28-09-2024, 02:56 AM
Here is my display from the Expo comprising:
An addition I had a Mik I and Mk II with the top cover removed to reveal the logic board and enable comparison of the differences between the two versions.
Through the day I rotated through:
The disk systems were only static displays. You would not typically pair, in practical use, the S-100 Expansion Unit with the FDS that has an internal soft-sector controller. However the time to load programs via the cassette port from my laptop gave me time to look around the other displays and connect directly with the public passing by.
The day was very well organised with hard deadlines for things to happen which I appreciated.
Highlights included:
I was struck by the fact that many of the attendees were not vintage computer enthusiasts but regular Canberra families who came along because the show had been well promoted on local radio etc. and they wanted to show their kids where the technology that they were using today had come from. The fact that entry was almost free gave them the freedom to just drop by and satisfy their curiousity in a low-risk way around other weekend activities like sport.
- Sorcerer Mk II with period-correct Roland DG Amber monitor
- Exidy S-100 Expansion Unit with Micropolis hard-sector 16 sector controller
- Exidy FDS (Floppy Disk Subsystem) (on loan)
- A display of Exidy BASIC, Word Processor and Development System ROMPacs and the Compudata SCANPack (a Dutch test cartridge for hard and soft sector floppy systems)
An addition I had a Mik I and Mk II with the top cover removed to reveal the logic board and enable comparison of the differences between the two versions.
Through the day I rotated through:
- A couple of Australian arcade games: Galaxians by Martin Sevior and Interceptor by Blair Rideout
- The music composition program called Four Voice Music System by Howard Arrington using a recreation that I made, with the blessing of the original designer, of the 6-bit D/A converter PCB.
- An official Exidy demo showcasing various features of the system that was found in the archives of the deceased Dutch Sorcerer historian Gerben Ritsema and converted back to tape.
The disk systems were only static displays. You would not typically pair, in practical use, the S-100 Expansion Unit with the FDS that has an internal soft-sector controller. However the time to load programs via the cassette port from my laptop gave me time to look around the other displays and connect directly with the public passing by.
The day was very well organised with hard deadlines for things to happen which I appreciated.
Highlights included:
- Testing and facilitating the sale of a Sorcerer that a visitor had bought down to the expo in their boot. It had belonged to a recently deceased friend and he had no idea if it still worked. It was an emotional moment when we saw that it was more or less OK. I swapped over one of the keycaps as the key was sticking and it was given an appreciate new home with a fellow exhibitor who was in the market for a Sorcerer.
- Visiting a Sorcerer user in Canberra and returning some floppies that had been imaged and picking up another batch.
- Meeting the until recently unknown (co)author of the long sought after rogue-like game "Wilderness" that was distributed by DSE.
I was struck by the fact that many of the attendees were not vintage computer enthusiasts but regular Canberra families who came along because the show had been well promoted on local radio etc. and they wanted to show their kids where the technology that they were using today had come from. The fact that entry was almost free gave them the freedom to just drop by and satisfy their curiousity in a low-risk way around other weekend activities like sport.