Hi Craig,

&n= bsp; Kildall=E2=80=A6 My understanding is that He had already relocate= d to Pacific Grove before He began what became CP/M.

The only tangent Seattle connection I can make is that a= t the very beginning, He did contact a former UW Classmate,

John Torode, Who by then (1974) was teaching at Berkely,= about coming up with some form of a hardware disk controller,

That Gary could then write software for (Kildall was not= a hardware Guy). I think I mentioned Torode a while back, I lucked

Into one of His first floppy controller boards in a mult= iple s100 board buy on Ebay, actually from Vetco, over on the Eastside.=

Once Torode delivered Him a controller board, Gary devel= oped what surely was the first BIOS ever, and was able to boot His

CP/M from a floppy, for the first time ever. It had all b= een punch tape before that.

&n= bsp; Gary Kildall is absolutely at the top of My Computing Heroes list= . It used to be great to watch Him in earlier time as

co-host of Stewart Chiefet=E2=80=99s absolute classic sh= ow =E2=80=9CComputer Chronicles=E2=80=9D. His life ended tragically, and He c= ertainly never got

the wide acclaim for His pioneering work that He most ce= rtainly should have been afforded. He was The Man, and He did the=

Great Work.

&n= bsp; The CHM in Mountain View has a good short summary of His life and= work. His two kids a couple years ago authorized

A pdf of a personal autobiography that Gary wrote, which= was never released or published, it was just for family and close

Friends. It=E2=80=99s attached, if You have not already r= ead it.

computerhistory.org/blog/fifty-years-of-the-personal-com= puter-operating-system/

Mark

From: craig@sbc-85.com <craig@sbc-85= .com>
Sent: Thursday, October 2, 2025 10:49 AM
To: 'Mark Huffstutter' <mhuffstutter@outlook.com>
Subject: RE: MDs 225

Yes, I wouldn=E2=80=99= t have made that joke with just anyone. I joke about it be= cause it is going to happen to me some day. When someone sent me their= SC/MP board that they couldn=E2=80=99t get working (last video), I told them to put a tag on it with =E2=80=9Creturn to-property of=E2=80=A6.=E2= =80=9D In case one day was the last day I ever made it to my workbench. = ; My work area is in a mechanical room under our house where my wife never g= oes=E2=80=A6 I suspect it will just sit in the state I left it until the kids want to sell the house.

The thing with the M= DS is I already have a MDS so really didn=E2=80=99t need this one. I w= ill look for Gary=E2=80=99s initials on any of the disks=E2=80=A6 did he do a= ny of the cp/m work in seattle or had he moved to California by then? Yes, it has a keyboard which is probably the more valuable p= ortion since it can be shipped for a reasonable price. I look si= lly when I remove the implosion shield while wearing my chainsaw chaps and f= ace shield, but I place a high priority on my vision and my crotch area. The crotch, in part, because I don=E2=80=99= t want to have to lay naked on a table while someone picks glass out of ther= e.

I am not buying any b= oards for tindie=E2=80=A6 only when I need one for whatever I am doing.=

Heathkit was founded= on the model of buying things that were already obsolete, so it is remarkab= le that anything can still be found today. I can=E2=80=99t imagine doi= ng this without the internet. Now if we could just get rid of social media and make people pay to post stupid things, the= n the internet wouldn=E2=80=99t be causing the fall of humanity. Excep= t Columbia county, they are causing their own failure. I looked them u= p, I think median annual in Dayton was $31K and in starbuck median household was $18k. =E2=80=A6.and these people thi= nk they are being an example for the rest of the world to follow.=

From: Mark Huffstutter <mhuffstutter@outlook.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 2, 2025 12:24 AM
To: craig@sbc-85.com
Subject: RE: MDs 225

Ha! It seems our individual senses of humor ( I think th= at is the proper construction=E2=80=A6.) are pretty well aligned!=

That is pretty much how I would have put it; =E2=80=9CI e= xpected I would eventually get an email, or read about it in the Obits=E2=80= =9D

&n= bsp; That is great News on the MDS, well played, and congratulations! C= ould not have gone to a better Home.

And I believe You quite literally saved it from the Scra= pper Fate? Has a great history as well, the type. I remember reading

Somewhere that Gary Kildall had used one when He was dev= eloping CP/M. If there are any CP/M floppies in the trove<= /p>

Check them for initials=E2=80=A6. :>) Did You g= et a good keyboard as well? Damnable cataracts, I=E2=80=99ve got two DEC VR2= 01s for My

PC-100A and B, and 3 HP 9845 monitors similarly afflicte= d. Recently watched a YouTube with a Young Expert =E2=80=9Crepairing=E2=80=9D=

One, prying the shield off with a metal putty knife and s= crewdriver, of course no protective gear. I guess the Greek God

Of Implosion was otherwise occupied that day=E2=80=A6..<= o:p>

&n= bsp; Yes, I bought 2 sets of the regulators, while they were available= . I will likely buy some of the ones that UTsource

Has listed, I=E2=80=99ve generally had good luck with th= em, no phony parts. The CPU board in the H8 is the first I have seen these u= sed.

They are an older Fairchild design. The part numbers see= m to be used interchangeably for the earlier version and a later more

Conventional 4-pin design. I did finally figure out what= the Package Numbers are, learned something new. Attached.=

I assume the reason Heathkit used that package in their d= esign was their SOP; buy obsoleted new parts at a significant discount.=

My WAG as to the failure: I removed a popped, but still d= ead short, Tantalum cap from the input side of the regulator. The regulator<= o:p>

Is allegedly overload and short protected, but I learned= in an earlier failure investigation that some semiconductors , even if outp= ut

protected, cannot tolerate even a brief incident of outp= ut side of device being raised significantly to the input side.

&n= bsp; No, I=E2=80=99m advanced=E2=80=A6 I did state in the opening grap= h that =E2=80=9CI really don=E2=80=99t have room for it anyway=E2=80=9D ! :&= gt;)

&n= bsp; Yeah, tariffs=E2=80=A6can=E2=80=99t go there without My head over= heating and exploding=E2=80=A6.

I placed an order a couple weeks ago, and got burned as w= ell. I just hate getting caught up in the Stupidity=E2=80=A6

I have had some 3D printed parts manufactured by JLCPCB a= nd PCBWay, but that just pisses Me off now.

So I broke down and bought My own damned 3D printer, a C= reality Hi Open Frame, on sale for $300, and

somehow I did not pay any tariff.

$165 for 4 sets=E2=80=A6. Gawd Amighty! Will You be sell= ing any on Your Tindie page? I would sure like to buy a set,

If one is available. What a Great Project, I just cannot= thank You enough for all that work!

&n= bsp; Years ago, I used to travel Highway 12 just for the, well, scener= y. Whenever I passed through Dayton,

I used to think it might be a nice place to live, being a= relative oasis of broadleaf trees. Then, among other

Incidents, I followed the disturbing Saga of the Cretin A= lt-Right woman, Who was heading up the full-court

press movement of Morons attempting to forcibly shut dow= n the Library, as they found most of the books in

the Childrens section corrupting=E2=80=A6.. Fortunately,= She was shut down, eventually.

&n= bsp; I Do hope Your Brother=E2=80=99s event goes well, I don=E2=80=99t= think I will be able to make it=E2=80=A6.

&n= bsp; OK! That=E2=80=99s probably enough words for Now! I will keep it t= o novella length=E2=80=A6..

Mark

&n= bsp;

From: craig@sbc-85.com <craig@sbc-85.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 1, 2025 9:58 PM
To: 'Mark Huffstutter' <mhuffstutter@outlook.com>
Subject: RE: MDs 225

Ah. No problem= about the email. I figured you were either busy or had passed away-- s= o I was going to give it another week or two =F0=9F=98=89

Yea, the MDS225 foun= d a home in my garage. And a few intel 8=E2=80=9D drive systems as wel= l. And a bankers box of 8=E2=80=9D floppies. Also a Winchester o= f some sorts. I haven=E2=80=99t really looked at it all. The 225= monitor has cataracts and one system board is seized in the backplane -but otherwis= e looks complete and restorable.

At $15 the regulator= s seem like a good deal. You bought extras I presume=E2=80=A6 heathkit= may have used them elsewhere and maybe there was a recurring reason it went= bad.

You are raising the b= ar with this whole =E2=80=98need=E2=80=99 business. I left =E2=80=98do= n=E2=80=99t need=E2=80=99 far behind and am now into the =E2=80=98can=E2=80=99= t fit=E2=80=99 era

I broke down and ord= ered boards yesterday=E2=80=A6. The days of getting 5 smallish boards for $2= and surface shipping for another $3 are gone. Unless you want the boa= rds to show up with an $80 to $200 flat rate tariff fee that evidently just depends on somebody=E2=80=99s mood somewhere. = $165 for 4 sets of STD bus size boards. Geeze louise.

I=E2=80=99m working a= way on my little SC/MP project. When these boards show up I think I am= done with hardware for a while and have switched over to writing a resident= monitor.

My brother=E2=80=99s= pullman is in Dayton WA for a festival of sorts this Saturday ----if you fe= el the need for a drive to the east side and to one of the most backwards re= gions in the state.

Take care=

craig

From: Mark Huffstutter <mhuffstutter@outlook.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 1, 2025 8:15 PM
To: SBC-85 <craig@sbc-85.com>
Subject: RE: MDs 225

Hi Craig,

&n= bsp; I have to apologize here, just now reading this email. I performe= d some

=E2=80=9CUnintended=E2=80=9D maintenance on My Outlook f= ilters, which I have yet to fully

Understand, the result being Your email pre-filtered to a= folder where I keep

Your emails. Just before I ever saw it. The only way I f= ound out was I inadvertently

Did the same thing to My Brother, Who eventually texted M= e to find out why I was

Ignoring His emails=E2=80=A6.. Duh=E2=80=A6.<= /span>

&n= bsp; I hope that MDS-225 did go to a good home, and not the smelter=E2= =80=A6 I don=E2=80=99t really

have room for it anyway. I managed to finally pick up a H= eathkit H8, which I don=E2=80=99t really

need, but always wanted one to goof around with, for und= er $1K, which is still pretty

ridiculous anyway. It=E2=80=99s in non-hacked, comparati= vely very nice shape. Of course, currently

not running, due to some fallout damage from exploding t= antalums at some previous point.

Waiting for caps and an unusual footprint 4 term linear r= egulator, LM317 sort of type.

Fortunately, that Guy Who bought up the rights to Heathk= it, and with legal action shut down

The big =E2=80=9CFree and Fair=E2=80=9D Heathkit manual t= rade of the Past had some, If You have the Money=E2=80=A6<= /p>

&n= bsp;

www.eba= y.com/itm/186501526650

&n= bsp; UT Source showed some, supposedly, but about the same price, then= there=E2=80=99s the Really

Great Tariff BS=E2=80=A6.

In addition, a couple instanc= es of some sort of chemically induced IC pin and socket

Rot, each case two adjacent pins. No discernable contami= nation in the area. Just dissolved

the pin and socket.

Read =E2=80=98Ya Later,

Mark

From: SBC-85 <craig@sbc-85.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 20, 2025 10:37 AM
To: Mark Huffstutter <= mhuffstutter@outlook.com>
Subject: MDs 225

Do you need one? Someone in Seattle area has on= e for pickup

On Sep 14, 2025, at 9:= 09=E2=80=AFP= M, Mark Huffstutter <mhuffstu= tter@outlook.com> wrote:

=EF=BB=BF

         &n= bsp; Thanks, Craig, I appreciate Your checking the FB page.

         &n= bsp;

         &n= bsp; So, He posted it already on the group, and No One was interested i= n it? That=E2=80=99s

A bit concerning! :>) I=E2=80=99ll have to cont= act recycleit_ny to see if He i= s the same Guy.

So far, I have only seen t= he Intel EPROM burners listed, one with no circuit boards in it.<= /p>
He does have an OK looking Intel MCS-85 Trainer board= , for a very reasonable $200, which is

A lot less than I paid for Mine a number of years ago= =E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6.

From: SBC-85 <craig@sbc-85.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 14, 2025 10:02 AM
To: Mark Huffstutter <= mhuffstutter@outlook.com>
Subject: Re: Ebay PROMPT 48

Well, congratulations on the new pending arrival. &nb= sp;I found this photo on the Facebook intel group. =46rom someone looking to= sell, presumably the guy you bought it from. Several very nice pieces= intel and others. I have not looked to see if the ones in the pictures are on his eBay. Here are pictures <= o:p>

<image001.png>

<image002.png>

<image003.png>

<image004.png>

<image005.png>

<image006.png>

<image007.png>

<image008.png>

<image009.png>

<image010.png>

<image011.png>

<image012.png>

On Sep 13, 2025, at 8:= 24=E2=80=AFP= M, Mark Huffstutter <mhuffstu= tter@outlook.com> wrote:

=EF=BB=BF

         &n= bsp; Well, if I was swimming before, I=E2=80=99m now drowning=E2=80=A6= =E2=80=A6. :>)

         &n= bsp; I kept going back and forth, Common Sense generally prevailing, t= hen

Losing out to =E2=80=9CYeah, But it=E2=80=99s a Really I= ntriguing piece of gear!=E2=80=9D

         &n= bsp; My compromise position; make an offer that They are unlikely to a= ccept,

Then I can at least claim that I tried=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6= . I offered $200=E2=80=A6. If I had been more serious

About My newly adopted position, it would have been $175= , and They accepted. Bang!

         &n= bsp; In My lackluster defense, I have found in the last couple of year= s that most sellers

Consider an offer on Their part of 8-10% discount as mor= e than generous. I calculated that,

at My offer of approximately 14% off, They would recoil i= n Horror, and case dismissed.

         &n= bsp; In the interim, of course, I started considering the likelihood o= f ever finding a scrap

Of documentation, the Ancient and Long Gone MDS PL= /M program to run the PROMPT-48s

New functions from a serial port MDS connection. The onl= y copy of which was a punch tape in

A dumpster when Intel moved out=E2=80=A6.

         &n= bsp; Then, a Google image search produced this gem=E2=80=A6.

<image003.png><= /p>

         &n= bsp; So, presumably, Someone in the MDS community owned it at one poin= t? Or posted a

=E2=80=9CHey, look at this stuff=E2=80=9D entry. I don=E2= =80=99t know, I do not do facebook. I=E2=80=99m going to try to talk My Brot= her,

Who knows nothing of old computers, and Cares even less,= to maybe look for Me.

Unless You do facebook?

         &n= bsp; I suppose I could just ask on intel-devsys, but I hate to get Fol= ks wound up before

I have it in hand, so to speak.

Mark

From: craig@sbc-85.com <craig@sbc-85.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2025 3:41 PM
To: 'Mark Huffstutter' <mhuffstutter@outlook.com>
Subject: RE: Ebay PROMPT 48

I didn=E2=80=99t kno= w you were swimming in Prompts.

From: Mark Huffstutter <mhuffstutter@outlook.com&g= t;
Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2025 1:54 PM
To: craig@sbc-85.com
Subject: Re: Ebay PROMPT 48

I can't really tell, but the quality of the painted/s= ilkscreened switch/LED panel are sure looks beyond any homebrew work i have e= ver seen. Lack of any sort of ECO or obvious Intel tag though..... I was pre= tty wound-up when I first saw it, but I already have two Prompt 48s. Now a Prompt 80.... I think Scott Ba= ker was the last lucky finder

From: craig@sbc-85.com <craig@sbc-85.com= >
Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2025 1:35 PM
To: 'Mark Huffstutter' <mhuffstutter@outlook.com>
Subject: RE: Ebay PROMPT 48

I didn=E2=80=99t see all the photos before=E2=80=A6 specifically the bread= board with the drill hole marking lines on the chassis. I think it is= less factory and (seemingly) probably a very competent end user.

From: craig@sbc-85.com <craig@sbc-85.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2025 1:33 PM
To: 'Mark Huffstutter' <mhuffstutter@outlook.com>
Subject: RE: Ebay PROMPT 48

Very interesting. I had seen one not too long ago that had a bit of s= omething kludged to the top but I presumed it was user modified. This l= ooks more factory modified as you said. I have a prompt 48 already, but this is very interesting (and likely undocume= nted), are you going to get it?

From: Mark Huffstut= ter <mhuffstutter@outl= ook.com>
Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2025 12:46 PM
To: SBC-85 <craig@sbc-8= 5.com>
Subject: Ebay PROMPT 48

Hi Craig,

&nb= sp; I've never come across this version before. Bigger p= rograms with EPROMs, I imagine. Certainly looks to be factory model, I've no= t seen it in the documents. Or I haven't looked hard enough......=

https://ebay.us/m/prAubd