Fwd: Help with vintage Ampex computer / terminal ??
I have been subscribed to the list for a few years. I rarely make posts. I really enjoy vintage computing but have little knowledge to offer. I recently purchased an Ampex computer/work station at a garage sale. I did not know exactly what I was buying and the seller was also unsure what it was (he got it from someone who was dumping it if I remember correctly). I am trying to understand what it is. There is no keyboard. There was one disk in the drive. When powered on, nothing appears on the screen though there is a humming noise which I'm almost certain is only the fan. The red light does not come on. I've tried inserting the disk and removing it once or twice and thought I heard the *very* faint sound of the drive but it never seems to fully power up or read the disk. The back of the "computer" has various in/outputs that I am not familiar with ("Chan A" "Concen" "SMPTE") The sticker on the back says it contains "multichannel software" version 9.4. I thought that might indicate it is some type of terminal that needs to be used with a mainframe?? I did some research but couldn't figure out what it is. Any information/help is appreciated. You can see pictures of this (including pics of it opened up) at https://imgur.com/a/WfHORyP Secondarily; if this ends up being something I can't make use of - if anyone is interested let me know. David K.
Appears to be a video editing station, circa 1987: https://www.broadcaststore.com/pdf/model/7174/7174.pdf On Wed, Jul 13, 2022 at 10:32 AM David K via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I have been subscribed to the list for a few years. I rarely make posts. I really enjoy vintage computing but have little knowledge to offer.
I recently purchased an Ampex computer/work station at a garage sale. I did not know exactly what I was buying and the seller was also unsure what it was (he got it from someone who was dumping it if I remember correctly). I am trying to understand what it is.
There is no keyboard. There was one disk in the drive. When powered on, nothing appears on the screen though there is a humming noise which I'm almost certain is only the fan. The red light does not come on. I've tried inserting the disk and removing it once or twice and thought I heard the *very* faint sound of the drive but it never seems to fully power up or read the disk.
The back of the "computer" has various in/outputs that I am not familiar with ("Chan A" "Concen" "SMPTE")
The sticker on the back says it contains "multichannel software" version 9.4. I thought that might indicate it is some type of terminal that needs to be used with a mainframe??
I did some research but couldn't figure out what it is.
Any information/help is appreciated.
You can see pictures of this (including pics of it opened up) at https://imgur.com/a/WfHORyP
Secondarily; if this ends up being something I can't make use of - if anyone is interested let me know.
David K.
The control terminal for one, yes. The rest of the hardware is in the external box. It's interesting (to me, anyway) that this is based on a Z8000 processor. -Dave On 7/13/22 10:45, Dean Notarnicola via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Appears to be a video editing station, circa 1987:
https://www.broadcaststore.com/pdf/model/7174/7174.pdf
On Wed, Jul 13, 2022 at 10:32 AM David K via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I have been subscribed to the list for a few years. I rarely make posts. I really enjoy vintage computing but have little knowledge to offer.
I recently purchased an Ampex computer/work station at a garage sale. I did not know exactly what I was buying and the seller was also unsure what it was (he got it from someone who was dumping it if I remember correctly). I am trying to understand what it is.
There is no keyboard. There was one disk in the drive. When powered on, nothing appears on the screen though there is a humming noise which I'm almost certain is only the fan. The red light does not come on. I've tried inserting the disk and removing it once or twice and thought I heard the *very* faint sound of the drive but it never seems to fully power up or read the disk.
The back of the "computer" has various in/outputs that I am not familiar with ("Chan A" "Concen" "SMPTE")
The sticker on the back says it contains "multichannel software" version 9.4. I thought that might indicate it is some type of terminal that needs to be used with a mainframe??
I did some research but couldn't figure out what it is.
Any information/help is appreciated.
You can see pictures of this (including pics of it opened up) at https://imgur.com/a/WfHORyP
Secondarily; if this ends up being something I can't make use of - if anyone is interested let me know.
David K.
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
participants (3)
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Dave McGuire -
David K -
Dean Notarnicola