|
|
The Southwest Technical Products 6800 was introduced in late 1975 based on the the SS-50 bus and the Motorola 6800 processor rather than the S-100 bus with Intel or Z-80 processor boards. We would like to thank Dick R Murphy for this complete, working, 6809 based SWTPc system (called the S/09). It has dual MiniFloppy disks, a CT-82 terminal, FLEX, and all documentation. Dick and his son hand soldered many of the cards in this system. We are especially pleased with the condition of the rare blue monitor. Thanks Dick! Also on this page see our earlier SWTPc 6800 system and SWTPc miscellaney at the Digibarn donated by Roy Murphy (not related). Please also see Michael Holley's excellent recounting of SWTPc history below. Image Gallery of the SWTPc S/09 Thanks to Dick Murphy the documentation is amazingly complete. Dick notes that there is also a system called Common Pilot that allowed SWTPc systems to be networked and use a common printer. Dick built a multi-user version of this machine and programmed a simple general ledger for a client. For digital versions of a lot of this documentation, shots of the hardware components and super marketing materials see Michael Holley's massive SWTPc documentation Archive.
Second System: A SWTPc 6800 (CPU cabinet only) Thanks Roy Murphy (another Murphy, not related to Dick!) for this contribution. A difference between the earlier 6800 and Dick Murphy's S/09 donation is a different processor (6800 vs. 6809), nameplate & button placement and the use of a perforated case, which presaged later systems using such cases for better cooling, such as the Apple Mac G5 towers of the early 2000s. One warning here... you would not want to spill your coffee on top of this baby!
Know anything more about SWTPc systems? Contact us! Other DigiBarn SWTPc miscellaney
The above ads for the original 6800 (thanks Michael Holley) and for a "System B" (not in the Digibarn collection) are certainly an interesting commentary on the evolution of the SWTPc hardware.
The above photo gives you a sense of the early rivalry of microcomputer makers who entered the marked battling the big kahuna of the day... MITS, maker of the Altair. This photo was taken at the Personal Computing Convention, August 1976 in Atlantic City, New Jersey with Gary Kay holding the shirt (see Michael Holley's comments below). Comments from virtual visitors to the DigiBarn From Michael Holley, an expert on SWTPc, both the company and its technologies: The SWTPC 6800 started shipping in November 1975. The prototype was done before August 1975. Wayne Green of BYTE magazine described SWTP in his October 1975 article "Are they Real?" and in his 73 Magazine February 1976 version. The 6800 was produced (with revisions) until 1979 when it was replaced by your 6809 system. Common Pilot was a Computer Aided Instruction (CAI) language developed in the early 1970s.
Larry Kheriaty and George Gerhold of Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA. developed a version for the SWTPC 6800 in 1978. When I bought a copy from SWTPC one of the authors contacted me to find out how I was going to use it. I told them I got it because I want to check out the language.
This version used the Multi User Board which had four pages of bank switched memory so it could support 4 users. It also used the MP-N calculator board to do the math. Your MP-N board has the connector on the wrong side. (It should still work.) CIMG1743.JPG. The MP-N board is somewhat rare.
Pilot Version 1.2 added support for the CT82 terminal. The later versions for the 6809 systems did not require the special boards. You could show your Pilot manual to Liza Loop.
The "Altairs Suck" photo was taken at the Personal Computing Convention, August 1976 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. That is Gary Kay holding the shirt. When I visited Gary in February he showed me a letter from Jim Stratigos (dated late 1976) offering this photo for use by SWTPC. Jim Stratigos also helped with Robert Uiterwyk's BASIC.
More SWTP sites around the net:
Obsolete Computer Museum's excellent page with enthusiast comments on the SWTPC 6800 Old Computers page on the SWTPc 6800 and on the S/09 6800 Computer System page at UNC Specs from Allard's page:
The Machine Room's page on the SWTPC6800 Know anything more about SWTPc systems? Contact us! |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Related S-100 Resources at the DigiBarn:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Please
send site comments to our Webmaster.
Please see our notices about the content of this site and its usage.
(cc) 1998- Digibarn Computer Museum,
some rights reserved under this Creative Commons license.
