Xerox 820-II (not a PC, and not an Apple either...)

[Kyvinaria]

I received my Xerox 820-II in the mail today, all the way from a good friend and fellow collector in California.

Firstly, the Xerox 820 is not a printer, it's a very old computer from Xerox. You can read about it here:

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos.asp?t=1&c=487&st=1

12" Monitor, 64KB of RAM, and a 4Mhz Z80A CPU.

The one I have is from mid-1982. It has 2 Floppy disk drive Cabinets (each has 2x 5.25" Drives in it). Also included were some spare parts (mainboard, some expansion cards, an extra keyboard, etc). One of my favorite things about this machine is that it doesn't run MSDOS. It runs CP/M, which predates DOS by quite some time, and is much better in my opinion (except if you need partitions greater than 8MB...)

I just need to make some system disks for it, and It'll be complete.

 

[porter]

It runs CP/M, which predates DOS by quite some time, and is much better in my opinion

I would be interested to know in what ways CP/M is better than MS-DOS. About the only thing I can think of is that it is better for machines based on Z80 and 8080. Architecturally MS-DOS is a 16bit clone of CP/M with a better diskette format, and slam-dunked CP/M-86.

That said, it is a true microcomputer operating system, very minimalist and knows nothing about time and many other things we take for granted. I used run it to use Wordstar on Intellec MDS machines. ISIS-II was our preferred OS.

 

[Bunsen]

Ahhh. As a child of the late '60s and '70s, some atavistic part of my brain insists that that is what a real computer looks like.

 

[Kyvinaria]

hehe, I agree with you Bunsen, though I myself am of a more recent vintage. That's one of the reasons I like the 820 series so much, they have this really period aesthetic that you really can't beat. It's a fine addition to my Collection. Now I just need to get an 8" drive Cabinet and I'll be set

 

[Kyvinaria]

Hmmmm, well, a Capacitor in the PSU decided to blow up. Repairable, but annoying. Lot's of smoke and noise though...