Byte-Back former owner - found :)
3 messages · 2010-03-03 → 2010-04-07 · Yahoo Group era · View archive on archive.org
Participants: zxbruno, Marvio Santos
Preserved from the Timex/Sinclair 2068 Yahoo Group (2001–2019), which is no longer online. Text reproduced from the archive.org archive; email addresses masked.
Messages
1. Byte-Back former owner - found :)
zxbruno · Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:19
In my continuing efforts to find people from the Timex-Sinclair past I found two gentleman who were, at some point, the owners of Byte-Back. You may remember their products from the ads on magazines like Sync. I will quote my conversation with the two gentleman and post a link to a file that Mr David Leech sent me. Please share your thoughts. Mr David is willing to blow away the dust from the stuff he has in his attic and help us preserve his material, but all that will depend on our enthusiasm and interest.
He has given me permission to share all Byte-Back related material online. He has also shared his e-mail so any of us can contact him, but I must urge you not to flood him with requests to buy everything he still has. Please think about the TS2068 community in general, not just you. If I ever buy any item from Mr David it would be with the purpose of studying it and sharing the information with everyone else. I hope you think the same way.
"On Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 5:07 AM, Jerry Minchey wrote:
Bruno,
Yes, I developed and sold accessories for the Timex computer. I advertised in the Sync magazine. My company was called Byte-Back.
I had a modem, a 16k and a 64K memory module and an input/output device called the BB-1 that had relays, and electronic inputs and outputs to allow the computer to control external devices.
Contact David Leech in Batesburg, SC. He is the person I sold the Byte-Back company to. I'm sorry that I don't have his email address.
Jerry Minchey"
"Date Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 9:02 AM
subject RE: Byte-Back
Bruno:
Gorilla Banana... I hadn't heard that name in years, even forgotten about it. Yes there is/was an RS-232 driver for the modem and I can recall watching the printer zip out a line every so often... which was blazing fast at that time. Of course the modem software was primitive because COMPUSERVE "on-line" was primitive at 300 baud. You could almost type faster. Back then the "standard" RS232 and Centronics wasn't even "standardized" making printer connection a real pain.
Well obviously you have found the source or more appropriately the remnants of Byte-Back. And yes, my attic is filled with Byte-Back items ranging from historic to recently historic (brand new in the brown 8x8x4 plain cardboard box they used to ship in). I'm really busy from now until at least the start of July, but will stop in at the Yahoo group when I have a chance.
As for the scanning and publication of manuals and schematics, let me think on that as it might be best to provide those myself to insure the correct stuff gets out there if I can still find it.
Jerry Minchey started with the 16K memory, and then the modem and BB-1 controller. I got involved about that time (1981ish), then the design was changed from the square box to the extruded aluminum design and the UM-64 ultimate memory with battery backup and the revised MD-2 modem were added. Later I added the Centronics Printer port, the A/D converter for the BB-1, and the Real Time clock. Of course with the advent of the 2068, there were a few mods to make the items work, thus the MD-68 modem, BB-68.....
I should be able to resurrect most if not all of the Byte-Back items one way or another. Software might be the only issue as we all know how well digital recording on cassette worked and how well cassettes preserve over time.
If you don't hear from me sooner, check back with me in July.
But if there is a need for Byte-Back items, there is definitely hope, its just a matter of finding a clear place to work and time to do it.
David Leech"
"Date: Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 9:44 AM
Subject: Byte-Back
To: [email]
Bruno Florindo
This is my second attempt at pdf formation of Byte-Back manuals. The first was too large and crashed and burned in-rout to you.
Hope this arrives and is useful. Let me know. Please feel free to post on your site (in its entirety with introductory page "resurrecting Byte-Back 2009")
I will work on more as I have time. At least this is a start and you now know I haven't forgotten you.
David Leech"
And here's the file he sent me:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=C6AFJ7H0
This is proof that it isn't too late to preserve Timex-Sinclair material, and that there are still a lot of nice people out there!
Enjoy! :)
2. Re: Byte-Back former owner - found :)
zxbruno · Wed, 07 Apr 2010 05:18
So, what are your thoughts on this? I will be getting in touch with this gentleman again, and it would be nice to give him some feedback.
--- In [email], "zxbruno" <zxspectrum128@...> wrote:
>
> In my continuing efforts to find people from the Timex-Sinclair past I found two gentleman who were, at some point, the owners of Byte-Back. You may remember their products from the ads on magazines like Sync. I will quote my conversation with the two gentleman and post a link to a file that Mr David Leech sent me. Please share your thoughts. Mr David is willing to blow away the dust from the stuff he has in his attic and help us preserve his material, but all that will depend on our enthusiasm and interest.
> He has given me permission to share all Byte-Back related material online. He has also shared his e-mail so any of us can contact him, but I must urge you not to flood him with requests to buy everything he still has. Please think about the TS2068 community in general, not just you. If I ever buy any item from Mr David it would be with the purpose of studying it and sharing the information with everyone else. I hope you think the same way.
>
> "On Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 5:07 AM, Jerry Minchey wrote:
>
> Bruno,
>
> Yes, I developed and sold accessories for the Timex computer. I advertised in the Sync magazine. My company was called Byte-Back.
>
> I had a modem, a 16k and a 64K memory module and an input/output device called the BB-1 that had relays, and electronic inputs and outputs to allow the computer to control external devices.
>
> Contact David Leech in Batesburg, SC. He is the person I sold the Byte-Back company to. I'm sorry that I don't have his email address.
>
> Jerry Minchey"
>
> "Date Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 9:02 AM
> subject RE: Byte-Back
>
> Bruno:
>
> Gorilla Banana... I hadn't heard that name in years, even forgotten about it. Yes there is/was an RS-232 driver for the modem and I can recall watching the printer zip out a line every so often... which was blazing fast at that time. Of course the modem software was primitive because COMPUSERVE "on-line" was primitive at 300 baud. You could almost type faster. Back then the "standard" RS232 and Centronics wasn't even "standardized" making printer connection a real pain.
>
> Well obviously you have found the source or more appropriately the remnants of Byte-Back. And yes, my attic is filled with Byte-Back items ranging from historic to recently historic (brand new in the brown 8x8x4 plain cardboard box they used to ship in). I'm really busy from now until at least the start of July, but will stop in at the Yahoo group when I have a chance.
>
> As for the scanning and publication of manuals and schematics, let me think on that as it might be best to provide those myself to insure the correct stuff gets out there if I can still find it.
>
> Jerry Minchey started with the 16K memory, and then the modem and BB-1 controller. I got involved about that time (1981ish), then the design was changed from the square box to the extruded aluminum design and the UM-64 ultimate memory with battery backup and the revised MD-2 modem were added. Later I added the Centronics Printer port, the A/D converter for the BB-1, and the Real Time clock. Of course with the advent of the 2068, there were a few mods to make the items work, thus the MD-68 modem, BB-68.....
>
> I should be able to resurrect most if not all of the Byte-Back items one way or another. Software might be the only issue as we all know how well digital recording on cassette worked and how well cassettes preserve over time.
>
> If you don't hear from me sooner, check back with me in July.
> But if there is a need for Byte-Back items, there is definitely hope, its just a matter of finding a clear place to work and time to do it.
>
> David Leech"
>
> "Date: Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 9:44 AM
> Subject: Byte-Back
> To: zxspectrum128@...
>
> Bruno Florindo
> This is my second attempt at pdf formation of Byte-Back manuals. The first was too large and crashed and burned in-rout to you.
>
> Hope this arrives and is useful. Let me know. Please feel free to post on your site (in its entirety with introductory page "resurrecting Byte-Back 2009")
>
> I will work on more as I have time. At least this is a start and you now know I haven't forgotten you.
>
> David Leech"
>
> And here's the file he sent me:
>
> http://www.megaupload.com/?d=C6AFJ7H0
>
> This is proof that it isn't too late to preserve Timex-Sinclair material, and that there are still a lot of nice people out there!
>
> Enjoy! :)
>
3. RE: [ts2068] Re: Byte-Back former owner - found :)
Marvio Santos · Wed, 7 Apr 2010 10:04:
I'd would be absolutely willing to scan, study, make how to guides for any of the items, just let me know; In my opinion half the fun about these old machines is getting yourself re-aquainted and maybe even learn something you didn't even know back then, making this stuff just work is great, even if there's no pratical application for a 300 baud modem!! :) Maybe we could figure out a way to transfer files from a modern machine to the TS2068 with it?
To: [email]
From: [email]
Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2010 05:18:35 +0000
Subject: [ts2068] Re: Byte-Back former owner - found :)
So, what are your thoughts on this? I will be getting in touch with this gentleman again, and it would be nice to give him some feedback.
--- In [email], "zxbruno" <zxspectrum128@...> wrote:
>
> In my continuing efforts to find people from the Timex-Sinclair past I found two gentleman who were, at some point, the owners of Byte-Back. You may remember their products from the ads on magazines like Sync. I will quote my conversation with the two gentleman and post a link to a file that Mr David Leech sent me. Please share your thoughts. Mr David is willing to blow away the dust from the stuff he has in his attic and help us preserve his material, but all that will depend on our enthusiasm and interest.
> He has given me permission to share all Byte-Back related material online. He has also shared his e-mail so any of us can contact him, but I must urge you not to flood him with requests to buy everything he still has. Please think about the TS2068 community in general, not just you. If I ever buy any item from Mr David it would be with the purpose of studying it and sharing the information with everyone else. I hope you think the same way.
>
> "On Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 5:07 AM, Jerry Minchey wrote:
>
> Bruno,
>
> Yes, I developed and sold accessories for the Timex computer. I advertised in the Sync magazine. My company was called Byte-Back.
>
> I had a modem, a 16k and a 64K memory module and an input/output device called the BB-1 that had relays, and electronic inputs and outputs to allow the computer to control external devices.
>
> Contact David Leech in Batesburg, SC. He is the person I sold the Byte-Back company to. I'm sorry that I don't have his email address.
>
> Jerry Minchey"
>
> "Date Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 9:02 AM
> subject RE: Byte-Back
>
> Bruno:
>
> Gorilla Banana... I hadn't heard that name in years, even forgotten about it. Yes there is/was an RS-232 driver for the modem and I can recall watching the printer zip out a line every so often... which was blazing fast at that time. Of course the modem software was primitive because COMPUSERVE "on-line" was primitive at 300 baud. You could almost type faster. Back then the "standard" RS232 and Centronics wasn't even "standardized" making printer connection a real pain.
>
> Well obviously you have found the source or more appropriately the remnants of Byte-Back. And yes, my attic is filled with Byte-Back items ranging from historic to recently historic (brand new in the brown 8x8x4 plain cardboard box they used to ship in). I'm really busy from now until at least the start of July, but will stop in at the Yahoo group when I have a chance.
>
> As for the scanning and publication of manuals and schematics, let me think on that as it might be best to provide those myself to insure the correct stuff gets out there if I can still find it.
>
> Jerry Minchey started with the 16K memory, and then the modem and BB-1 controller. I got involved about that time (1981ish), then the design was changed from the square box to the extruded aluminum design and the UM-64 ultimate memory with battery backup and the revised MD-2 modem were added. Later I added the Centronics Printer port, the A/D converter for the BB-1, and the Real Time clock. Of course with the advent of the 2068, there were a few mods to make the items work, thus the MD-68 modem, BB-68.....
>
> I should be able to resurrect most if not all of the Byte-Back items one way or another. Software might be the only issue as we all know how well digital recording on cassette worked and how well cassettes preserve over time.
>
> If you don't hear from me sooner, check back with me in July.
> But if there is a need for Byte-Back items, there is definitely hope, its just a matter of finding a clear place to work and time to do it.
>
> David Leech"
>
> "Date: Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 9:44 AM
> Subject: Byte-Back
> To: zxspectrum128@...
>
> Bruno Florindo
> This is my second attempt at pdf formation of Byte-Back manuals. The first was too large and crashed and burned in-rout to you.
>
> Hope this arrives and is useful. Let me know. Please feel free to post on your site (in its entirety with introductory page "resurrecting Byte-Back 2009")
>
> I will work on more as I have time. At least this is a start and you now know I haven't forgotten you.
>
> David Leech"
>
> And here's the file he sent me:
>
> http://www.megaupload.com/?d=C6AFJ7H0
>
> This is proof that it isn't too late to preserve Timex-Sinclair material, and that there are still a lot of nice people out there!
>
> Enjoy! :)
>
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