11-Dec-91 16:09:26-MST,1682;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT
From: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu  (Bob Croft)
Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc.
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
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In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
|> Hi.
|> 
|> I had a Northstar.  It was my first computer.  I was swayed away from the
|> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches.
|> 
|> H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
|> 
|> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it 
and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). 
It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs 
UNIX!) that we used to use...

Bob Croft
croft_bob@Tandem.com

*** This not the opinion of Tandem Computers ***
*** Tandem Computers is not Tandon or Tandy  ***
12-Dec-91 08:37:28-MST,2051;000000000000
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Date: 11 Dec 91 01:42:53 GMT
From: amethyst!salado!root@arizona.edu  (Thomas J. Trebisky)
Organization: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec11.014253.26953@salado.rc.arizona.edu>
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klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
> Hi.
> 
> I had a Northstar.  It was my first computer.  I was swayed away from the
> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches.
> 
> H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
> 
> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

I still have several stacked up providing extra mass in my house. When I
ever get my 680x0 S100 board wire-wrapped up, I want to put it in the northstar
box, just for fun.  (Kind of like putting a V8 engine in a volkswagen).

But I doubt I will ever run CP/M on a N* again.  Several reasons --
(1) CP/M is the pits.  (2) I have sworn never again to use a
computer without a hard drive.  (3) Those awful hard-sectored north star
floppies a such a nuisance -- man oh man!  If I am ever forced to run CP/M,
I will run CDOS on my cromemco system instead, at least it is soft-sectored,
and it supports 8-inch floppies (talk about nostalgia, nothing like the grind
and clank of a good 8-inch floppy drive doing a long seek, especially in some
of the boxes I have them in that really reverberate (sound like a rat throwing
a fit inside a trash can) -- those are MAN-sized floppies ... but I digress.
--
	Tom Trebisky	ttrebisky@as.arizona.edu
12-Dec-91 08:52:48-MST,1680;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:17:34 GMT
From: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!news.bbn.com!star-trek!ckhan@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu  (Chico Khan)
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
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klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:

>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !

>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

It's a lonely world, isn't it?  You ARE probably the only one since the
only reason I saw this is because there never was a message here before
so I never unsubscribed to this group.

Chico.

p.s  Hope you've gotten yourself a new computer. :-)

Hasmatallie A. Khan          |      |                  InterNet: ckhan@bbn.com
Bolt, Beranek and Newman     |___.  |___.  .___.     SneakerNet: 20/317 B
150 CambridgePark Drive      |   |  |   |  |   |       AT&T Net: 617-873-6119
Cambridge, MA 02140          |___!  |___!  |   |     CompuServe: 72770,1507
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               As you go through life, watch out for the googly!
12-Dec-91 10:18:21-MST,1265;000000000000
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Date: 11 Dec 91 08:59:53 GMT
From: sakura!freund@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu  (Jason Freund)
Organization: U C Davis, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <10583@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>
References: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com>
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In article <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> brian@amc.com (Brian Crowley) writes:
>From article <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>, by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan):
>> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
>> 
>>>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
>> 
>>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.


	Yeah.  I just asked everyone.  You are the only person who
has a Northstar ;)
12-Dec-91 12:50:47-MST,1809;000000000000
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Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:47:26 -0500
From: devon@silver.lcs.mit.edu (Devon Sean McCullough)
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   ----- Transcript of session follows -----
>>> RCPT To:<wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@csus.edu>
<<< 554 <wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@csus.edu>... Host wupost not known--please specify domain
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Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:05:28 -0500
From: devon@silver.lcs.mit.edu (Devon Sean McCullough)
Message-Id: <9112121905.AA04562@silver.lcs.mit.edu>
To: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu
In-Reply-To: Bob Croft's message of 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>
Subject: nostalgia

I still have a Sol-20 or so, running N*DOS of course.  Haven't powered
it up in maybe ten years, but it worked fine last time I booted it.

13-Dec-91 19:17:13-MST,3731;000000000000
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Date: 11 Dec 91 06:39:10 GMT
From: milton!sumax!amc-gw!brian@beaver.cs.washington.edu  (Brian Crowley)
Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com>
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From article <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>, by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan):
> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
> 
>>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
> 
>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

I worked my way through college repairing Northstar's for a little firm
which bundled accounting software, terminal and printer with the Northstar
and sold the entire package as a system.

I repaired hundreds of both the Horizon and Advantage versions.  Some of
the things I remember:

-  The old single-density disk controllers were *junk*.  We had all kinds
   of problems with them.  The double-density controller were better, but
   they had a failure mode which affected almost everyone I saw:  there 
   was a mylar capacitor mounted just above the 5V regulator.  Over time 
   the heat coming off the regulator would "cook" the capacitor, causing
   it to fail, resulting in a distinctive ka-chunck, ka-chunck,
   ka-chunck sound when you tried to boot off a floppy (I sometimes 
   had customers put their phone against the floppy and flip the reset 
   switch - the sound was so distinctive I could recognize it long-
   distance!).  I reported the problem to Northstar several times, 
   but they never fixed it.

-  Remember the 1488, 1489 drivers mounted on the motherboard, along with
   the +5 and +-12V regulators?  They were forever failing (both the
   drivers and regulators), what a hassle to remove the motherboard to
   replace the defective part!

-  The Horizon front-end power supply (transformer, diode bridge) has to be
   one of the biggest, herkiest things I ever saw!  Of all the units I
   repaired, however, I think I replaced the diode bridge once.

-  I remember when the 64K memory boards came out.  We used to buy the
   32K version, remove the wire jumpers disguised as resistors, and
   install the other 32K ourselves - at a fraction of the price Northstar
   charged.

-  When the Advantage came out, it was great fun playing with the bit-mapped
   screen.  The reset of the Advantage was somewhat of a dissapointment,
   just a repackaged Horizon.

-  Remember Northstar's attempt to allow reading of MS-DOS diskettes?
   Back then I don't think anyone realized what a force the IBM-PC
   would become (especially Northstar).

Oh well, great memories.  I used to spend all day working on my EE, then
spend the evening hours working on Horizon's and Advantages.  It was 
great fun.  Even today, with my SPARCstation and 33MHZ 386 PC, is miss 
the simplicity of the Horizon running CPM.




-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Brian Crowley              |          DNS: brian@amc.com                 |
|Applied Microsystems Corp. |         UUCP: uunet!amc-gw!brian            |
|Redmond, WA                |          ATT: 206-882-2000  Ext. 328        |
16-Dec-91 08:15:24-MST,1605;000000000000
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Date: 13 Dec 91 16:57:41 GMT
From: csus.edu!wupost!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!aplcomm!craig@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu  (Craig Myers)
Organization: JHU/APL, Laurel, MD
Subject: Northstar Dimension
Message-Id: <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU>
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I just acquired a Northstar Dimension from my Church (were
churches the only ones to buy these things?).  The system had
intermittent problems and ha been shoved in a corner for the
last year.  This box does not have an s100 bus, It appears to
be similar to the IBM PC's (62 pins).  Also, has a custom CPU
chip and an 80186.  I don't have software or any terminals, so
its doubtful I can use it as a system.  Does anyone know if
the disk drives are usable on a PC system (one 15 meg and a
 35 meg drive)?  Well at least its a nice big case with a
 heavy power supply and a couple of fans.

 I now have :
 A Timex Sinclair 1000
 Atari 400
 Comodore 64
 Apple II e (I still use this one)

and a wife who wonders what all the junk is for!

craig@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu
16-Dec-91 08:21:49-MST,3202;000000000000
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Date: 13 Dec 91 18:42:45 GMT
From: seas.gwu.edu!biby@uunet.uu.net  (Rich Biby)
Organization: George Washington University
Subject: Re: Northstar Dimension
Message-Id: <1991Dec13.184245.4111@seas.gwu.edu>
References: <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU>
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In article <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU> craig@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU (Craig Myers) writes:
>I just acquired a Northstar Dimension from my Church (were
>churches the only ones to buy these things?).  The system had
>intermittent problems and ha been shoved in a corner for the
>last year.  This box does not have an s100 bus, It appears to
>be similar to the IBM PC's (62 pins).  Also, has a custom CPU
>chip and an 80186.  I don't have software or any terminals, so
>its doubtful I can use it as a system.  Does anyone know if
>the disk drives are usable on a PC system (one 15 meg and a
> 35 meg drive)?  Well at least its a nice big case with a
> heavy power supply and a couple of fans.
>
> I now have :
> A Timex Sinclair 1000
> Atari 400
> Comodore 64
> Apple II e (I still use this one)
>
>and a wife who wonders what all the junk is for!
>
>craig@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu
>

Well, I owned a N* dealership, but never did I use a dimension. I went to
high skool with two guys I opened the store with (We were all in high skool),
both of whom went of to do more with N* that I. The first guy I know I 
talked about before, Chip White. He has a bad habbit of not returning
fone calles, but for Advantage/Horizon stuff, try hime a 216-775-1314. He
is a tour manager for a musician (sp?) and will be back in Ohio after Sunday.
Chip became one of a very few guys in the country to fix/support N* after N*
droped A/H. He is pretty much out of "the biz", but may have some good contacts.

The second guy I have not seen in a while, but we were like borhters many
years ago, Tom Johnston. Tom went to work for N* in CA, and did stuff with
the dimensions. I don't really know what. Tom worked at Northern Lights 
Computers in Berkley also. I know Tom no longer has much of anything to
do with N*/and any corporate remains, but he might know someone who knows....
I don't have a number for Tom handy, but if you are interested, drop me a note.
He lives in Berkley -- try information if you like.

Closing arguments:
Don't remind me how much I paid for that ST506 5 MB hard disk.....

Best regards to all,
Rich


-- 
Rich Biby  | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA  22203 (703) 528-8489
KD4DSX     | Communications Data Services, Inc.
we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA  22044
people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884  (800) 441-0034
16-Dec-91 09:33:31-MST,2223;000000000000
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Date: 12 Dec 91 22:35:28 GMT
From: hsdndev!adm!amsaa-cleo!dileo@rutgers.edu  (John J. DiLeo)
Organization: Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <5390@amsaa-cleo.brl.mil>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>, <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu>
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To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

In article <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu> biby@seas.gwu.edu (Rich Biby) writes:
>
>Well, this is the most activity I've seen here in a long time. Last
>time someone asked a question about N*, I gave away my entire colection
>of 4. 

   And most of them are humming along quite nicely.  Thank you very much 8-).
  I still haven't actually gotten any actual copies of the hard disk OS for
the Horizon Rich gave me.  I did get a couple of e-mailed promises, but no 
disks have yet arrived.  So, I make my plea once again.  Does anyone out
there have copies of the Hard Disk OS (HDOS or, if it exists/ed, CP/M) for
the Horizon?

>I once had a N* dealership. Time have changed. I just
>got may 20 MHZ 68030 Macintosh NOTEBOOK....
>
>Still, I miss the S-100.....
>
>Regards to all,
>Rich

   And, on a mostly unrelated question, how are things with your GPS set
since the DOD activated the S/A degradation (you did know it's active now,
right 8-)??
>-- 
>Rich Biby  | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA  22203 (703) 528-8489
>KD4DSX     | Communications Data Services, Inc.
>we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA  22044
>people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884  (800) 441-0034

John DiLeo
dileo@brl.mil
--Proprietor, Aberdeen North*Star Museum and Emporium 8-)
16-Dec-91 10:48:59-MST,1680;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:11:15 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!doherty@ames.arc.nasa.gov  (AE Doherty kevin mich)
Organization: Johns Hopkins University
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221115.12849@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
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I STILL have a Northstar...Still works fine, though my DOS was
corrupted a while back; all I can do is listen to it try to boot :)!

There were two features that attracted me to the Northstar: that
nifty walnut case and the company's willingness to send the unit out
as a crate of loose parts.  I was looking for a computer I could BUILD,
and they were willing to support it after I'd done so.

I've been thinking of donating mine to a museum (one down in Blacksburg
VA is advertising for pre-1980 computers; I need to check my invoice but
think I qualify).

I've lost track of the company; are they still around?  If so, I'd
like to get another copy of their DOS diskette (those weird 10 sector
(hard sectored!) diskettes!).
17-Dec-91 10:10:09-MST,745;000000000000
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To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
Subject: Games


I still have a N* horizon running.  Occasionaly my kids turn it on and
play a game (PAC MAN).  It is the only game I have.  Do any of you have any games like PACMAN that will run on N* horizon? It is a two floppy disk system.

Herb Hamilton
hamilton%nmsu.edu
30-Dec-91 08:59:07-MST,1265;000000000000
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Date: 11 Dec 91 08:59:53 GMT
From: sakura!freund@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu  (Jason Freund)
Organization: U C Davis, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <10583@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>
References: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com>
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In article <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> brian@amc.com (Brian Crowley) writes:
>From article <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>, by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan):
>> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
>> 
>>>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
>> 
>>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.


	Yeah.  I just asked everyone.  You are the only person who
has a Northstar ;)
30-Dec-91 09:00:09-MST,3731;000000000000
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Date: 11 Dec 91 06:39:10 GMT
From: milton!sumax!amc-gw!brian@beaver.cs.washington.edu  (Brian Crowley)
Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com>
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From article <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>, by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan):
> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
> 
>>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
> 
>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

I worked my way through college repairing Northstar's for a little firm
which bundled accounting software, terminal and printer with the Northstar
and sold the entire package as a system.

I repaired hundreds of both the Horizon and Advantage versions.  Some of
the things I remember:

-  The old single-density disk controllers were *junk*.  We had all kinds
   of problems with them.  The double-density controller were better, but
   they had a failure mode which affected almost everyone I saw:  there 
   was a mylar capacitor mounted just above the 5V regulator.  Over time 
   the heat coming off the regulator would "cook" the capacitor, causing
   it to fail, resulting in a distinctive ka-chunck, ka-chunck,
   ka-chunck sound when you tried to boot off a floppy (I sometimes 
   had customers put their phone against the floppy and flip the reset 
   switch - the sound was so distinctive I could recognize it long-
   distance!).  I reported the problem to Northstar several times, 
   but they never fixed it.

-  Remember the 1488, 1489 drivers mounted on the motherboard, along with
   the +5 and +-12V regulators?  They were forever failing (both the
   drivers and regulators), what a hassle to remove the motherboard to
   replace the defective part!

-  The Horizon front-end power supply (transformer, diode bridge) has to be
   one of the biggest, herkiest things I ever saw!  Of all the units I
   repaired, however, I think I replaced the diode bridge once.

-  I remember when the 64K memory boards came out.  We used to buy the
   32K version, remove the wire jumpers disguised as resistors, and
   install the other 32K ourselves - at a fraction of the price Northstar
   charged.

-  When the Advantage came out, it was great fun playing with the bit-mapped
   screen.  The reset of the Advantage was somewhat of a dissapointment,
   just a repackaged Horizon.

-  Remember Northstar's attempt to allow reading of MS-DOS diskettes?
   Back then I don't think anyone realized what a force the IBM-PC
   would become (especially Northstar).

Oh well, great memories.  I used to spend all day working on my EE, then
spend the evening hours working on Horizon's and Advantages.  It was 
great fun.  Even today, with my SPARCstation and 33MHZ 386 PC, is miss 
the simplicity of the Horizon running CPM.




-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Brian Crowley              |          DNS: brian@amc.com                 |
|Applied Microsystems Corp. |         UUCP: uunet!amc-gw!brian            |
|Redmond, WA                |          ATT: 206-882-2000  Ext. 328        |
30-Dec-91 09:11:58-MST,1692;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:17:34 GMT
From: agate!spool.mu.edu!yale.edu!think.com!news.bbn.com!star-trek!ckhan@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Chico Khan)
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
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klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:

>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !

>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

It's a lonely world, isn't it?  You ARE probably the only one since the
only reason I saw this is because there never was a message here before
so I never unsubscribed to this group.

Chico.

p.s  Hope you've gotten yourself a new computer. :-)

Hasmatallie A. Khan          |      |                  InterNet: ckhan@bbn.com
Bolt, Beranek and Newman     |___.  |___.  .___.     SneakerNet: 20/317 B
150 CambridgePark Drive      |   |  |   |  |   |       AT&T Net: 617-873-6119
Cambridge, MA 02140          |___!  |___!  |   |     CompuServe: 72770,1507
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               As you go through life, watch out for the googly!
30-Dec-91 09:12:14-MST,2670;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 23:02:24 GMT
From: seas.gwu.edu!biby@uunet.uu.net  (Rich Biby)
Organization: George Washington University
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>
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In article <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> bobc@cyclops.mis.Tandem.com (Bob Croft) writes:
>In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
>|> Hi.
>|> 
>|> I had a Northstar.  It was my first computer.  I was swayed away from the
>|> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches.
>|> 
>|> H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
>|> 
>|> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.
>
>A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it 
>and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). 
>It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs 
>UNIX!) that we used to use...
>
>Bob Croft
>croft_bob@Tandem.com

Well, this is the most activity I've seen here in a long time. Last
time someone asked a question about N*, I gave away my entire colection
of 4. I once had a N* dealership. Time have changed. I just
got may 20 MHZ 68030 Macintosh NOTEBOOK....

Still, I miss the S-100.....

Regards to all,
Rich

Rich Biby  | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA  22203 (703) 528-8489
KD4DSX     | Communications Data Services, Inc.
we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA  22044
people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884  (800) 441-0034
parents    | WORK: rich@comm-data.com  SKOOL: biby@seas.gwu.edu
warned us  | "I am not an idiot, but I play one on usenet!"
about      | Root Emergency Procedure: type "rm -rf /* <cr>"
-- 
Rich Biby  | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA  22203 (703) 528-8489
KD4DSX     | Communications Data Services, Inc.
we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA  22044
people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884  (800) 441-0034
30-Dec-91 09:13:15-MST,1684;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ames.arc.nasa.gov  (Bob Croft)
Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc.
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
|> Hi.
|> 
|> I had a Northstar.  It was my first computer.  I was swayed away from the
|> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches.
|> 
|> H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
|> 
|> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it 
and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). 
It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs 
UNIX!) that we used to use...

Bob Croft
croft_bob@Tandem.com

*** This not the opinion of Tandem Computers ***
*** Tandem Computers is not Tandon or Tandy  ***
30-Dec-91 09:15:58-MST,1075;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 20:21:25 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!nntp-server.caltech.edu!news@ames.arc.nasa.gov  (Michael Klein)
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Subject: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

Hi.

I had a Northstar.  It was my first computer.  I was swayed away from the
Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches.

H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !

Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.
31-Dec-91 10:25:59-MST,1680;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:11:15 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!doherty@ames.arc.nasa.gov  (AE Doherty kevin mich)
Organization: Johns Hopkins University
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221115.12849@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
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I STILL have a Northstar...Still works fine, though my DOS was
corrupted a while back; all I can do is listen to it try to boot :)!

There were two features that attracted me to the Northstar: that
nifty walnut case and the company's willingness to send the unit out
as a crate of loose parts.  I was looking for a computer I could BUILD,
and they were willing to support it after I'd done so.

I've been thinking of donating mine to a museum (one down in Blacksburg
VA is advertising for pre-1980 computers; I need to check my invoice but
think I qualify).

I've lost track of the company; are they still around?  If so, I'd
like to get another copy of their DOS diskette (those weird 10 sector
(hard sectored!) diskettes!).
11-Dec-91 16:09:26-MST,1682;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT
From: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu  (Bob Croft)
Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc.
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
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In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
|> Hi.
|> 
|> I had a Northstar.  It was my first computer.  I was swayed away from the
|> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches.
|> 
|> H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
|> 
|> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it 
and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). 
It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs 
UNIX!) that we used to use...

Bob Croft
croft_bob@Tandem.com

*** This not the opinion of Tandem Computers ***
*** Tandem Computers is not Tandon or Tandy  ***
12-Dec-91 08:37:28-MST,2051;000000000000
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Date: 11 Dec 91 01:42:53 GMT
From: amethyst!salado!root@arizona.edu  (Thomas J. Trebisky)
Organization: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec11.014253.26953@salado.rc.arizona.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
> Hi.
> 
> I had a Northstar.  It was my first computer.  I was swayed away from the
> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches.
> 
> H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
> 
> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

I still have several stacked up providing extra mass in my house. When I
ever get my 680x0 S100 board wire-wrapped up, I want to put it in the northstar
box, just for fun.  (Kind of like putting a V8 engine in a volkswagen).

But I doubt I will ever run CP/M on a N* again.  Several reasons --
(1) CP/M is the pits.  (2) I have sworn never again to use a
computer without a hard drive.  (3) Those awful hard-sectored north star
floppies a such a nuisance -- man oh man!  If I am ever forced to run CP/M,
I will run CDOS on my cromemco system instead, at least it is soft-sectored,
and it supports 8-inch floppies (talk about nostalgia, nothing like the grind
and clank of a good 8-inch floppy drive doing a long seek, especially in some
of the boxes I have them in that really reverberate (sound like a rat throwing
a fit inside a trash can) -- those are MAN-sized floppies ... but I digress.
--
	Tom Trebisky	ttrebisky@as.arizona.edu
12-Dec-91 08:52:48-MST,1680;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:17:34 GMT
From: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!news.bbn.com!star-trek!ckhan@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu  (Chico Khan)
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
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klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:

>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !

>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

It's a lonely world, isn't it?  You ARE probably the only one since the
only reason I saw this is because there never was a message here before
so I never unsubscribed to this group.

Chico.

p.s  Hope you've gotten yourself a new computer. :-)

Hasmatallie A. Khan          |      |                  InterNet: ckhan@bbn.com
Bolt, Beranek and Newman     |___.  |___.  .___.     SneakerNet: 20/317 B
150 CambridgePark Drive      |   |  |   |  |   |       AT&T Net: 617-873-6119
Cambridge, MA 02140          |___!  |___!  |   |     CompuServe: 72770,1507
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               As you go through life, watch out for the googly!
12-Dec-91 10:18:21-MST,1265;000000000000
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Date: 11 Dec 91 08:59:53 GMT
From: sakura!freund@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu  (Jason Freund)
Organization: U C Davis, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <10583@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>
References: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com>
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In article <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> brian@amc.com (Brian Crowley) writes:
>From article <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>, by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan):
>> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
>> 
>>>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
>> 
>>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.


	Yeah.  I just asked everyone.  You are the only person who
has a Northstar ;)
12-Dec-91 12:50:47-MST,1809;000000000000
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Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:47:26 -0500
From: devon@silver.lcs.mit.edu (Devon Sean McCullough)
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Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 11:16:02 -0800
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Subject: Returned mail: Service unavailable

   ----- Transcript of session follows -----
>>> RCPT To:<wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@csus.edu>
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Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:05:28 -0500
From: devon@silver.lcs.mit.edu (Devon Sean McCullough)
Message-Id: <9112121905.AA04562@silver.lcs.mit.edu>
To: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu
In-Reply-To: Bob Croft's message of 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>
Subject: nostalgia

I still have a Sol-20 or so, running N*DOS of course.  Haven't powered
it up in maybe ten years, but it worked fine last time I booted it.

13-Dec-91 19:17:13-MST,3731;000000000000
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Date: 11 Dec 91 06:39:10 GMT
From: milton!sumax!amc-gw!brian@beaver.cs.washington.edu  (Brian Crowley)
Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com>
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To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

From article <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>, by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan):
> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
> 
>>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
> 
>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

I worked my way through college repairing Northstar's for a little firm
which bundled accounting software, terminal and printer with the Northstar
and sold the entire package as a system.

I repaired hundreds of both the Horizon and Advantage versions.  Some of
the things I remember:

-  The old single-density disk controllers were *junk*.  We had all kinds
   of problems with them.  The double-density controller were better, but
   they had a failure mode which affected almost everyone I saw:  there 
   was a mylar capacitor mounted just above the 5V regulator.  Over time 
   the heat coming off the regulator would "cook" the capacitor, causing
   it to fail, resulting in a distinctive ka-chunck, ka-chunck,
   ka-chunck sound when you tried to boot off a floppy (I sometimes 
   had customers put their phone against the floppy and flip the reset 
   switch - the sound was so distinctive I could recognize it long-
   distance!).  I reported the problem to Northstar several times, 
   but they never fixed it.

-  Remember the 1488, 1489 drivers mounted on the motherboard, along with
   the +5 and +-12V regulators?  They were forever failing (both the
   drivers and regulators), what a hassle to remove the motherboard to
   replace the defective part!

-  The Horizon front-end power supply (transformer, diode bridge) has to be
   one of the biggest, herkiest things I ever saw!  Of all the units I
   repaired, however, I think I replaced the diode bridge once.

-  I remember when the 64K memory boards came out.  We used to buy the
   32K version, remove the wire jumpers disguised as resistors, and
   install the other 32K ourselves - at a fraction of the price Northstar
   charged.

-  When the Advantage came out, it was great fun playing with the bit-mapped
   screen.  The reset of the Advantage was somewhat of a dissapointment,
   just a repackaged Horizon.

-  Remember Northstar's attempt to allow reading of MS-DOS diskettes?
   Back then I don't think anyone realized what a force the IBM-PC
   would become (especially Northstar).

Oh well, great memories.  I used to spend all day working on my EE, then
spend the evening hours working on Horizon's and Advantages.  It was 
great fun.  Even today, with my SPARCstation and 33MHZ 386 PC, is miss 
the simplicity of the Horizon running CPM.




-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Brian Crowley              |          DNS: brian@amc.com                 |
|Applied Microsystems Corp. |         UUCP: uunet!amc-gw!brian            |
|Redmond, WA                |          ATT: 206-882-2000  Ext. 328        |
16-Dec-91 08:15:24-MST,1605;000000000000
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Date: 13 Dec 91 16:57:41 GMT
From: csus.edu!wupost!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!aplcomm!craig@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu  (Craig Myers)
Organization: JHU/APL, Laurel, MD
Subject: Northstar Dimension
Message-Id: <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

I just acquired a Northstar Dimension from my Church (were
churches the only ones to buy these things?).  The system had
intermittent problems and ha been shoved in a corner for the
last year.  This box does not have an s100 bus, It appears to
be similar to the IBM PC's (62 pins).  Also, has a custom CPU
chip and an 80186.  I don't have software or any terminals, so
its doubtful I can use it as a system.  Does anyone know if
the disk drives are usable on a PC system (one 15 meg and a
 35 meg drive)?  Well at least its a nice big case with a
 heavy power supply and a couple of fans.

 I now have :
 A Timex Sinclair 1000
 Atari 400
 Comodore 64
 Apple II e (I still use this one)

and a wife who wonders what all the junk is for!

craig@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu
16-Dec-91 08:21:49-MST,3202;000000000000
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Date: 13 Dec 91 18:42:45 GMT
From: seas.gwu.edu!biby@uunet.uu.net  (Rich Biby)
Organization: George Washington University
Subject: Re: Northstar Dimension
Message-Id: <1991Dec13.184245.4111@seas.gwu.edu>
References: <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

In article <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU> craig@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU (Craig Myers) writes:
>I just acquired a Northstar Dimension from my Church (were
>churches the only ones to buy these things?).  The system had
>intermittent problems and ha been shoved in a corner for the
>last year.  This box does not have an s100 bus, It appears to
>be similar to the IBM PC's (62 pins).  Also, has a custom CPU
>chip and an 80186.  I don't have software or any terminals, so
>its doubtful I can use it as a system.  Does anyone know if
>the disk drives are usable on a PC system (one 15 meg and a
> 35 meg drive)?  Well at least its a nice big case with a
> heavy power supply and a couple of fans.
>
> I now have :
> A Timex Sinclair 1000
> Atari 400
> Comodore 64
> Apple II e (I still use this one)
>
>and a wife who wonders what all the junk is for!
>
>craig@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu
>

Well, I owned a N* dealership, but never did I use a dimension. I went to
high skool with two guys I opened the store with (We were all in high skool),
both of whom went of to do more with N* that I. The first guy I know I 
talked about before, Chip White. He has a bad habbit of not returning
fone calles, but for Advantage/Horizon stuff, try hime a 216-775-1314. He
is a tour manager for a musician (sp?) and will be back in Ohio after Sunday.
Chip became one of a very few guys in the country to fix/support N* after N*
droped A/H. He is pretty much out of "the biz", but may have some good contacts.

The second guy I have not seen in a while, but we were like borhters many
years ago, Tom Johnston. Tom went to work for N* in CA, and did stuff with
the dimensions. I don't really know what. Tom worked at Northern Lights 
Computers in Berkley also. I know Tom no longer has much of anything to
do with N*/and any corporate remains, but he might know someone who knows....
I don't have a number for Tom handy, but if you are interested, drop me a note.
He lives in Berkley -- try information if you like.

Closing arguments:
Don't remind me how much I paid for that ST506 5 MB hard disk.....

Best regards to all,
Rich


-- 
Rich Biby  | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA  22203 (703) 528-8489
KD4DSX     | Communications Data Services, Inc.
we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA  22044
people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884  (800) 441-0034
16-Dec-91 09:33:31-MST,2223;000000000000
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Date: 12 Dec 91 22:35:28 GMT
From: hsdndev!adm!amsaa-cleo!dileo@rutgers.edu  (John J. DiLeo)
Organization: Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <5390@amsaa-cleo.brl.mil>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>, <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu>
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To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

In article <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu> biby@seas.gwu.edu (Rich Biby) writes:
>
>Well, this is the most activity I've seen here in a long time. Last
>time someone asked a question about N*, I gave away my entire colection
>of 4. 

   And most of them are humming along quite nicely.  Thank you very much 8-).
  I still haven't actually gotten any actual copies of the hard disk OS for
the Horizon Rich gave me.  I did get a couple of e-mailed promises, but no 
disks have yet arrived.  So, I make my plea once again.  Does anyone out
there have copies of the Hard Disk OS (HDOS or, if it exists/ed, CP/M) for
the Horizon?

>I once had a N* dealership. Time have changed. I just
>got may 20 MHZ 68030 Macintosh NOTEBOOK....
>
>Still, I miss the S-100.....
>
>Regards to all,
>Rich

   And, on a mostly unrelated question, how are things with your GPS set
since the DOD activated the S/A degradation (you did know it's active now,
right 8-)??
>-- 
>Rich Biby  | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA  22203 (703) 528-8489
>KD4DSX     | Communications Data Services, Inc.
>we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA  22044
>people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884  (800) 441-0034

John DiLeo
dileo@brl.mil
--Proprietor, Aberdeen North*Star Museum and Emporium 8-)
16-Dec-91 10:48:59-MST,1680;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:11:15 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!doherty@ames.arc.nasa.gov  (AE Doherty kevin mich)
Organization: Johns Hopkins University
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221115.12849@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

I STILL have a Northstar...Still works fine, though my DOS was
corrupted a while back; all I can do is listen to it try to boot :)!

There were two features that attracted me to the Northstar: that
nifty walnut case and the company's willingness to send the unit out
as a crate of loose parts.  I was looking for a computer I could BUILD,
and they were willing to support it after I'd done so.

I've been thinking of donating mine to a museum (one down in Blacksburg
VA is advertising for pre-1980 computers; I need to check my invoice but
think I qualify).

I've lost track of the company; are they still around?  If so, I'd
like to get another copy of their DOS diskette (those weird 10 sector
(hard sectored!) diskettes!).
17-Dec-91 10:10:09-MST,745;000000000000
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Date: Tue, 17 Dec 91 10:08:58 MST
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To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
Subject: Games


I still have a N* horizon running.  Occasionaly my kids turn it on and
play a game (PAC MAN).  It is the only game I have.  Do any of you have any games like PACMAN that will run on N* horizon? It is a two floppy disk system.

Herb Hamilton
hamilton%nmsu.edu
30-Dec-91 08:59:07-MST,1265;000000000000
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Date: 11 Dec 91 08:59:53 GMT
From: sakura!freund@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu  (Jason Freund)
Organization: U C Davis, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <10583@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>
References: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

In article <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> brian@amc.com (Brian Crowley) writes:
>From article <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>, by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan):
>> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
>> 
>>>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
>> 
>>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.


	Yeah.  I just asked everyone.  You are the only person who
has a Northstar ;)
30-Dec-91 09:00:09-MST,3731;000000000000
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Date: 11 Dec 91 06:39:10 GMT
From: milton!sumax!amc-gw!brian@beaver.cs.washington.edu  (Brian Crowley)
Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
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From article <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>, by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan):
> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
> 
>>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
> 
>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

I worked my way through college repairing Northstar's for a little firm
which bundled accounting software, terminal and printer with the Northstar
and sold the entire package as a system.

I repaired hundreds of both the Horizon and Advantage versions.  Some of
the things I remember:

-  The old single-density disk controllers were *junk*.  We had all kinds
   of problems with them.  The double-density controller were better, but
   they had a failure mode which affected almost everyone I saw:  there 
   was a mylar capacitor mounted just above the 5V regulator.  Over time 
   the heat coming off the regulator would "cook" the capacitor, causing
   it to fail, resulting in a distinctive ka-chunck, ka-chunck,
   ka-chunck sound when you tried to boot off a floppy (I sometimes 
   had customers put their phone against the floppy and flip the reset 
   switch - the sound was so distinctive I could recognize it long-
   distance!).  I reported the problem to Northstar several times, 
   but they never fixed it.

-  Remember the 1488, 1489 drivers mounted on the motherboard, along with
   the +5 and +-12V regulators?  They were forever failing (both the
   drivers and regulators), what a hassle to remove the motherboard to
   replace the defective part!

-  The Horizon front-end power supply (transformer, diode bridge) has to be
   one of the biggest, herkiest things I ever saw!  Of all the units I
   repaired, however, I think I replaced the diode bridge once.

-  I remember when the 64K memory boards came out.  We used to buy the
   32K version, remove the wire jumpers disguised as resistors, and
   install the other 32K ourselves - at a fraction of the price Northstar
   charged.

-  When the Advantage came out, it was great fun playing with the bit-mapped
   screen.  The reset of the Advantage was somewhat of a dissapointment,
   just a repackaged Horizon.

-  Remember Northstar's attempt to allow reading of MS-DOS diskettes?
   Back then I don't think anyone realized what a force the IBM-PC
   would become (especially Northstar).

Oh well, great memories.  I used to spend all day working on my EE, then
spend the evening hours working on Horizon's and Advantages.  It was 
great fun.  Even today, with my SPARCstation and 33MHZ 386 PC, is miss 
the simplicity of the Horizon running CPM.




-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Brian Crowley              |          DNS: brian@amc.com                 |
|Applied Microsystems Corp. |         UUCP: uunet!amc-gw!brian            |
|Redmond, WA                |          ATT: 206-882-2000  Ext. 328        |
30-Dec-91 09:11:58-MST,1692;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:17:34 GMT
From: agate!spool.mu.edu!yale.edu!think.com!news.bbn.com!star-trek!ckhan@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Chico Khan)
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
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klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:

>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !

>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

It's a lonely world, isn't it?  You ARE probably the only one since the
only reason I saw this is because there never was a message here before
so I never unsubscribed to this group.

Chico.

p.s  Hope you've gotten yourself a new computer. :-)

Hasmatallie A. Khan          |      |                  InterNet: ckhan@bbn.com
Bolt, Beranek and Newman     |___.  |___.  .___.     SneakerNet: 20/317 B
150 CambridgePark Drive      |   |  |   |  |   |       AT&T Net: 617-873-6119
Cambridge, MA 02140          |___!  |___!  |   |     CompuServe: 72770,1507
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               As you go through life, watch out for the googly!
30-Dec-91 09:12:14-MST,2670;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 23:02:24 GMT
From: seas.gwu.edu!biby@uunet.uu.net  (Rich Biby)
Organization: George Washington University
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

In article <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> bobc@cyclops.mis.Tandem.com (Bob Croft) writes:
>In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
>|> Hi.
>|> 
>|> I had a Northstar.  It was my first computer.  I was swayed away from the
>|> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches.
>|> 
>|> H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
>|> 
>|> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.
>
>A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it 
>and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). 
>It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs 
>UNIX!) that we used to use...
>
>Bob Croft
>croft_bob@Tandem.com

Well, this is the most activity I've seen here in a long time. Last
time someone asked a question about N*, I gave away my entire colection
of 4. I once had a N* dealership. Time have changed. I just
got may 20 MHZ 68030 Macintosh NOTEBOOK....

Still, I miss the S-100.....

Regards to all,
Rich

Rich Biby  | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA  22203 (703) 528-8489
KD4DSX     | Communications Data Services, Inc.
we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA  22044
people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884  (800) 441-0034
parents    | WORK: rich@comm-data.com  SKOOL: biby@seas.gwu.edu
warned us  | "I am not an idiot, but I play one on usenet!"
about      | Root Emergency Procedure: type "rm -rf /* <cr>"
-- 
Rich Biby  | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA  22203 (703) 528-8489
KD4DSX     | Communications Data Services, Inc.
we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA  22044
people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884  (800) 441-0034
30-Dec-91 09:13:15-MST,1684;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ames.arc.nasa.gov  (Bob Croft)
Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc.
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
|> Hi.
|> 
|> I had a Northstar.  It was my first computer.  I was swayed away from the
|> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches.
|> 
|> H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
|> 
|> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it 
and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). 
It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs 
UNIX!) that we used to use...

Bob Croft
croft_bob@Tandem.com

*** This not the opinion of Tandem Computers ***
*** Tandem Computers is not Tandon or Tandy  ***
30-Dec-91 09:15:58-MST,1075;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 20:21:25 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!nntp-server.caltech.edu!news@ames.arc.nasa.gov  (Michael Klein)
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Subject: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

Hi.

I had a Northstar.  It was my first computer.  I was swayed away from the
Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches.

H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !

Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.
31-Dec-91 10:25:59-MST,1680;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:11:15 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!doherty@ames.arc.nasa.gov  (AE Doherty kevin mich)
Organization: Johns Hopkins University
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221115.12849@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

I STILL have a Northstar...Still works fine, though my DOS was
corrupted a while back; all I can do is listen to it try to boot :)!

There were two features that attracted me to the Northstar: that
nifty walnut case and the company's willingness to send the unit out
as a crate of loose parts.  I was looking for a computer I could BUILD,
and they were willing to support it after I'd done so.

I've been thinking of donating mine to a museum (one down in Blacksburg
VA is advertising for pre-1980 computers; I need to check my invoice but
think I qualify).

I've lost track of the company; are they still around?  If so, I'd
like to get another copy of their DOS diskette (those weird 10 sector
(hard sectored!) diskettes!).
11-Dec-91 16:09:26-MST,1682;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT
From: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu  (Bob Croft)
Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc.
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
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In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
|> Hi.
|> 
|> I had a Northstar.  It was my first computer.  I was swayed away from the
|> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches.
|> 
|> H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
|> 
|> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it 
and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). 
It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs 
UNIX!) that we used to use...

Bob Croft
croft_bob@Tandem.com

*** This not the opinion of Tandem Computers ***
*** Tandem Computers is not Tandon or Tandy  ***
12-Dec-91 08:37:28-MST,2051;000000000000
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Date: 11 Dec 91 01:42:53 GMT
From: amethyst!salado!root@arizona.edu  (Thomas J. Trebisky)
Organization: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec11.014253.26953@salado.rc.arizona.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
> Hi.
> 
> I had a Northstar.  It was my first computer.  I was swayed away from the
> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches.
> 
> H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
> 
> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

I still have several stacked up providing extra mass in my house. When I
ever get my 680x0 S100 board wire-wrapped up, I want to put it in the northstar
box, just for fun.  (Kind of like putting a V8 engine in a volkswagen).

But I doubt I will ever run CP/M on a N* again.  Several reasons --
(1) CP/M is the pits.  (2) I have sworn never again to use a
computer without a hard drive.  (3) Those awful hard-sectored north star
floppies a such a nuisance -- man oh man!  If I am ever forced to run CP/M,
I will run CDOS on my cromemco system instead, at least it is soft-sectored,
and it supports 8-inch floppies (talk about nostalgia, nothing like the grind
and clank of a good 8-inch floppy drive doing a long seek, especially in some
of the boxes I have them in that really reverberate (sound like a rat throwing
a fit inside a trash can) -- those are MAN-sized floppies ... but I digress.
--
	Tom Trebisky	ttrebisky@as.arizona.edu
12-Dec-91 08:52:48-MST,1680;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:17:34 GMT
From: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!news.bbn.com!star-trek!ckhan@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu  (Chico Khan)
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
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klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:

>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !

>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

It's a lonely world, isn't it?  You ARE probably the only one since the
only reason I saw this is because there never was a message here before
so I never unsubscribed to this group.

Chico.

p.s  Hope you've gotten yourself a new computer. :-)

Hasmatallie A. Khan          |      |                  InterNet: ckhan@bbn.com
Bolt, Beranek and Newman     |___.  |___.  .___.     SneakerNet: 20/317 B
150 CambridgePark Drive      |   |  |   |  |   |       AT&T Net: 617-873-6119
Cambridge, MA 02140          |___!  |___!  |   |     CompuServe: 72770,1507
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               As you go through life, watch out for the googly!
12-Dec-91 10:18:21-MST,1265;000000000000
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Date: 11 Dec 91 08:59:53 GMT
From: sakura!freund@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu  (Jason Freund)
Organization: U C Davis, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <10583@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>
References: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com>
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In article <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> brian@amc.com (Brian Crowley) writes:
>From article <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>, by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan):
>> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
>> 
>>>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
>> 
>>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.


	Yeah.  I just asked everyone.  You are the only person who
has a Northstar ;)
12-Dec-91 12:50:47-MST,1809;000000000000
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Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:47:26 -0500
From: devon@silver.lcs.mit.edu (Devon Sean McCullough)
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Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 11:16:02 -0800
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Subject: Returned mail: Service unavailable

   ----- Transcript of session follows -----
>>> RCPT To:<wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@csus.edu>
<<< 554 <wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@csus.edu>... Host wupost not known--please specify domain
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From: devon@silver.lcs.mit.edu (Devon Sean McCullough)
Message-Id: <9112121905.AA04562@silver.lcs.mit.edu>
To: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu
In-Reply-To: Bob Croft's message of 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>
Subject: nostalgia

I still have a Sol-20 or so, running N*DOS of course.  Haven't powered
it up in maybe ten years, but it worked fine last time I booted it.

13-Dec-91 19:17:13-MST,3731;000000000000
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Date: 11 Dec 91 06:39:10 GMT
From: milton!sumax!amc-gw!brian@beaver.cs.washington.edu  (Brian Crowley)
Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com>
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From article <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>, by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan):
> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
> 
>>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
> 
>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

I worked my way through college repairing Northstar's for a little firm
which bundled accounting software, terminal and printer with the Northstar
and sold the entire package as a system.

I repaired hundreds of both the Horizon and Advantage versions.  Some of
the things I remember:

-  The old single-density disk controllers were *junk*.  We had all kinds
   of problems with them.  The double-density controller were better, but
   they had a failure mode which affected almost everyone I saw:  there 
   was a mylar capacitor mounted just above the 5V regulator.  Over time 
   the heat coming off the regulator would "cook" the capacitor, causing
   it to fail, resulting in a distinctive ka-chunck, ka-chunck,
   ka-chunck sound when you tried to boot off a floppy (I sometimes 
   had customers put their phone against the floppy and flip the reset 
   switch - the sound was so distinctive I could recognize it long-
   distance!).  I reported the problem to Northstar several times, 
   but they never fixed it.

-  Remember the 1488, 1489 drivers mounted on the motherboard, along with
   the +5 and +-12V regulators?  They were forever failing (both the
   drivers and regulators), what a hassle to remove the motherboard to
   replace the defective part!

-  The Horizon front-end power supply (transformer, diode bridge) has to be
   one of the biggest, herkiest things I ever saw!  Of all the units I
   repaired, however, I think I replaced the diode bridge once.

-  I remember when the 64K memory boards came out.  We used to buy the
   32K version, remove the wire jumpers disguised as resistors, and
   install the other 32K ourselves - at a fraction of the price Northstar
   charged.

-  When the Advantage came out, it was great fun playing with the bit-mapped
   screen.  The reset of the Advantage was somewhat of a dissapointment,
   just a repackaged Horizon.

-  Remember Northstar's attempt to allow reading of MS-DOS diskettes?
   Back then I don't think anyone realized what a force the IBM-PC
   would become (especially Northstar).

Oh well, great memories.  I used to spend all day working on my EE, then
spend the evening hours working on Horizon's and Advantages.  It was 
great fun.  Even today, with my SPARCstation and 33MHZ 386 PC, is miss 
the simplicity of the Horizon running CPM.




-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Brian Crowley              |          DNS: brian@amc.com                 |
|Applied Microsystems Corp. |         UUCP: uunet!amc-gw!brian            |
|Redmond, WA                |          ATT: 206-882-2000  Ext. 328        |
16-Dec-91 08:15:24-MST,1605;000000000000
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Date: 13 Dec 91 16:57:41 GMT
From: csus.edu!wupost!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!aplcomm!craig@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu  (Craig Myers)
Organization: JHU/APL, Laurel, MD
Subject: Northstar Dimension
Message-Id: <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

I just acquired a Northstar Dimension from my Church (were
churches the only ones to buy these things?).  The system had
intermittent problems and ha been shoved in a corner for the
last year.  This box does not have an s100 bus, It appears to
be similar to the IBM PC's (62 pins).  Also, has a custom CPU
chip and an 80186.  I don't have software or any terminals, so
its doubtful I can use it as a system.  Does anyone know if
the disk drives are usable on a PC system (one 15 meg and a
 35 meg drive)?  Well at least its a nice big case with a
 heavy power supply and a couple of fans.

 I now have :
 A Timex Sinclair 1000
 Atari 400
 Comodore 64
 Apple II e (I still use this one)

and a wife who wonders what all the junk is for!

craig@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu
16-Dec-91 08:21:49-MST,3202;000000000000
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Date: 13 Dec 91 18:42:45 GMT
From: seas.gwu.edu!biby@uunet.uu.net  (Rich Biby)
Organization: George Washington University
Subject: Re: Northstar Dimension
Message-Id: <1991Dec13.184245.4111@seas.gwu.edu>
References: <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU>
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In article <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU> craig@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU (Craig Myers) writes:
>I just acquired a Northstar Dimension from my Church (were
>churches the only ones to buy these things?).  The system had
>intermittent problems and ha been shoved in a corner for the
>last year.  This box does not have an s100 bus, It appears to
>be similar to the IBM PC's (62 pins).  Also, has a custom CPU
>chip and an 80186.  I don't have software or any terminals, so
>its doubtful I can use it as a system.  Does anyone know if
>the disk drives are usable on a PC system (one 15 meg and a
> 35 meg drive)?  Well at least its a nice big case with a
> heavy power supply and a couple of fans.
>
> I now have :
> A Timex Sinclair 1000
> Atari 400
> Comodore 64
> Apple II e (I still use this one)
>
>and a wife who wonders what all the junk is for!
>
>craig@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu
>

Well, I owned a N* dealership, but never did I use a dimension. I went to
high skool with two guys I opened the store with (We were all in high skool),
both of whom went of to do more with N* that I. The first guy I know I 
talked about before, Chip White. He has a bad habbit of not returning
fone calles, but for Advantage/Horizon stuff, try hime a 216-775-1314. He
is a tour manager for a musician (sp?) and will be back in Ohio after Sunday.
Chip became one of a very few guys in the country to fix/support N* after N*
droped A/H. He is pretty much out of "the biz", but may have some good contacts.

The second guy I have not seen in a while, but we were like borhters many
years ago, Tom Johnston. Tom went to work for N* in CA, and did stuff with
the dimensions. I don't really know what. Tom worked at Northern Lights 
Computers in Berkley also. I know Tom no longer has much of anything to
do with N*/and any corporate remains, but he might know someone who knows....
I don't have a number for Tom handy, but if you are interested, drop me a note.
He lives in Berkley -- try information if you like.

Closing arguments:
Don't remind me how much I paid for that ST506 5 MB hard disk.....

Best regards to all,
Rich


-- 
Rich Biby  | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA  22203 (703) 528-8489
KD4DSX     | Communications Data Services, Inc.
we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA  22044
people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884  (800) 441-0034
16-Dec-91 09:33:31-MST,2223;000000000000
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Date: 12 Dec 91 22:35:28 GMT
From: hsdndev!adm!amsaa-cleo!dileo@rutgers.edu  (John J. DiLeo)
Organization: Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <5390@amsaa-cleo.brl.mil>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>, <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

In article <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu> biby@seas.gwu.edu (Rich Biby) writes:
>
>Well, this is the most activity I've seen here in a long time. Last
>time someone asked a question about N*, I gave away my entire colection
>of 4. 

   And most of them are humming along quite nicely.  Thank you very much 8-).
  I still haven't actually gotten any actual copies of the hard disk OS for
the Horizon Rich gave me.  I did get a couple of e-mailed promises, but no 
disks have yet arrived.  So, I make my plea once again.  Does anyone out
there have copies of the Hard Disk OS (HDOS or, if it exists/ed, CP/M) for
the Horizon?

>I once had a N* dealership. Time have changed. I just
>got may 20 MHZ 68030 Macintosh NOTEBOOK....
>
>Still, I miss the S-100.....
>
>Regards to all,
>Rich

   And, on a mostly unrelated question, how are things with your GPS set
since the DOD activated the S/A degradation (you did know it's active now,
right 8-)??
>-- 
>Rich Biby  | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA  22203 (703) 528-8489
>KD4DSX     | Communications Data Services, Inc.
>we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA  22044
>people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884  (800) 441-0034

John DiLeo
dileo@brl.mil
--Proprietor, Aberdeen North*Star Museum and Emporium 8-)
16-Dec-91 10:48:59-MST,1680;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:11:15 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!doherty@ames.arc.nasa.gov  (AE Doherty kevin mich)
Organization: Johns Hopkins University
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221115.12849@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

I STILL have a Northstar...Still works fine, though my DOS was
corrupted a while back; all I can do is listen to it try to boot :)!

There were two features that attracted me to the Northstar: that
nifty walnut case and the company's willingness to send the unit out
as a crate of loose parts.  I was looking for a computer I could BUILD,
and they were willing to support it after I'd done so.

I've been thinking of donating mine to a museum (one down in Blacksburg
VA is advertising for pre-1980 computers; I need to check my invoice but
think I qualify).

I've lost track of the company; are they still around?  If so, I'd
like to get another copy of their DOS diskette (those weird 10 sector
(hard sectored!) diskettes!).
17-Dec-91 10:10:09-MST,745;000000000000
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Date: Tue, 17 Dec 91 10:08:58 MST
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To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
Subject: Games


I still have a N* horizon running.  Occasionaly my kids turn it on and
play a game (PAC MAN).  It is the only game I have.  Do any of you have any games like PACMAN that will run on N* horizon? It is a two floppy disk system.

Herb Hamilton
hamilton%nmsu.edu
30-Dec-91 08:59:07-MST,1265;000000000000
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Date: 11 Dec 91 08:59:53 GMT
From: sakura!freund@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu  (Jason Freund)
Organization: U C Davis, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <10583@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>
References: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com>
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In article <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> brian@amc.com (Brian Crowley) writes:
>From article <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>, by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan):
>> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
>> 
>>>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
>> 
>>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.


	Yeah.  I just asked everyone.  You are the only person who
has a Northstar ;)
30-Dec-91 09:00:09-MST,3731;000000000000
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Date: 11 Dec 91 06:39:10 GMT
From: milton!sumax!amc-gw!brian@beaver.cs.washington.edu  (Brian Crowley)
Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

From article <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>, by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan):
> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
> 
>>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
> 
>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

I worked my way through college repairing Northstar's for a little firm
which bundled accounting software, terminal and printer with the Northstar
and sold the entire package as a system.

I repaired hundreds of both the Horizon and Advantage versions.  Some of
the things I remember:

-  The old single-density disk controllers were *junk*.  We had all kinds
   of problems with them.  The double-density controller were better, but
   they had a failure mode which affected almost everyone I saw:  there 
   was a mylar capacitor mounted just above the 5V regulator.  Over time 
   the heat coming off the regulator would "cook" the capacitor, causing
   it to fail, resulting in a distinctive ka-chunck, ka-chunck,
   ka-chunck sound when you tried to boot off a floppy (I sometimes 
   had customers put their phone against the floppy and flip the reset 
   switch - the sound was so distinctive I could recognize it long-
   distance!).  I reported the problem to Northstar several times, 
   but they never fixed it.

-  Remember the 1488, 1489 drivers mounted on the motherboard, along with
   the +5 and +-12V regulators?  They were forever failing (both the
   drivers and regulators), what a hassle to remove the motherboard to
   replace the defective part!

-  The Horizon front-end power supply (transformer, diode bridge) has to be
   one of the biggest, herkiest things I ever saw!  Of all the units I
   repaired, however, I think I replaced the diode bridge once.

-  I remember when the 64K memory boards came out.  We used to buy the
   32K version, remove the wire jumpers disguised as resistors, and
   install the other 32K ourselves - at a fraction of the price Northstar
   charged.

-  When the Advantage came out, it was great fun playing with the bit-mapped
   screen.  The reset of the Advantage was somewhat of a dissapointment,
   just a repackaged Horizon.

-  Remember Northstar's attempt to allow reading of MS-DOS diskettes?
   Back then I don't think anyone realized what a force the IBM-PC
   would become (especially Northstar).

Oh well, great memories.  I used to spend all day working on my EE, then
spend the evening hours working on Horizon's and Advantages.  It was 
great fun.  Even today, with my SPARCstation and 33MHZ 386 PC, is miss 
the simplicity of the Horizon running CPM.




-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Brian Crowley              |          DNS: brian@amc.com                 |
|Applied Microsystems Corp. |         UUCP: uunet!amc-gw!brian            |
|Redmond, WA                |          ATT: 206-882-2000  Ext. 328        |
30-Dec-91 09:11:58-MST,1692;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:17:34 GMT
From: agate!spool.mu.edu!yale.edu!think.com!news.bbn.com!star-trek!ckhan@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Chico Khan)
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
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klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:

>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !

>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

It's a lonely world, isn't it?  You ARE probably the only one since the
only reason I saw this is because there never was a message here before
so I never unsubscribed to this group.

Chico.

p.s  Hope you've gotten yourself a new computer. :-)

Hasmatallie A. Khan          |      |                  InterNet: ckhan@bbn.com
Bolt, Beranek and Newman     |___.  |___.  .___.     SneakerNet: 20/317 B
150 CambridgePark Drive      |   |  |   |  |   |       AT&T Net: 617-873-6119
Cambridge, MA 02140          |___!  |___!  |   |     CompuServe: 72770,1507
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               As you go through life, watch out for the googly!
30-Dec-91 09:12:14-MST,2670;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 23:02:24 GMT
From: seas.gwu.edu!biby@uunet.uu.net  (Rich Biby)
Organization: George Washington University
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>
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In article <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> bobc@cyclops.mis.Tandem.com (Bob Croft) writes:
>In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
>|> Hi.
>|> 
>|> I had a Northstar.  It was my first computer.  I was swayed away from the
>|> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches.
>|> 
>|> H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
>|> 
>|> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.
>
>A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it 
>and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). 
>It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs 
>UNIX!) that we used to use...
>
>Bob Croft
>croft_bob@Tandem.com

Well, this is the most activity I've seen here in a long time. Last
time someone asked a question about N*, I gave away my entire colection
of 4. I once had a N* dealership. Time have changed. I just
got may 20 MHZ 68030 Macintosh NOTEBOOK....

Still, I miss the S-100.....

Regards to all,
Rich

Rich Biby  | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA  22203 (703) 528-8489
KD4DSX     | Communications Data Services, Inc.
we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA  22044
people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884  (800) 441-0034
parents    | WORK: rich@comm-data.com  SKOOL: biby@seas.gwu.edu
warned us  | "I am not an idiot, but I play one on usenet!"
about      | Root Emergency Procedure: type "rm -rf /* <cr>"
-- 
Rich Biby  | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA  22203 (703) 528-8489
KD4DSX     | Communications Data Services, Inc.
we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA  22044
people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884  (800) 441-0034
30-Dec-91 09:13:15-MST,1684;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ames.arc.nasa.gov  (Bob Croft)
Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc.
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
|> Hi.
|> 
|> I had a Northstar.  It was my first computer.  I was swayed away from the
|> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches.
|> 
|> H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
|> 
|> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it 
and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). 
It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs 
UNIX!) that we used to use...

Bob Croft
croft_bob@Tandem.com

*** This not the opinion of Tandem Computers ***
*** Tandem Computers is not Tandon or Tandy  ***
30-Dec-91 09:15:58-MST,1075;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 20:21:25 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!nntp-server.caltech.edu!news@ames.arc.nasa.gov  (Michael Klein)
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Subject: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

Hi.

I had a Northstar.  It was my first computer.  I was swayed away from the
Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches.

H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !

Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.
31-Dec-91 10:25:59-MST,1680;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:11:15 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!doherty@ames.arc.nasa.gov  (AE Doherty kevin mich)
Organization: Johns Hopkins University
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221115.12849@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

I STILL have a Northstar...Still works fine, though my DOS was
corrupted a while back; all I can do is listen to it try to boot :)!

There were two features that attracted me to the Northstar: that
nifty walnut case and the company's willingness to send the unit out
as a crate of loose parts.  I was looking for a computer I could BUILD,
and they were willing to support it after I'd done so.

I've been thinking of donating mine to a museum (one down in Blacksburg
VA is advertising for pre-1980 computers; I need to check my invoice but
think I qualify).

I've lost track of the company; are they still around?  If so, I'd
like to get another copy of their DOS diskette (those weird 10 sector
(hard sectored!) diskettes!).
11-Dec-91 16:09:26-MST,1682;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT
From: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu  (Bob Croft)
Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc.
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
|> Hi.
|> 
|> I had a Northstar.  It was my first computer.  I was swayed away from the
|> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches.
|> 
|> H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
|> 
|> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it 
and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). 
It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs 
UNIX!) that we used to use...

Bob Croft
croft_bob@Tandem.com

*** This not the opinion of Tandem Computers ***
*** Tandem Computers is not Tandon or Tandy  ***
12-Dec-91 08:37:28-MST,2051;000000000000
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Date: 11 Dec 91 01:42:53 GMT
From: amethyst!salado!root@arizona.edu  (Thomas J. Trebisky)
Organization: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec11.014253.26953@salado.rc.arizona.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
> Hi.
> 
> I had a Northstar.  It was my first computer.  I was swayed away from the
> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches.
> 
> H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
> 
> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

I still have several stacked up providing extra mass in my house. When I
ever get my 680x0 S100 board wire-wrapped up, I want to put it in the northstar
box, just for fun.  (Kind of like putting a V8 engine in a volkswagen).

But I doubt I will ever run CP/M on a N* again.  Several reasons --
(1) CP/M is the pits.  (2) I have sworn never again to use a
computer without a hard drive.  (3) Those awful hard-sectored north star
floppies a such a nuisance -- man oh man!  If I am ever forced to run CP/M,
I will run CDOS on my cromemco system instead, at least it is soft-sectored,
and it supports 8-inch floppies (talk about nostalgia, nothing like the grind
and clank of a good 8-inch floppy drive doing a long seek, especially in some
of the boxes I have them in that really reverberate (sound like a rat throwing
a fit inside a trash can) -- those are MAN-sized floppies ... but I digress.
--
	Tom Trebisky	ttrebisky@as.arizona.edu
12-Dec-91 08:52:48-MST,1680;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:17:34 GMT
From: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!news.bbn.com!star-trek!ckhan@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu  (Chico Khan)
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
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klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:

>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !

>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

It's a lonely world, isn't it?  You ARE probably the only one since the
only reason I saw this is because there never was a message here before
so I never unsubscribed to this group.

Chico.

p.s  Hope you've gotten yourself a new computer. :-)

Hasmatallie A. Khan          |      |                  InterNet: ckhan@bbn.com
Bolt, Beranek and Newman     |___.  |___.  .___.     SneakerNet: 20/317 B
150 CambridgePark Drive      |   |  |   |  |   |       AT&T Net: 617-873-6119
Cambridge, MA 02140          |___!  |___!  |   |     CompuServe: 72770,1507
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               As you go through life, watch out for the googly!
12-Dec-91 10:18:21-MST,1265;000000000000
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Date: 11 Dec 91 08:59:53 GMT
From: sakura!freund@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu  (Jason Freund)
Organization: U C Davis, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <10583@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>
References: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com>
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In article <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> brian@amc.com (Brian Crowley) writes:
>From article <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>, by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan):
>> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
>> 
>>>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
>> 
>>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.


	Yeah.  I just asked everyone.  You are the only person who
has a Northstar ;)
12-Dec-91 12:50:47-MST,1809;000000000000
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Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:47:26 -0500
From: devon@silver.lcs.mit.edu (Devon Sean McCullough)
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   ----- Transcript of session follows -----
>>> RCPT To:<wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@csus.edu>
<<< 554 <wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@csus.edu>... Host wupost not known--please specify domain
554 <csus.edu!wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>... Service unavailable

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Date: Thu, 12 Dec 91 14:05:28 -0500
From: devon@silver.lcs.mit.edu (Devon Sean McCullough)
Message-Id: <9112121905.AA04562@silver.lcs.mit.edu>
To: csus.edu!wupost!think.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu
In-Reply-To: Bob Croft's message of 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>
Subject: nostalgia

I still have a Sol-20 or so, running N*DOS of course.  Haven't powered
it up in maybe ten years, but it worked fine last time I booted it.

13-Dec-91 19:17:13-MST,3731;000000000000
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Date: 11 Dec 91 06:39:10 GMT
From: milton!sumax!amc-gw!brian@beaver.cs.washington.edu  (Brian Crowley)
Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com>
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To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

From article <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>, by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan):
> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
> 
>>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
> 
>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

I worked my way through college repairing Northstar's for a little firm
which bundled accounting software, terminal and printer with the Northstar
and sold the entire package as a system.

I repaired hundreds of both the Horizon and Advantage versions.  Some of
the things I remember:

-  The old single-density disk controllers were *junk*.  We had all kinds
   of problems with them.  The double-density controller were better, but
   they had a failure mode which affected almost everyone I saw:  there 
   was a mylar capacitor mounted just above the 5V regulator.  Over time 
   the heat coming off the regulator would "cook" the capacitor, causing
   it to fail, resulting in a distinctive ka-chunck, ka-chunck,
   ka-chunck sound when you tried to boot off a floppy (I sometimes 
   had customers put their phone against the floppy and flip the reset 
   switch - the sound was so distinctive I could recognize it long-
   distance!).  I reported the problem to Northstar several times, 
   but they never fixed it.

-  Remember the 1488, 1489 drivers mounted on the motherboard, along with
   the +5 and +-12V regulators?  They were forever failing (both the
   drivers and regulators), what a hassle to remove the motherboard to
   replace the defective part!

-  The Horizon front-end power supply (transformer, diode bridge) has to be
   one of the biggest, herkiest things I ever saw!  Of all the units I
   repaired, however, I think I replaced the diode bridge once.

-  I remember when the 64K memory boards came out.  We used to buy the
   32K version, remove the wire jumpers disguised as resistors, and
   install the other 32K ourselves - at a fraction of the price Northstar
   charged.

-  When the Advantage came out, it was great fun playing with the bit-mapped
   screen.  The reset of the Advantage was somewhat of a dissapointment,
   just a repackaged Horizon.

-  Remember Northstar's attempt to allow reading of MS-DOS diskettes?
   Back then I don't think anyone realized what a force the IBM-PC
   would become (especially Northstar).

Oh well, great memories.  I used to spend all day working on my EE, then
spend the evening hours working on Horizon's and Advantages.  It was 
great fun.  Even today, with my SPARCstation and 33MHZ 386 PC, is miss 
the simplicity of the Horizon running CPM.




-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Brian Crowley              |          DNS: brian@amc.com                 |
|Applied Microsystems Corp. |         UUCP: uunet!amc-gw!brian            |
|Redmond, WA                |          ATT: 206-882-2000  Ext. 328        |
16-Dec-91 08:15:24-MST,1605;000000000000
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Date: 13 Dec 91 16:57:41 GMT
From: csus.edu!wupost!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!aplcomm!craig@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu  (Craig Myers)
Organization: JHU/APL, Laurel, MD
Subject: Northstar Dimension
Message-Id: <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU>
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To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

I just acquired a Northstar Dimension from my Church (were
churches the only ones to buy these things?).  The system had
intermittent problems and ha been shoved in a corner for the
last year.  This box does not have an s100 bus, It appears to
be similar to the IBM PC's (62 pins).  Also, has a custom CPU
chip and an 80186.  I don't have software or any terminals, so
its doubtful I can use it as a system.  Does anyone know if
the disk drives are usable on a PC system (one 15 meg and a
 35 meg drive)?  Well at least its a nice big case with a
 heavy power supply and a couple of fans.

 I now have :
 A Timex Sinclair 1000
 Atari 400
 Comodore 64
 Apple II e (I still use this one)

and a wife who wonders what all the junk is for!

craig@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu
16-Dec-91 08:21:49-MST,3202;000000000000
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Date: 13 Dec 91 18:42:45 GMT
From: seas.gwu.edu!biby@uunet.uu.net  (Rich Biby)
Organization: George Washington University
Subject: Re: Northstar Dimension
Message-Id: <1991Dec13.184245.4111@seas.gwu.edu>
References: <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU>
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In article <742@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU> craig@aplcomm.JHUAPL.EDU (Craig Myers) writes:
>I just acquired a Northstar Dimension from my Church (were
>churches the only ones to buy these things?).  The system had
>intermittent problems and ha been shoved in a corner for the
>last year.  This box does not have an s100 bus, It appears to
>be similar to the IBM PC's (62 pins).  Also, has a custom CPU
>chip and an 80186.  I don't have software or any terminals, so
>its doubtful I can use it as a system.  Does anyone know if
>the disk drives are usable on a PC system (one 15 meg and a
> 35 meg drive)?  Well at least its a nice big case with a
> heavy power supply and a couple of fans.
>
> I now have :
> A Timex Sinclair 1000
> Atari 400
> Comodore 64
> Apple II e (I still use this one)
>
>and a wife who wonders what all the junk is for!
>
>craig@aplcomm.jhuapl.edu
>

Well, I owned a N* dealership, but never did I use a dimension. I went to
high skool with two guys I opened the store with (We were all in high skool),
both of whom went of to do more with N* that I. The first guy I know I 
talked about before, Chip White. He has a bad habbit of not returning
fone calles, but for Advantage/Horizon stuff, try hime a 216-775-1314. He
is a tour manager for a musician (sp?) and will be back in Ohio after Sunday.
Chip became one of a very few guys in the country to fix/support N* after N*
droped A/H. He is pretty much out of "the biz", but may have some good contacts.

The second guy I have not seen in a while, but we were like borhters many
years ago, Tom Johnston. Tom went to work for N* in CA, and did stuff with
the dimensions. I don't really know what. Tom worked at Northern Lights 
Computers in Berkley also. I know Tom no longer has much of anything to
do with N*/and any corporate remains, but he might know someone who knows....
I don't have a number for Tom handy, but if you are interested, drop me a note.
He lives in Berkley -- try information if you like.

Closing arguments:
Don't remind me how much I paid for that ST506 5 MB hard disk.....

Best regards to all,
Rich


-- 
Rich Biby  | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA  22203 (703) 528-8489
KD4DSX     | Communications Data Services, Inc.
we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA  22044
people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884  (800) 441-0034
16-Dec-91 09:33:31-MST,2223;000000000000
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Date: 12 Dec 91 22:35:28 GMT
From: hsdndev!adm!amsaa-cleo!dileo@rutgers.edu  (John J. DiLeo)
Organization: Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <5390@amsaa-cleo.brl.mil>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>, <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

In article <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu> biby@seas.gwu.edu (Rich Biby) writes:
>
>Well, this is the most activity I've seen here in a long time. Last
>time someone asked a question about N*, I gave away my entire colection
>of 4. 

   And most of them are humming along quite nicely.  Thank you very much 8-).
  I still haven't actually gotten any actual copies of the hard disk OS for
the Horizon Rich gave me.  I did get a couple of e-mailed promises, but no 
disks have yet arrived.  So, I make my plea once again.  Does anyone out
there have copies of the Hard Disk OS (HDOS or, if it exists/ed, CP/M) for
the Horizon?

>I once had a N* dealership. Time have changed. I just
>got may 20 MHZ 68030 Macintosh NOTEBOOK....
>
>Still, I miss the S-100.....
>
>Regards to all,
>Rich

   And, on a mostly unrelated question, how are things with your GPS set
since the DOD activated the S/A degradation (you did know it's active now,
right 8-)??
>-- 
>Rich Biby  | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA  22203 (703) 528-8489
>KD4DSX     | Communications Data Services, Inc.
>we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA  22044
>people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884  (800) 441-0034

John DiLeo
dileo@brl.mil
--Proprietor, Aberdeen North*Star Museum and Emporium 8-)
16-Dec-91 10:48:59-MST,1680;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:11:15 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!doherty@ames.arc.nasa.gov  (AE Doherty kevin mich)
Organization: Johns Hopkins University
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221115.12849@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

I STILL have a Northstar...Still works fine, though my DOS was
corrupted a while back; all I can do is listen to it try to boot :)!

There were two features that attracted me to the Northstar: that
nifty walnut case and the company's willingness to send the unit out
as a crate of loose parts.  I was looking for a computer I could BUILD,
and they were willing to support it after I'd done so.

I've been thinking of donating mine to a museum (one down in Blacksburg
VA is advertising for pre-1980 computers; I need to check my invoice but
think I qualify).

I've lost track of the company; are they still around?  If so, I'd
like to get another copy of their DOS diskette (those weird 10 sector
(hard sectored!) diskettes!).
17-Dec-91 10:10:09-MST,745;000000000000
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To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
Subject: Games


I still have a N* horizon running.  Occasionaly my kids turn it on and
play a game (PAC MAN).  It is the only game I have.  Do any of you have any games like PACMAN that will run on N* horizon? It is a two floppy disk system.

Herb Hamilton
hamilton%nmsu.edu
30-Dec-91 08:59:07-MST,1265;000000000000
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Date: 11 Dec 91 08:59:53 GMT
From: sakura!freund@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu  (Jason Freund)
Organization: U C Davis, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <10583@ucdavis.ucdavis.edu>
References: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

In article <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com> brian@amc.com (Brian Crowley) writes:
>From article <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>, by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan):
>> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
>> 
>>>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
>> 
>>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.


	Yeah.  I just asked everyone.  You are the only person who
has a Northstar ;)
30-Dec-91 09:00:09-MST,3731;000000000000
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Date: 11 Dec 91 06:39:10 GMT
From: milton!sumax!amc-gw!brian@beaver.cs.washington.edu  (Brian Crowley)
Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec11.063910.12769@amc.com>
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From article <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>, by ckhan@star-trek.bbn.com (Chico Khan):
> klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
> 
>>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
> 
>>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

I worked my way through college repairing Northstar's for a little firm
which bundled accounting software, terminal and printer with the Northstar
and sold the entire package as a system.

I repaired hundreds of both the Horizon and Advantage versions.  Some of
the things I remember:

-  The old single-density disk controllers were *junk*.  We had all kinds
   of problems with them.  The double-density controller were better, but
   they had a failure mode which affected almost everyone I saw:  there 
   was a mylar capacitor mounted just above the 5V regulator.  Over time 
   the heat coming off the regulator would "cook" the capacitor, causing
   it to fail, resulting in a distinctive ka-chunck, ka-chunck,
   ka-chunck sound when you tried to boot off a floppy (I sometimes 
   had customers put their phone against the floppy and flip the reset 
   switch - the sound was so distinctive I could recognize it long-
   distance!).  I reported the problem to Northstar several times, 
   but they never fixed it.

-  Remember the 1488, 1489 drivers mounted on the motherboard, along with
   the +5 and +-12V regulators?  They were forever failing (both the
   drivers and regulators), what a hassle to remove the motherboard to
   replace the defective part!

-  The Horizon front-end power supply (transformer, diode bridge) has to be
   one of the biggest, herkiest things I ever saw!  Of all the units I
   repaired, however, I think I replaced the diode bridge once.

-  I remember when the 64K memory boards came out.  We used to buy the
   32K version, remove the wire jumpers disguised as resistors, and
   install the other 32K ourselves - at a fraction of the price Northstar
   charged.

-  When the Advantage came out, it was great fun playing with the bit-mapped
   screen.  The reset of the Advantage was somewhat of a dissapointment,
   just a repackaged Horizon.

-  Remember Northstar's attempt to allow reading of MS-DOS diskettes?
   Back then I don't think anyone realized what a force the IBM-PC
   would become (especially Northstar).

Oh well, great memories.  I used to spend all day working on my EE, then
spend the evening hours working on Horizon's and Advantages.  It was 
great fun.  Even today, with my SPARCstation and 33MHZ 386 PC, is miss 
the simplicity of the Horizon running CPM.




-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
|Brian Crowley              |          DNS: brian@amc.com                 |
|Applied Microsystems Corp. |         UUCP: uunet!amc-gw!brian            |
|Redmond, WA                |          ATT: 206-882-2000  Ext. 328        |
30-Dec-91 09:11:58-MST,1692;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:17:34 GMT
From: agate!spool.mu.edu!yale.edu!think.com!news.bbn.com!star-trek!ckhan@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (Chico Khan)
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <kkaf7uINNk4m@news.bbn.com>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
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klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:

>H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !

>Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

It's a lonely world, isn't it?  You ARE probably the only one since the
only reason I saw this is because there never was a message here before
so I never unsubscribed to this group.

Chico.

p.s  Hope you've gotten yourself a new computer. :-)

Hasmatallie A. Khan          |      |                  InterNet: ckhan@bbn.com
Bolt, Beranek and Newman     |___.  |___.  .___.     SneakerNet: 20/317 B
150 CambridgePark Drive      |   |  |   |  |   |       AT&T Net: 617-873-6119
Cambridge, MA 02140          |___!  |___!  |   |     CompuServe: 72770,1507
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               As you go through life, watch out for the googly!
30-Dec-91 09:12:14-MST,2670;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 23:02:24 GMT
From: seas.gwu.edu!biby@uunet.uu.net  (Rich Biby)
Organization: George Washington University
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.230224.3836@seas.gwu.edu>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
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In article <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com> bobc@cyclops.mis.Tandem.com (Bob Croft) writes:
>In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
>|> Hi.
>|> 
>|> I had a Northstar.  It was my first computer.  I was swayed away from the
>|> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches.
>|> 
>|> H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
>|> 
>|> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.
>
>A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it 
>and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). 
>It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs 
>UNIX!) that we used to use...
>
>Bob Croft
>croft_bob@Tandem.com

Well, this is the most activity I've seen here in a long time. Last
time someone asked a question about N*, I gave away my entire colection
of 4. I once had a N* dealership. Time have changed. I just
got may 20 MHZ 68030 Macintosh NOTEBOOK....

Still, I miss the S-100.....

Regards to all,
Rich

Rich Biby  | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA  22203 (703) 528-8489
KD4DSX     | Communications Data Services, Inc.
we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA  22044
people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884  (800) 441-0034
parents    | WORK: rich@comm-data.com  SKOOL: biby@seas.gwu.edu
warned us  | "I am not an idiot, but I play one on usenet!"
about      | Root Emergency Procedure: type "rm -rf /* <cr>"
-- 
Rich Biby  | 205 N. Evergreen Street, Arlington, VA  22203 (703) 528-8489
KD4DSX     | Communications Data Services, Inc.
we are the | 6105-E Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA  22044
people our | (703) 534-0034 FAX:(703) 534-7884  (800) 441-0034
30-Dec-91 09:13:15-MST,1684;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:12:51 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!mips!pacbell.com!tandem!cyclops.mis.Tandem.com!bobc@ames.arc.nasa.gov  (Bob Croft)
Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc.
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221251.24036@tandem.com>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

In article <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>, klein@small (Michael Klein) writes:
|> Hi.
|> 
|> I had a Northstar.  It was my first computer.  I was swayed away from the
|> Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches.
|> 
|> H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !
|> 
|> Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.

A friend of mine won a Northstar as a door prize after a 10K run, gave up on it 
and gave it to our Church when he discovered that he had to use "special" disks (etc...). 
It sits in storage to this day right next to a cromenco Z80 machine (this one even runs 
UNIX!) that we used to use...

Bob Croft
croft_bob@Tandem.com

*** This not the opinion of Tandem Computers ***
*** Tandem Computers is not Tandon or Tandy  ***
30-Dec-91 09:15:58-MST,1075;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 20:21:25 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!nntp-server.caltech.edu!news@ames.arc.nasa.gov  (Michael Klein)
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Subject: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

Hi.

I had a Northstar.  It was my first computer.  I was swayed away from the
Imsai with its sexy red and blue front panel switches.

H E L L O !   I S   A N Y B O D Y   O U T   T H E R E ! ! ! !

Just wondering if I'm the only person who reads here.
31-Dec-91 10:25:59-MST,1680;000000000000
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Date: 10 Dec 91 22:11:15 GMT
From: elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!doherty@ames.arc.nasa.gov  (AE Doherty kevin mich)
Organization: Johns Hopkins University
Subject: Re: nostalgia
Message-Id: <1991Dec10.221115.12849@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu>
References: <1991Dec10.202125.16402@cco.caltech.edu>
Sender: northstar-users-request@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil
To: northstar-users@wsmr-simtel20.army.mil

I STILL have a Northstar...Still works fine, though my DOS was
corrupted a while back; all I can do is listen to it try to boot :)!

There were two features that attracted me to the Northstar: that
nifty walnut case and the company's willingness to send the unit out
as a crate of loose parts.  I was looking for a computer I could BUILD,
and they were willing to support it after I'd done so.

I've been thinking of donating mine to a museum (one down in Blacksburg
VA is advertising for pre-1980 computers; I need to check my invoice but
think I qualify).

I've lost track of the company; are they still around?  If so, I'd
like to get another copy of their DOS diskette (those weird 10 sector
(hard sectored!) diskettes!).
