Static RAM, 85-1938-1 Intel 8080 CPU, H8-7 breadboard, Mullen H-8 extender, H8-10 wire wrap prototyping card, H8-5 Serial I/O, 85-2521 card (double sided floppy?) and HA-8-3 color graphics.

There's an unpopulated / unbuilt 85-196-1 board, 85-2026-1 Serial I/O card and a mystery board with an EPROM on it.

There's also a TV typewriter board, with empty sockets, but otherwise built.  It includes the documentation and original December 1977 receipt from the Byte Shop III in San Jose, CA.

On cassette it includes B.H. BASIC, BUG8, TED-8 and HASL-8 on one tape, Heath Users group  885-1028, 890-3-3 and 890-4-3 tapes.

There are original Heath/Zenith CPM 2.2 disks, Graph-Pac-II software for MBASIC and PASCAL MT+ on CP/M, HDOS with device drivers and software tools, Supercalc, and HDOS/CPM converter, Heathkit User's Group H8 color graphic software for HDOS, and Heath/Zenith Microsoft Basic-80-CP/M.  There is EDIT19 line editor and VD.DVD/SPOOLER on disk, and a number of working copies on disk.  Most of these 5.25" disks are hard sectored 10 sector disks.

I didn't realize this included the color monitor and color graphics card, all told there are nine boxes in this lot, some quite large.  None of the boxes are setup for shipping, as they are not original boxes.

Everything is clean and in good shape.  All documentation / manuals appear to be present, including the service manual for the color monitor.  We haven't tried to power anything on, as we don't want to damage anything due to shorted caps.

I think this lot is worth at least $1000, what are your thoughts?

Glenn Roberts

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Jul 1, 2018, 1:41:54 PM7/1/18
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Well that is certainly a very impressive H8 setup.  You can see how the previous owner grew his/her hobby over time, expanding the system.

 

It is rare to see H8 systems on eBay that are anywhere near this complete/high end. The 8080-based ones, with minimal RAM can fetch $400-$500.  I think the last time I saw a system with Z80 and H-8-3 I bought it! (I think I paid ~$700?)  That was some years ago, you just don’t see them much.  I certainly think that what you’ve got is worth at least $1,000, perhaps considerably more, but the question is how to sell it.

 

Most people trying to maximize their $ seem to sell these in components.

 

Shipping is going to be a pretty big issue for many of these items.

 

 

 

 

 

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Norberto Collado

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Jul 1, 2018, 4:13:54 PM7/1/18
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Very nice collection! For sure I will be interested in the Heath-Zenith color monitor, HA-8-3 color graphics / sound / joystick board (with manuals and software) if available.

 

Thanks,

Norberto

David Troendle

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Jul 1, 2018, 5:23:22 PM7/1/18
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Haven't seen any big H8 system bundles for sale on eBay for some time, but from what I recall $1K + shipping sounds about right for an "as is where is" sale.  I am afraid of what the freight charges will be.

I had a premonition about this system -- from the way you described it I got the feeling somewhere in there would be an HA-8-3 and/or HA-8-2 music board.  I actually designed both those boards (Google "HA-8-3 color graphics board troendle" and go to Mark's site).  I lost all that work in Hurricane Katrina.  So, I am real interested in trying to make this work.

I need to check with my wife (aka CFO) and see if she will go along with this.  Pretty sure she will when I tell her it has an HA-8-3.

Could you hold off applying any power until we know if we can work this out?  I can often reform the big electrolytic caps and individually power the boards to see if any of the tantalum caps smoke.

Thanks for getting back to me.

David

Lee Hart

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Jul 1, 2018, 6:03:30 PM7/1/18
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Norberto Collado wrote:
> Very nice collection! For sure I will be interested in the Heath-Zenith
> color monitor, HA-8-3 color graphics / sound / joystick board (with
> manuals and software) if available.

Yes; it does sound like quite a nice collection.

> From: Howard Poe
> There's also a TV typewriter board, with empty sockets, but otherwise
> built. It includes the documentation and original December 1977 receipt
> from the Byte Shop III in San Jose, CA.

That interests me. Can you provide any more information on it? Was it
for some specific computer (like an S-100 card), or a stand-alone board?

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Howard Poe

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Jul 1, 2018, 6:57:08 PM7/1/18
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There are no plans to apply power to any of it, as I talked with the director of the non profit and mentioned that we don't want to risk damaging things by powering it on.

In some ways, I would like to see the H8 system go as a whole to someone, as it is an interesting collection.  There is a manual included for a "Shackmaster" system, for remote control via touch tone of an amateur radio station, but none of that hardware appears to be there.

I might separate out the TV Typewriter, as it wasn't really part of the system, and the system includes the H19.  I'll get the pictures re-sized and uploaded to a google drive later today.

The original owner also appears to have had a Z-100 MS-DOS system at one point, as I found another box with his old DOS software, including the original floppies for Microsoft Windows 1.01.

Howard

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Howard Poe

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Jul 1, 2018, 6:57:17 PM7/1/18
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The TV typewriter is a stand alone terminal designed by Don Lancaster as a home built kit in the mid-1970s, so that people could use a television as a terminal for the computers of the era (as terminals were pretty expensive.)  This kit appears to be a commercially produced board containing the TVTW as a single board, instead of multiple cards with a wire wrap backplane.


You had to add a keyboard, television set and power supply, and maybe an ASCII encoder (though there was a project for it too), if you didn't have an ASCII keyboard.

This TVTW appears to be completed to the board level, but the sockets are empty (74XXX series TTL logic, if I recall correctly).

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Howard Poe

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Jul 1, 2018, 7:01:12 PM7/1/18
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Here's the link to my Google drive folder with 47 pictures of the system, cards, manuals and software:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1dbJZgjXVdYR8TCbj7RyaimfUEIzdLTvg

I resized them to 50% of original so they're only about 1.2 to 1.5 megabytes each if you want to download them.

-Howard

David Troendle

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Jul 1, 2018, 7:44:59 PM7/1/18
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Thanks for posting the photos.  The system looks in good shape.  My wife said OK to 1K + shipping.  So, if you want to do it, let me know.
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Howard Poe

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Jul 1, 2018, 7:52:49 PM7/1/18
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I've let the director of the non profit know, we'll see what he has to say.

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Glenn Roberts

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Jul 1, 2018, 9:19:44 PM7/1/18
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Beautiful system!

 

From: se...@googlegroups.com <se...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Howard Poe

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Alan Hampson

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Jul 1, 2018, 11:21:17 PM7/1/18
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If you want to break the Z100 items out separately and David doesn't want them, I'd be interested.

Thanks,
    alan
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David Troendle

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Jul 2, 2018, 3:28:35 AM7/2/18
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I'm OK with that.  In only wnat the H8 system and related components.  My offer stays the same.  Whatever Alan offers will help your non-profit.

Howard Poe

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Jul 2, 2018, 10:43:57 AM7/2/18
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Ok.  I'll have them separate out the TV Typewriter and the Z-100 software.  Fortunately the Z-100 software is already separate, along with the other MS-DOS software.

I'll include the box of 8 inch floppies with the H8, though I don't know what system they're for, since they came in with the H8.

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Lee Hart

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Jul 3, 2018, 1:59:33 AM7/3/18
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Howard Poe wrote:
> Ok. I'll have them separate out the TV Typewriter and the Z-100
> software. Fortunately the Z-100 software is already separate, along
> with the other MS-DOS software.

Thanks, Howard. I'm still very intereste din the TV Typewrite board, but
was not able to view your photos on my old/slow computer. Do you happen
to know what model it is? There was the original Don Lancaster design
(many little boards), then the CT-1024 by SWTPC (a larger board and a
few smaller ones), and then the CT-64 (which I can't find pictures of,
but apparently was later and a little simpler).

Alan Hampson

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Jul 3, 2018, 10:14:33 AM7/3/18
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Sounds good. If you could let me know what your NP wants for the Z-100 stuff and maybe post some pictures of that collection, that would be helpful.

alan


On Monday, July 2, 2018 at 8:43:57 AM UTC-6, Howard Poe wrote:
Ok.  I'll have them separate out the TV Typewriter and the Z-100 software.  Fortunately the Z-100 software is already separate, along with the other MS-DOS software.

I'll include the box of 8 inch floppies with the H8, though I don't know what system they're for, since they came in with the H8.

On Mon, Jul 2, 2018 at 12:28 AM, David Troendle <da...@troendle.org> wrote:
I'm OK with that.  In only wnat the H8 system and related components.  My offer stays the same.  Whatever Alan offers will help your non-profit.
 
<--snipped-->

Howard Poe

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Jul 14, 2018, 12:14:33 PM7/14/18
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Sorry about the delay.  I haven't been in to volunteer and won't be for another couple weeks, getting ready to attend the Glacier Waterton International Hamfest in Montana next weekend.

I'll be sure to check on the Z-100 software and TV typewriter on the 28th.

-Howard

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Lee Hart

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Jul 15, 2018, 8:29:12 PM7/15/18
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Howard Poe wrote:
> Sorry about the delay. I haven't been in to volunteer and won't be for another
> couple weeks, getting ready to attend the Glacier Waterton International Hamfest
> in Montana next weekend.
>
> I'll be sure to check on the Z-100 software and TV typewriter on the 28th.

Thanks Howard,

I'm still interested in the TV Typewriter, so let me know what they say.

Have fun at the hamfest! I always enjoy them. Too bad there aren't many around
here (mid-state Minnesota).

> On Tue, Jul 3, 2018 at 7:14 AM, Alan Hampson <alan.h...@gmail.com
> <mailto:alan.h...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Sounds good. If you could let me know what your NP wants for the Z-100 stuff
> and maybe post some pictures of that collection, that would be helpful.
>
> alan
>
> On Monday, July 2, 2018 at 8:43:57 AM UTC-6, Howard Poe wrote:
>
> Ok. I'll have them separate out the TV Typewriter and the Z-100
> software. Fortunately the Z-100 software is already separate, along
> with the other MS-DOS software.
>
> I'll include the box of 8 inch floppies with the H8, though I don't know
> what system they're for, since they came in with the H8.
>
> On Mon, Jul 2, 2018 at 12:28 AM, David Troendle <da...@troendle.org> wrote:
>
> I'm OK with that. In only wnat the H8 system and related
> components. My offer stays the same. Whatever Alan offers will
> help your non-profit.
>
> <--snipped-->
>
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Howard Poe

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Jul 28, 2018, 8:07:24 PM7/28/18
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The TV typewriter is there, and I verified that this is later single board version of the TV typewriter, and has inputs for the ASCII keyboard and power, and outputs composite video.  Full schematics for both the earlier and single board versions are included, along with a photocopy of the original Radio Electronics TV typewriter article, and a clipped version cut from the magazine.

It includes a Radio Shack / Archer keyboard / ASCII encoder manual, but unfortunately the keyboard isn't with it.

I'm thinking $100 would be an appropriate price, as it includes the original sales receipt from The Byte Shop III in San Jose, CA.

I didn't have a chance to look at the H-100 software, though if I recall correctly, it's just the original Heath/Zenith MS-DOS system diskettes.  However, I did locate a complete H-120/Z-120 computer system (all-in one with the monochrome CRT and two 5.25 drives) in our inventory, so we'll probably want to include the system disks with it.

-Howard



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