8-Nov-89 10:36:04-MST,1043;000000000000
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Date: 7 Nov 89 17:02:43 GMT
From: [email protected]  (Dave J C Hutchinson)
Organization: University of Bath, England
Subject: zcpr3 wanted on advantage
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I'm thinking of installing zcpr3 on an advantage. Has anyone already
done this ?

If you'd be willing to send me a copy of your system or any
experiences you've had with zcpr, please send e-mail to me.

Thanks in advance

David Hutchinson
29-Nov-89 18:41:39-MST,1084;000000000000
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Date: 30 Nov 89 01:26:13 GMT
From: deimos.cis.ksu.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!mandel@uunet.uu.net
Subject: CPM2.2 Comm Prog
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I have a couple of old Northstar Advantages which I would like to put
to use as communications terminals.  Can someone out there provide
me with a DS/DD diskette (CPM2.2 format) with a PD communications program
like Kermit or something.  I'll send you a diskette and postage!

Please reply through e-mail.  Thanks.     [email protected]
29-Nov-89 19:34:51-MST,934;000000000000
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Date: 30 Nov 89 02:12:16 GMT
From: [email protected]  (Vaso Bovan)
Subject: Terminate Newsgroup
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Ten postings total.  Time to terminate this newsgroup.
Comp.sys.northstar, like the parent company, has had its day.

I would like to see some discussion, before the curtain comes down, on
what went wrong for Northstar.
29-Nov-89 23:05:20-MST,1856;000000000000
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Date: 30 Nov 89 05:40:20 GMT
From: [email protected]  (Jordan B Pollack)
Organization: Ohio State Computer Science
Subject: Re: Terminate Newsgroup
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I suppose it is a good time for a discussion like this.
Maybe we'll double the number of postings real quick.

Sadly, I finally got rid of all my northstar and cromemco equipment
by donation and firesale ($100 for Hazeltine terminal and
paper tiger printer, NShorizon thrown in).

Why not discuss Northstar's fading along with all of the other
S-100/CpM businesses that started the engine of the IBM PC
steamroller, but failed to jump on or out of the way. So many names
spring to mind from my hobby of 13-14 years ago: Computer Associates,
Cromemco, Tech Design Labs, Ohio Scientific, Leading Edge, IDS,
Digital Group, and so on. I imagine the talented engineers are
anonymously employed in larger computer companies or newer start-ups,
and the best software, like Wordstar, was quickly ported to the PC.

I have heard various rumors of these happenings: For example, can
anyone verify if Northstar Basic evolved into Gee Whiz Basic? Or if
TDL turned into Phoenix Systems?

Jordan
30-Nov-89 00:05:07-MST,1860;000000000000
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Date: 30 Nov 89 06:37:25 GMT
From: [email protected]  (Michael C Miller)
Organization: University of Oklahoma, Engineering Computer Network, Norman, OK
Subject: Re: Terminate Newsgroup
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HA!      Finally some traffic here. I'd forgotten  that this group even existed.

I am still running a Northstar controller with that awful thing they call an
(called ) operating system. Oh,well...  Is any one interested in letting go
of old software that may be collecting dust? I have the single sided controller
but most of you probably are running Advantages anyway.

Has any one ported CPM to the old beast? That is one tough project as the
Northstar documentation that I have is sketchy at best in regards to controller
interfacing.

Also, every different version of NSDOS that I have refuses to run to compact
command..Has anyone else had this problem? Is there a patch or did the thing
simply never work?

Well, I guess I'll go back to sleep now :-).
                                               ....sans....

--
<  sans =>   [email protected]   or  [email protected]  >
< '..this one goes up to eleven. Its ONE louder.'                       >
30-Nov-89 04:53:49-MST,1223;000000000000
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Date: 30 Nov 89 09:59:23 GMT
From: brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!vaso@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu  (Vaso Bovan)
Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Sunnyvale, CA
Subject: Re: Terminate Newsgroup
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So what's the current status of Northstar Corp. ?  Are there any current
employees monitoring this newsgroup ?   I understand Northstar is still
around. Does it manufacture DOS machines exclusively now ?  Who owns
Northstar ?

-Vaso  (employee, 1981, before the Great Layoff)
30-Nov-89 07:55:55-MST,1198;000000000000
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Date: Thu, 30 Nov 89 07:56:48 MST
From: roberts%[email protected] (Doug Roberts @ Los Alamos National Laboratory)
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In-Reply-To: (Vaso Bovan's message of 30 Nov 89 02:12:16 GMT <[email protected]>
Subject: Terminate Newsgroup

In my opinion, Big Blue (& it's MS-DOS) is what went wrong
with NorthStar. Too bad NS couldn't keep up with the market.


--Doug

================================================================
Douglas Roberts                |
Los Alamos National Laboratory |I can resist anything
Box 1663, MS F-602             |  except temptation.
Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545   |  ...
(505)667-4569                  |Oscar Wilde
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================================================================
30-Nov-89 09:40:51-MST,2048;000000000000
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Date: Thu, 30 Nov 89 08:12:48 PST
From: [email protected] (Vaso Bovan)
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Subject: Re:  Terminate Newsgroup
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       From [email protected] Thu Nov 30 07:17 PST 1989
       From: roberts%[email protected] (Doug Roberts @ Los Alamos
       National Laboratory)
       To: vaso%mips%[email protected]
       Cc: [email protected]
       Subject: Terminate Newsgroup

       In my opinion, Big Blue (& it's MS-DOS) is what went wrong
       with NorthStar. Too bad NS couldn't keep up with the market.


       --Doug

I was a NorthStar employee at the time the IBM PC was coming out. It seems
to be, in retrospect, the problem was gross mismanagement at the top (of
Northstar). The founders just didn't know what they were doing, and failed
to address the IBM threat adequately.

We were working on boards that would allow Horizon/Advantage to "emulate" the
PC. This drained a lot of engineering talent that should have been utilized
in other ways. It is not clear whether Northstar should have joined the
switch to DOS and IMB-PC architectures, or whether Northstar had enough
momentum to establish its own technology a la Apple/Amiga, but certainly
it was clear to all observers that Northstar was doing neither adequately.

I should mention however, that the founders were decent employers. They gave
those of us that were laid off (25% of total staff) that day of the long
knives, two or more weeks paid compensation, and help in finding new jobs.
Those who were laid off probably ended up better off that those who stayed
with the company in its long decline.



-Vaso

30-Nov-89 18:37:05-MST,1979;000000000000
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Date: Thu, 30 Nov 89 20:31:37 EST
From: Devon Sean McCullough <DEVON%[email protected]>
Subject:  Terminate Newsgroup
To: [email protected]
cc: [email protected]
In-reply-to: Msg of 30 Nov 89 06:37:25 GMT from Michael C Miller <uokmax!mcmiller at apple.com>
Message-ID: <[email protected]>

So what's a "newsgroup" already?  You unix weenies sure talk funny.

Advantages?  I used to be a Horizon dealer.  North*Star would tell
me on the phone that my order would be shipped in "two weeks," all
lies intended to stall me without provoking me to take my business
elsewhere.  That DOS was *wonderful* because it was fast and small
enough that you could understand all the code without much effort.

North*Star CP/M was available for years from Lifeboat, or somebody.
I have tons of old disks, with lots of stuff.  An emacs-like editor
which I wrote using the ALS-8 assembler, for instance!  The COMPACT
command was removed from later versions of NSDOS to save space, and
distributed as a separate program.  My customized NSDOS I/O drivers
had a serial driver wired into the disk wait-for-sector routine, so
it could do disk I/O without losing stuff coming in from the modem,
but 40 sectors per second is too slow for anything over 30 chr/sec.

Naturally when I disassembled Wozniak's Apple disk controller I was
thoroughly disgusted that I had been using and paying for a 40-chip
disk controller instead of an 8-chip IWM but I guess that's why Woz
is considered a design whiz, and his company prospered while others
fell by the wayside.  Ever wonder why Processor Technology left the
scene?  Where is Steven Dompier now, or Lee Felsenstein?  Old time.

       --Devon

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