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  • Joined: 14 Oct 2008
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Link Word SC-3000
Post Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2011 9:58 pm
Prototype dumped. After trying it in MEKA, it runs, but crashes MEKA as soon as I try to type anything.
Kega Fusion won't even boot it.
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Post Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 6:40 am
Nice!
Which version of MEKA are you using? It works here.
There was a bug in version <0.73 where the SC-3000 mapper would crash sometimes.

I have no idea how to use this thing.
Link Word-03.png (1.28 KB)
Link Word-03.png
Link Word-05.png (1.15 KB)
Link Word-05.png
Link Word.zip (11.3 KB)

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Post Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 6:48 am
Here's the photos
CIMG5811.jpg (69.73 KB)
CIMG5811.jpg
CIMG5812.jpg (85.92 KB)
CIMG5812.jpg
CIMG5813.jpg (74.68 KB)
CIMG5813.jpg

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Compulink C100A
Post Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 6:58 am
Something just tilted in my head - many years ago I acquired a rare and generally undocumented system called the COMPULINK C100A which I was told was based on the SC-3000. It was a mystery until now but it looks like there is a relation between those things.

Here's what the seller said at the time:
Compulink C-100A "Electronic Salesman"

When I found this machine I wasn't sure quite what to make of it. It has cassette ports and a cartridge slot like a home computer, but it has PC style serial/parallel/keyboard ports and only an RGB video out (no TV out). Looking inside I find a Z80 CPU and TMS9929 VDP, sound familiar?

So what does this have to do with the Sega SC-3000?

Compulink sold an advertising system that consisted of a rebadged SC-3000H (just a sticker stuck on an unmodified machine) with a cartridge containing their software and 32K of battery backed SRAM. The buyer would create screens of text and block graphics, put the monitor in the store window and let the machine cycle through them. I used to see quite a few of these in use around Melbourne, mainly in travel agencies.

I guess they ran out of SC-3000Hs (these systems appeared sometime after it was discontinued) and built these when they needed a replacement. It isn't a direct clone of the SC-3000, it doesn't have the Sega chip from the SC-3000. Everything else is in there (all the other parts in the SC-3000 are standard) including the battery backed SRAM and the software from their original cartridge. There are no joystick ports and a real time clock has been added. The cartridge port is 44 pin and appears to be wired the same way as the SC-3000, but the edge connector is a different size.

It won't run SC-3000 software (not as it is anyway). At the least you could use the RGB driver section (on the PSU PCB, not the CPU PCB) to add an RGB output to any computer or console that uses the TMS9929 VDP (SC3000, MSX, Spectravideo, Colecovision, etc).

This interference in the screenshot is picked up by the camera, it's not visible on the monitor.

Notes:

The cassette and serial ports are not usable on this machine. The connectors are there, but the circuitry to drive them was never installed. The battery for the SRAM (a 3.6V NiCd) was dead and has been removed, I expect the lithium battery in the Dallas clock module is also dead.

I don't have the keyboard, while it appears to be a PC keyboard port none that I tried worked. An XT keyboard flashes its lights on power up, but nothing happens when I press any keys.

It is 240V and has an Australian plug, international buyers may need an adapter and/or transformer.

You are bidding on the unit as pictured and a SCART RGB cable, nothing else is included.

The case is in rough condition with many marks and scratches. There is some surface rust on the printer and serial connectors. One of the rubber feet is missing from the bottom of the case. There is a nick in power cord insulation which should be fixed if you intend to use it as is.

It powers up and displays the pictures startup screen pictured, but I can't do anything else with it.

This item is sold AS-IS, bid accordingly.

compulink.jpg (26.26 KB)
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compulinkback.jpg (17.41 KB)
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compulinkbackbig.jpg (36.17 KB)
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compulinkbig.jpg (64.85 KB)
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compulinkscn.jpg (22.43 KB)
compulinkscn.jpg

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Post Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 8:56 am
It's a word processor. Press Tab+letter to access the menus, you can save to tape, for example. I didn't see any way to print, though...

I had to add a line to meka.nam to enable the on-cart RAM mapper... am I the only one?

Edit: aha, the .sc extension has the same effect.
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Post Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 2:31 pm
There's a Compulink badged SC-3000 on Ebay at the moment;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ordenador-8-bits-SEGA-Compulink-Yeno-SC3000H-cartuchos...


IMGP0168.JPG (155.17 KB)
IMGP0168.JPG

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Post Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 4:28 pm
I asked the seller about it he said:

"Hello,

This unit is from Australia of course but i bought it in Spain from an old videogame shop... In fact i bought several outdated systems from this shop.
I have the computer yet packed sorry. I think the pic i uploaded is enough to see it clearly. It is in good cosmetic and workin condition.

Kind regards"

"Yes. This is the Sega SC3000H with Compulink Logo. Also it has a logo (YENO) at the backside."
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Post Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 8:35 pm
Interesting that the keyboard layout is so similar to a Tandy CoCo.
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Post Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 8:37 am
Hello all,

My first post and I'm resurrecting an old thread.
Last week I received my very first Sega SC-3000 computer.
It's actually the SC-3000H.
Anyway, it was boxed and in fantastic condition.
The poly inserts are like new.
It also came with a cartridge that had no sticker/label
and it appeared to never have had one.
The person I got this lot off did not have a clue what the
cartridge was.

Anyway, my total Sega collection consists of the the boxed
SC-3000H with power supply and a mystery cartridge, that's it.

So I power up the SC with the cartridge in it and the boot
screen comes up with "Electronic Salesman" by Complink...

I did some searching on the net and only found one reference
to this and it was here in this thread...

So I opened up the cartridge and took a few photo's and sent
them to Bock.

The onboard battery appears to be rechargeable and believe it
or not, has retained info I have entered for more that 24hrs.

So from what I understand, this cart seems quite rare and today
(Easter Monday) I decided to remove the EPROM from the board
and dump the contents in the interests of preserving another
piece of SEGA SC-3000 software.

These old boards can be a bit fragile and although I was being
extra careful, I did lift a track. Easily fixed, but always
a bit of a shame.

Anyway, all good and I fitted a socket and the cart still works
and we now have a dump of it's contents.

I just tried it in MEKA and it boots up fine.
Hold the FUNC (tab) key for options. Basically you just need to have
a play around with it...(Ctrl) is also another menu key when editing.

I have noticed a couple of things did not seem quite right via the emu.
But it appears to be mostly usable.

Cheers,
Shane
IMAG2004.jpg (420.23 KB)
Electronic Salesman PCB pic1
IMAG2004.jpg
IMAG2005.jpg (397.73 KB)
Electronic Salesman PCB pic2
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Electronic Salesman PCB pic3
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Electronic Salesman PCB pic4
IMAG2007.jpg
IMAG2008.jpg (365.98 KB)
Electronic Salesman PCB pic5
IMAG2008.jpg
IMAG2012.jpg (377.81 KB)
Electronic Salesman PCB pic6
IMAG2012.jpg

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Post Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2014 8:41 am
Woops, forgot to add the cart dump.

Cheers,
Shane
Compulink - Electronic Salesman v1.1.zip (15.25 KB)
Compulink - Electronic Salesman v1.1

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Post Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2022 5:34 pm
First issue of Australian Magazine Megacomp (July 1988) has a review of Linkword. It also has an advert from Compulink featuring "AutoCom", which is an SC-3000H with Micromodem 4 (I think John Sands only released a Micromodem 3) and a telephone marketed as a terminal for Viatel etc.

Searching for Autocom brings me to Bock's dumping page where several cartridges were dumped in 2015. Seems to be a variation of SegaCom for the Micromodem 3. What do the cartridges for AutoCom look like if anyone has one? Just plain like Linkword and Electronic Salesman, or do they just come in SegaCom cartridges?

The advert also mentions an optional 28K word processing cartridge (must be Linkword), and "Shop Window salesman" (must be Electronic Salesman).

John Sands Electronics went out of business in 1986. The earliest mention of Compulink I could find in Australian newspapers was an advert on 87.03.07 for sales people. The last on 88.10.29 again for sales people, so that gives a minimum range of dates that they operated.

I guess they bought up old stock from John Sands when they went out of business, maybe the Micromodem 4 was originally to be released by John Sands?

There's also an article about Viatel which uses a better picture of the terminal, but doesn't mention it.
MegaCom_AU_01_0038.jpg (446.28 KB)
MegaCom_AU_01_0038.jpg
MegaCom_AU_01_0014.jpg (372.64 KB)
MegaCom_AU_01_0014.jpg

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Post Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2022 8:01 pm
About the SegaCom/AutoCom variants, I'll try to dig them out, but you can see them on the left edge of this picture
https://www.smspower.org/forums/files/sms_sg_sc_samples_and_prototypes_july_2021...

They say AutoCom. I'll need someone to help analyse and reorder the 8 unique dumps (3 SegaCom, 5 AutoCom).

I have never encountered the actual Micromodem 4 so far.
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Post Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2022 6:48 am
Found photo of my SegaCom and AutoCom cartridges.

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Post Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2022 1:23 pm
Thanks for that, I forgot that I posted an auction in this thread that included those with the blank carts, so I guess these were from John Sands originally.

The Micromodem 3 (or III) was a product from Melbourne based Acme Software for the Commodore 64 and Vic 20, at the time of the announcement (article dated March 28 1985) they said that a John Sands Sega version was also under development. June 1985 John Sands Electronics retail price list (dated May 1985) lists it as coming in July 1985, but I think it got delayed until later in the year.

It seems that some time after that price list they gave up on the retail market (most upcoming consumer software listed doesn't seem to have been released) and switched sales to their sister company "Sands Business Systems", who sold PCs amongst other business computing services. They must have had a large stock of unsold SC-3000s to get rid of as they were giving them away free with PCs from June 1985.

John Sands was bought out in January 1986 and in early April 1986 the computer side of the business was put up for sale, with reports of an exodus of staff from the business. I couldn't find any reports of it actually getting sold, but it was noted in a Sydney Sega Users Group (SSUG) newsletter that they were have one more liquidation sale in September 1986.

The June 1987 issue of SSUG's newsletter has a retailers catalogue featuring the "New" Micromodem 4 plus AutoCom listing the extra features compared to the Micromodem 3;

*Automatic dial
*Redial
*Log on user codes
*Downloading of pages
*Answer
*Disconnect
*Plus many more features

Also lists Linkword in two versions (with or without battery back-up).

In 1988 Acme released the Micromodem 5 for Amiga.

So I suspect the Micromodem 4 / Autocom was originally a Sands Business Systems product in development when they got took over, and they probably got some manufactured before the new owners told them to shut up shop and liquidate their stocks, which then got bought up by Compulink amongst others.
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SSUG 1986.jpg (198.13 KB)
SSUG 1986.jpg
SSUG June 87.jpg (760.97 KB)
SSUG June 87.jpg

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