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ATT 6300 Hard drive

S

Squidcalendar

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May 9, 2013
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Michigan
I recently purchased an Att 6300 , my first pre-pentium pc, and it came with a massive hard drive attached to the side. These thinks are built to last, it weighs a ton, and booted the first try! I have not seen much information on the computer having this hard drive configuration, and it seems most of them have hard cards. I have two questions. Is this the original, or an aftermarket drive ( I assume it is original, as it matches nicely). And, if I want to remove it to clean between the computer and the drive, is it just a simple unsrew it and pull, or is there more to it? (I would hate to break it) Thanks for any help!

IMG_0787.jpgIMG_0788.jpg
 
There's a maintenance manual here. It will tell you more than you'd ever want to know about servicing and setup.

The "sidecar" looks original to me.

Congratulations on a nice find. You may want to experiment with replacing the CPU with a NEC V30--it makes it possible to run some software that was written for the PC AT.
 
Thank you both for the links , its hard to find info for this machine. The NEC-V30 sounds interesting, but I have no idea where to find one.
 
There are several sellers on eBay--just search for "NEC 70116". Since the lowest clock speed on these offerings is 8MHz, pick the one with the lowest price.
 
Good luck with the adapter--remember that the keyboard supply on this is +12, not +5 and the protocol is neither XT nor AT as far as I can figure.
 
It's said you can use a XT keyboard on a 6300, although I've never tried.
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/archive/index.php/t-28206.html

I personally have two keyboards and neither fully work, both have dead keys which does limit the use of the units. I should try making an adapter, it seems easy with the exception of stepping down the voltage, shouldn't be too terribly hard though.
 
There is a description of the protocol in the Service Manual. ISTR that it is 2-way, but I don't know if a "no response" to the host is acceptable to the 6300 BIOS.

Also note that the 6300 keyboard has a connector for the 6300 mouse.
 
I tried an XT keyboard on mine, and couldn't get it to work. That doesn't necessarily mean it's not possible to do, but it certainly doesn't seem to be as straightforward as dropping the voltage and hooking up the wires.

I just ended up getting a proper AT&T one off eBay... they pop up for OK prices once in awhile, I think I paid $25 with shipping for mine. It had a couple dead keys, but touching up the solder joints on the switches got 'em going again.
 
Chuck(G) said:
The "sidecar" looks original to me.
Click to expand...

It is -- very rare, congrats on finding one in working condition!

You may want to experiment with replacing the CPU with a NEC V30--it makes it possible to run some software that was written for the PC AT.
Click to expand...

Most people perform this upgrade, as it also makes the system faster. However, you take a slight compatibility hit, so weigh that against the benefits. (For example, Geoworks Ensemble locks up, whereas it runs fine if you have the original 8086 installed.)
 
A little off topic, but it occurs to me, if it's well equipped enough to have the super rare sidecar attachment, I wonder if it might also have a memory expansion card in it... or more importantly, the impossible-to-find drivers for said memory expansion card.
 
I hadn't thought of that! I would give almost anything for those drivers; I've had a memory board for a decade that I can't use for lack of them. Hey, OP, can you check?
 
I believe I have it.... It looks similar, using the extra proprietary slot. The chips on it appear to be Mitsubishi, but are layed out similar. Last time I booted it ( last week) I believe it said 640k of ram on the boot screen. If it is the card, getting the drivers off might be difficult, ad this is my only PC with 5 inch floppy drives, and my keyboard adaptor is not quite working.
 
The extra memory is accessed using a driver, which is likely referenced in the C: drive's CONFIG.SYS. If you ever get transfers working, please let us know as that driver has been unobtainium for quite a while...

Maybe some of the suggestions at minuszerodegrees can help to do transfers?
 
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