Well, this thread is both a call for help and a background story one, so it would fit in both PCs and Clones and here.
If any mod considers this placement wrong, please move the topic.
The Tulip System I - CompuData's first PC
It all started probably 13 years ago when I was just a small kindergarten kid. Back then, my father was a researcher at ICE (Institute for Electronic Research), at the institute's local branch in Iasi.
The Bucharest branch had a good history in computer design, with lots of computers, but maybe I'll talk about that later.
It was in the second half of the '90s, with a country fresh out of pseudo-communism and with a highly unstable political situation.
Due to incompetence and mismanagement, all the heavy and specialized, high-profile industry was in free-fall.
The ICE was in the same boat. They started liquidating all local branches, leaving just the Bucharest HQ.
Its all turned to dust now and I'm afraid that worst is yet to come, but there's nothing we can do.
Anyway, my dad got a job at Siemens and with the local branch closing doors, he started packing.
He had two Tulips in his office. They were used for paperwork (document editing, charts, etc) mainly.
I do remember dad powering the central unit on once (with green and red lights on), but without a CRT. Its the only memory I have of the system ever running.
Anyway, since that day I became fond of the Tulip (I was also fascinated by the logo which still looks both shinny and elegant), and because of this fondness, I asked him to salvage the system along with the rest of his stuff.
We then proceeded to clean the main unit and check for a working Taxan CRT. We cleaned that one too, we grabbed a 51/4 inch dual-floppy drive and we carried them down to the car.
He he..., the monitor was half my size, yet I carried it all the way down
.
Ever since then, all the manuals (as bloody big as dictionaries ! ) are stored at a uncle of mine, one Tulip's sitting in my grandmother's attic and the other, together with the rest of the peripherals is where I live.
Sadly, both units lack the PSU. The power supply pins on the mainboard are bare. The ventilator's missing too, but that's a minor problem.
Anyway, who doesn't love screenies ?
The central unit + floppy :
Central unit opened (as you can see, there's no PSU) :
Co-processor, 8080 CPU and expansion slot for enhanced video controller (if I remember right) :
Backpanel view (I wish I'd had a lightpen):
And here comes the topic-related part : As you've probably guessed, I'd like to improvise a PSU and get this system running. You can't believe how much I've waited and hoped to get it running.
I'd like to know if anyone knowledgeable about the Tulip System I happens to have :
-a schematic of the PSU,
-or knows the voltages and current intensity on the mainboard's PSU connector,
- or maybe a photo of the PSU's IC board
Or just about any other option I may use to get this thing working again.
As a mention, buying/scavenging parts for this model is not an option. I've been searching for years, both on the internet and physically. I barely found references about it, let alone data about the PSU.
So, is there anything I could do, or can someone, maybe a Tulip I owner help me on this ?
If anyone happens to have a complete Tulip I, that would be excellent !
Thanks in advance !
If any mod considers this placement wrong, please move the topic.
The Tulip System I - CompuData's first PC
It all started probably 13 years ago when I was just a small kindergarten kid. Back then, my father was a researcher at ICE (Institute for Electronic Research), at the institute's local branch in Iasi.
The Bucharest branch had a good history in computer design, with lots of computers, but maybe I'll talk about that later.
It was in the second half of the '90s, with a country fresh out of pseudo-communism and with a highly unstable political situation.
Due to incompetence and mismanagement, all the heavy and specialized, high-profile industry was in free-fall.
The ICE was in the same boat. They started liquidating all local branches, leaving just the Bucharest HQ.
Its all turned to dust now and I'm afraid that worst is yet to come, but there's nothing we can do.
Anyway, my dad got a job at Siemens and with the local branch closing doors, he started packing.
He had two Tulips in his office. They were used for paperwork (document editing, charts, etc) mainly.
I do remember dad powering the central unit on once (with green and red lights on), but without a CRT. Its the only memory I have of the system ever running.
Anyway, since that day I became fond of the Tulip (I was also fascinated by the logo which still looks both shinny and elegant), and because of this fondness, I asked him to salvage the system along with the rest of his stuff.
We then proceeded to clean the main unit and check for a working Taxan CRT. We cleaned that one too, we grabbed a 51/4 inch dual-floppy drive and we carried them down to the car.
He he..., the monitor was half my size, yet I carried it all the way down
. Ever since then, all the manuals (as bloody big as dictionaries ! ) are stored at a uncle of mine, one Tulip's sitting in my grandmother's attic and the other, together with the rest of the peripherals is where I live.
Sadly, both units lack the PSU. The power supply pins on the mainboard are bare. The ventilator's missing too, but that's a minor problem.
Anyway, who doesn't love screenies ?
The central unit + floppy :
Central unit opened (as you can see, there's no PSU) :
Co-processor, 8080 CPU and expansion slot for enhanced video controller (if I remember right) :
Backpanel view (I wish I'd had a lightpen):
And here comes the topic-related part : As you've probably guessed, I'd like to improvise a PSU and get this system running. You can't believe how much I've waited and hoped to get it running.
I'd like to know if anyone knowledgeable about the Tulip System I happens to have :
-a schematic of the PSU,
-or knows the voltages and current intensity on the mainboard's PSU connector,
- or maybe a photo of the PSU's IC board
Or just about any other option I may use to get this thing working again.
As a mention, buying/scavenging parts for this model is not an option. I've been searching for years, both on the internet and physically. I barely found references about it, let alone data about the PSU.
So, is there anything I could do, or can someone, maybe a Tulip I owner help me on this ?
If anyone happens to have a complete Tulip I, that would be excellent !
Thanks in advance !
