Date   : Wed, 16 Aug 1989 10:41:59 -0400
From   : gonzalez@BBN.COM
Subject: Any Cromemco Owners Out There?

I have a NorthStar Horizon for which I have been attempting to obtain a
soft-sector controller.  I located one, but one of the conditions of the
sale was that I had to take the whole computer.

So, now I am the proud owner of a Cromemco System Three, with 64K of RAM,
a parallel interface, and a soft-sector controller.  It can accomodate up
to four 8" floppy drives.  It came with one drive (a PerSci 277), which is 
reportedly broken.  So, now I need to locate a compatible 8" drive.  The
controller will take 8" or 5-1/4", but the OS is on 8" floppies.  At least
the ROM-based monitor will help me.

The plan was to get the controller and drive working on the Cromemco and
then transplant to the NorthStar.  The Cromemco is *so* nice, though, that
I may ditch the NorthStar.  It's good to have a *standard* S-100 bus, too.

So, does anyone else on the list have a Cromemco System?  Is the company
still in business?  They had a UNIX knockoff, apparently.  Anybody have
a copy I could buy or duplicate?  The supplied OS is supposed to be call
compatible with CP/M 1.3 applications.  Any applications?  I at least
need a terminal emulator/file transfer package if I'm to start getting
stuff from the archives.

                               -Jim.

Jim Gonzalez                           ARPA/UUCP: gonzalez@bbn.com
BBN Systems and Technologies Corp.     AT&T: 617-873-2937
Cambridge, Massachusetts