website/content/museum/quasar-data-products-qdp-300.md

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

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Quasar Data Products QDP-300	Computers	Professional Computer	U.S.A.	1982	Z80-C	name image company company_name specs comments oc_id source QDP-300 /media/museum/photos/quasar_qdp300_system_1.jpg /companies/quasar-data-products Quasar Data Products label value NAME QDP-300 label value MANUFACTURER Quasar Data Products label value TYPE Professional Computer label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR November 1982 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE None label value KEYBOARD Serial video terminal label value CPU Z80-C label value SPEED 6 Mhz. label value RAM 64 KB label value ROM Unknown label value TEXT MODES 80 columns x 25 lines label value COLORS Monochrome label value SOUND Beeper label value I/O PORTS Serial interface label value BUILT IN MEDIA Dual 8'' 1.2 MB F.D. drives\ Optional 10 or 15 MB internal hard disk, or 30 MB external label value OS CP/M, MP/M label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in power supply unit label value PERIPHERALS S-100 bus boards range label value PRICE Unknown author date text curt mayer (USA) Saturday 4th September 2021 I picked one of these up for a song earlier this year. I''m disassembling the rom, and it''s heavy going. are there any docs anywhere on this amazing double high board? author date text Greg Bradley (Southern California, USA) Monday 2nd July 2018 I became a dealer for QDP right about the time the 300 was introduced. The first 300 I received was September 1984 for $6795 List less 34$ so $4485 net. It was 1 floppy, 15Mb HD 4 user MPM with 256K Memory. The next one was a month later and the first of the high end version with 32Mb HD and a 512K Cache board. It was $9795 List.\ The first one ran an Automotive Parts Importer for many years as we had to upgrade the software for Y2K compatability in 1999. 616 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230603010941/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=616 2023-06-03

The hardware features of the QDP-300 were very close to those of the QDP-100 model. Apart from the shape of the case, the major differences were:
- An integrated help system,
- A cache memory to speed up the disk drives operations,
- A new motherboard design allowing the 6 Mhz. Z80-C microprocessor to be used.

The QDP-300 was backed by one-year on-site warranty performed by the General Electric Company.

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Mark Penacho adds:
The Quasar Data Products QDP-300 was rebranded the TDS-300 (by QDP) and was used as the development system for the now defunct handheld computer company Telxon in the early 80's for their handheld devices.
The rebranding was a darker metal case (I think dark blue), and a blue front panel. Cosmetically, the TDS version looked nicer.

Roger Chalonec remembers:
I used these on US Navy ships. We ultimately had a 10meg hard drive in these I belive. We ran a pretty impressive database called MDBS (Micro Database Systems) out of Cleveland, OH.

We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system, please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.