Locations of surviving ETC equipment

These diagrams show the locations of old equipment, still surviving to varying degrees from the late 70's and mid 80's. A contemporary description of the most or all off the equipment used then is available.

If the effort to rescue past dialogues and coding from their 8" floppy discs (almost all Terak and MicroEngine) is resumed, some knowledge of managing and communicating among these machines will be vital.

A comprehensive discussion of floppy disc formats for these machines, by Stephen Bartlett (then a senior coder and later of GO Corporation), is referred to several times below.

The following organisations are current as of April 1994, but obviously they are more than usually susceptible to change.

Equipment still in the lab

Legend:

• A: Pascal Microengine from Associated Computer Industries (ACI). (ACI's packaging was also often called the "ACI MicroEngine"). Finer capabilities, such as degree of interrupt handling, depend on which sub-version of p-System III is running on it. See the rear panel for serial port settings -- they are not software configurable.
• B: IBM PS/2 model 25. Though from later than the other machines in this diagram, it is now also obsolete. This one, in particular, is suffering memory parity errors that cause it to lock completely when they happen.
  Although marketed as part of IBM's PS/2 line, most of which use the MicroChannel architecture , it uses the ISA bus, and more closely resembles its PC/AT predecessor.
• C: "General storage area" for obsolete equipment and unused miscellanea such as old power cables, AC power supplies, non-standard serial adapters for Logitech mice, a 1970's VCR, etc. etc. Boxes for present equipment (boxes often have to be kept, however inconveniently) are also kept in and under this area, when space in share storage (see below) does not permit.
• F: Pascal Microengine from Wicat Inc. of Utah. The packaging was similar to ACI's (see above), but the casing is far heavier! Finer capabilities, such as degree of interrupt handling, depend on which sub-version of p-System III is running on it. See the rear panel for serial port settings -- they are not software configurable.
• D: DEC DECWriter III high-speed dot-matrix printer. Though bought in the early 80's, this printer is probably still functional for text-only serial printing, requiring little more than a new ribbon to replace the dried-out ink. It was the main way of printing from the micros for several years. Its manual is found on the shelves in the main room.
• E: Fujitsu's video "superimposer", used for the prototype phase of the Understanding Spoken Japanese project, 1986-88. (resembles a blue desk with a white top). This is the twin of the one still active in the demonstrations area of the conference/design room.

Equipment in the shared storage area

(B = bottom shelf, BM= bottom middle, TM = top middle, T = top, OT = on top)

Legend:

• A: (T) IBM PS/2 model 30, with hard disc. Possibly serviceable as a terminal emulator, though its state of repair is not certain. Like the PS/2 model 25, above, the model 30, though designated a PS/2, does not have the MicroChannel architecture.
• B: (T) Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) Rainbow 100.
• C: 2 Terak 8" floppy disc drives, dual density: one is a "unit 1", the other a "unit 0" ("unit 0" may be the one containing the LSI-11 processor.
  Functioning status unknown. If working will be essential for transferring old 8" disc contents to new media.
• D (OT): boxes for a Tandy 4000 external hard disc. Retained for possible shipping purposes.
• F: (B) Box marked as "computer". Not clear whether it contains any equipment.
• G (M): Strong-based Terak monitor (older ones had a single vane supporting the display). Terak's non-standard connector cable and keyboard are required.
• H: (M) Fujitsu FM-16Beta 80186 microcomputer, with keyboard, and break-away shells presumably for hard disc installation. Probably the one that came with the unused superimposer, above. The FM-16 uses an external hard disc, which may be in one of the boxes around it. The FM-16 runs a special Japanese version of DOS: the commands and some file names are in English, but system program output is in Japanese. The keyboard is designed for both English and Japanese entry.
• I: (M) Xerox 820-II monitor. See also the disc drive/system unit, N below.
• J: (B) defunct (probably) Sony Trinitron multisynch monitor. Designed with the special connectors required for the Fujitsu Superimposer used in the prototype of Understanding Spoken Japanese.
• K: (M) four 5.25" floppy drives from IBM PC's. Notice indicates that it's not clear if all are serviceable.
• L: (M) Terak 8510 drive, designated QX0. May be a main processor unit.
• M: (M) 1 processor board, perhaps a system board, for the Xerox 820-II. Supplies COMM, SERIAL, KEYBOARD, and DISC DRIVE ports, and a reset.
• N: (M) Xerox 820-II disc drive unit (8" floppies). Single-density setting is compatible with Terak discs. This may be valuable for transferring files, if establishing communications turns out to be easier under p-System version IV.1 than under the Terak's versions. See also the monitor, I: above.
• O: (OT)shipping box for a Tandy 4000 PC.
• P: (OT)shipping box for the PS/2 model 80.
• Q: (OT)more shipping boxes for the Tandy's.