Ohio Scientific
Encyclopedia
Ohio Scientific Inc. was a United States
computer
company
that built and marketed computers from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. The company was founded by Mike and Charity Cheiky in 1975 in Hiram, Ohio
.
microprocessor, but lacking a Video Display Controller
. It needed an external video terminal such as the VT100
, or the CT-64 terminal system from SWTPC
, to create a useful system.
Their later products were also 6502-based, the Superboard II, Challenger 1P, Challenger 2P, Challenger 4P and Challenger 8P, introduced in 1979 and discontinued in 1981.
Original Ohio Scientific motherboard designs used 7400-series transistor-transistor logic
TTL chips. Instead of using a floppy disk controller
IC, they used the Motorola
6850 ACIA serial-port UART chip, which made their 8 and 5 inch floppies unreadable on any other system.
The company supplied full schematics of their hardware,which allowed for some field modifications, such as increased clock speed
and increased video line length.
The video systems did not have color-graphics like the Apple II
, just upper-case text, and some pseudo graphical characters, (comparable to the "PETSCII
" character-set of the Commodore PET
) for drawing lines and supporting simple games. They hadn't figured out how to write to the video memory without glitching the display, so the hardware would blank the screen for a few microseconds while it accessed the video memory. There was an add-on graphics card for the Superboard that would display 256 by 256 pixels. It came with software to draw 3D graphics.
The version OSI C1P / 600D Superboard II (occasionally advertised as the 'Colorboard') featured an unpopulated socket for an extra 1k x 4-bits of video ram to hold character colour information. The implementation of this was detailed in the OSI user group newsletter which was published around four times a year.
The 600D also featured two video modes: 32x32 (~24x24 visible) for 'graphics', or 64 x 16 (~48x15 visible) for text where each text line had a blank line between it and the next. The mode could be selected by a poke to the keyboard register. The keyboard polling register (a simple 8-bit TTL Latch) was also used as a very crude digital to analogue converter by means of a resistor ladder connected to an 'audio out' socket to the right of the keyboard.
The original superboard shipped with an 4KB O.S. in ROM, known as SYNMON, as the rom was labelled 'SYN600', and a rather buggy version of Microsoft 8K basic. Mainly due to the popularity of the superboard clone 'UK-101' in the UK, the bugs in the BASIC roms were eventually fixed, and at least two third-party companies produced their own version of the OS. One version was called 'CEGMON', the other was 'WEMON' produced by Watford Electronics in the UK. Both featured full screen editing (almost identical to the commodore PET), Named cassette file handling (like the PET) and a greatly Improved machine code monitor (also very similar to the Commodore PET).
Software was also minimal: a cassette boot loader in ROM and Microsoft BASIC in ROM. Disk-based systems included a bare-bones "Disk Operating System", which did not have file names, only disk track numbers. Users were advised to reserve track 40 as a text area for a manual disk directory. Even so, the disk was much handier than reading and writing cassettes at 1200 baud.
The OSI Challenger III had three processors: a 6502, a 6800, and a Z80. These were software switchable, but only one would be running at a time. Because it had a Z80, the Challenger III could run CP/M
, but it booted up in 6502 mode, and the bootstrap would switch processors.
The operating systems which ran on the CIII were OSI CP/M, OS-65D, and OS-65U. All three OS's, at least in the later versions, had directories with file names.
OSI/CPM had an assembler, FORTRAN
and COBOL
compiler, but to make a copy of the CPM, one had to boot in OS-65D to copy the disk.
OS-65D had a Basic interpreter, Assembler, Editor, disassembler, and disk copy utility.
OS-65U had a Basic interpreter, and had some simple networking capability, but assembly programs had to be done in OS-65D and then ported over.
OSI will concentrate on business systems.
May 1982 OSI name is changed to M/A-Com Office Systems Inc.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
company
Company
A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...
that built and marketed computers from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. The company was founded by Mike and Charity Cheiky in 1975 in Hiram, Ohio
Hiram, Ohio
Hiram is a village in Portage County, Ohio, United States. It was formed from portions of Hiram Township in the Connecticut Western Reserve. The population was 1,242 at the 2000 census...
.
Products
One of their first products, launched in 1978 was the OSI Model 500 system, a very simple single board computer based on the MOS Technology 6502MOS Technology 6502
The MOS Technology 6502 is an 8-bit microprocessor that was designed by Chuck Peddle and Bill Mensch for MOS Technology in 1975. When it was introduced, it was the least expensive full-featured microprocessor on the market by a considerable margin, costing less than one-sixth the price of...
microprocessor, but lacking a Video Display Controller
Video Display Controller
A Video Display Controller or VDC is an integrated circuit which is the main component in a video signal generator, a device responsible for the production of a TV video signal in a computing or game system...
. It needed an external video terminal such as the VT100
VT100
The VT100 is a video terminal that was made by Digital Equipment Corporation . Its detailed attributes became the de facto standard for terminal emulators.-History:...
, or the CT-64 terminal system from SWTPC
SWTPC
The U.S. company SWTPC started in 1964 as DEMCO . It was incorporated in 1967 as Southwest Technical Products Corporation of San Antonio, Texas...
, to create a useful system.
Their later products were also 6502-based, the Superboard II, Challenger 1P, Challenger 2P, Challenger 4P and Challenger 8P, introduced in 1979 and discontinued in 1981.
Original Ohio Scientific motherboard designs used 7400-series transistor-transistor logic
Transistor-transistor logic
Transistor–transistor logic is a class of digital circuits built from bipolar junction transistors and resistors. It is called transistor–transistor logic because both the logic gating function and the amplifying function are performed by transistors .TTL is notable for being a widespread...
TTL chips. Instead of using a floppy disk controller
Floppy disk controller
A floppy disk controller is a special-purpose chip and associated disk controller circuitry that directs and controls reading from and writing to a computer's floppy disk drive . This article contains concepts common to FDCs based on the NEC µPD765 and Intel 8072A or 82072A and their descendants,...
IC, they used the Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
6850 ACIA serial-port UART chip, which made their 8 and 5 inch floppies unreadable on any other system.
The company supplied full schematics of their hardware,which allowed for some field modifications, such as increased clock speed
Overclocking
Overclocking is the process of operating a computer component at a higher clock rate than it was designed for or was specified by the manufacturer, but some manufacturers purposely underclock their components to improve battery life. Many people just overclock or 'rightclock' their hardware to...
and increased video line length.
The video systems did not have color-graphics like the Apple II
Apple II
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
, just upper-case text, and some pseudo graphical characters, (comparable to the "PETSCII
PETSCII
PETSCII , also known as CBM ASCII, is the variation of the ASCII character set used in Commodore Business Machines 's 8-bit home computers, starting with the PET from 1977 and including the VIC-20, C64, CBM-II, Plus/4, C16, C116 and C128...
" character-set of the Commodore PET
Commodore PET
The Commodore PET was a home/personal computer produced from 1977 by Commodore International...
) for drawing lines and supporting simple games. They hadn't figured out how to write to the video memory without glitching the display, so the hardware would blank the screen for a few microseconds while it accessed the video memory. There was an add-on graphics card for the Superboard that would display 256 by 256 pixels. It came with software to draw 3D graphics.
The version OSI C1P / 600D Superboard II (occasionally advertised as the 'Colorboard') featured an unpopulated socket for an extra 1k x 4-bits of video ram to hold character colour information. The implementation of this was detailed in the OSI user group newsletter which was published around four times a year.
The 600D also featured two video modes: 32x32 (~24x24 visible) for 'graphics', or 64 x 16 (~48x15 visible) for text where each text line had a blank line between it and the next. The mode could be selected by a poke to the keyboard register. The keyboard polling register (a simple 8-bit TTL Latch) was also used as a very crude digital to analogue converter by means of a resistor ladder connected to an 'audio out' socket to the right of the keyboard.
The original superboard shipped with an 4KB O.S. in ROM, known as SYNMON, as the rom was labelled 'SYN600', and a rather buggy version of Microsoft 8K basic. Mainly due to the popularity of the superboard clone 'UK-101' in the UK, the bugs in the BASIC roms were eventually fixed, and at least two third-party companies produced their own version of the OS. One version was called 'CEGMON', the other was 'WEMON' produced by Watford Electronics in the UK. Both featured full screen editing (almost identical to the commodore PET), Named cassette file handling (like the PET) and a greatly Improved machine code monitor (also very similar to the Commodore PET).
Software was also minimal: a cassette boot loader in ROM and Microsoft BASIC in ROM. Disk-based systems included a bare-bones "Disk Operating System", which did not have file names, only disk track numbers. Users were advised to reserve track 40 as a text area for a manual disk directory. Even so, the disk was much handier than reading and writing cassettes at 1200 baud.
The OSI Challenger III had three processors: a 6502, a 6800, and a Z80. These were software switchable, but only one would be running at a time. Because it had a Z80, the Challenger III could run CP/M
CP/M
CP/M was a mass-market operating system created for Intel 8080/85 based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc...
, but it booted up in 6502 mode, and the bootstrap would switch processors.
The operating systems which ran on the CIII were OSI CP/M, OS-65D, and OS-65U. All three OS's, at least in the later versions, had directories with file names.
OSI/CPM had an assembler, FORTRAN
Fortran
Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...
and COBOL
COBOL
COBOL is one of the oldest programming languages. Its name is an acronym for COmmon Business-Oriented Language, defining its primary domain in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments....
compiler, but to make a copy of the CPM, one had to boot in OS-65D to copy the disk.
OS-65D had a Basic interpreter, Assembler, Editor, disassembler, and disk copy utility.
OS-65U had a Basic interpreter, and had some simple networking capability, but assembly programs had to be done in OS-65D and then ported over.
History
Mar 1981 OSI is sold to M/A-Com Inc. of Burlington MA.OSI will concentrate on business systems.
May 1982 OSI name is changed to M/A-Com Office Systems Inc.