Epson Apex 100: A Budget Turbo XT PC from 1989
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Date: 2022-04-14
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Comments and reviews: 10
greenaum
Hm so it had a 10MHz chip, but only clocked at 8MHz? That's business for you. Same underclocking Intel did back in the '90s, that led to the start of the Overclocking movement.
Still that also went on more sneakily in the 286 days, I read an old issue online of PC Magazine where a letter complains of PC manufacturers clocking their 286s and 8086s at a couple of MHz past spec. And that's with no heat sink! The letter writer worried about the effect on a chip's lifespan! Yeah, still be ticking after I'm gone. If it's ever powered up again.
[Edit: I'm wrong! Sure the advert said 8MHz! Was Clint wrong? This is very disturbing! I imagine the speed switch just switches in or out a simple flip-flop that halves the clock from 9. 4 to 4. 77. Previous 8MHz / 4. 77MHz PCs I think would have used 2 separate clock crystals. A crystal of that speed (as opposed to, say, the 32768Hz ones in clocks) costs more than a flip-flop, but not a whole lot in the cost of a PC.
I'm keeping the post cos I think my rambles about speed in 286s might be interesting to some and I can't think up another way to segue into them! ]
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Hm so it had a 10MHz chip, but only clocked at 8MHz? That's business for you. Same underclocking Intel did back in the '90s, that led to the start of the Overclocking movement.
Still that also went on more sneakily in the 286 days, I read an old issue online of PC Magazine where a letter complains of PC manufacturers clocking their 286s and 8086s at a couple of MHz past spec. And that's with no heat sink! The letter writer worried about the effect on a chip's lifespan! Yeah, still be ticking after I'm gone. If it's ever powered up again.
[Edit: I'm wrong! Sure the advert said 8MHz! Was Clint wrong? This is very disturbing! I imagine the speed switch just switches in or out a simple flip-flop that halves the clock from 9. 4 to 4. 77. Previous 8MHz / 4. 77MHz PCs I think would have used 2 separate clock crystals. A crystal of that speed (as opposed to, say, the 32768Hz ones in clocks) costs more than a flip-flop, but not a whole lot in the cost of a PC.
I'm keeping the post cos I think my rambles about speed in 286s might be interesting to some and I can't think up another way to segue into them! ]
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greenaum
Nice one, viewer Nick, you're great! I might have only been willing to lend this to LGR. Though the postage back (not fair to make Clint pay) might have put me off! New in box though, that's a rare treat! Smell the '80s air before it escapes! Smells like cocaine and psychopaths! Wall street! Capitalism, baby!
Sorry about all the exclamation marks, it's probably the crack.
1: 21 why does Monty Ward's ad say -And are not reduced-? Not much of a sale then! And the PC here is at full price. What a crap sale!
Sorry, crack.
Why's our pal Clint sound so disappointed when he says -didn't have an in-house _brand_? - Nuh! Never an IHB when you want one.
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Nice one, viewer Nick, you're great! I might have only been willing to lend this to LGR. Though the postage back (not fair to make Clint pay) might have put me off! New in box though, that's a rare treat! Smell the '80s air before it escapes! Smells like cocaine and psychopaths! Wall street! Capitalism, baby!
Sorry about all the exclamation marks, it's probably the crack.
1: 21 why does Monty Ward's ad say -And are not reduced-? Not much of a sale then! And the PC here is at full price. What a crap sale!
Sorry, crack.
Why's our pal Clint sound so disappointed when he says -didn't have an in-house _brand_? - Nuh! Never an IHB when you want one.
reply
Gilmaris
Ah, my first PC was an XT 8086 8/10 MHz 640K RAM with a 20MB HD. As I hadn't played on a better PC, 45 seconds loading times between screens on Monkey Island seemed perfectly acceptable.
I still don't know what, exactly, made it kick the bucket. One day, after counting up the RAM on start-up, it would just pause for a few seconds before the following error message was displayed:
BASIC?
No input was possible, and each reboot had the same result. And that was that. Dad didn't want to bother fixing it and simply decided to give it the old heave-ho. RIP, friend.
reply
Ah, my first PC was an XT 8086 8/10 MHz 640K RAM with a 20MB HD. As I hadn't played on a better PC, 45 seconds loading times between screens on Monkey Island seemed perfectly acceptable.
I still don't know what, exactly, made it kick the bucket. One day, after counting up the RAM on start-up, it would just pause for a few seconds before the following error message was displayed:
BASIC?
No input was possible, and each reboot had the same result. And that was that. Dad didn't want to bother fixing it and simply decided to give it the old heave-ho. RIP, friend.
reply
Daishi5571
How is this purposefully designed worst, to make their other products look better, when it's just an older system at a cheaper price. It's not like what Apple did with the early LC model Macs, where they gimped the system with a 16-bit bus.
This was $899 but the shown comparative model (for being up to date was the Packard Bell) was -$1799 at twice the price it better be faster. Also where was the quality downgrade, it looked solid and had some great additional features even compared to the up to date systems of the time.
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How is this purposefully designed worst, to make their other products look better, when it's just an older system at a cheaper price. It's not like what Apple did with the early LC model Macs, where they gimped the system with a 16-bit bus.
This was $899 but the shown comparative model (for being up to date was the Packard Bell) was -$1799 at twice the price it better be faster. Also where was the quality downgrade, it looked solid and had some great additional features even compared to the up to date systems of the time.
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Matt
My Aunt had a Epson Equity! had the matching KB monitor and dot-matrix printer. Its been long gone for years. Hers had a HD card in it and I -think- it was a 20MB seagate. it had one 3. 5inch 720K floppy drive. the monitor was like yours regarding the text. but I don't recall the monochrome switch on either the monitor or the video card. I do remember that it was DOS 3. 0 and always counted up to 640KB of RAM. I think it was a EGA video card. Recall playing rescue rangers, Math blaster on it. ah memories
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My Aunt had a Epson Equity! had the matching KB monitor and dot-matrix printer. Its been long gone for years. Hers had a HD card in it and I -think- it was a 20MB seagate. it had one 3. 5inch 720K floppy drive. the monitor was like yours regarding the text. but I don't recall the monochrome switch on either the monitor or the video card. I do remember that it was DOS 3. 0 and always counted up to 640KB of RAM. I think it was a EGA video card. Recall playing rescue rangers, Math blaster on it. ah memories
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Derek
I have fond memories of this machine, specifically the variant with the 20MB hard drive. My dad bought it as some sort of package deal with the monitor (and maybe the printer) as his first PC for the house. (We had a Laser 128 on the other end of the house as the -family machine- at the time) I certainly spent a lot of time plucking away at it, and likely tried to get it to do a lot more than it was designed for, before we finally got something better.
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I have fond memories of this machine, specifically the variant with the 20MB hard drive. My dad bought it as some sort of package deal with the monitor (and maybe the printer) as his first PC for the house. (We had a Laser 128 on the other end of the house as the -family machine- at the time) I certainly spent a lot of time plucking away at it, and likely tried to get it to do a lot more than it was designed for, before we finally got something better.
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Abe
I saw this computer when I was an intern at GTE back in 1990, I though it was the most beautiful computer in the world. It still is a nice looking computer. This setup with the printer was my dream come true. I was poor and I had to go to the university to write programs, I remember going to a friend's house at night to do homework. Now you can have a PC with 100 bucks or get one in some dumpster like the Imac PC I got the other day.
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I saw this computer when I was an intern at GTE back in 1990, I though it was the most beautiful computer in the world. It still is a nice looking computer. This setup with the printer was my dream come true. I was poor and I had to go to the university to write programs, I remember going to a friend's house at night to do homework. Now you can have a PC with 100 bucks or get one in some dumpster like the Imac PC I got the other day.
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almerian
I had this. It was my first PC compatible, I used it beside my Atari ST. I bought it when it was dumped new in box for around 300-400 dutch guilders. Later I got the Epson paper white MDA/Hercules monitor to go along with it. It was well built, had excellent documentation and came with XTree Gold and PFS office. I used it in college with my Basic program to keep grades etc, until I built a 286.
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I had this. It was my first PC compatible, I used it beside my Atari ST. I bought it when it was dumped new in box for around 300-400 dutch guilders. Later I got the Epson paper white MDA/Hercules monitor to go along with it. It was well built, had excellent documentation and came with XTree Gold and PFS office. I used it in college with my Basic program to keep grades etc, until I built a 286.
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Clay
Found one of these at a yard sale today. Had the monitor, printer, books and the keyboard. When I asked how much, the lady had her daughter's boyfriend (I think) negotiate. He told me that someone on eBay had one listed for $300 so how about $250? Yeah, its still there. LMFAO. Seriously, you can ask for anything you want on eBay, doesn't mean you are going to get it.
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Found one of these at a yard sale today. Had the monitor, printer, books and the keyboard. When I asked how much, the lady had her daughter's boyfriend (I think) negotiate. He told me that someone on eBay had one listed for $300 so how about $250? Yeah, its still there. LMFAO. Seriously, you can ask for anything you want on eBay, doesn't mean you are going to get it.
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John
I remember these machines alright. I also remember seeing these at Brendle's in Asheville when I was in High School displayed right alongside Amstrad 1512 and 1640 pc's as well as Commodore Colt and PC10 series computers. They had the whole display of all the cheapest PC's available at the time. However, they all worked well and I liked the Epson XT machines.
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I remember these machines alright. I also remember seeing these at Brendle's in Asheville when I was in High School displayed right alongside Amstrad 1512 and 1640 pc's as well as Commodore Colt and PC10 series computers. They had the whole display of all the cheapest PC's available at the time. However, they all worked well and I liked the Epson XT machines.
reply
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