Engineering:Durango F-85
 Logo of Durango Systems | |
| Manufacturer | Durango Systems Corporation |
|---|---|
| Type | Personal business computer |
| Release date | September 1978[1][2] |
| Lifespan | 1978-1984 |
| Media | two 100 tpi high-capacity 5.25-inch diskette drives storing 480 KB on each single-sided or 960 KB on double-sided diskettes using group-coded recording (GCR) |
| Operating system | DX-85M (multi-user/multitasking) |
| CPU | 5 MHz Intel 8085A |
| Memory | 65 KB (up to 196 KB) |
| Storage | 40 MB Shugart SA-4006 14-inch winchester, later 5.25" integrated ST506-interface MFM drive |
| Display | 9-inch CRT with 64 characters per row by 16 rows or 80 characters per row by 24, based on the Intel 8275 Video display controller |
| Input | keyboard, full stroke, 84 key |
| Successor | Durango "Poppy" |
The Durango F-85 was an early personal computer introduced in September 1978 by Durango Systems Corporation, a company started in 1977 by George E. Comstock, John M. Scandalios and Charles L. Waggoner, all formerly of Diablo Systems.[1][2][3] The F-85 could run its own multitasking operating system called DX-85M, which included an integral Indexed Sequential (ISAM) file system and per-task file locking, or alternatively CP/M-80.[1][4][5] DX-85M utilized a text configuration file named CONFIG.SYS[5] five years before this filename was used for a similar purpose under MS-DOS/PC DOS 2.0 in 1983.
The F-85 used single-sided 5¼-inch 100 tpi diskette drives providing 480 KB utilizing a high-density 4/5 group coded encoding. The machine was using a Western Digital FD1781 floppy-disk controller with 77-track Micropolis drives.[6] In later models this was expanded to a double-sided option for 960 KB (946/947 KB formatted[2][4][nb 1]) per diskette.[2][5][6][7]
Durango later dropped the "F-85" model name and adopted a user model system, with 700 being the entry model and 950 being the full-featured model.
Still later, they designed a 80186-/80286-based 16-bit system, the Durango "Poppy"; MS-DOS was selected as the entry operating system.
See also
Notes
- ↑ The product flyer for the Durango 800 series documents a formatted "on-line capacity" of 1.892 MB for the diskette drives. The system, however, was equipped with two 5¼-inch Micropolis 100 tpi 77-track floppy drives by default, and 1.892 MB is about twice as large as the physical drive capacity documented in various other sources (480 KB per side), therefore, by "on-line capacity" they must have meant the available storage capacity available to users for the combination of two drives.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Business Mini Weighs 65 Pound - What is Durango?". Computerworld (CW Communications, Inc.) XII (40): 1, 4. 1978-10-02. https://books.google.com/books?id=QmEH10OiXZkC&pg=PA4. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Oral History of George Comstock". Mountain View, California, USA: Computer History Museum. 2003-08-13. http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Oral_History/Comstock_George/Comstock_George_1.oral_history.102658008.pdf. "[…] that's how we got Durango Systems started in 1977. And we opened the doors for business I think it was July or August of '77 and began designing a product, one of which is sitting right there. That's the Durango F85 computer […] We were on the startup of Durango, we raised our money and got going and in that case it took us another 15 months to start shipping product […]"
- ↑ "CI News: Play it again, George?". Computerworld (Computerworld, Inc.) XI (47): 64. 1977-11-21. https://books.google.com/books?id=3wLD-4p12toC&pg=PA62. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "800 Technical Summary - 800 Series Business Computer System". San Jose, CA, USA: Durango Systems, Inc.. http://www.sydex.com/durango/durango.pdf.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "The Durango F-85 Computer". Sydex. October 2006. http://www.sydex.com/durango/durango.html.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Durango GCR". Sydex. 2009-09-13. http://www.vcfed.org/forum/archive/index.php/t-17262.html.
- ↑ "NCC Preview: OEMs at NCC - Micropolis Corp.". Computerworld (CW Communications, Inc.) XII (22): P/50. 1978-05-28. https://books.google.com/books?id=Qrjca3MN6nIC&pg=PT66. Retrieved 2017-06-12. "[…] Micropolis has extended the capacity of 5.25-in. floppy disk subsystems via double-sided models with formatted file storage of up to nearly 2 million bytes […] The Megafloppy series also features an intelligent controller that facilitates interconnection of four subsystems to a common host interface for a total on-line storage capacity of more than 15M bytes […] Double-sided versions of the product line will be implemented first in two OEM series - Model 1015 and Model 1055 […] The Model 1015 is an unpackaged drive designed for the manufacturer who integrates floppy disk storage into his own system enclosure. A range of storage capacities from 143,000 to 630,000 bytes per drive is available […] Model 1015 customers have the option of using the Micropolis intelligent controller and Group Code Recording (GCR) method to further expand file space up to 946,000 bytes […] Offering GCR and a microprocessor-based controller as standard features, the Model 1055 5.25-in. floppy has four soft-sectored formats for each of its 77 tracks, yielding a maximum capacity of 1,892,000 bytes of file space on its double-sided version […] An add-on module available for the 1055 is comprised of two read/write heads and two drives, sharing a common controller. The subsystem capacity (formatted) with the module is 3,784,000 bytes […] Up to four 1055s, each with an add-on module, can be daisy-chained to a common host for a maximum on-line storage capacity of more than 15M bytes […]".
Further reading
- https://books.google.com/books?id=XPDvkYPCkWgC&pg=PA86&lpg=PA86
- https://books.google.com/books?id=Alpvxl7sBqIC&pg=RA1-PA63&lpg=RA1-PA63
- https://books.google.com/books?id=qZiwCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA185&lpg=PA185
External links
- "Durango F85". Old Computers. http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=939.
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