Ithaca Intersystems
Encyclopedia
Ithaca Intersystems was a microcomputer manufacturer in the 1970s and 1980s, located in Ithaca, New York
. The early years drew on engineering talent from Cornell University
when the founders worked in a small rented space in the Collegtown neighborhood adjacent to the university campus. They initially produced the Ithaca Intersystems DPS-1 S-100 bus
, Z80-based computer. As a large commercial success, the company moved to larger spaces outside of town, and designed and produced a larger system, the Zilog
Z8002-based DPS-8000. This used the Coherent
Unix
operating system from Mark Williams Company
. The company languished in the 1980s, not being part of the domination of the IBM PC
and PC clones.
This was one of the last S100 computers to have front panel switches like the original Altair.
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...
. The early years drew on engineering talent from Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
when the founders worked in a small rented space in the Collegtown neighborhood adjacent to the university campus. They initially produced the Ithaca Intersystems DPS-1 S-100 bus
S-100 bus
The S-100 bus or Altair bus, IEEE696-1983 , was an early computer bus designed in 1974 as a part of the Altair 8800, generally considered today to be the first personal computer...
, Z80-based computer. As a large commercial success, the company moved to larger spaces outside of town, and designed and produced a larger system, the Zilog
Zilog
Zilog, Inc., previously known as ZiLOG , is a manufacturer of 8-bit and 24-bit microcontrollers, and is most famous for its Intel 8080-compatible Z80 series.-History:...
Z8002-based DPS-8000. This used the Coherent
Coherent (operating system)
The Coherent operating system was a Version 7 Unix clone by the now-defunct Mark Williams Company, originally produced for the PDP-11 in 1980. A port was introduced in 1983 as the first Unix-like system for IBM PC compatible computers....
Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
operating system from Mark Williams Company
Mark Williams Company
The Mark Williams Company was a small software company in Chicago, Illinois that created Coherent, one of the first Unix-like operating systems for IBM PCs and several C programming language compilers. It was founded by Robert Swartz in 1980 and discontinued operations in 1995...
. The company languished in the 1980s, not being part of the domination of the IBM PC
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
and PC clones.
This was one of the last S100 computers to have front panel switches like the original Altair.