Subject: IMC Portcom II

From: Frank McConnell <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat May 31 18:42:49 2003

Submitted for your amusement, something picked up today while out
scrounging (really looking for non-classic bits).  It's a luggable.

Poking out the front:
   5" CRT
   two half-height 5.25" floppy drives
     (inserted floppies have extra write protect notches cut
      for use as flippies)
   40/80 switch
   modular jack (6-conductor)
   brightness and horizontal hold knobs

Poking out the back:
   GAME (DE9P)
   RS-232C (DB25S)
   PRINTER ("Centronics" connector)
   VIDEO (RCA socket)
   label, handwritten s/n 1193 and checkmarks for 110V 60Hz

The detached keyboard has a modular jack too.  It's also bit-paired
(shift-2 is '"'), in fact it mostly follows the Apple ][ layout (and
has <- and -> keys), and it has what look like BASIC keywords on the
fronts of many of the keys, including HTAB, VTAB, GR, HGR, and TEXT.

No cable between keyboard and luggable.

I'm thinking it's an Apple ][ clone of some sort.

It doesn't quite power up: no video display on the internal monitor.

Pulling the top cover shows the guts.  The top floppy drive is a Teac
FD55A.  The motherboard has five slots that look like Apple ][ slots;
the silkscreen on the motherboard labels them S0 S3 S4 S5 S7.  Date
codes on the visible ICs are 81xx and 84xx so I'm guessing 1984 at the
earliest.

Someone's been in here before.  The 40/80 switch has a lead to a paper
clip that ties it (mechanically at least) to an insulated red lead
that goes from the motherboard to the display board; this red lead
would appear to be the +ve supply for the display.  There's also a
loose metal cover over the display section; it looks like it may have
been held together or insulated by tape or sticky cardboard at some
time but this has been removed somewhat.

Powering up with the top off makes a red LED on the motherboard light
up solid, but the CRT filament doesn't glow.

Anyone ever seen one of these before?

-Frank McConnell