Re: Laser 3000

[ds_spen@pavo.concordia.ca (SPENCE, DOUGLAS S)]

In article <BI95Ldj.lmcclure@delphi.com>, Lonnie McClure <lmcclure@delphi.com> writes...

>The problem is, I assume you don't have any of the pinouts (as few
>computers come with manuals that have full tech specs...assuming you
>even have the Laser 3000 manuals).

Nope, I don't have any manuals at all.  In fact, I got nothing but the
computer itself.  Luckily it has an internal power supply, that takes a
normal power cord, else I might not even know yet that the machine
works. :)

>You might want to try contacting Video Technology. If they are nice folk,
>they might be able to get them to send you some info on the L3000. You
>never know until you try. I once got a photocopy of a manual for a printer
>buffer from a company that had been out of business for years! (Long story,
>but to make it short, I actually ended up talking to a "sister" company
>that was in an entirely different field).

Do you (or anyone else) know how to get in touch with V.T.?  All I know is
that the machine was made in Hong Kong. :)

>The printer port should be the easiest to puzzle out. Using a multimeter,
>while sending a continous stream of CHR$255 to the printer, you should
>be able to find the which pins are active and which are ground. (Hmmm...
>but if no printer is properly attached to the ACK line, it would stop
>after the first character...so much for that bright idea).

I'm not as interested in the printer port as in the RS232 and disk drive
ports.  I want to get software in and out.  I was actually thinking of
using the L3000 for an old-style BBS, but considering the problem with
parts I guess that would be a very bad idea. :)

>I wonder if there is more than meets the eye on that RS-232 port. Even
>if one half of those pins are ground, 15 pins more than is necessary for
>RS-232.

Maybe the top 15 pins and bottom 15 pins are identical?  (Wild hypothesis)

>     "Which sound chip is it, and what other 8-bit machines
>      had it?"
> 
>If I recall correctly, it is the AY-3-8910 (or something like that).
>The chip, or a compatible version, was used in the TI-99/4A, MSX machines,
>the Atari ST series, the Coleco Adam, and some other, rarer machines
>you may not have heard of, such as the Timex-Sinclair 2068, Memotech MTX-512,
>and Spectravideo SV-328 (and SV-318).

Cool!  I guess I'll have to figure out how to bang at it in hardware, as
the BASIC seems not to want to reveal its secrets.

>Uh-oh. Let me guess: Something like either a yard sale or a Salvation Army
>thrift shop, and cost, around $10-$15. How close am I? If it was "worse"
>than that (i.e., sitting with someone's trash for pickup, and therefore,
>free), I don't even want to know. <grin>

You are right on the mark.  Salvation Army thrift shop, for $10 Canadian.
That's the most I've payed for a machine from there, but it has also proven
to be by far the most interesting.

>     "How's the C65 doing? ;)"
> 
>Doing well. Too bad things have been so busy I have not even had time to
>turn it on in the past couple of months. (In fact, about all I have had
>time to do on any of my computers recently is to try an keep up with
>messages on the nets. Frankly, I think anyone who comes up with a way of
>selling "free time" will be a billionaire a day after they put it on the
>market! <grin>

Yeah.  And then some of us have too much free time.  That's why we go to
the Salvation Army to pick up new toys. ;)

>Against the odds, I was successful in finding an ad for the Laser 3000
>in a quick search while still logged on. Specifically, on page 94 of the
>December 1985 issue of COMPUTE!. The company selling it was Computer
>Direct (aka Protecto). Price then was $499, but that included the disk
>drive, and Magic Window, Memory and Calc programs (wordprocessor, database,
>and spreadsheet).

Sheesh... sounds like a good deal.  :)  If it was available a couple of
years earlier at that price, I would've been better off buying a Laser 3000
than the Microcom ][+.

>The ad also shows a pic from the back, and lists the ports. You may find
>this interesting.
> 
>Looking at the back of the computer, and starting on the left side:
> 
> (1) Joystick port
> (2) CP/M cartridge port
      ^^^^
And I had this pegged as a likely disk drive port.  Oh well. :)

> (3) Printer interface
> (4) Disk drive controller interface
> (5) RS-232 port
> (6) Sound volume
> (7) Cassette interface
> (8) composite video
> (9) RGB output
    \
 9.5 |- There's a "color defeat" switch here.  Quite useful.
    /
>(10) Reset
>(11) Power cord (unlabeled in the ad)
>(12) Power switch
> 
>Features mentioned:
> 
> 192K RAM, 32KB enhanced Microsoft BASIC, 80 column text, 560 x 192 color
> graphics, 81 key sculptured keyboard, high efficiency switching power
> supply, Centronics bus printer interface, cassette interface, 4 channel
> sound generator. (Hmmm..I would swear it was only 3).

The fourth "voice" is noise.

I had no idea it had 192K, BTW.  But I guess it's bank switched, as the ROM
also must be.  Any idea how to access either?  I'd like to verify that the
RAM is actually there, and I'd like to PEEK through the ROMs to find commands
etc.

> It went on to list the graphics modes, but those appear to be Apple II
> standard.

Nope, they're not all standard.  HGR5 and HGR6 have more, and different,
colours from standard Apple II modes.  And text can be in colour as well:

TEXT RED,YELLOW,CYAN

for exaple gives red text on yellow background, with cyan screen border.

There are no low-res graphics modes.

>I hope this has been of some additional help

Yes, it certainly has been.  Thanks for the info!


Doug Spence
DS_SPEN@pavo.concordia.ca