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Finally, after a bunch of years of waiting and searching I got one!

Great find! I'd love to play with a 68000-based system. And it looks like you got the 16FDC which should indeed be capable of running Cromix, provided you have enough RAM. I have a lowly 4FDC in my Cromemco Z-2D system so I am limited to CDOS. I'd recommend joining the Cromemco Google Group https://groups.google.com/g/cromemco, there's also a huge private github that's full of just about everything Cromemco - definitely a resource you'll need: https://github.com/cromemcos

I have an ADDS Viewpoint 3A Plus (it looks identical to yours) that I acquired with a different S-100 system but I also use it with my Cromemco. I have the manual for it if you need it. It's a great terminal and the green phosphor still looks amazing after all these years. You'll probably just need a standard DB-25 serial cable for it.

Take your time getting the system running again. These old systems have huge caps in their power supplies that need to be reformed after sitting dormant for so many years. The method I use probably isn't perfect but it's worked for me. Make sure you unhook the motherboard and everything connected to the power supply. I use a Variac, and over the course of a day - say about 12 hours, I slowly bring the power up from 0 to 120VAC, incrementing the voltage about 10VAC every hour. Then at full power, check the output voltage to ensure you're getting the right DC voltages. Then apply power to the backplane, ensure you have the right levels at the right S100 pin. http://www.s100computers.com is a great resource and has a page that walks you through what all to check on the S-100 bus (here it is) and the order in which you should do things - would definitely recommend starting there.
 
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Thank you Nullvalue, that is all great info and I will look into the Google groups right away.

Can someone tell me why the 512MSU ram board I have which I assume is 512KB has a total of 88 4164 RAM chips? That doesnt add up right. Should it be 64 chips?
 
Can someone tell me why the 512MSU ram board I have which I assume is 512KB has a total of 88 4164 RAM chips? That doesnt add up right. Should it be 64 chips?
According to this, the MSU boards "used 22 bits to store each 16 bit word thus allowing error correction of a single bit error in a word". So that explains why it appears there would be extra space, would 704kb total if it didn't operate in error correcting mode. That board had to cost a fortune in 1982.
 
@nullvalue and yes i would love to have the adds terminal manual. thanks!

I forgot I don't have a working scanner anymore! Damn "all-in-ones".. So in the meantime, I've taken pictures of what I think are the important pages for getting it set up. LMK if there are any other sections you need.
 

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  • ADDS3APLUS.pdf
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Oh, BTW the Viewpoint keyboards use foam & foil key switches. The foam in mine had almost completely deteriorated for many of my keys to the point the keypresses were not registering. I replaced the foam and reused the foil pieces. Tedious process but worth it.
 
Oh, BTW the Viewpoint keyboards use foam & foil key switches. The foam in mine had almost completely deteriorated for many of my keys to the point the keypresses were not registering. I replaced the foam and reused the foil pieces. Tedious process but worth it.
thats just super...
 
haha all part of the joys of restoring these old beasts :) I think I knocked the whole thing out in under 2 hours so not soooo bad.
ive done a bunch already. I didthe keyboard on my Lisa earlier this year. I Kinda hoped I was done for a while. Do the texelec pads work just as well on these adds keyboards.?
 
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I'd expect those would work fine. Shoot, if I wasn't such a cheap ass I would have bought those and saved myself a bunch of time.
 
i tried making my own for a conpaq.portable years ago.. was a nightmare and worked quite poorly.. texelec refined the product.. why waste the effort doing it yourself
 
i tried making my own for a conpaq.portable years ago.. was a nightmare and worked quite poorly.. texelec refined the product.. why waste the effort doing it yourself
I wasn't aware there was a pre-made option at the time.. then again I can't say I did much research into it, just repaired them with what I had on hand...wanted it done because I wanted to test the computer and wasn't so concerned about the keyboard then. Honestly went in there just to repair a couple of keys ended up doing them all. I did this several years ago and they are still working just fine.. however if I have to do it again I would go the texelec route.
 
Update. I tested out the two ADDS terminals this morning briefly while testing some of the goodies I got at the VCF swapmeet. One terminals seems perfect. The other is mostly dead, no high voltage, no power LED.... strangely enough it still beeps the keyboard. Rear fuse is intact.
 
Great find! I'd love to play with a 68000-based system. And it looks like you got the 16FDC which should indeed be capable of running Cromix, provided you have enough RAM. I have a lowly 4FDC in my Cromemco Z-2D system so I am limited to CDOS. I'd recommend joining the Cromemco Google Group https://groups.google.com/g/cromemco, there's also a huge private github that's full of just about everything Cromemco - definitely a resource you'll need: https://github.com/cromemcos

I have an ADDS Viewpoint 3A Plus (it looks identical to yours) that I acquired with a different S-100 system but I also use it with my Cromemco. I have the manual for it if you need it. It's a great terminal and the green phosphor still looks amazing after all these years. You'll probably just need a standard DB-25 serial cable for it.

Take your time getting the system running again. These old systems have huge caps in their power supplies that need to be reformed after sitting dormant for so many years. The method I use probably isn't perfect but it's worked for me. Make sure you unhook the motherboard and everything connected to the power supply. I use a Variac, and over the course of a day - say about 12 hours, I slowly bring the power up from 0 to 120VAC, incrementing the voltage about 10VAC every hour. Then at full power, check the output voltage to ensure you're getting the right DC voltages. Then apply power to the backplane, ensure you have the right levels at the right S100 pin. http://www.s100computers.com is a great resource and has a page that walks you through what all to check on the S-100 bus (here it is) and the order in which you should do things - would definitely recommend starting there.
Can you sign up to these google groups/github if you dont use Gmail?
 
Fantastic find, I will be following your progress with interest. I also have a Cromemco System One on the shelf waiting to be tinkered with. Mine is a Z80 flavor with hard disk, likely a Cromix system. Also has a corresponding Cromemco dumb terminal.
 
Fantastic find, I will be following your progress with interest. I also have a Cromemco System One on the shelf waiting to be tinkered with. Mine is a Z80 flavor with hard disk, likely a Cromix system. Also has a corresponding Cromemco dumb terminal.
@new_castle_j oh you have the actual cromemco branded terminal thats great. share some photos.

have you taken a look to see what cards you have?

Just curious where did you find your system one?
 
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