Intellec MDS questions

[Randy McLaughlin]

From: "William Layer" <william.layer at comcast.net>
> Hey all,
>
> Thanks for all the background and help on the Altair project. I'll be 
> taking some pics of the pile for a 'before and after' set. Hopefully there 
> will be an after worth mentioning  ;-)
>
> Now on to Intel / Intellec MDS systems. I've got one that is alternately 
> described as an MDS225 or and MDS800. IIRC, the dual-disk unit is marked 
> MDS800, (blue in color) and the main chassis is marked MDS225 (white in 
> color, has a monitor, kb, and a series of pushbuttons with LED 
> indicators).
>
> Information on these units is pretty sparse on the web; multiple google 
> searches have yielded little more than years of manufacture, and some 
> price info.
>
> One question that should amuse the more veteran members of classiccmp is 
> this: What exactly is meant by "Microcomputer Development System"? It's 
> like that old joke about "Repairing Robots".. Are they referring to the 
> process of repairing a robot, or to robots that perform repairs?
>
> Is the MDS a system for developing microcomputers, or is it a 
> microcomputer that is used for other forms of hardware / software 
> development, or a little of both? I'm getting the feeling that the latter 
> might be the case.
>
> Secondly, what kind of operating system, applications, etc can one of the 
> MDS units run? I'm told that it is an ISIS based system, but I really 
> don't know much about ISIS. I assume it's a disk operating system, but 
> beyond that I'm clueless. I'd like to think that there is some 
> general-purpose OS I could run on it, play some wumpus, trek or life, 
> amortize my mortgage, or maybe fire up a terminal emulator and get into 
> the BBS scene.
>
> I'm clearly no expert in this old stuff, but I'm at least wise enough to 
> realize what I *don't* know. Can someone fill in a few of the gaps?
>
> My MDS has an 8080A CPU card in it, some kind of memory card, and a disk 
> controller. Also, a card that connects to a large ICE pod "Intel ICE-51", 
> if that helps.
>
> TIA, Bill

I have some info on my site including software downloads.  Many of the 
manuals can be found in Howards manuals (mirrored on my site).


Randy
www.s100-manuals.com