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Oh, I found a screenshot and some more information! Page 111 of this: http://oldcomputers.dyndns.org/public/pub/rechner/siemens/mx-rm/manuals/sinix/emds_virtue

by anyfoo 6y ago

Oh, I found a screenshot and some more information! Page 111 of this: http://oldcomputers.dyndns.org/public/pub/rechner/siemens/mx-rm/manuals/sinix/emds_virtuelle_9750_(gray_u3003-j-z14s-5_12-1991).pdf http://oldcomputers.dyndns.org/public/pub/rechner/siemens/mx... I think Siemens 97801 is another moniker for Siemens PC-X (at least the SINIX kernel also calls it 9780).

masswerk 6y ago
Yes, there are actually several screenshots (or rather, hardcopies of screens) in this. Thank you!
- anyfoo 6y ago
  No, thank you! This is something I didn't even know existed, and now I'm very curious to find out more. Although chances are slim, maybe that software turns up somewhere someday (it would be brilliant if it's on one of the machines I got, since except for the one that was my own in the 80s, I did not get to even see them yet--shipping them over the ocean would not just have been expensive, but risky, too).
  - rbanffy 6y ago
    If it’s there, please preserve and document it. There’s very little left of it anywhere else.
    - anyfoo 6y ago
      Of course. I found some other stuff in the 1.2 kernel by the way, like the existence of (relatively smart, apparently) network and serial multiplexer cards for the PC-X. I also reverse engineered how the NMI worked, details about the MMU etc.
  - masswerk 6y ago
    I've published a few screenshots at the Retrocomputing Forum, https://retrocomputingforum.com/t/a-bit-of-xenix-history/1869 https://retrocomputingforum.com/t/a-bit-of-xenix-history/186...
johndoe0815 6y ago
The 97801 was only a - very nice and ergonomic - serial text terminal (some models were VT220 compatible), but it was commonly used with SINIX systems. It seems that Siemens provided a 97801 emulator for Collage (https://www.computerwoche.de/a/siemens-macht-sich-mit-collage-ein-paar-bilder,1149322 https://www.computerwoche.de/a/siemens-macht-sich-mit-collag...).
- anyfoo 6y ago
  My bad, I looked into my notes again, the Siemens PC-X was the Siemens 9781.
rbanffy 6y ago
If I understand correctly the docs we found, there were 3 "flavors": "Grafik-COLLAGE", "Alpha-COLLAGE", and "X-COLLAGE". I assume the first would be for some sort of clever terminal, the second for non-graphical terminals, and the last one for X servers. At the time I thought it was odd that the windows ended up aligning at character cell borders, which would indicate a terminal with some form of redefinable character set.

by anyfoo 6y ago

masswerk 6y ago

Yes, there are actually several screenshots (or rather, hardcopies of screens) in this. Thank you!

anyfoo 6y ago
No, thank you! This is something I didn't even know existed, and now I'm very curious to find out more. Although chances are slim, maybe that software turns up somewhere someday (it would be brilliant if it's on one of the machines I got, since except for the one that was my own in the 80s, I did not get to even see them yet--shipping them over the ocean would not just have been expensive, but risky, too).
- rbanffy 6y ago
  If it’s there, please preserve and document it. There’s very little left of it anywhere else.
  - anyfoo 6y ago
    Of course. I found some other stuff in the 1.2 kernel by the way, like the existence of (relatively smart, apparently) network and serial multiplexer cards for the PC-X. I also reverse engineered how the NMI worked, details about the MMU etc.
- masswerk 6y ago
  I've published a few screenshots at the Retrocomputing Forum, https://retrocomputingforum.com/t/a-bit-of-xenix-history/1869 https://retrocomputingforum.com/t/a-bit-of-xenix-history/186...

johndoe0815 6y ago

The 97801 was only a - very nice and ergonomic - serial text terminal (some models were VT220 compatible), but it was commonly used with SINIX systems. It seems that Siemens provided a 97801 emulator for Collage (https://www.computerwoche.de/a/siemens-macht-sich-mit-collage-ein-paar-bilder,1149322 https://www.computerwoche.de/a/siemens-macht-sich-mit-collag...).

anyfoo 6y ago
My bad, I looked into my notes again, the Siemens PC-X was the Siemens 9781.

rbanffy 6y ago

If I understand correctly the docs we found, there were 3 "flavors": "Grafik-COLLAGE", "Alpha-COLLAGE", and "X-COLLAGE". I assume the first would be for some sort of clever terminal, the second for non-graphical terminals, and the last one for X servers. At the time I thought it was odd that the windows ended up aligning at character cell borders, which would indicate a terminal with some form of redefinable character set.