website/content/museum/altos-computer-systems-acs-8000.md

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

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Altos Computer Systems ACS-8000	Computers	Professional Computer	U.S.A.	1978	Z80A	name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos adverts screenshots oc_id source ACS-8000 /media/museum/photos/altos_acs8000-12_1.jpg /companies/altos-computer-systems Altos Computer Systems label value NAME ACS-8000 label value MANUFACTURER Altos Computer Systems label value TYPE Professional Computer label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR 1978 label value KEYBOARD Terminal keyboard label value CPU Z80A label value SPEED 4 Mhz label value RAM From 32 kb to 208 kb label value ROM Unknown label value TEXT MODES Display features depend on the attached terminal label value SIZE / WEIGHT designed to fit a standard 19 label value I/O PORTS several RS232 ports (depending on models), parallel label value BUILT IN MEDIA 8'' disk-drives : from 512 kb to 2 Mb\ 10, 20 or 40 Mb Winchester hard-disk (upgradable to 80 Mb)\ 17 Mb magnetic streamer (ACS-8000 MTU only) label value OS CP/M, MP/M, MP/M II and Oasis label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in PSU photos adverts software 451 title subtitle text image ACS-8000-12 /media/museum/photos/altos_acs8000-12_1.jpg title subtitle text image INSIDE THE ACS-8000-12 /media/museum/photos/altos_acs8000-12_inside.jpg title subtitle text image REAR OF THE ACS-8000-12 /media/museum/photos/altos_acs8000-12_rear.jpg title subtitle text image REAR OF THE ACS 8000-2 /media/museum/photos/altos_acs8000-2_rear.jpg title subtitle text image REAR OF A ACS 8000-10 Apart from the big fan, we can see the ouputs for 6 terminals, i.e. 6 users. /media/museum/photos/altos_acs8000-10_rear.jpg title subtitle text image 8'' DISK-DRIVE /media/museum/photos/altos_acs8000-2_8pouces_closeup.jpg title subtitle text image INSIDE AN ACS 8000-10 /media/museum/photos/altos_acs8000-10_inside.jpg title subtitle text image "PLAYBOY" MODEL Ok, it's just a sticker... Picture courtesy of [Albert's Virtual Computer Museum](http://users.knoware.nl/users/stuurmn/). /media/museum/photos/altos_acs8000-playboy_1.jpg title subtitle text image U.S. ADVERT (1979) The advert says: The new ASC8000-6 single board computer is packed with ultra-high technology: Z80 double density computer, up to 2048Kb of high speed RAM, Floppy-disk and Winchester Hard Disk controllers, DMA, up to 6 serial / 2 parallel I/O, optional 32 bit floating point processor... All on one board, fully socketed, fully documented, reliable and maintainable... /media/museum/pubs/altos_acs8000_pub_2.jpg title subtitle text image U.S. ADVERT (1980) The advert says: The Altos ACS8000-6 series. It's a barrier breaker in every sense. Our entry level, single-user, hard-disk system with floppy backup is priced under $10,000...\ ... With MP/M at the helm, your Altos system can support up to four simulteneous users with 48 KB RAM each plus 58 MB of Winchester storage and 4 MB of floppy backup. And that adds up to the first microcomputer to give you the power and performance of a minicomputer. /media/museum/pubs/altos_acs8000_pub_1.jpg title subtitle text image FRENCH ADVERT. This advert was for the Serie 5 and the ACS-8000 systems. /media/museum/pubs/altos_serie5_pub.jpg title subtitle text image SPANISH ADVERT (MAY 1982) /media/museum/pubs/altos_spanish-pub_1982.jpg title subtitle text image FORTRAN SCREENSHOT ?! This looks like a Fortran program... /media/museum/software/altos_acs8200_fortran_ss.jpg 456 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230413211351/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=456 2023-04-13

The ACS-8xxx were multi-user systems. They could support from 1 to 4 users, but you could also get them in versions for up to 9 users and a supervisor. In appearance, they were large and heavy rectangular desktop boxes with Z80 or 68000 CPUs (ACS-68000 series).

They used a large custom single-board computer the size of the case. The drive controller was a separate half-card mounted on top of the SBC. The early 8000s had separate cases for the 8" FD & HD. In later models the drives and cards were integrated into the same case.

The 8000 systems were labeled ACS-8000-x, where x indicates the size of the disk-drive and hard disk :

x=1 : 500 kb (SS/SD) FDD
x=2 : 1000 kb (DS/SD) FDD
x=3 : 1000 kb (SS/DD) FDD
x=4 : 2000 kb (DS/DD) FDD
x=10 : 10 Mb HD
x=12 : 20 Mb HD
x=14 : 40 Mb HD

The ACS-8000 had a 10, 20 or 40 MB Winchester hard-drive and could be upgraded to 80 MB. Hard-disk models also had disk-drives. CP/M, MP/M II or Oasis were the available operating systems.
The ACS-8000 MTU had a 17 MB magnetic streamer.

The ACS-8000 was quite similar to the Altos Serie 5 but was more powerful.