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How the system looks like

When I first saw it, it seemed some kind of PETish system. It was really huge in comparison with every single system I owned back then. Its only competitor in size, the CBM 8032 I had in my room. Even if they are very different beasts I may compare them because the CBM line is well known and serves as a reference for both the size, purpose and era.

Its overall appearance looks like this:
The first important difference is that the monitor is not attached like the PETs. And that's in line with most computers then and now. The monitor is a green phosphore SANYO Model DM5912CXA, made in Japan. As the filter sometimes gets lost, I made the pictures without it so its appearance could be appreciated with more detail.
The next computers of the line (P3, P4, P30, P40) also use the same monitor, but with different colors (instead of black and white, café au lait and beige). For now, I think that's enough for the monitor and can move to the computer itself.

A thing that surprised me was that the case was entirely made of plastic. This makes it awfully fragile and for this reason it should be treated gently because it deintegrates itself.

The front, with its brown plate. The drives and the QZERTY keyboard are visible. Note the plate is broken near the floppy drives and next to the keyboard (right from F6 key).

Left lateral, with the power switch. The right side is exactly the same but without the switch so it didn't deserve a picture. Note the cavity just under the main body of the computer, it was made to help people to grab and carry it.

Back side. Contains power cord, fuse, cooling grill and fan and every single connector from the computer to the outside world.

Finally, the bottom side. This is shown to help to locate the screws. The preferred way to manipulae the bottom is by placing the computer over its right side, remove the screws and then gently thacing it upright again. Finally, remove the top of the case by pulling it up carefully. Errors may cause damages at the brown plate!

And here ends its outer appearance. Tomorrow: power supply and backplane!

Hello Gege,

I'll post a bit every day. This will keep focus and at the same time it will give me time to revise for in case I made mistakes.

In my case this system has a special, personal value, and that's why I am excited when talking about it. On the other hand it may not be appealing to many people due to its very primitive design and construction. Even within its limitations it has some strong points such as its upgradeability by design. It is also a perfect system to develop machine code with the MOS commands but if one is bored it can be used to play Zork.

It has a small but dedicated comunity with most of its users in Germany but also spawning other countries, like Austria, Italy, Spain, Andorra and I think also Denmark (but I'm not sure of this last). They have even adapted a Gotek!

Regards,
Jaume

Thanks to all of you for your welcome posts.

Greetings!

Five or six years ago I found an extremely rare computer from Triumph-Adler, the first model to wear the distinctive brand "Alphatronic", which was model P2. Most of this time I was alone as in my zone I was the only person to have one and my unit was the only one with Spanish ROMs and keyboard. Over time, I bought a second unit which came from Italy and this is the unit I play with the most. Also, and due to my postings people were able to recognize it and so the second unit came a year and a half ago approximately. The third and last Spanish unit to be found appeared only two weeks ago and is currently being repaired.

In Germany, this computer is not a rarity, they are usually sold at 150€ if complete and working but prices may be as low as 10€ if they are in non-working condition. In Italy, this computer was also popular and remain in high numbers. Outside of those two countries, situation is a bit more bleak. Being a bit "special", this piece of hardware was misunderstood for long time, as it does not boot into an interpreter like BASIC but the more simplistic MOS (Micro Operating System) which contains monitor software. This caused a massive dump in places like the UK.

With the Spanish region a bit more stable, next step is to check my northern neighbours. As far as I know, there is no reported unit in the French region but it does not mean they were completely banished. I have hope as at least a user of this forums seems to have heard or seen one of them:

Almonius a écrit : ↑09 janv. 2005 12:46 Il existe plusieurs modèle de TA Alphatronic, l'un des premiers utilisait ce processeur : CPU Intel 8085A, 6 MHz . C'est celui que tu as ????

http://www.silicium.org/forum/viewtopic ... +p2#p96539

A bit of history

There was a German company called Sks, which made leather covers for portable radios. Over time, they started building their own radios and in the early 70s got caught in the trend of designing and manufacturing computers. They made some calculators and 4 bit computers using only gates and memories. When the first CPUs appeared, they eagerly introduced them in their designs. It was the introduction of the Intel 8080 they made their biggest hit: they proposed an standard to which many companies of the country adhered, including Hell (now part of siemens), Triumph-Adler and ITT. Its final version was an update made for the Intel 8085 and, by then they released their most famous computer: the SKS KISS.

The KISS was a small success for the company, but its real gain was in its licenses to the foresaid companies. As such, not many KISSes were sold but their TA, Hell and ITT counterparts were successful. By 1979, the firsts TA P2 units rolled out in an all-white case reminiscent in shape of that of the orange KISS but later batches added a brown front panel and some even some stylish badges. This system was to be found in many variants or submodels:

• A cut-down version with 32k and a single floppy drive (P1)
• The standard, 48k version with two floppy drives (P2)
• The upgraded, 64k version (P2U)
• The single-board version (P2E)

General Specs

As a late 70s system, we shouldn't expect anything extremely powerful. I would compare it as something in-between the Commodore PET and the IBM PC.

• Base: 46,5 x 54cm
• Height: 20cm
• CPU: 8085A@3MHz (the oscillator is 6MHz, but the CPU halves the input frequency so the system runs at 3MHz)
• ROM: 6k (MOS) + 2k (CHR ROM, CPU has no access to it)
• RAM: 32k (P1), 48k (P2), 64k (P2U); additionally 1k as MOS RAM
• VRAM: 2k (not included in the previous count)
• Text Modes (chars): 80x24 (default), 64x16
• Character size: 8x12 px
• Characters: 128 + inverse
• Color: Monochrome
• Mass storage: 160k Floppy drives x1 (P1), x2 (P2, P2E)
• Ports: RS232 (DB25), Printer, RCA (video), DIN-5 x 2 (cassette, TV; both unused: connectors not soldered)

Except for the P2E, every single model of the alphatronic Px is backplane based. In the case of the P2 it consists in two power connectors and nine logic connectors. The backplane connectors are DIN-41612, the ones intended for the logic boards are 96ABC while those intended to connect the power supply are 32AC.

I may add some more technical data in the future if I found to have forgotten anything.

Where to find it

This system wasn't a home computer but an office/industrial one. So the usual places one should expect to have chances on finding one may be the following:

• Barns (like my Spanish unit)
• Basements
• Attics
• Abandoned offices/factories
• Chicken coops?

Additionally, flea markets may be one of the places they could appear.


Next post: how to identify it, with pictures of the beast!

Dom a écrit : ↑16 nov. 2020 09:56 Welcome on board !

Merci!

Papalapa a écrit : ↑16 nov. 2020 08:48 Benvingut a Retrowiki 2.0

El món és realment molt petit! Ja portem tres llocs en comú!
I sí, això sembla RW en un altre color, sense botó de "like" i en francès.
M'agrada.

rogeroge a écrit : ↑16 nov. 2020 01:42 Autant que je me souvienne pour être retourné en 2016 en Andorre, les langues parlées
en Andorre sont le Catalan majoritairement puis l'Espagnol en second, le Français restant minoritaire.
Cependant le tourisme voit la langue française émerger mais avant tout la langue anglaise...

As far as I can remember being back in 2016 to Andorra, the languages spoken
in Andorra are the Catalan mainly then the Spaniard second, the French remaining in the minority.
However, tourism sees the emergence of the French language but above all the English language ...

Pel que recordo d’haver tornat el 2016 a Andorra, les llengües parlades
a Andorra hi ha el català principalment, després l'espanyol segon, els francesos romanen en minoria.
Tot i això, el turisme veu l’aparició de la llengua francesa però sobretot de l’anglès ...

Sad this forum doesn't have a "like" button because you would have one for explaining this... and for writng in my language!

Moltíssimes gràcies!

Marge a écrit : ↑16 nov. 2020 01:30 So, welcome!
But I don't believe you are so fluent in English and not able to align two words in French (tipically French here). Andorra is not Gibraltar!

Dear sir,

Of course, my country is not Gibraltar. If it was, then I could see the sea and there would be funny monkeys on the mountains.

Jokes apart... no, French is losing territory there. The official language is Catalan which helped many people from Catalonia to come and settle. Virtually every single Catalan can understand and Speak Spanish so French is relegated to a distant third (or even fourth) position. There are however, zones where its population is predominantly French like L'Aldosa (La Massana) where French is used. Not much in the capital. Additionally, the country is included in the Spanish distribution zone which means the content in physical format (movies, books, video games) comes in Spanish rather than French; the same happens with projections at the cinema.

I am fluent in Catalan and Spanish. My English is not perfect but it's decent enough to be able to talk with you. I know how important is to learn foreign languages and customs and for this reason I'm running for my fourth and fifth languages which are Japanese and Deutsch respectively. I explain this not to seem cooler or anything like that but to explain that my use of English here doesn't mean a lack of interest in French. It's just learning two different languages at the same time is a great effort but three is unmanageable for the so-called "normal" people (like me). Of course, while not being able to write decent French my posts will be limited to the English zone of the forums. Reading posts by other members might prove to be a useful memory exercise.

Best Regards

rogeroge a écrit : ↑16 nov. 2020 00:50 Bonne nuit & bienvenue !

J'espère que tu trouveras une réponse à tes recherches.

Merci!

Greetings!

I am from Andorra, that small country in your southern border. I am sorry, but my French is rather poor. Our French teacher spoke of literally everything including UFOs (real story) during classtime instead of giving us French lessons. So unfortunately I'll be using English.

I am from the so-called new generations as when I was born the PC was already dominating the market and MS-DOS, Windows 95 and 98 were most of the operating systems to be found. Nevertheless, I am quite fond of old computers in general and own a variety of ancient systems including four PET/CBM systems (but only three complete), an AIM/65, two TA P2, one TA P3, a Victor 9000 and many, many more. I am currently repairing two of my PET machines and developing spares and upgrades for the P2. In the future, I'd like to open a small living museum.

The main reason which brought me here is the P2. While the German and Italian regional variations are to be found in decent numbers, most of the other regions have low counts or even no report at all. I was the first to find an Spanish P2 back in 2014 (or 2015, I don't remember exactly) and since I posted regularly about it other people were able to find them, for a total of 3 Spanish units (last one found only two weeks ago). As far as I know, no French unit survives to this day but maybe, with some information people may recognize it and find one. This deserves a proper thread but today is too late and dark to take good images.

Best regards!