yann64andClaude Opus 5.5
b274874139
1,289 discussions, 9,527 archived comments; pages no longer carry the comments themselves. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01YDRjtmAiNpo5mK5N3d7QwZ
89 lines
3.7 KiB
Markdown
89 lines
3.7 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Morrow Designs Decision 1
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categories:
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- Computers
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types:
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- Professional Computer
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origins:
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- U.S.A.
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years:
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- '1982'
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cpus:
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- Z80-A
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params:
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name: Decision 1
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image: /media/museum/photos/morrowdesigns_decision1_system_1.jpg
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company: /companies/morrow-designs
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company_name: Morrow Designs
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specs:
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- label: NAME
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value: Decision 1
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- label: MANUFACTURER
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value: Morrow Designs
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- label: TYPE
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value: Professional Computer
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- label: ORIGIN
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value: U.S.A.
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- label: YEAR
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value: '1982'
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- label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
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value: None
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- label: KEYBOARD
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value: Uses a serial video terminal
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- label: CPU
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value: Z80-A
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- label: SPEED
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value: 4 Mhz
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- label: CO-PROCESSOR
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value: None
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- label: RAM
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value: 64 Kb / 128 Kb depending on models
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- label: ROM
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value: Unknown
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- label: TEXT MODES
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value: 80 chars. x 25 lines
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- label: GRAPHIC MODES
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value: None
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- label: COLORS
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value: Monochrome
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- label: SOUND
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value: Beeper
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- label: I/O PORTS
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value: 14 x S-100 slots, 3 x serial and 2 x parallel ports
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- label: BUILT IN MEDIA
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value: |-
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1 or 2 x 5.25'' 400/800 Kb floppy disk drives\
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or 2 x 8'' 1Mb Kb floppy disk drives
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- label: OS
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value: CP/M 2.2, Micronix
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- label: POWER SUPPLY
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value: Built-in power supply
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- label: PERIPHERALS
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value: S-100 boards
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- label: PRICE
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value: |-
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$3,495 - 2 x F.D.D version with CP/M 2.2 and WordStar\
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$5,295 - 5 MB hard-disk version\
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$7,290 - Three-user hard-disk version with Micronix O.S.
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forum_thread: 633
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oc_id: 648
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source:
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url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230417033502/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=648
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date: '2023-04-17'
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---
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The Decision 1 is one of the last S-100 BUS based computer generation. Morrow Designs held it as the most flexible of all.
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On top of a classical CP/M 2.2 operating system, it also featured a special 8 bits version of Unix called **Micronix**, which allowed the compilation of many programs written in C for other machines under Unix.
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The Decision 1’s multi user version allowed to manage up to 15 users and 20 simultaneous tasks. According to Morrow Designs, testing confirmed the Decision 1 was faster than any competing system based on 16 bits 68000 microprocessors.
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---
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**Bert Greeley** adds:\
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I was working for George from 1979-81 when that machine was developed. About disk drives, originally, we used a 14" Shugart 14mb hard drive and Shugart 8" full-height floppy drives. We then went to the Tandon 1/2 height 8" drives, then to a 5" floppy drive whose manufacturer I don't remember. When Memorex came out with their 8"-5mb hard drive, we switched to them, then the 10mb version. BTW - the Decision II - or, as we called it, the "boat anchor" - was developed about the same time. This was the under-the-table box that was about 18"wide, 14" tall and 30" deep, as I recall. It was designed to fit in a rack-mount. Al (another Morrow employee at the time) and I installed 28 of these beasts at Micro Pro across the bay in San Rafael. My first job with George was rebuilding and aligning the heads on the floppy drives.
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Also - the 68000-based systems were what caused the death of Morrow Designs - that and the S-100 buss. We couldn't get reliable speed above 8mHz with an 8-bit buss (Z-80). George toyed with the 8086 but he was steadfastly against a 16-bit OS. At least until after I left in '81. That's something about him I never understood.
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I still have my original Imsai 8080 chassis with several Morrow S-100 cards. I don't have the drives any more, so the box doesn't run. I do have the OS, however, plus the source-code for the OS. At one point, I was promoted into writing assembly code for these machines. That led to my 27 or so years as a programmer.
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