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PX-8 - You Just Won't Believe This!!!

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DoctorPepper

Experienced Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2003
Messages
479
Location
Palm Coast, FL
The UPS guy just dropped of a fairly small, rectangular box at my house. After opening it, I found a nice box with an Epson PX-8 inside, along with a smaller box containing the books and software for Portable Wordstar, Portable Calc and Portable Scheduler that go with this PX-8.

I carefully opened the PX-8 box, and sure enough, a pristine PX-8, with all it's manuals and packing material, lay inside. Un-opened and un-used, after over 20 years. Wow!

I just bought this on-line last weekend. The site says they had over 6,000 of them in a warehouse, brand new in the box, un-used.

I connected the battery (for the first time ever!), and am going to plug in the charger and see if this thing will take a charge. If so, it's explorin' time! :)
 
Bill_Loguidice said:
What site are you referring to? That notebook supply Website?
Click to expand...

http://www.notebooksupplies.com/epson/px8.html

It doesn't come with the built-in applications (WordStar, Calc, Scheduler), at least not the one I bought. I opted to spend the extra $14.95 and buy the software. That comes with two ROM units and three books.

Now I just need to figure out how to put the ROM units in the PX-8. Terry, some help here? :)
 
Actually it looks like the site says that only 6,000 were ever made, and that they have "a number" in NIB condition.

Looks like you're also covered by a 1-year warranty as well! You lucky dog.
 
dreddnott said:
Actually it looks like the site says that only 6,000 were ever made, and that they have "a number" in NIB condition.

Looks like you're also covered by a 1-year warranty as well! You lucky dog.
Click to expand...

You've got to wonder if Epson would honor the warranty, 21 years later... :)

For $79 + $14.95 + shipping, this has to be the nicest "retro" computer in my collection!
 
Did the base price $79 include an a/c adapter and battery already??? You can't tell from the website if it does or not. Gives the impression you have to spend more bucks to get both.
 
chuckcmagee said:
Did the base price $79 include an a/c adapter and battery already??? You can't tell from the website if it does or not. Gives the impression you have to spend more bucks to get both.
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Yes, it included the battery (which was in the unit, but not plugged in) and an a/c adapter. I purchased a separate a/c adapter, because I've had them go bad when they're that old. It appears to work fine.

If you're going to order a unit, don't forget to buy the software pack. The unit will come with an abbreviated version of CP/M and BASIC in ROM, but no productivity software.

I just installed the WordStar and Calc ROM modules. You have to remove the BASIC and CP/M Utility ROM cartridges first. No biggie, but a PITA, if you know what I mean. I did load BASIC first, so it is resident in memory, so I can play with that AND WordStar and Calc. Nope, once you remove the BASIC ROM, install something else, then restart the system, the resident BASIC goes away. :-( Oh well, this is still an excellent little machine!

Now I need to find some micro cassettes! :)

(btw: This little unit is sweet! I can understand why Terry likes his so much!)
 
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Reading this forum can be dangerous to one's pocket book.

Now, I too, just need to find some micro-cassettes. :cool:
 
chuckcmagee said:
Reading this forum can be dangerous to one's pocket book.

Now, I too, just need to find some micro-cassettes. :cool:
Click to expand...

You will enjoy it, believe me! It just blows me away that something this extremely useful was basically snubbed back in the mid-80's.

I'd love to put my PX-8 in a soft-sided tote bag and carry it down to the local Barnes & Noble this weekend. When all the college kids drag out their Dell's and HP's, I'll pull out my PX-8 and work on some BASIC or perhaps start on my novel in WordStar.

One thing's for certain... It will attract attention!
 
Sooooo, will just about any micro cassette work in them? Like those 60 minute jobs you buy for your answering machine? Those should be nice and cheap and easy to find also.
 
chuckcmagee said:
Sooooo, will just about any micro cassette work in them? Like those 60 minute jobs you buy for your answering machine? Those should be nice and cheap and easy to find also.
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I'm not sure, I haven't managed to get that far yet. Perhaps the user's guide has something about them, or maybe Erik or Terry can shed some light on this subject?

Update: It appears standard 60 minute micro cassettes will work.
 
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wow, that's awesome. a friend of mine used to have one back in the 80's. it was not considered "vintage" at the time :-D
 
DoctorPepper said:
http://www.notebooksupplies.com/epson/px8.html

It doesn't come with the built-in applications (WordStar, Calc, Scheduler), at least not the one I bought. I opted to spend the extra $14.95 and buy the software. That comes with two ROM units and three books.

Now I just need to figure out how to put the ROM units in the PX-8. Terry, some help here? :)
Click to expand...

Open the larger door on the back, lift the foil sheilding thinggy to expose the two ROM sockets. They should be occupied by the UTY (utility) and BASIC ROMS. Gently remove one or both ROMs by lifting on the plastic carrier's end tabs, and replace them with the WS and/or Calc ROMs.

The two ROM sockets are accessed as drives B: & C:, and the cassette is drive H:.

If you want to use the Schedule program, you're out of luck...it isn't Y2K compliant. Neither is the Config program on the UTY ROM, however, the machine is ok with current dates, you just have use BASIC's DATE$ & TIME$ commands to set them. You can also set the DAY variable from BASIC, using a number from 1 - 7, but I don't recall which day is considered first...

--T
 
I did load BASIC first, so it is resident in memory, so I can play with that AND WordStar and Calc. Nope, once you remove the BASIC ROM, install something else, then restart the system, the resident BASIC goes away. Oh well, this is still an excellent little machine!

Ah ha, turn it off while holding down the ctrl key. That puts it in "continue" mode for when you turn the power back on.
 
Oh yeah, if ya get a chance to, ya gotta grab-up a RAMdisk for the thing. Without it, the machine is severely limited, stealing from main memory to use for mass storage. The notebooksupplies site used to offer them not long ago, although I don't see any listed on the current page. If ya drop 'em an email, they just might still have one or two layin' around. The 120K is best, but the 60K units are easilly upgradeable. If nothing else, the Multi-Unit will do, even though the 300-baud modem is all but useless these days. If ya contact them, be sure to inquire as to availability of serial cables, etc. (From my experience, they're pretty good about responding to emails).

--T
 
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chuckcmagee said:
I did load BASIC first, so it is resident in memory, so I can play with that AND WordStar and Calc. Nope, once you remove the BASIC ROM, install something else, then restart the system, the resident BASIC goes away. Oh well, this is still an excellent little machine!

Ah ha, turn it off while holding down the ctrl key. That puts it in "continue" mode for when you turn the power back on.
Click to expand...

Yah, but it'll still give BDOS errors if ya try to access the BASIC without the ROM installed, unless you've copied BASIC to your RAMdisk.

--T
 
Terry Yager said:
Yah, but it'll still give BDOS errors if ya try to access the BASIC without the ROM installed, unless you've copied BASIC to your RAMdisk.

--T
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've started to figure some stuff out about it.

It's a great little notebook though! Thanks for this and the other information, I'm going to see if I can get a RAM disk. If not, I'll just use it this way for now.
 
Hehe, that guy at Star Tech must LOVE these forums. I too sent an email asking him to check his back room for a nice RAM disk. Google spotted another forum where they went crazy over the Star Tech PX-8 offer. Yep, he loves these forums.
 
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