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PostPosted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 9:52 pm 

Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2021 9:46 pm
Posts: 241
Hey guys. I'm am not sure if this is the correct forum to post this to but here goes. Lastnight during on of my sleepless meanderings on one or more of my trusty auction sites, I found a rather odd, old laptop/suitcase type "computer" for sale. It really caught my attention so I looked it up on one of my resource sites. Turns out it is a Visual commuter 1083. This thing sold for 1995$ back in 83. The price was right, so I bought it. It works, comes with the original manuals, and looks to be in great condition. We will see when it arrives. I will post a pic for you guys. If anyone has additional information, or if anyone would like to maybe talk to me about acquiring this from me please feel free to comment. If this kind of post isn't allowed, let me know and I will take it down immediately. Thanks guys, Mal


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PostPosted: Wed Aug 25, 2021 11:14 pm 

Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2014 9:44 pm
Posts: 1138
Location: I'm right here :D
You may have found this already but here's some info.

https://www.old-computers.com/museum/co ... t=1&c=1193
http://oldcomputers.net/commuter.html

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PostPosted: Thu Sep 02, 2021 9:44 am 

Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2021 9:46 pm
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bump


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 02, 2021 2:06 pm 
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Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2015 6:57 pm
Posts: 9751
Location: Low DOS
There really isn’t much to say.
This class of early portable, “luggable” micro is full of totally random stuff. The links above are the top links on a web search. Bing or Google.

Generally they sell on the $50 range as an overall average. From free to a few hundred.
They use lead acid batteries Y that may or may not be fully sealed. More often than not you have blown capacitors. Even if it still works, you need to check replace them.
Many use a custom assembly built dos. So if you want to run graphical, like windows 1x or 2x or GOS or X10 you’ll need to find a custom/OEM shim.

I’m not trying to be a downer, just know what you’re getting into here.
These were quite the achievement. The first public portable was a gigantic 8080 ibm workstation client. It was 95lbs. 5 foot by 1 and a half by 3. A full mini computer workstation in a box with a handle!
I had one. What a beast.

The 8bit gave us portable build outs and that led to stuff like this.
It boots a modified DOS called VDOS from Microsoft, via floppy. With a ram expansion you can boot CPM or DOS to memory to run larger programs from a disk that wouldn’t fit in memory.
I believe they have a slim BASIC in rom.

This is another one of those not enough too early type of systems. It’s too powerful for what was out there, but not powerful enough for the next generation.

They’re fun for more advanced techs though.
You can swap out the ram with larger soldered dips. As long as you place an expansion rom in spot one/zero.
Should be able to get windows 2 or even (*nix with) x10 or x11 to run with a bit more memory.
I know there’s some gEM hacks on internet archive and Old Software.

As far as selling it. I did leave it up.
I’m not interested myself. I have a few like this and had my fun. They take up a fair bit of space. And they really don’t do anything my C64 can’t do better.

But if you want a dirt cheap terminal relay? This is the route to go.

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PostPosted: Thu Sep 02, 2021 11:01 pm 

Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2021 9:46 pm
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Thank you lost. You have given me a lot to think about. A LOT... I do appreciate your time good sir.


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2022 10:03 pm 

Joined: Sat Apr 23, 2022 9:40 pm
Posts: 2
malphorian1973,
The Visual Commuter 1083 was a fairly unique PC for its time. It was a "luggable". But much lighter than other units at the time. It was a fully compatible IBM PC Clone and can boot with any standard MS DOS 360K floppy. No lead acid battery! It's claim to fame was: It was the first IBM clone to have a full LCD screen 25 lines by 80 characters (for the later units). It supported text and graphic mode with the LCD. I'm somewhat a collector of these units and have met several folks that have these. We work together to answer questions and keep them going. If you still have this unit feel free to contact me, I would be interested to hear from you. I joined this board because I noticed your post. Could not figure out how to send a message so I'll just leave this reply.

Sincerely, Ron


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2022 11:42 pm 
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Location: Low DOS
Quote:
any standard MS DOS 360K floppy


That’s actually really good news malphorian. If it’s totally PC compatible you won’t run into any of the shortcuts in chip code that choked up some more advanced programs on clones. Like Calc and Filr.

RonA? Any idea what the colour mode support was. If it was 80x80+ or 160xNNN it can run x6, x9, or x10 on a small kernel linux or Unix. mBSD and P-BSD have some old builds with those systems in place.
DBD300 is also a choice for boot to memory if you have expanded RAM.

I don’t known enough to say diamond but definitely a gem here. (Is pun intended).

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PostPosted: Sun Apr 24, 2022 4:14 am 

Joined: Sat Apr 23, 2022 9:40 pm
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lostinlodos,
The display mode is set with dip switches but can be overridden to the following modes using the listed keystrokes:
Display Mode Keystroke Combination:
40 x 25 colorgraphic - Hold CNTL + ALT and press 4
80 x 25 colorgraphic - Hold CNTL + ALT and press 8
IBM monochrome monitor - Hold CNTL + ALT and press M
LCD Display 16 line -Hold CNTL + ALT and press L
LCD Display 25 line - Hold CNTL + ALT and press 8

In addition to the special RJ type LCD display connector there is a 5-pin DIN Composite Video port and a RGB/Monochrome monitor port on the back of the unit. All the video modes are generated with a 6845 CRT Controller.

Regards, RonA


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PostPosted: Sun Apr 24, 2022 3:24 pm 
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Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2015 6:57 pm
Posts: 9751
Location: Low DOS
Finally found a breakout table on the wikis.
https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Te ... isual_1083

So,
128-512 rom
128-512 ram
True 8088 at 4.77 (clock adjustable)

Digging through some ebay and drive exchange sales as well.
I found sales with the original MSDOS 2.11 and 2.12 (they are OEM mods).
And also CPM, HX88, Debian-CL (Buzz), MDWRT, and most importantly:
DIRTT
Data In Ram for Text Terminals.
Dirt is an NFS with a text based DA interface.
In other words:

You have everything needed for a (slow) serial based file server.

These appear to be currently selling in the $100-$150 range or so. Though not in usual channels. And there’s a bit of interest in the crypto industry for old file servers for POSp, Proof Of Space tokens. No reason this couldn’t be plugged into a bunch of bare backplane units as a tape server. Eg HPDat or LTO
I’m not sure how well it would work: but there’s interest.

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PostPosted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 9:03 am 

Joined: Fri Feb 14, 2014 3:42 pm
Posts: 227
Location: Troy, NY
I'm opening a vintage computer museum here soon in Troy, NY (the real Troy).
We just got our non-profit paperwork in place and some funding.
Long story short, I'd love to have this for the museum, if you are still willing to part with it.
You can contact me at my user name at gmail.


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