JED Microprocessors Pty Ltd - vintage Australian made microcomputers - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: fzabkar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 10, 2019, 08:10:17 pm
content: Here is a 1986 catalogue from JED Microprocessors:http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/JED_Catalogue_&_Data_Book_1986.PDFThis was the latest web site, AFAICT:http://www.jedmicro.com.au/QuoteThe company designed and built Z80 based computers and cards in Australia.

author: granzeier
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2019, 12:53:52 pm
content: Wow, you don't see catalogs like that any more.I especially liked page 26 - I had heard of the Mix editor many years ago, but it was interesting reading about again. I also liked the Z-80 assembler - you get the source code with it! A kind of pre-shadowing of open source.

author: HarryDoPECC
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2019, 01:23:16 am
content: Thanks - memories! I used the DataSafe product to store the output from a custom data logger that my team had developed back then. We thought it was pretty good - a metal box about half the size of a housebrick, and about half the weight, with internal batteries. Client had plenty of money so we could use the 64k version. Yes, 64k bytes, still remember thinking that was more storage than we really knew what to do with.Visited the JED Global Headquarters(!) a few times - half a dozen people working out of Ed Schoell's house and garage as I recall. They made some pretty good stuff that was creative, fitted real needs and was well priced. I guess they were just too small, and back then it was just about impossible to raise venture capital. They bumped along for long time but never really broke out, which was a shame.Lots of smart creative people in Oz, but so hard for them to get backing, even now.

author: HarryDoPECC
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2019, 01:34:59 am
content: Just looking at the 32GB microSD on my bench....- microSD is 15 x 11 x 1 = 165 mm3- 64k JED DataSafe was 30 x 60 x 115 = 207k mm3So now we can get 1254 32GB microSD's into the same volume = 40 TBWould love to ask Ed Schoell if he would ever have imagined the tech would have reached that point in his lifetime.

author: wilfred
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2019, 04:32:43 am
content: Quote from: HarryDoPECC on December 12, 2019, 01:34:59 amI think he be like the rest of us and be pretty blown away.Is that Modula-2 compiler mentioned available for free download?

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2019, 06:21:06 am
content: Why is everybody speaking of the company in the past tense? They still seem to be active. Here's a product release note dated August 2019, written by Ed Schoell himself:http://www.jedmicro.com.au/T460_Release/T460_416A.pdfLooks to me like they have found their niche (embedded control and A/V boards), and are doing OK there?

author: wilfred
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2019, 06:32:00 am
content: Quote from: ebastler on December 12, 2019, 06:21:06 amToo few of us respondents to be calledeverybody. However it is probably because they have been out of our thoughts for so long. I remember, long before I could have afforded them, lusting after one of their computers.

author: fzabkar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2019, 09:17:22 pm
content: According to ASIC, the original company (JED MICROPROCESSORS PTY LTD, ACN 006 802 768) was deregistered on 3/07/2019. The new company (JED MICRO PTY LTD, ACN 605 675 474) was registered on 6/05/2015 and is still active, although the current web site states that Ed and Junette are "now retired".

author: Kean
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 06, 2020, 09:59:12 am
content: I still maintain some systems running on JED PC540 PC/104 SBC's. They've been running reliably for something like 20 years in pretty harsh conditions.