website/content/museum/alpha-micro-1000-series.md

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

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Alpha Micro 1000 Series	Computers	Professional Computer	U.S.A.	1982	68000	name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos emulators oc_id source 1000 Series /media/museum/photos/alphamicro_1000_system_1.jpg /companies/alpha-micro Alpha Micro label value NAME 1000 Series label value MANUFACTURER Alpha Micro label value TYPE Professional Computer label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR 1982 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE None label value KEYBOARD Serial video terminal label value CPU 68000 label value SPEED Unknown label value RAM From 128 KB to 8 MB label value ROM Unknown label value TEXT MODES 80 chars. x 25 lines label value GRAPHIC MODES None label value I/O PORTS From 3 (built-in) to 68 serial I/O label value BUILT IN MEDIA 1 or 2 x 800 KB 5'' F.D. drives label value OS AMOS, PICK label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in Power supply unit label value PRICE From $10,000 photos emulators 593 title subtitle text image REAR SIDE Notice:\ • The three built in serial ports (upper left corner)\ • The eight additional serial ports for video terminals\ • The Video In, Video Out and Video I/O plugs. The AM-1000 was designed to use a VCR tape recorder/player as a backup device and could install the OS from a VCR tape. /media/museum/photos/alphamicro_1000_back_1.jpg title subtitle text image OPENED The main circuit card is a large custom card that is almost as big as the case. The card hinges up to reveal the power supply and hard drive (here a 190 MB Maxtor) and floppy drive (if equipped). /media/museum/photos/alphamicro_1000_opened_2.jpg title subtitle text image MAIN BOARD The main board has no bus system in it but does have a connector for an optional I/O card on the left-hand side. It also has a connector for a daughterboard on the right-hand side. Joe's system has an AM-706 memory card there **(2)**. It also has an optional I/O card installed in the left-hand side, a PIICEON SR 1000-8P **(1)**. This adds 8 additional serial ports to the system. /media/museum/photos/alphamicro_1000_mainboard_1.jpg title subtitle text image I/O CARD CLOSE-UP /media/museum/photos/alphamicro_1000_iocard_1.jpg title subtitle text image RAM CARD CLOSE-UP The RAM card is fitted with 36 TMS 4256-12 memory ICs (4 Mb with parity). /media/museum/photos/alphamicro_1000_ramarea_1.jpg title subtitle text image SERIAL CONNECTORS Serial connectors of the optional I/O card and built-in system I/O connector. /media/museum/photos/alphamicro_1000_serialcon_1.jpg title subtitle text image SYSTEM CHANGE HISTORY This label lists all the installed components - part numbers and serial numbers - when the computer left the factory. Later additions/replacements could be noted down. /media/museum/photos/alphamicro_1000_systemchanges_1.jpg title url platform text VAM - Virtual Alpha Micro http://www.otterway.com/am100/ Multiplatform Open source emulator for the AM-100 micro computer that runs on Linux, Windows, or Macintosh desktops and can run AMOS and all associated programs. 606 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230528024543/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=606 2023-05-28

The Alpha Micro 1000 was a line of systems based on the 68000 microprocessor. According to customer requests, each system could be configured from a single user microcomputer with 128 KB of RAM, up to a 60-users system with 3 MB of RAM and 2.4 GB of disk storage.

The operating system of the 1000 series was AMOS, a multi-user, multi-tasking and timesharing system allowing the user to easily add terminals and printers to the current configuration. Several programming languages were available to build AMOS compatible applications: BASIC, PASCAL, LISP, ASSEMBLER, FORTRAN and COBOL.

Alpha Micro offered innovative hardware solutions and high technology firsts provided by a third company called Macrotech:
- a 1 MB RAM Board
- an intelligent I/O board using DMA
- the only 6MB piggyback board available
- etc...

The system used a standard VHS Video Tape Recorder for back-ups, and most software updates from Alpha Micro and other software houses were supplied in this form.
In the UK this caused a few problems as you had to obtain NTSC-compatible players.

The Alpha Micro company still exists. You can find the latest info on the Amos and Alpha micro systems here.

Thanks to Joe for additional pictures and information