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Circa 1981 Triad System, need documentation

That looks older than 1981 but, I've not seen that one before. I did have a much later Z80 based Triad box. I eventually scrapped it because they aren't really general purpose computers. I am not sure if your will be in the same boat but, probably. Triad made custom hardware that just ran their autoparts inventory application for auto parts stores and warehouses. That's all they did. There was no real OS for them. At least as far as I was able to find. I am sure they had something at Triad to develop with but, the end users were mechanics and warehouse clerks. They wouldn't need it.

Even if you could find the parts software it required a phone connection to Triad to operate. It was also some sort of subscription where you had to pay a monthly fee to even access. The machines became worthless boat anchors without it. At least machines from the era of the one I had.

Yours may be a totally different beast than mine but, the logo is exactly the same as mine.
 
Thanks yes I believe what you say to be the case with this one.
I realize its a custom computing "engine". The only thing I got to do anything were
the terminals which power up into their parts data entry screen!
But I did not know that it wouldn't work standalone... requiring the subscription phone connection.
I did see the phone connections in various places but I guessed it was for parts updates.
Oh well maybe I can replace the guts of one of the monitors and make it do something...
The wide screens are pretty groovy. (and burned in, argh) What a pitty it can't be powered up for demo
purposes; it has its place in computing history even though as a dedicated compute engine its not
interesting to us hobbyists.
Thanks for the info.
 
Boards

Boards

I added pics of the card cage and boards.
Wow all but one of the boards are completely socketed.
Several feature z80 cpus. One is ceramic. A memory board has ceramic 16x1's.
At least one board dates 1978.
Looks like a lot of work.
Still begging the question: Why not build with their own general purpose computing machine?
Did it help them or hurt them to lock down the system so tightly?
Did they consider S-100?

I hope some Triad person finds this links and knows a way to have this system run in
some kind of demo mode! Sure hate to scrap it.

According to the web Triad and its progeny have been absorbed several times into larger
PointOfSale (figured POS wasn't a good term to use here)/market analysis firms.
 
memphis said:
But I did not know that it wouldn't work standalone... requiring the subscription phone connection.
I did see the phone connections in various places but I guessed it was for parts updates.
Click to expand...

Yours is much older than the one I had. Who knows what it's deal is. May be more self contained.

Mine was a much smaller self contained unit. About 30" deep and 16" tall and wide. It was crazy loaded with Z80 too. There were 8 different Z80 in mine.
 
When I saw the PCBs, I wondered if they were S100, they seem to be the right size and shape?
Maybe you could get CP/M to run on it?

memphis said:
Oh well maybe I can replace the guts of one of the monitors and make it do something...
Click to expand...

I think someone once converted a video display terminal into a fishtank.:)
 
memphis said:
Still begging the question: Why not build with their own general purpose computing machine?
Did it help them or hurt them to lock down the system so tightly?
Did they consider S-100?

I hope some Triad person finds this links and knows a way to have this system run in
some kind of demo mode! Sure hate to scrap it.

According to the web Triad and its progeny have been absorbed several times into larger
PointOfSale (figured POS wasn't a good term to use here)/market analysis firms.
Click to expand...

They had a monopoly in the auto parts market and did whatever it took to protect it. Ran into more than one lawsuit involving them. One of the reasons I gave up is mine had no software and it became clear I wasn't going to be able to get it. Mine had stuff in it I was pretty sure was related to a hardware key. Reminds me a lot of Alpha Micro and how they tried to protect their niche market.

There is a company still supporting these but, they never answered my emails. http://www.autologue.com/Southeastern/aboutsouth.shtml If you look at the banner the machine 2nd from the right is the one I had.
 
This thing is so big because the case, I believe, is what CDC produces to hold the 10MB drive up at waist level.
The card cage sits underneath that. The drive is huge and takes 2 people to lift, like many of those
old removable platter pack units.
The tubes would make a good tank for long skinny fish. They need to be the right aspect ratio.
Hey I guess that was wide screen before its time. Now I'm wondering just what their aspect ratio is?
Must have been hugely expensive to use a unique tube.
 
I remember Triad--located in Sunnyvale some ways down Moffet Park Drive (past ESL, if memory serves). I had a couple of friends who worked for them.

Back in the 70s and early 80s, the big buzzword in small computer systems was "vertical markets". Triad was one such--as a customer, you usually leased their system, services, software and hookup for your auto parts store. You had inventory, supplies and POS all at your terminal. It was a very big thing.
 
I thought about putting 'vertical markets' in my earlier post but, couldn't bring myself to do it. Glad Chuck did it for me. I hate corporate buzzwords. The one that drives me nuts now is 'stake holders'. It makes me cringe for some reason.

Those 'vertical market' guys were a blood thirsty lot that probably spent more time in court rooms than building computers.
 
Well, yes and no. A late friend was very much involved in developing software for the insurance industry. At the time, the whole package was deployed on Microdata Reality systems. She was very happy with her work--but this was in the 70s, long before patent trolls and the like.

That was a vertical market and, on balance, probably did more good than bad.
 
Chuck(G) said:
Well, yes and no. A late friend was very much involved in developing software for the insurance industry. At the time, the whole package was deployed on Microdata Reality systems. She was very happy with her work--but this was in the 70s, long before patent trolls and the like.

That was a vertical market and, on balance, probably did more good than bad.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I don't see much difference in time spent in courtrooms between vertical and 'horizontal' marketers; I've worked in both areas and prefer to focus on a vertical app, but they both have their advantages.

But of course from a collector's PoV they can be a challenge; if you're lucky and have the firm/software and documentation then they can sometimes be quite interesting (and rare), but without it they're just curiosities to look at and keep you searching...
 
It always seemed to me that a lot of that market was taking advantage of people in markets where the average users were technologically illiterate. Everything these system did could usually be done better by general purpose computers but, these 'vertical markets' tended to be things like dentist offices and auto parts warehouses. Places where nobody knew anything about computers. They were being locked into an expensive system and service they may not ever be able to get out from again. Once all your data is on one of these proprietary platforms the company pretty much owns you. You still occasionally run into people trying to get data off these things even today.
 
Yeah, maybe. But then, the users were willing to pay for a system that was tailored to their specific needs and used by hundreds or thousands of other businesses. There is a certain safety in numbers.

Speaking of trolling lawyers, I'd thought that the IBM-vs.-SCO-funded-behind-the-scenes-by-Microsoft UNIX case was done and settled due pretty much to the near-death of SCO.

It's still alive! (H/T groklaw.com)

It seems to me that long after we're all turned to glowing radioactive dust by the War to End All Wars, there will still be zombie lawyers wandering around trying to sue someone...
 
I am always surprised to hear SCO is still in business. They seem to be called UnXis now which is a terrible name. Wonder how they still use SCO Group on the court documents when it doesn't exist anymore.
 
It's very confusing, but as I understand it SCO Group's software product business was sold to UnXis, but not the kit and caboodle of the Chapter 11 company, which retitled itself as TSG (anyone care for an abbreviation of an abbreviation?). Apparently, that part is still a walking corpse.

At least that's what I gather.

What a mess!
 
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