Xavier FOJUD and his RENUM program

Leave a reply

Some time ago when scanning a stack of documents relating to PC-1500 I found a mail with the name “Xavier FOJUD”. I knew the name, I read something in a magazine …

It was addressed, in German language, to Bernd and spoke of a listing in Hexa.
Bernd ? Fischel ? Alles für Sharp computer ?
So I let it on top of the stack.

FOJUD_Original 1 FOJUD_Original 2

Two months later I took the letter and did research on the web: I got an address and email.
Continuing my scans I also found in the magazine “Alles für Sharp Pocket Computer” some posts made by that person.

AFSC 3 12 AFSC 4 27

Here is his letter as published in “PC-1500 Zeintung” N°15:

PC-1500 Zeitung 15 12

So I sent him a message explaining my passion, a link to my site and asking if he had information that might be helpful … etc.

The answer came, warm, expressing surprise amused.
You think, 30 years after the mail!

This person is the author of the familiar RENUM program (ML) that appeared in “L’Ordinateur de Poche” N°19 and of the “Landscape print” (ML).
With his brother they were quite active around the pocket. He shared a lot with the German club Sharp (PC-1500 Zeitung), “Alles für Sharp Pocket Computer” and The Pocket Computer.

FOJUD_Renum1 FOJUD_Renum2

Last week I got a package (that he generously offered me as a gift) containing beautiful things (books, tapes, magazines) that will enrich your content. (After author’s permission for certain books or documents)
I renew my sincere thanks to Xavier !

EMI_0382

ML = Machine language

The blue brother : Sharp PC-1500D

Leave a reply

Hello, don’t i promised great news ’till end of the year?
Well, here’s the first news: Blue brother arrived with his printer, in a nice briefcase.

PC-1500D_001

That’s a long time since I was looking for and patience paid off.
Here are some pictures from all angles:

PC-1500D_002

PC-1500D_003

PC-1500D_004

On Japanese sites it has the reference Sharp PC-1500D.
But, to my knowledge, there is nothing to give this name.
Its serial number is very interesting because it puts to the latest PC-1500 manufactured and before the PC-1500A.

PC-1500D_005

Internally it is a version A04 identical to the other PC-1500 A04.

No, the only thing that distinguishes it is blue.
Nay, superb blue !!!

This is the ninth of the family.

TRAMsoft Gmbh, Swiss know-how ! (part 3)

Leave a reply

One of the biggest problems with the pocket computers was the place where to save programs. With the PC-1500 one solution was to get a big memory module like CE-161 or CE-163. The common system was the use of a tape recorder. But this was noisy and slow !

Reto and Thomas decided to design an interface between the PC-1500 and one product currently sold. Their choice was the Commodore floppy 1541. Maybe because it was packed with the power adapter ? And as they had enough space they added a 8bits parallel interface.

You can watch this in their website : TRAMsoft Floppy and // interface
And download the user manual in english : User manual

I have found an article extract from the german magazine Chip :
TRAMsoft_Chip0
Download the full article

Here is a translation :
Continue reading →

Some french magazines from the 80’s

Leave a reply

In the 80’s in France there was lot of magazines with articles and programs for the pocket computers.
The best website to read them is Abandonware !

“Le Sharpentier” ended in 1987 but was continued as “Nano Ordinateurs”
Readers of “Alles für Sharp Computers” have read some pages from “Le Sharpentier” in their magazine.

Here is a selection for the PC-1500 :


Click to read Hebdogiciel
Click to read L'Ordinateur de Poche

Click to read Le Sharpentier
Click to read Nano Ordinateurs

Click to read List
Click to read Trace

TRAMsoft Gmbh, Swiss know-how ! (part 2)

Leave a reply

On the last page of TRAMsoft advert we see “SRS Ing. R.W. Fankhauser” which was one of the best reseller for their modules.
One other was “GEWA COMPUTERS”.
(If some of you have informations about GEWA then please contact me)
Here is an extract from the GEWA catalog 2/84 :
(You can watch the prices on the red page.)

TRAMsoft_Gewa1

Download

TRAMsoht TOOLs were very well known in Germany as showed by the following article :

TRAMsoft_Computer0

Download

Remember that you can have more informations about TOOLS on TRAMsoft website. And you can buy some available extensions too.
Manuals are available for download.

Next time i will show you their storage solution…

TRAMsoft Gmbh, Swiss know-how ! (part 1)

Leave a reply

In the 80s we saw a lot of things appear for the Sharp PC-1500. Listings, tapes, memory modules and Eprom … and rare extensions.
In 1983 a company was established in Switzerland by two young graduates of technical high school “Technikum Winterthur” Reto Ambühler and Thomas Müller. With their initials they named their company TRAMsoft.

Reto TRAMsoft_logo Thomas

There are some months I contacted them and Reto was kind enough to answer me. He also agreed to give me a few things which I will soon. I hope Thomas will say us a few words and tell us this wonderful time of the arrival of the PC-1500.

But back to their company and their products … that still exist !
And you can order their last items for PC-1500 and PC-1600 😉

They were interested in the PC-1500 and managed to overcome its limitations both in terms of the Basic language as its features.

Thus users are able to “open” their machines to the environment.
Their best-known products are the TOOLS.
There are 4 TOOLS organized by theme.

TOOL1: Editing utilities
TOOL2: Fast tape operations
TOOL3: Additional BASIC-functions
TOOL4: Statistics and synthetic programming

TOOLS on TRAMsoft website

But unlike the EC-50xA/B Sharp modules, the TOOLS do not come onto the memory port on your machine but in an external box. You can continue to use your extensions CE-151, CE-155, CE-159 and CE-161 and the program modules from Sharp.
All these TOOLS can all be integrated into the same housing. Great, right?

Here is their flyer from 1986:

TRAMsoft_Advert_001 Full advert 1 as .pdf file

Reto sent me other versions of their commercials :

TRAMsoft_ExpansionBox Full advert 2 as .pdf file

Thanks to trade with other people I acquired a catalog of “Ingenieurbüro Walter Speidel” dated 1984. Their tools are already on the market but we can see that at that time the TOOLS have yet no box. It is printed with EPROM circuit, address decoding and a connector.

TRAMsoft_IWS0
Extract from IWS catalog as .pdf file

The prices are quoted in Deutschmark.
At that time I was living in Germany and remember that conversion to Franc had a ratio close to 3 This gives us about 150 euro for each TOOLS.

Ah, perhaps you noticed the initials “Ingenieurbüro Walter Speidel”? This will be the topic of another article by the end of the year …;)

For now I leave you to discover the site TRAMsoft.
http://www.tramsoft.ch/index_en.html

A good link added !

Leave a reply

titre3

http://www.hebdogiciel.fr/PC1500.htm

All french people remember this magazine, isn’t it ?
A weekly publication with lot of nice programs for all the computers.
A must read !

If you never heard about them you can go here too and download… all night long !
http://www.abandonware-magazines.org/affiche_mag.php?mag=7&page=1

Do you know same kind of magazines from germany, USA, england… or somewhere else in the world ?
Please, send me the links with short descriptions.