website/content/museum/northstar-horizon.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Northstar Horizon	Computers	Professional Computer	U.S.A.	1977	Zilog Z80	name image logo company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos adverts oc_id source Horizon /media/museum/photos/northstar_horizon.jpg /media/museum/logos/northstar_horizon_logo.gif /companies/northstar Northstar label value NAME Horizon label value MANUFACTURER Northstar label value TYPE Professional Computer label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR 1977 label value END OF PRODUCTION Unknown label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE None label value KEYBOARD Serial terminal label value CPU Zilog Z80 label value SPEED 4 MHz label value CO-PROCESSOR None label value RAM 16 KB (up to 64 KB) label value VRAM Unknown label value ROM 1 KB label value TEXT MODES 80 chars. x 24 lines label value GRAPHIC MODES Text mode only label value COLORS Monochrome label value SOUND No sound label value SIZE / WEIGHT 50.8 (W) x 44.4 (D) x 18.4 (H) cm / About 20 kg label value I/O PORTS 12-slot S100 BUS, Serial and Parallel ports label value BUILT IN MEDIA One or Two 5.25'' FDD. Later 5 and 18 MB Hard disk drives, 13.4 MB tape backup label value OS Northstar DOS label value POWER SUPPLY Integrated 250W P.S.U. label value PERIPHERALS S-100 Bus cards label value PRICE Horizon-1: $1599 (kit) $1899 (assembled)\ Horizon-2: $1999 (kit) $2349 (assembled) photos adverts 66 title subtitle text image UNCOVERED SYSTEM /media/museum/photos/northstar_horizon_uncovered_1.jpg title subtitle text image APPLICATION SOFTWARE NorthStar was one of the first general public computer manufacturers to understand that a computer without quality software had no future. Therefore they proposed a full range of professional applications specially adapted to Horizon. The first proposed software were:\ **- NorthWord** A word processing system which was the central building block for all the Nortstar applications,\ **- MailManager** which can maintain complete organized mailing lists,\ **- InfoManager** a data management system,\ **- GeneralLedger** a general ledger and financial reporting. /media/museum/photos/northstar_horizon_software_1.jpg title subtitle text image NORTHSTAR BROCHURE #1 NorthStar brochure, Page 1.\ The brochure says: **HARDWARE**\ The HORIZON computer incorporates a high speed 4 MHz Z80A microprocessor with 64Kb of Dynamic RAM including parity and two 5 1/4 inch floppy disk drives in an attractive desk top chassis. The chassis also provides a 12-slot S-100 mother board which contains a Real-Time Interrupt, two RS-232C serial ports, one 8-bit parallel port and power regulation circuitry for the integrated floppy disk drives. Either a 115 or 230 volt power supply with sufficient power for all 12 slots and the disk drives is also included. The use of high speed (200 nsec) Dynamic RAM and "fast stepping" floppy disk drives, along with the 4 MHz CPU, delivers the highest average performance of all comparable microcomputers as measured by independent benchmark studies! **SOFTWARE**\ The power and versatility of the HORIZON computer is further enhanced by a wide range of system and application software. For business use, the comprehensive North Star Application Software Packages offer Word Processing, Accounting and Financial Reporting in either single user or multi-user versions. For the scientific, engineering, or education oriented user, North Star's powerful DOS operating system with its efficient BASIC or Pascal languages are available. The industry standard CP/M operating system is also compatible with applications packages in MicroSoft BASIC, FORTRAN, and COBOL. Thanks to **Gordon Dyer** from England /media/museum/pubs/northstar_horizon_brochure_s1.jpg title subtitle text image NORTHSTAR BROCHURE #2 NorthStar brochure - Page 2 **EXPANSION OPTIONS** **HRAM.64** - High Speed 64Kb Dynamic RAM memory board with parity (up to a total of six)\ **HSIO.4** - Four Serial Port Expansion Board (RS-232C or Current Loop).\ **FPB** - Floating Point Arithmetic Board.\ **ADC-2D** - Two additionaI 5 1/4 inch Double capacity floppy disk drives incorporated within a cabinet (360 Kb total capacity).\ **ADC-2Q** - Two additionaI 5 1/4 inch Quad capacity floppy disk drives incorporated within a cabinet (720 Kb total capacity).\ **HDS-5** - 5 1/4 inch Winchester Hard Disk 5 Mb formatted capacity.\ **HDS-18** - 14 inch Winchester Hard Disk 18 Mb formatted capacity.\ **Tape Backup** - 13.4 Mb Tape Backup system for HDS-18 or HDS-5.\ **CRT** - Hazeltine 1420/Soroc 120. (Other software drivers available.)\ **Printer** - 35 or 55 cps letter quality printer. Thanks to **Gordon Dyer** from England /media/museum/pubs/northstar_horizon_brochure_s2.jpg title subtitle text image U.S. ADVERT (1977) Advert price list: 16K RAM: **$399** (kit) **$459** (assembled)\ Parity option: **$39** (kit) **$59** (assembled)\ Floating point board: **$259** (kit) **$359** (assembled)\ Z80 board: **$199** (kit) **$259** (assembled) /media/museum/pubs/northstar_horizon_pub_2.jpg title subtitle text image U.S. ADVERT (1979) New version with Shugart 360 KB formatted capacity floppy drives. Advert said: North Star has quadrupled the disk capacity of the Horizon computer but prices have increased a modest 15 percent. On a dollar per byte basis, that's a bargain that is hard to beat!... 1979 prices for assembled versions including 32KB RAM, one parallel and two serial I/O ports:\ 1 F.D. version: **$2565**\ 2 F.D. version: **$3215** /media/museum/pubs/northstar_horizon_pub_3.jpg title subtitle text image FRENCH AD (JAN. 1980) /media/museum/pubs/northstar_horizon_pub_locasyst_1.jpg title subtitle text image U.S. ADVERT (1982) This advert shows all the tools a software developer could run on the MorthStar computers range (Horizon and Advantage) /media/museum/pubs/northstar_horizon_pub_4.jpg title subtitle text image US ADVERT (APRIL 1982) null title subtitle text image NORTHSTAR CARDS Northstar also designed cards for S100 Bus. These cards were used in the Horizon and were also available separately for competing systems.\ Cards on the photo are:\ - 16 KB RAM board ($459 assembled)\ - Micro Disk System (card & interface) to connect Shugart FDD ($799)\ - Z80A processor board ($259 without EPROM option, $330 with)\ - Hardware floating point card ($359). /media/museum/pubs/northstar_horizon_cards_1.jpg title subtitle text image FRENCH ADVERT (1982) /media/museum/pubs/northstar_horizon_ad1.jpg 50 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230608224442/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=50 2023-06-08

The Horizon was a S-100 bus based system. It was the first floppy-disc based system hobbyists could buy. In a case with a choice of wood or blue metal cover, the basic version included a 4 Mhz. Z80 microprocessor, 16 KB of RAM, a 90 KB 5''1/4 floppy drive with a controller card, a serial terminal interface and 12 S-100 slots. It was sold with the North Star Disc Operating System and a Basic interpreter allowing random and sequential disk files. The Horizon-2 version offered a second floppy-disc drive.

Any S-100 cards (compatible with Altair, Cromemco and many other systems) could be added to the system, but North Star provided its own additional 16 KB RAM and hardware floating point boards.

In 1979, original 90 KB floppy drives were replaced by Shugart 360 KB models. Northstar also offered an add-on box with two additional floppies, making a total of 4. The box had a matching walnut stained plywood cover.

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More information from Jim who worked for NorthStar from 1979:
The Horizon, Aaaahh.. What a beautiful machine. It had a big honkin' trasformer for a linear power supply. It was the first product incorporating its own disk controller (see below), a 4 Mhz 8080, 4 KB of RAM standard, and 1 or 2 Shugart 5.25" floppies. RAM could be expanded to 16 Kb.

The Horizon evolved with a faster (8 Mhz) Zilog Z80, and 64 KB of RAM. Then there was an accounting system called TSS/A that made the Horizon multi-user. It consisted of the main processor board, with multiple memory cards in the bus, and an 8 port I/O card for the other terminals.

The final crowning glory of the Horizon was a multi-user sytem called Turbo-Dos. This used the original processor as a controller, and auxiliary processor boards were added in for each user. They were called 8/16, because they could run at 8 or 16 bits. Each user had their own processor and memory (64K) and connected via boardlets from the main machine.

Another intersting fact - NorthStar was one of the early adopters of the hard disk drive. It was called the HD-18 - 18 Megabytes in an 18 inch platter. The drive was as big as a very large suitcase, and weighed about 70 pounds! You could daisy chain up to 4 of these, but the starting current was 13 amps, and when you lit them up all the lights in the place would dim.

NorthStar's first product was a disk controller for the S-100 bus, namely for Altairs. It controlled Shugart 5-1/4" drives, but using a proprietary format of 10 sectors hard-sectored floppies. This meant that the floppies needed 11 holes near the center, (1 index, and 10 sector markers) which was not the norm. Most floppies had one index hole

Richard Randalll sdpecifies:
I belive North Star's first product was an S-100 board that provided a floating-point processor, rather than the micro-disk subsystem, which followed shortly thereafter.