DavidD Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 I stumbled across this recently: During the school scene (and home scene), Atari computer setups are fairly prominent. I thought this was interesting... Computers in Classroom sequence -- https://youtu.be/G34BYV0UlKY?t=236 Computers at home (extended Atari stuff) -- https://youtu.be/G34BYV0UlKY?t=377 4 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caterpiggle Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 Somebody might tell me what kind of computer at 5:05 time frame ? I would not tell what model of this strange computer ? 2 computers on top of each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidD Posted April 20, 2023 Author Share Posted April 20, 2023 2 minutes ago, Caterpiggle said: Somebody might tell me what kind of computer at 5:05 time frame ? I would not tell what model of this strange computer ? 2 computers on top of each other. I'm fairly sure that's a printer sitting on top of... something. Perhaps the body of the computer? I found a reference to a "Word Commander 64" for the C64 by NMG Micro Software -- I assume Word Commander is the earlier version for an earlier computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGB1718 Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 Judging by the cable in the back it loos like a IEEE488 interface cable (better known as HPIB or GPIB), it was used extensively by Hewlett Packard to connect to most of their peripherals i.e. Printers/Floppy Drives/Hard Drives and was certainly in the Commodore Pet and other early HP Micro's. My guess is the one in the video is a combined Floppy/Hard Drive enclosure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beeblebrox Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 anyone seen this site (?): https://www.starringthecomputer.com/computer.html?c=5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caterpiggle Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 (edited) Hello TGB1718, I still not find any where on Bing.com or Google.com for HPIB or GPIB.... not even close .... Maybe it is early prototype hardware of HP Hardware on the video demo ? Maybe this hardware is MOCK UP ? Not real connect to that NEC Monochrome monitor ?? Because of video cable's color is not match ! 1 is grey and another is black cable. That is conflict . Edited April 20, 2023 by Caterpiggle 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGB1718 Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 Hi @Caterpiggle have a look at this link, I used HPIB extensively in the 80's when I built a fully automated test system to test Aircraft Avionics (incidentally also used an Atari ST) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE-488 29 minutes ago, Caterpiggle said: I still not find any where on Bing.com or Google.com for HPIB or GPIB.... not even close .... Have a look at this thread, in the photo's of the back of the unit you can see the HPIB interface cables although those ones were designed to piggyback further devices if required, so the plug looks a little different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caterpiggle Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 Hello TGB1718, On the top of hardware is much closer to that video demo ! INTERESTING ! So that hardware is connect to your former terminal computer, right ? What is the name of that terminal ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGB1718 Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 They were HP5000 controllers, the language contained specific instructions to control devices on the HPIB bus. Each device had an ID much like a SCSI bus, but could address more devices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClausB Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 I don't know about the rest of you, but I was always a little embarrassed in the day to see the highly capable Atari portrayed on TV as a kid's computer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iguana Bob Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 Looks like Elmer picked the wrong day to quit sniffing glue. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGB1718 Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 (edited) 7 hours ago, ClausB said: I don't know about the rest of you, but I was always a little embarrassed in the day to see the highly capable Atari portrayed on TV as a kid's computer. I think that's the fault of Atari pushing the machines as "Educational Tools" instead of shouting about all the cool stuff they can do. I don't think I ever saw and advert that even told us how many Graphics modes they have, hardware sprites etc. etc., at the time most home computers only had a single mode. I can remember that "eureka moment" when I purchased the full set of Technical notes from Atari and I realised I didn't need an expensive Atari printer, I could use the Joystick ports as they are bi-directional, I used ports 3 and 4 with a tiny program in Page 6 to drive a Centronics printer though a simple interface I designed as I had access to many Centronics printers. Edited April 20, 2023 by TGB1718 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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