Date : Tue, 25 Mar 1986 10:57:00 MST
From : Jerry Crow <JCrow@his-phoenix-multics.arpa>
Subject: Re: WANTED CP/M SYSTEM
I am looking for a CP/M system that can be run completely from an
external terminal. I want one with either 5.25 or 3.5 inch
disks. I would also be interested in systems that have at least
two rs232 ports. That way I could change things around so as to
avoid using the CRT. I have a friend who wants to hook up a
braille terminal thus a CRT is of little use.
Robert Jaquiss
At this installation we have quite a number of Morrow MD2/MD3 systems using
external CRT's as consoles. The MD machines are designed to operate that
way; i.e., the console is an external terminal device attached to the
mainboard via a standard 232 interface. The complete MD package included a
terminal sold by Morrow, but we purchased only the boxes and used our own
terminals. It has proved to be a very workable arrangement. We use CRT's,
but any 232 ASCII device could be attached to the console port (a braille
device, for example).
The MD machines are 64K, Z80 CP/M devices with 5.25 inch disk drives. All
of our machines have 2 drives, but the hardware, as shipped, will handle up
to 4. The systems have two 232 ports, one for the console and one for a
serial printer or modem.
Unfortunately, the MD series is no longer manufactured. I understand that
that Morrow is in Chapter 11. In any case, they ceased producing 8 bit
devices several months ago. Still, there are a lot of MD devices out
there; you might be able to obtain a used one. I think it is to be
recommended for the application described above.