Author Topic: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)  (Read 29183 times)

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Offline picitup

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #25 on: June 26, 2015, 03:28:23 pm »
Gosh this is a blast from the past!  I used to work for Husky Computers in the late '80s.  Yes, it's true, I'm old.  I worked there as bench engineer initially and then as a manager.

If I remember correctly there were the following computers:

Husky Hunter
Intrinsically safe (for use in volatile environments ie no sparks!!!)
One for the MOD (can't remember what that was called, but they bolted them into tanks)
The Hawk with a higher res screen.

We had temperature cycling bays where the computer had to survive changes in temperature for about a week or so.

If I remember correctly, the Hunter had lots of features built into the rom, and these could be enabled by Husky by formatting the device and creating various files.

The Hunter was designed to withstand a drop of 1m onto a concrete floor.  In reception they had a fish tank full of piranhas and a working hunter at the bottom of the tank.

I think it used to be called DVW Electronics after the founder, David Viewing.

Cheers

Steve
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Offline Mister35mm

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #26 on: May 26, 2017, 04:16:47 pm »
I have a really early one, a 64KW.

It refuses to switch on.

Any ideas

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Offline Bjorn Toulouse

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #27 on: September 07, 2017, 02:02:14 pm »
its now 2017
I work for a council and we still have 2 !!!
and they are still used
 

Offline pmatsol

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #28 on: September 09, 2018, 12:38:52 pm »
Hi all, not sure anyone is still watching this topic since it has been a while since the last post.

I used to work for Husky back in the 80's on the Hunter and later products, initially on the OS and then designing peripherals such as the printer and modem products.

I am now about to move house and found a few old Husky products, I wondered if anyone was still interested in them?

I have the following:
1 x Husky Hunter in carry case
1 x Husky Hunter 16, no carry case
1 x Husky Helmsman, no carry case
1 x Husky Titan, no carry case
2 x Husky Hawk in carry cases
2 x Husky Hawk, no carry cases
1 x Husky FC486, with charger
I have only 1 charger for the Hawks.
They are all in an unknown state of working since it is some years since I looked at them.
 

Offline TheEPROM9Topic starter

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #29 on: September 22, 2018, 06:44:47 pm »
Hi all, not sure anyone is still watching this topic since it has been a while since the last post.

I used to work for Husky back in the 80's on the Hunter and later products, initially on the OS and then designing peripherals such as the printer and modem products.

I am now about to move house and found a few old Husky products, I wondered if anyone was still interested in them?

I have the following:
1 x Husky Hunter in carry case
1 x Husky Hunter 16, no carry case
1 x Husky Helmsman, no carry case
1 x Husky Titan, no carry case
2 x Husky Hawk in carry cases
2 x Husky Hawk, no carry cases
1 x Husky FC486, with charger
I have only 1 charger for the Hawks.
They are all in an unknown state of working since it is some years since I looked at them.

You might be rivaling my collection then ;-)
I am getting another one soon as a parts unit. Got completly smashed. I still keep an eye on it. Not sure others do.
TheEPROM9 (The Husky Hunter Collectors inc.)
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Offline pmatsol

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #30 on: September 27, 2018, 09:03:15 pm »
Looking back at my mail I can see I wasn't clear enough when I asked if anyone was still interested, I am actually looking to part with them since I do not want to drag them to my new home! So is anyone interested in giving them a home?
 
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Offline TheEPROM9Topic starter

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #31 on: October 06, 2018, 08:35:20 pm »
Hi all, not sure anyone is still watching this topic since it has been a while since the last post.

I used to work for Husky back in the 80's on the Hunter and later products, initially on the OS and then designing peripherals such as the printer and modem products.

I am now about to move house and found a few old Husky products, I wondered if anyone was still interested in them?

I have the following:
1 x Husky Hunter in carry case
1 x Husky Hunter 16, no carry case
1 x Husky Helmsman, no carry case
1 x Husky Titan, no carry case
2 x Husky Hawk in carry cases
2 x Husky Hawk, no carry cases
1 x Husky FC486, with charger
I have only 1 charger for the Hawks.
They are all in an unknown state of working since it is some years since I looked at them.

If you are selling them off you can count me as intrested =-)
I have a mad obsession with these computers.
TheEPROM9 (The Husky Hunter Collectors inc.)
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https://www.flickr.com/photos/146977913@N06/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4vOnjz1G-aM8LddSbrK1Vg https://www.facebook.com/groups/118910608126229/
 

Offline TheEPROM9Topic starter

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #32 on: October 06, 2018, 08:40:23 pm »


Latest video =-)
TheEPROM9 (The Husky Hunter Collectors inc.)
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Offline TheEPROM9Topic starter

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #33 on: March 14, 2019, 09:23:55 pm »
http://youtu.be/l1lwUpIDi6s

Husky FS3 Teardown, I have three of these now. Also have three Husky FS2's

I need to do a Husky computer collection update video. I currently have them all dug out.
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Offline TheEPROM9Topic starter

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #34 on: March 16, 2019, 07:52:43 pm »
Husky Hunter Serial Pinout.

Also includes the LEMO pinout.
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Offline TheEPROM9Topic starter

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #35 on: March 16, 2019, 07:58:54 pm »
Husky Hunter ROM images.

Will add more when I read them off the EPROM's
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Offline TheEPROM9Topic starter

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #36 on: March 16, 2019, 11:38:36 pm »
The rest of the Husky Hunter ERPOM HEX code.
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Offline TheEPROM9Topic starter

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #37 on: March 17, 2019, 04:51:05 pm »
The DVW Mocroelectronics Husky ROM dump.

This is for the original Husky computer. All 4 EPROM .BIN images are in the .ZIP file.

As this machine is stupid rear & documentation is even rearer for it, this should be valuable to anyone intrested in the machine.
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Offline TheEPROM9Topic starter

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #38 on: March 17, 2019, 05:13:44 pm »
Yes it may have been related to the Rapier platform actually :)

Military crypto is mainly embarrassingly bad shit developed by the lowest bidder. They'll spend £100k on a formally proven compiler yet get idiots to then write a ton of shitty ADA which of course reimplements crypto engines with added special flaws to target an unverified embedded PowerPC core on an unverified FPGA connected to a bunch of DRAM without ECC... They have no idea what the hell they are doing and its scary. Mention Schneider's Applied Crypto book and they get a little nervous in case they have been found out...

I write software now in the commercial sector as there is far more clue there and that is saying something.

Crypto is interesting - good field to work in.

Yep, now I have worked as a Security analist for 2&1/2 years & a little gig before that I can confirm most companys don't know shit about security. It is so sad. Sometimes the best thing to do is sit back & laguhth.

The fact the army are wose gives me this image, well that just means to defeat a mondern army all you need is a crappy laptop, sit on a hill so you can watch the fireworks & hack all the drones & weapons & watch in amusment as they get blown up by their own weapons.

The day that happens is the day where being technolicaly superia will be a disadvantage.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2019, 07:39:14 pm by TheEPROM9 »
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Offline Pernod

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #39 on: August 03, 2019, 09:55:26 pm »
The DVW Mocroelectronics Husky ROM dump.

This is for the original Husky computer. All 4 EPROM .BIN images are in the .ZIP file.

As this machine is stupid rear & documentation is even rearer for it, this should be valuable to anyone intrested in the machine.

Thanks for these, and for the Hunter ROMs.

I'm looking to emulate these machines in MAME and have a few questions. Hope this forum is the best place to ask as there's little to no info anywhere else.

The Hunter 2 is already emulated in MAME, though not complete, it does run DEMOS quite well. Does anyone know what the differences are between the original Hunter and the Hunter 2? The hardware looks virtually identical apart from the obvious physical size of the screen. The ROMs from an original Hunter seem to use the screen differently, and you can see are incorrect:



whereas Hunter 2 looks good:

The only difference I'm seeing is that the Hunter sets up the HD61830 with Number of Time Divisions=32 whereas the Hunter 2 sets it to 64. Not being familiar with the HD61830 I have no idea (yet) what this means, any ideas? Have the crystals on both Hunters been noted or measured?

Has the hardware of the DVW Husky been documented anywhere? I've seen photos of the boards but none with the screen removed so have no idea what is controlling the LCD.
 

Offline Pernod

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #40 on: August 12, 2019, 06:58:06 pm »
The original Hunter now works as well as the Hunter 2. The Hunter sets number of screen columns to 39 but the HD61830 requires this to be an even number 2-128, so needed rounding up.

Also making progress on the original Husky.
« Last Edit: August 12, 2019, 07:01:28 pm by Pernod »
 

Offline TheEPROM9Topic starter

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #41 on: August 15, 2019, 08:58:41 pm »
Nice find, I wanted to get this machine emulated for a long time, kudos to going out & doing it.
The only real diffrence between the Husky Hunter & Husky Hunter 2 is the LCD, just uses a larger pannel, even the electrnics look the same, however i have never confirmed this using a Scope.

I did look at both the clocks, not sure if I have the photos on this laptop, but the original husky runs at 1MHz (Clock cyrystal 2MHz)
Husky Hunter 8MHz (Clock crystal 4MHz)

PS: Photos not on this laptop, will upload them if I can find them. Everything is chaos with the move to my first house.

Not sure why the cyrstals were double the CPU's speed or what circratary devided it down if any.

Since I have two units of the DVW I will get some photos, can't promes when, will link my Flicr as the photo uploading thing here is still set in the 90s.
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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #42 on: August 15, 2019, 09:00:00 pm »
The original Hunter now works as well as the Hunter 2. The Hunter sets number of screen columns to 39 but the HD61830 requires this to be an even number 2-128, so needed rounding up.
(Attachment Link)
Also making progress on the original Husky.
(Attachment Link)

I'm glad someone could figure out what to do with those old ROM images. I can't even get them to combine properly into one file.
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Offline Pernod

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #43 on: August 17, 2019, 05:02:12 pm »
I did look at both the clocks, not sure if I have the photos on this laptop, but the original husky runs at 1MHz (Clock cyrystal 2MHz)
Husky Hunter 8MHz (Clock crystal 4MHz)
This is interesting and have asked another owner to verify this.

The original Husky is now emulated fairly well and can enter BASIC to run programs. Still to do are to improve sound and implement RS232. The Husky schematics have been scanned which were essential to determine how ROM/RAM is banked. Schematics for the Hunter may be forthcoming too.

In your Husky Hunter video you show an app from Optimal Software, is this in ROM or something pre-installed in RAM? Did you post the ROMs from this machine?

I'm seeing lots of different ROM versions for these machines so assume they were regularly updated. Currently known ROM versions are:
Husky: HC19JUL, HS19JUL, HC03JUN
Hunter: DEMOS 2.2 9G06h, DEMOS Ver 2.2, DEMOS 2.2 9G+
Hunter 2: DEMOS 2.21 9G08h V4
Hawk: DEMOS 2.21 V1.20, DEMOS 2.21 V1.10
Hunter 16: v3.04, v3.03
Hunter 2/16: v1.0
Hunter 16/80: v4.05

If you have anything other than what's listed it would be greatly appreciated.
 

Online coppercone2

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #44 on: August 23, 2019, 03:57:34 am »
husky hunters sounds like a porn website
 

Offline TheEPROM9Topic starter

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #45 on: August 29, 2019, 07:57:24 pm »
I did look at both the clocks, not sure if I have the photos on this laptop, but the original husky runs at 1MHz (Clock cyrystal 2MHz)
Husky Hunter 8MHz (Clock crystal 4MHz)
This is interesting and have asked another owner to verify this.

The original Husky is now emulated fairly well and can enter BASIC to run programs. Still to do are to improve sound and implement RS232. The Husky schematics have been scanned which were essential to determine how ROM/RAM is banked. Schematics for the Hunter may be forthcoming too.

In your Husky Hunter video you show an app from Optimal Software, is this in ROM or something pre-installed in RAM? Did you post the ROMs from this machine?

I'm seeing lots of different ROM versions for these machines so assume they were regularly updated. Currently known ROM versions are:
Husky: HC19JUL, HS19JUL, HC03JUN
Hunter: DEMOS 2.2 9G06h, DEMOS Ver 2.2, DEMOS 2.2 9G+
Hunter 2: DEMOS 2.21 9G08h V4
Hawk: DEMOS 2.21 V1.20, DEMOS 2.21 V1.10
Hunter 16: v3.04, v3.03
Hunter 2/16: v1.0
Hunter 16/80: v4.05

If you have anything other than what's listed it would be greatly appreciated.

That is the plan. I will get those internal photos for you. Just bear with me as its all a little crazy at the moment.
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Offline TheEPROM9Topic starter

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #46 on: August 29, 2019, 07:58:29 pm »
husky hunters sounds like a porn website

A Furry porn website anyway  :-DD
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Online coppercone2

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« Last Edit: August 30, 2019, 12:58:13 am by coppercone2 »
 

Offline TheEPROM9Topic starter

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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #48 on: September 16, 2019, 07:12:26 pm »
Here be the behind the LCD shots. Just some RAM & glue logic.

Going to try & dig out the other photos now.
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Re: Husky Hunter Computers (Rare & Obscure Computers)
« Reply #49 on: September 16, 2019, 07:27:25 pm »
Going to have to do this in a few diffrent posts. Here's the frequency which was basicly 2MHz raw from the crystal.

PS: Sorry the quolity is a bit shit, but my old camera was not great in low light.
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