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+--- Thread: Greetings. Now own a Microbee (/thread-627.html)
Greetings. Now own a Microbee - river - 10-03-2023
Hi,
Just did an exchange with a fellow vintage computer collector and got me a Microbee. It has Microbee II stamped on the bottom of the case but it might be a Model III? I have no idea, as I have never owned one before or used one, and I have zero documentation. The unit powers up and when I press M on power up it comes up with some monitor stuff, but I have no idea what to do with this, or how to drive it.
So, here I am, a happy bee owner, looking for documentation so I can have a play around with it. It seems like a nice unit and apparently has 128K of memory.
regards
River
RE: Greetings. Now own a Microbee - CheshireNoir - 10-03-2023
Hi River,
Welcome to the cool kids club. Would this be the one you swapped a System 80 for? :-D
As for identification, you can tell most of the details you need from they keyboard layout and what ports are at the back.
Does it have cursor keys? If so it's a Premium. This means you have optional colour!
Does it have a 34 way connector at the back? (If it's a 128k model I'm guessing it will) If so it's a disk drive unit.
Once we've identified which model you have, we can point you to add-ons and peripherals available for you unit :-)
What peripherals did you get. Just the keyboard? Disk Drives?
If it boots to a square cursor, then it's waiting for a boot disk. Apply for access to the repository and there are loads of useful disk images for you to use. There's also service guides, user manuals and a huge amount of good "stuff".
I find one of the most useful peripherals you can add to a disk unit is a Gotek. This allows you to boot straight off disk images.
(If I seem enthusiastic, I'm still relatively new to Microbees myself. I've been trying to diagnose a unit with some "exciting" RAM faults, but I also currently have a working 128k Premium and a 32k "PC 85" model)
Cheers
John
RE: Greetings. Now own a Microbee - Snuffytime - 10-03-2023
Hi River,
The "Model II" is on the bottom of the case because Applied Technology set up the case mould like that for their fully-built mass-market/education models which succeeded their "Model I" kit versions. They used the same cases for later, upgraded models but never changed the "Model II" on the mould, because money.
Cheers.
RE: Greetings. Now own a Microbee - MbeeTech - 10-03-2023
Hi River.
Welcome to the forum.
RE: Greetings. Now own a Microbee - river - 11-03-2023
Hi,
Yes, this is the one I swapped over for a System80 (plus exp unit).
The unit I have comes up with a block cursor on the monitor. The rear has the following ports, from left to right.... two large round holes, with "Power" stamped above them. I plug the power DIN plug into the rh side hole and the video cable into the monitor and apply pwer and it powers up ok. Next along the rear of the case is "User Port" (can't see any connector, just inside the unit), "Expansion Interface" (34 way connector), Serial Port (usual 25pin 232 D port) and IO Port (15 pin D port).
I am not familiar with what variant of kbds the Bee models had. This unit has, on the rh side, far right, top to bottom... "Back Space", next row is "Line Feed" and "Return", next row down is "Del" and "Break" keys, the next row is "Shift" and "Reset" keys. And the very bottom, in the middle, is the obligatory "space" bar. So, need to know exactly what model I have so I can go to the repository or wherever to see how to operate it and also check out any hardware and schematics, as I like that sort of thing.
I have a gotek I could use and am happy to connect it up, so I assume there is doco about on how to do that? All I have is the main unit. It does not have cursor keys. Looking for the "good stuff"... ie... user guide, tech details etc etc
RE: Greetings. Now own a Microbee - Ernest - 11-03-2023
Hi River,
Welcome to the wonderful world of the Microbee.
You have a disk based none Premium Microbee from your description, most likely one of the latter MB1248 Mainboards with a DRAM Coreboard. Where did you get the idea of 128k from? Is there a 128k sticker on the cover?
Other than breaking into the monitor there is not a lot you can do as it stands.
Having a GOTEK is a great advantage, the Microbee uses Shugart interface and you will need to have it set to Drive 0, there are suitable images you can obtain from the repository here to test out your system.
Maybe start with the CIAB to get underway unless you are 100% sure of the 128k RAM.
Chickenman has a good guide on setting up and running a GOTEK on your Microbee.
Ernest
RE: Greetings. Now own a Microbee - ChickenMan - 11-03-2023
As said, you have a Microbee 128 standard unit, nice, one of my favourites.
Your Gotek should be flashed with FlashFloppy and then you just need to copy the Microbee DSK disk images we have in the Repository to your USB key. Ideally you need a LCD screen in the Goteck so you can see what your actually booting. 90+% of our disk images are bootable, some of the original Microworld disks are not bootable. The DS40 in the file name means its a 365k 5.25", SS80 a single sided CIAB 3.5" and DS80 a double sided 3.5" disk, all should be bootable on your 'bee
RE: Greetings. Now own a Microbee - river - 12-03-2023
Hi,
Cool, thanks. I'll give it a whirl with the Gotek, and grab some images. I have flashed 2 Goteks and both work on an IBM PC (5150), so I'm assuming that will be fine for the Bee?
The reason I said it was 128K was because I was told by the guy who gave it to me, and he seems to know his vintage computer stuff.
river
RE: Greetings. Now own a Microbee - Ernest - 12-03-2023
The simplest way to be sure is to have a look under the hood.
If the Coreboad has 8 memory chips It’s a 64k if it has 16 then its a 128k.
Ernest