A bit of an oddball. I had been meaning to dig into this computer for a while, but lack of space and concern about its condition ended up pushing it to the back of the queue, but I finally managed to find some time to do some minor cleanup. The Alpha Micro 1200 is a multi user system, powered by a Motorola 68010 processor and fitted with 1MB of RAM (upgradeable to 4MB). It also sports a SASI hard drive, QIC streamer tape and it can be booted from a VHS video tape (!). The operating system is AMOS/L, a derivative of DOS-11 used in the PDP-11 computers (Alpha Micro was eventually sued by Digital, if memory serves).
Detail of AMOS help options.
And detail of the frontplate.
I would be keen to image the hard drive as getting bootable media nowadays would be a pain but it looks like it is going to be a bit of a challenge. From what I could find out online, the boot PROM is matched to a specific Xebec controller that is embedded on a customized ST-506 drive, so the boot PROM would need to be modified if the original drive died in order to use some other SASI compliant device.
I powered it up today and it boots without a fuss. I am hoping I can manage to preserve it somehow.
Detail of AMOS help options.
And detail of the frontplate.
I would be keen to image the hard drive as getting bootable media nowadays would be a pain but it looks like it is going to be a bit of a challenge. From what I could find out online, the boot PROM is matched to a specific Xebec controller that is embedded on a customized ST-506 drive, so the boot PROM would need to be modified if the original drive died in order to use some other SASI compliant device.
I powered it up today and it boots without a fuss. I am hoping I can manage to preserve it somehow.
Last edited: