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Living in the '70s - Graham72 - 23-09-2026
Do you remember Jerry Pournelle's Chaos Manor column in Byte magazine and in particular his tales of Zeke and Zeke II, the S-100 systems on which he wrote fiction and did other pro tasks through the late 1980s. In 1979 he described the original Zeke in onComputing magazine:
Cromemco Z-80 CPU 64K RAM iCOM 8-inch dual floppy drive
Two 15-inch displays Memorex keyboard Diablo 1620 printer
This cost him USA$12,000. Assuming that's 1979 money, USA$55,000 in 2026. For a 64K system. "Glitches and all, this is so much faster than work on a typewriter that there's no comparison; I estimate that it saves me several months each year; months I can use for travel, or reading, or plain loafing."
S-100 systems aren't remembered the way other 1977 computers are, even though people were doing real work on them.
Summer 1979 onComputing magazine including Pournelle article : https://archive.org/details/197907OnComputingPremiereIssue
RE: Living in the '70s - CheshireNoir - 24-09-2026
I've been keeping my eyes open for a cheap S100 system locally.
I'd love to get a basic system and then try my hand at building upgrades and new parts for it.
(I've got a pair of 8" drives that would make a good match too)
Cheers!
John