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The IMSAI Series Two Computer

J

josephdaniel

Experienced Member
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Jul 3, 2012
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Location
Florence, Texas, United States
Anyone ever see one of these? Seems like a GREAT idea, I wish it was in production. Looks like something I would see from Briel computers.

http://www.retrothing.com/2005/08/the_imsai_serie.html

P.S. If anyone has a PC case that I could put a modern computer in that is styled like one of the "classic" S-100 computers with all of the switches and lights, my current case is literally falling apart.
 
Yup. Actually I think it was Vince Briel who was debating purchasing imsai.net and the IP and producing it again but funds seemed to fall through/short. Perhaps a kickstarted would have pulled it off or perhaps not enough folks offered. In fact here's the thread from Vince here.. So yeah for now it's in limbo still.

However my main reason for replying is that another member did do roughly the same with the Altair with the AltairClone. It's a very authentic (externally) looking clone but running on an FPGA or similar emulating everything. Briel also did an Altair 8800micro which also emulates the Altair but is a smaller footprint so a mini/micro Altair chassis but still works with all the toggle switches you care to use or both projects I believe offer booting virtual floppy disks.
 
barythrin said:
Yup. Actually I think it was Vince Briel who was debating purchasing imsai.net and the IP and producing it again but funds seemed to fall through/short. Perhaps a kickstarted would have pulled it off or perhaps not enough folks offered. In fact here's the thread from Vince here.. So yeah for now it's in limbo still.

However my main reason for replying is that another member did do roughly the same with the Altair with the AltairClone. It's a very authentic (externally) looking clone but running on an FPGA or similar emulating everything. Briel also did an Altair 8800micro which also emulates the Altair but is a smaller footprint so a mini/micro Altair chassis but still works with all the toggle switches you care to use or both projects I believe offer booting virtual floppy disks.
Click to expand...

I have been looking at that Briel micro for a long time... It has been very tempting and I almost bought one several times. But each time I thought "what am I going to do with this thing once I have it assembled?" (Same thing I think after I buy something for my 5160) so that has stopped me thus far. I didn't notice the RAM drive that is now available! :D

Off topic a bit, did they ever get real miniature toggle switches on the mini computer? That has been one of the big turn offs for me.
 
There is a thread on the altairclone, the creator of the altairclone was asked if the case could be used to house an S100 system and he said that the case was not really strong enough.
 
josephdaniel said:
Wiile that it neat it is a big very empty box to be honest, I was looking fore something that I could put a modern computer in and that be useable and there could be a small s-100 system inside as well. Lie in the IMSAI-2 design
http://www.imsai.net/products/imsai_series_two_project.htm
Click to expand...

I don't see why it couldn't be done. See the bottom of this page, the case is pre-drilled to accept a micro-axt motherboard: http://altairclone.com/details.htm

I guess if you chose the right components you could also squeeze in a small s100 motherboard.
 
josephdaniel said:
I guess that would work, but the onl,y problem would be the rear panel. The machine is already 600 dollars plus then I would have to have the beck panel redesigned for a modern motherboard
Click to expand...

I've thought about doing this myself, what I thought would be good, is to leave the back panel as it is on the clone and just pass cables through the existing holes in the back. You could position the ATX motherboard sideways in the case so that any cables going to it would just plug into the side of the motherboard inside the outer case.
 
josephdaniel said:
Anyone ever see one of these? Seems like a GREAT idea, I wish it was in production. Looks like something I would see from Briel computers.

http://www.retrothing.com/2005/08/the_imsai_serie.html

P.S. If anyone has a PC case that I could put a modern computer in that is styled like one of the "classic" S-100 computers with all of the switches and lights, my current case is literally falling apart.
Click to expand...

Hi
As a word of caution, the IMSAI II project has already blown up rather spectacularly several years ago. It was the cause of a great amount of pain and lost funds for many vintage computer hobbyists.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/comp.os.cpm/%22IMSAI$20II%22/comp.os.cpm/zGhzk9mvjmI/cIH09s2zIkQJ

As I recall, Vince Briel was considering purchasing the IMSAI II property and I can only hope that went through. If that were to ever happen I would like to see if it were possible to offer the S100computers.com & N8VEM S-100 board PCBs to go along with it or even as kits to augment the IMSAI II S-100 system with disk, video, sound, etc boards.

However until Vince closes the deal, I would advise caution in proceeding with IMSAI II since hobbyists have already lost hundreds of dollars chasing the dream.

Thanks and have a nice day!

Andrew Lynch
 
That's an interesting question/point. I had always thought it had toggle switches on the front of the 8800micro but never really confirmed and have never seen one. There are some youtube videos of it though which may answer your question. Another interesting thing is I could have sworn they were $400 but on his 8800micro product page (sold out for now :'-((( ) it's actually saying ALTAIR 8800micro KIT $219 (not sure if that's all you need or if a ram kit is really necessary which would add another $100). Regardless it's cheaper than I realized/remembered. Now if I could only get to a VCF and sign up for a build it course :) I'll start saving pocket change again.
 
I have one and it does have switches, similar functionality to the original Altair and with the sdcard upgrade will run cp/m.

Kipp
 
kyeakel said:
I have one and it does have switches, similar functionality to the original Altair and with the sdcard upgrade will run cp/m.
Kipp
Click to expand...

Thanks for the confirmation. Is the sdcard upgrade a kit or does it already have an sdcard reader in it? (Sorry for the dumb question.. I'm sure it's in a FAQ somewhere).
 
barythrin said:
That's an interesting question/point. I had always thought it had toggle switches on the front of the 8800micro but never really confirmed and have never seen one. There are some youtube videos of it though which may answer your question. Another interesting thing is I could have sworn they were $400 but on his 8800micro product page (sold out for now :'-((( ) it's actually saying ALTAIR 8800micro KIT $219 (not sure if that's all you need or if a ram kit is really necessary which would add another $100). Regardless it's cheaper than I realized/remembered. Now if I could only get to a VCF and sign up for a build it course :) I'll start saving pocket change again.
Click to expand...

Actually, the SD card comes with it stock, the RAM drive kit emulates the Altair disk controller using 2 battery back RAM chips. You load the disk images off of the SD card into the RAM drives, so you can swap out disks when you need to. The RAM drive controller also comes with an extra 32K RAM to give the system a full 64K of RAM.

I wish I could get back to a VCF and host a workshop again! I haven't been to the east coast one since before I moved back to San Diego :( Look for pre-ordering of the next batch to start in august. It takes 4-6 weeks to get the front/rear panels made, then I can start filling the orders again. Unfortunately component prices went up so I was forced to raise the price to $219 instead of the $199 like I originally designed it for, still a good bargain for a kit that has aluminum front and rear panels and a front control panel like the original but smaller.

I'm going to try and see if I can't work out the original pricing for those that pre-order but I have to run a cost analysis again and see if that's possible. I could do a do it if you combined the RAM drive controller board as well.

Vince
 
Another off topic post, sorry mods.

Briel, what ever happened with the Altair PC case you were making several years ago? Looked like it would be neat if you could some how mount the mini Altair vertically in the front of the case and it could control the lights and switches with the I/O ports cabled to a empty expansion slot or somewhere on the back. Just an idea...
 
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