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6,654 pages: 1,289 machines, 702 software, 460 companies, 64 history, 17 articles, 59 fun.
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Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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---
title: Durango F85
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Professional Computer
origins:
- U.S.A.
years:
- '1977'
cpus:
- Intel 8085
params:
name: F85
company: /companies/durango
company_name: Durango
specs:
- label: NAME
value: F85
- label: MANUFACTURER
value: Durango
- label: TYPE
value: Professional Computer
- label: ORIGIN
value: U.S.A.
- label: YEAR
value: '1977'
- label: END OF PRODUCTION
value: '1982'
- label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
value: None
- label: KEYBOARD
value: Full stroke 84 key
- label: CPU
value: Intel 8085
- label: SPEED
value: 5 MHz
- label: CO-PROCESSOR
value: None
- label: RAM
value: 64 KB up to 192 KB
- label: VRAM
value: 2 KB, DMA from main RAM
- label: ROM
value: 4 KB
- label: TEXT MODES
value: 80x24 / 64x16
- label: GRAPHIC MODES
value: None
- label: COLORS
value: Monochrome
- label: SOUND
value: Piezo buzzer
- label: SIZE / WEIGHT
value: 28.5 (W) x 22.5 (D) x 16 (H) inches / 30 kg
- label: I/O PORTS
value: 9 pin DIN CRT, 37-pin DIN external floppy
- label: BUILT IN MEDIA
value: 2 x 980 KB/DS.DD/100 tpi 5.25'' floppy disc drives
- label: OS
value: DX-85M, CP/M 2.2
- label: POWER SUPPLY
value: Switching power supply unit - 86-250 VAC
- label: PERIPHERALS
value: 14'' then 5.25'' hard disc, 1 or 2 external FDD,
- label: PRICE
value: From $11,000
comments:
- author: David Ovington (United Kingdom)
date: Sunday 25th April 2021
text: Starbasic still lives on! I worked for a UK company for 28 years (through various acquisitions) and the software still uses it and the ISAM database. Around 2005 we were getting restricted by the capabilities even though it had been ported to SCO unix / AIX etc. So we bought a license for the compiler and RUNtime and I did a load of improvements, increased program size, linked it to run alongside Java, replication of data out to SQL Server etc I still use it for quick utility programs to process text files, used it for so long it’s second nature!
- author: Steve P (UK)
date: Monday 4th November 2019
text: We used one of these for our stock control, invoicing and accounts around 1980 with a horticultural wholesaler. We had the optional second dual disk drive to expand the memory to accommodate the number of stock lines we had. If I remember correctly, the whole package cost around £12.5k, a lot of money for a small company at that time but it revolutionised the way we worked. The floppies were not the most reliable, and had a habit of failure showing at the end of day back-up, usually meaning re-inputting the whole day''s work again!
- author: Andy Dent (Australia)
date: Sunday 23rd September 2018
text: My first paid job was working on a Durango in Perth, Western Australia, back in 1981. I ended up $ping out of my Engineering studies to work full-time for the company who were a reseller who heavily customised the business suite. That got me my first major job - I walked in and slapped down a listing of Star-BASIC source with my initialled comments and said "I can understand and debug this". Amazing hardware and usability for the time.
- author: Dick Schmoekel (United States)
date: Monday 27th August 2018
text: Wow!! I didn''t think anyone else remembered the Durango. I ran into Durango and George Comstock at Comdex in 1979 and we very quickly signed up to be one of their early dealers, Sunbelt Data Services out of Houston, Texas. We ended up selling a ton of them, first as dealers and then setting up other dealers throughout the US. We developed their Accounting software (AR, AP, GL. Payroll, OE/Inv and a Client Writeup Package for CPAs. We later sold the software back to Durango. That was a GREAT little machine for its day but the IBM PC release killed it. Thanks for the memory!!!
- author: Adnan
date: Tuesday 8th August 2017
text: |-
dear Frank!\
I am interested to buy! Do you still have the computer?\
Danke :)
- author: Ken Macumber (Boston, MA)
date: Thursday 25th May 2017
text: I used a Durango in South Africa in 1981,2 and 3. We used it for word processing. The company, Grinaker Projects, had a number of these systems. We wrote a cool construction bar chart scheduler program that would print out bar charts based on fields that contained start and stop dates, task, and sub-contractor. I could printout individual sheets per sub-contractor and I would distribute task lists to each sub on a weekly basis. It was pretty leading edge stuff for the time and it was very efficient.
- author: Peter (Germany)
date: Thursday 5th January 2017
text: |-
Hallo Frank,
hatte selbst 2 DurangoF-85 plus ext Doppel-Disk.
Was soll dein F-85 kosten? (etl aus Nostalgie.....)
Gruß aus Hamburg\
Peter Breitenfeld\
brt@peterbreitenfeld.de
- author: Frank (Germany)
date: Friday 22nd July 2016
text: |-
I have a Durango F85 incl. some discs and would like to sell it. Anybody interested?
Best regards\
Frank
- author: Hector Buffa (Argentina)
date: Wednesday 17th June 2015
text: |-
When we began our activities we had two F-85. Finally, we''d added hard disk to both computers, and we was able to connect them using ASCUTL.
Then we knew that Mollecular launched a model named Popy o something like that. We saw that computer and we knew that the operative system was able to run on Xenix (Unix little version)
- author: Ian Roworth (UK)
date: Tuesday 17th March 2015
text: |-
Spotted these 2 posts albeit 2011 I worked for the only UK reseller for the Durango to boot from a floppy disc it was ''Code'' followed by ''Load''\
Hope this helps
- author: Peter Breitenfeld (Germany)
date: Monday 11th July 2011
text: |-
Hi Jim,
I had 2 F85 and an external Dual Floppy drive$ My brother stored them for me nearly 15 years ago. Neither of us is quite sure if they still do exist anymore.
You have to $ the sytem disk in drive 0 an press 2 keys, if I remember well, like $ctrl$ and $del$. Maybe you simply try two keys which seem familiar in this respect, or which might ring a bell.
I still have the D-Basic disk, and also Star-Basic, which I used for programming software with for my company at the time.
All the best $ let me know.
Regards from Hamburg\
Peter Breitenfeld
If you hit the right keys, it should boot from disk.
- author: Jim Herman (USA)
date: Saturday 21st May 2011
text: i am a CPA and purchased one of these machiness in 1982 or so and another one a year later. They were wonderful computers and I still have both of them and the software. I fired one up yesterday but found that I had forgotten how to get them up an going. Oh, well, the machines now are a lot faster and easier to run but the Durango was great.
oc_id: 939
source:
url: https://web.archive.org/web/20220818102400/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=939
date: '2022-08-18'
---
The Durango was built by **Durango Systems, Inc** in San Jose, CA. It came with a 8085 processor running at 5 MHz, 64K memory as standard and could be expanded to 128K in the multiuser version. The F-85 was marketed as a portable computer with integrated 180 cps dot matrix printer, two floppy disc drives and a 9" monitor. Well, only very strong users could carry it ;-)
The Durango ran a proprietary operating system, **DX-85**, as well as **CPM**. DX-85 had multiuser extensions and the business applications were supported by a proprietary ISAM handler. In addition to the system user, 4 users could hook up via video terminals on serial connections. These users could run programs in their allocted memory space on the F-85. Some interprocess communications were available.
---
More information from **Chuck Guzis** who was involved in the development of the Durango operating system:\
• The basic system came with 64K of parity-checked DRAM; an optional 64K or 128K of parity-checked DRAM was optional. When the additional memory was added, a bipolar mapping RAM was also included that divided the 64K memory space of the 8085 into 64 1K pages. Any page of physical memory could be mapped to one or more page locations.
• Only an IEC power connector and 9 pin DIN CRT connector and 37-pin DIN external floppy connector were present on the basic unit. However, options included an IEEE-488 interface, 4-port serial interface and async/sync/bisync serial communications, so the number of external connectors could vary.
• The standard floppy configuration was 2 100 tpi 5.25" group-coded floppy drives, each storing 980KB on a DSDD floppy. The data encoding was Durango-proprietary. Early systems interfaced to the then-new Shugart 14 inch Winchester drive via a modified IEEE-488 protocol. Capacity of these drives varied from 7 to 40Mb. Later systems replaced one of the floppy drives with a 5.25" hard drive of between 7 and 40MB. An optional 2-drive floppy external unit was available as an option; the F-85 could support up to a maximum of 4 floppy drives.
• In addition to the extensions mentioned above, the integrated dot-matrix printer could be upgraded from a single-pass 2 monospaced font mode to a multipass high-quality print mode with downloadable font sets. In this case, the printer ribbon was changed to mylar film instead of linen and the carriage drive, printhead and electronics were upgraded. The printer could feed standard perforated forms or be switched to a friction feed for printing on standard stationery.
• The CRT was a 9 inch unit that was placed on top of the floppy drive part of the system.
• The standard operating system was called DX-85M, a multi-user multitasking system, which interfaced to up to 4 additional users by means of terminals (made by Beehive) connected to the serial multicomm interface. It included most standard file management capabilites as well as an integrated ISAM file system. It was not necessary to regenerate the system when the hardware configuration changed; the necessary extensions were loaded at boot time.
• There were two busses used, one in the main system card cage, which was loosely based on the **Intel Multibus** and one used in the smaller auxiliary card cage located behind the floppy drives, which was a proprietary 100-pin configuration.
• The standard programming language was a compiled version of BASIC called **Star-Basic**. Almost all applications and utilities were written in this language, which compiled source code to byte codes.
• **CP/M 2.2** was available as an option. There was a project to include MP/M 2.0, but was discontinued when Durango began work on its Unix-based Poppy 16-bit system.
• A standard set of business applications was available including GL, AP, AR, Inventory, Payroll, Word Processing and a spreadsheet.
• Durango's philosophy was to provide the customer with a complete system with all needed applications and customer support included.
• Around 1980, a marketing change was made and the F-85 was re-named the **800**; a cost-reduced version with a slower printer (really just a different set of firmware) was called the 700 and the multitasking model with extra memory and high-resolution printer was called the **900**. In fact, any model could be changed to any other in the field.
• Sometime in 1982, Durango merged (or was purchased by) **Molecular Systems**, which subsequently became insolvent and was dissolved in 1984. At that time, Durango was attempting to market its 16-bit 80186/80286 dual-processor Unix/MS-DOS system, but could not compete against the new IBM-compatible PCs that had been introduced.
I was involved in the development of the operating system; I wrote the ISAM file manager and the floppy disk drivers. I was in charge of the Star Basic language and was responsible for its design and implementation. I also designed the bank-switching mechanism for the add-on memory. I also did the CBIOS adaptation for CP/M 2.2.