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FS: Exidy Sorcerer and Micropols Disk Storage Module x2

captaineos

Member
Joined
Mar 13, 2014
Messages
18
Location
Canberra, Australia
13079139235_e7269a496b_k.jpg20140311_175002.jpgHi Everyone

I've dug out this special computer and have decided it's time to list. I've turned it on and it made a crackle sound for about a second then went away. Power LED comes on but all that is displayed on screen is 0909 as pictured.

Wear is none - new in that sense. Discolouration is showing - some of the plastics have yellowed.

Ultra clean and stored for most of its life. Worth noticing the BASIC cartridge could pass as new.

Now stored with it were two Micropolis 5.25" Disk Storage Module drives. For the life of me I can't see a way of connecting these huge floppy drives to the Exidy but why else would we store them with it.

Photos are here of the Micropolis Drives http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremybh1/sets/72157642321824905/

I've googled for more information on these drives and I can't figure them out. Ask anyone ever used one before? I have two here. Untested

Details:
80s science lab blue colour
Model 1043-2
Volts 240 / Amps 1
Part Number 900004D
Made by Micropolis Corporation - Canoga park California USA

Please click here for the photos of the Exidy:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremybh1/sets/72157642196666884/

I haven't taken the Micropolis drives out of my car yet so please ask for photos

Located in Australia and the power supplies match our Euro voltages. Exidy is light but storage drives are Very large and solidly built.

Price - please message with your serious (or semi serious becuase I'm light hearted) offer.
 
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Price - please make an offer. Serious people only.

My only suggestion around here would change to accept serious offers. People only. :)

Nice system though. Is the boot message with the Basic cartridge inserted or not inserted?
 
While I'm not familiar with the Exidy (looks nice! - other than the display), I'm pretty sure you will need a floppy controller to make the drives work. From your flikr photo array, there doesn't seem to be any ports on the machine for that. Perhaps there was a cartridge with a floppy controller in it like the Radio Shack/Tandy CoCo.

My TRS-80 mod I had a pair of Micropolis drives. Drives were hard to get at the time and as I recall, the Micropolis drives allowed 40 tracks as opposed to the 35 that RS drives used. The first drive came with Micropolis' OS for the Mod I that was pretty weird compared to TRS-DOS.

If you decide to sell the drives separately, keep us posted. I'd probably be interested.
 
IIRC, the Micropli are 100 tpi, single-sided, 77 track, 360 RPM drives. I'm not certain, but I believe that this is the model that resulted in floppy drive manufacturers putting reinforcing rings on DD media. In other words, if the spindle motor isn't turning when you insert a floppy, you can "wrinkle" up the hub area on the floppy. After a bit of this, the floppy won't be able to consistently seat correctly in the drive. Micropolis fixed the problem eventually by attaching a microswitch to the disk assembly that would turn the motor on while the disk was being inserted.

If you have the controller, that might be interesting...
 
Yes, excluding some home-built hardware hack, to use the Sorcerer with floppy drives you need an S-100-type expansion chassis with the necessary controller.

Tez
 
Thank you for the missing clue about needing a floppy controller. I can't find it anywhere! I do have other many other computers in storage so the Micropolis units probably belong to something else.

The Exidy does not display anything further than the 09 characters, repeating. I've not spend more than 5 minutes on it though becuase ageing powersupplies can detiorate quickly. The fuse looks like brand new (for what its worth!)
 
I now understand about the Floppy controllers. Thank you for the missing peice of information.
Unfortunately they are nowhere to be found so I'll have to sell them as is. I had time to photograph them : http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremybh1/sets/72157642321824905/

They weigh exactly 8KG (the pair).

EDIT: I've plugged them in and turned them on - nothing happens. No lights, no sounds. I'll be taking them to the ewaste service later this week. They can live on through photos :)

Exidy is still for sale.
 
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Well, they wouldn't do anything without the controller. 100 TPI drives are pretty uncommon if not downright rare (try to find one on eBay), so I wouldn't toss them. I think one of the Commodore PETs used them as well.
 
PM sent ....

Some late PET were using this kind of mecanics but with a completely different/incompatible electronics part.

Hervé
 
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