Networking 8-bit Machines

[jhd]

Back when I was in high school (mid-1980s), we used Cocos in the computer lab. At the time, Tandy sold a crude network controller -- I think it was called the Network II. This device allowed files to be transferred between an individual machine and the host using the cassette ports; there were no peer-to-peer connections. The host computer, in our set-up, had the common printer and, later, disk drives.

 

There was a rotary switch on the network controller to select the number of the machine to/from which the file would be sent or received. I don't recall their being a way to "broadcast" a file to all of the networked the computers at once; it was just one-at-a-time.

 

Given how much more widely they were used in schools, I assume that similar networking was possible with the Apple II, the Commodore 64, and various other 8-bit systems of that era.

 

Is anybody familiar with networking other 8-bit machines? Did anything use a similar "cassette"-based system?

[+wood_jl]

There was a device to allow multiple Atari 8-bit computers to share peripherals, but it for sure wasn't a network.

 

"Micronet" by Supra corp. Spoken of here:

 

http://www.atarimagazines.com/v4n10/productreviews.html

(scroll about 1/3 way down)

[svenski]

There was a device to allow multiple Atari 8-bit computers to share peripherals, but it for sure wasn't a network.

 

"Micronet" by Supra corp. Spoken of here:

 

http://www.atarimagazines.com/v4n10/productreviews.html

(scroll about 1/3 way down)

 

I can remember using BBC Micros briefly in a classroom, they were networked.

[Cliff Friedel]

When I was in school, the c-64s there had a crude star network that worked off of the serial port (DIN for the disk drive). We had access to a 10MB hard drive where we stored our stuff. You could print to it too if I remember correctly. Looking on google for it, I saw that they now build (or did build in 2002) ethernet adapters for the c-64. Check out the link:

 

http://www.dunkels.com/adam/tfe/

 

Interesting to say the least. I have personally got an atari 8-bit on the internet, but it was cheating as I used a terminal emulator over a serial link I had between my 8-bit and the PC using the S: connection.

[+save2600]

Our schools had Apple ]['s and TRS-80 Model III's networked. The big deal at the time was that they all shared one printer. Not sure if there was a HD configuration at all or what else the networking involved.

[Cliff Friedel]

Our schools had Apple ]['s and TRS-80 Model III's networked. The big deal at the time was that they all shared one printer. Not sure if there was a HD configuration at all or what else the networking involved.

 

The model IIIs used a serial star configuration also. I worked on one when I was kid that was connected that way. I do think you could save to a hard drive, but it was extremely small. I want to say it was a central model III with a 10MB MFM setup and a controller, but honestly it was so long ago I don't remember.

[The_Laird]

My school had a massive network of BBC Micros

[TMR]

My school had about fifty RM Link 480Z machines networked to an RM Nimbus with a 70Mb Winchester hard drive that acted as a file and print server.

[+orpheuswaking]

Our school (when I lived in the UK) had twenty BBC Micros networked to a Winchester disk - but we didn't care about that, all we wanted to do was

 

a) Play the brand new Archimedes

b) Play Grannies Garden one more time on the BBC