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<body><div>Hi Felix</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Comments interspersed below ...<br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>On Thu, 7 Jun 2018, at 6:57 AM, Felix von Perger wrote:<br></div>
<blockquote type="cite"><p><br></p><div>The second instalment of this series resulted in what was allegedly
part of the "original" Murphy (or murphies) being dragged out from
under the desks.<br></div>
<div> <br></div>
<div> After filling a whole carton with 8" disks that were previously
stacked inside of the box and a lot of dusting, this was the result.
The text on the middle handwritten label on the AM-500 front panel
reads "Sealed by [JMJ] Do not open!!!!". <br></div>
<div> <br></div>
<div> The case has a number of ports on the side, a number of scarily
large capacitors in the bottom of the case and an empty S-100
backplane.<br></div>
<div> <br></div>
<div> <img src="cid:part2.F9DC2DD5.64ED743F@ucc.asn.au" alt="" height="300" width="400"><img src="cid:part3.D84E2A77.02EE5355@ucc.asn.au" alt="" height="300" width="400"><br></div>
<div> <br></div>
<div> Does anyone know what boards would have been installed in this box
and what might have happened to them? Understandably to boot it must
have had storage of some kind or some kind of ROM (if it was even a
computer on its own). Specifically regarding this blue box, is it
worth anything to the club and if it were to be thrown away would
anyone want it (or want to sell it for us)?<br></div>
<div> <br></div>
</blockquote><div><br></div>
<div>This chassis (and associated) bits came back to the club room from out at Shenton Park. AFAIK this was always referred to as "Murphy"<br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>As artifacts go, this is probably the most earliest club related one ("so in a DO NOT DISPOSE category")<br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>I've never seen it with cards in though (>1993 onwards)</div>
<div><br></div>
<blockquote type="cite"><div> Next to "murphy" under the desk was the computery thing with a
wooden case. It seems like the power button needs a key to operate
(anyone know where that might be? :P). Fortunately the case is
reasonably airtight so everything inside was in a relatively
dust-free condition.<br></div>
<div> <br></div>
<div> Talking to [JVP] confirmed that the 8" disk drive in this box was
one of the original drives used by Murphy (and uses a voice-coil
actuated head and electronic disk ejection), although apparently was
not originally used in this particular hardware configuration.<br></div>
<div> <br></div>
<div> <img src="cid:part4.8009C4D1.560A46A7@ucc.asn.au" alt="" height="300" width="400"><img src="cid:part5.975AEDBC.53CF92AC@ucc.asn.au" alt="" height="300" width="400"><br></div>
<div> <br></div>
<div> Loose inside the case was a single 8" floppy drive, a plastic bag
containing a stack of paper documentation including a description of
the S-100 bus, a transparent sheet of plastic with what appears to
be the original mask/artwork used to create the green-grey circuit
board visible at the front of the photo on the left (below) and a
loose 50pin cable that looks like it could be used to connect to the
floppy drive.<br></div>
<div> <img src="cid:part6.83CE52EB.007990B5@ucc.asn.au" alt="" height="300" width="400"><img src="cid:part7.25C4A8D5.232719BA@ucc.asn.au" alt="" height="300" width="400"><br></div>
<div> <br></div>
<div> The wooden box seems to have a full assortment of boards mounted on
its backplane (including what looks like a handmade diagnostics
board, two CPU boards (connected by ribbon cable), 4*16K memory
boards, a disk controller (complete with ROM to boot from floppy)
and an IO board (6 serial ports according to [JVP]).<br></div>
<div> <br></div>
</blockquote><div><br></div>
<div>Okay, this gets more interesting. This machine appeared in the club room sometime in the last decade (around the burst of enthusiasm for hardware things from Craig Williams (aka Reaps)). Harry McNally knew something of the machine ...<br></div>
<div><br></div>
<blockquote type="cite"><div> Is this a full Alpha Micro computer and could it be possible to
power it on? If one were to test, what steps would be necessary to
ensure that any failing/failed components do not cause damage to the
rest? When was it last powered on successfully? Also, what hardware
and software would be required to get it to boot and produce an
output of some sort?<br></div>
<div> <br></div>
</blockquote><div><br></div>
<div>The point to start would be checking the health of the power supply and working from there. The other place to start would be to gather as much documentation as you can find on the internet.<br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<blockquote type="cite"><div> Hopefully this raises some interesting discussions and I appreciate
any time you may be able to devote to having a look.<br></div>
<div> <br></div>
</blockquote><div><br></div>
<div>There are some links here - <br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Microsystems">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Microsystems</a><br></div>
<div><a href="https://ampm.floodgap.com/">https://ampm.floodgap.com/</a><br></div>
<div><a href="https://ampm.floodgap.com/www/s100.htm">https://ampm.floodgap.com/www/s100.htm</a><br></div>
<div><a href="http://www.s100computers.com/Hardware%20Folder/Alpha%20Micro/AM-100/AM-100.htm">http://www.s100computers.com/Hardware%20Folder/Alpha%20Micro/AM-100/AM-100.htm</a><br></div>
<div><a href="http://www.s100computers.com/Hardware%20Folder/Alpha%20Micro/AM500%20HDC/AM-500.htm">http://www.s100computers.com/Hardware%20Folder/Alpha%20Micro/AM500%20HDC/AM-500.htm</a><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<blockquote type="cite"><div> Thank you for your contributions,<br></div>
<div> <br></div>
<div> Felix von Perger<br></div>
<div> UCC Secretary 2018<br></div>
<div> <br></div>
<div><img src="cid:part2.F9DC2DD5.64ED743F@ucc.asn.au" style="max-width:100%;height:auto;"><br></div>
<div><img src="cid:part3.D84E2A77.02EE5355@ucc.asn.au" style="max-width:100%;height:auto;"><br></div>
<div><img src="cid:part4.8009C4D1.560A46A7@ucc.asn.au" style="max-width:100%;height:auto;"><br></div>
<div><img src="cid:part5.975AEDBC.53CF92AC@ucc.asn.au" style="max-width:100%;height:auto;"><br></div>
<div><img src="cid:part6.83CE52EB.007990B5@ucc.asn.au" style="max-width:100%;height:auto;"><br></div>
<div><img src="cid:part7.25C4A8D5.232719BA@ucc.asn.au" style="max-width:100%;height:auto;"><br></div>
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</blockquote><div><br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div><div><div><br></div>
</div>
<div id="sig26513633"><div class="signature">--<br></div>
<div class="signature">Mark Tearle <<a href="mailto:mtearle@ucc.asn.au">mtearle@ucc.asn.au</a>><br></div>
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