SWTPc S/09 The SWTPc S/09 was a continuation of SWTPc's 6800 and 6809 series SS-50 bus machines. It was the high-end machine of the line, capable of being used as a multi-user and multitasking platform, running such operating systems as FLEX and OS-9. Though based on the Motorolla 6809, it had a 20bit bit address range, giving it a maximum RAM capacity of 768k. This was done through a DAT (Dynamic Address Translation) RAM on the CPU board. Other SWTPc 6809-based machines, the 69/A and 69/K, could only address 56k of RAM. The S/09 dates from approximately 1980 or 1981.

When I bought it, the machine had 3 EPROM's for Microware's OS-9 installed on the CPU card, 56k of RAM, 4 serial ports, two parallel ports, and a floppy controller set up for 8" floppy drives. I've also aquired an original operations/assembly manual for it, as well as an EPROM with the original type monitor program on it. The system has 16 expansion slots, 8 running along the front of the case for the CPU and memory boards, and 8 running along the rear of the case fo I/O boards. The system was meant to be accessed by way of a serial terminal connected to one of it's serial ports and one could purchase such options as floppy disk assemblies in both 8" and 5-1/4" sizes, as well as hard disk units. Each of these was in a case roughly the same size as the computer itself. The manual even shows a desk made specifically for it, designed to hold the CPU out of sight with space for two disk cabinets mounted in open bays on the right. The desk is interesting in that it has power and reset switches for the computer mounted directly to it. The power supply inside the case of the computer consists of two HUGE capaictors, an even larger transformer and a single small circuit card with a fuse and minimal circuitry on it.

This particular machine also has the S-BUG monitor version 1.8 installed, as well as a DC5 floppy controller, made by Michael Holley in 2001. The DC5 is a new design, compatible with the earlier SWTPc DC4 and capable of using 3.5" disk drives. It currently boots FLEX 2.8:1 off of 5.25" diskette, though it also has the DMF2 8" floppy controller installed. All of this is accessed through an Altos III serial terminal.

An interesting side note is that one of the 8k RAM boards installed has provisions for a switch which would allow you to write-protect those memory addresses, though this particular board doesn't have the switch installed like earlier variants.

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