Peter's z80.eu site blog

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2010
- August
  - Recommended vintage computer pages...
    08/28/10
    Yes, no new technical entry.
    
    But one brainteaser for you: What's that ?
    
    Please comment or send me an email.
    ...
    
    Instead of "googling" again and again, I am posting a few very interesting pages here, which are living (no static pages since years):<
  - Interesting device for (real, not emulated) old CP/M computer : A "serial" mass storage (uDRIVE-uSD-G1)
    08/12/10
    Can be seen here:
    http://www.4dsystems.com.au/prod.php?id=22
    
    You only need a power supply with 3.6V-5.5V.
    It has a serial interface (TTL levels) with auto-baud feature from 300 to 256K baud rates.
    You can use microSD cards up to 2GB (formatted with FAT16).
    It's ve
  - CP/M Walnut Creek CD download possibilities... didn't found so many ...
    08/08/10
    Have added a download possibility of the CP/M Walnut Creek CD here.
    
    Many (not all) files can be found also here.
    The original Simtel website doesn't offer these files anymore, see here.
    
    A few rare files can be found also here.
    
    It's a pitty that there a
- May
  - A shrinked Altair 8800 as a replica - very nice (still need screenshots of the working system)
    05/08/10
    Vince Briel developed already a lot of other interesting things like a working Apple I replica and a KIM replica (of course 6502 based, not 8080 or Z80).
    Now he had a brilliant new idea ... building an Altair replica (with an emulated 8080 cpu based on an ATMEL AVR) ... I was a bit sceptical be
- March
  - Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) sells Commodore VIC/VC-20 - amazing !
    03/08/10
    Wow. I love old computer advertisments. This one is my favorite:
    
    And the page with the Startrek BASIC game will be more interesting than ever ;-)
    
    Please take a look also at the commercial video with William Shatner at Youtube:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUEI7mm8M7Q
2009
- December
  - Now again a Sharp Pocket Computer - but the (almost) Z80 compatible one...
    12/18/09
    I got a Sharp PC-1500 last week and I liked it, especially the possibility to use Z80 machine code (exception: status register usage is different). That's very easy, because even if you just have the basic device without anything else, you can use the BASIC commands PEEK, POKE and CALL (you sho
- November
  - Another remarkable milestone: Sharp Pocket Computer (first: PC-1211)
    11/28/09
    ... which has two 4-Bit CPUs (!) from Sharp, SC43177 und SC43178 labeled, driven with only 256 KHz (yes, KILO not MEGA). This was my first "Computer" I had, and I loved it, because I was able to use the Pocket Computer at school (think about an electronical cheat sheet) also.
    Unfortun
  - Some thoughts about transfering disks or at least, files from a PC to a vintage computer
    11/19/09
    I've created a page about transfering files from a PC to an old CP/M computer (e.g. my Kaypro IV) at http://www.z80.eu/transfercpm.html .
    But I forgot to mention how to get able to use or prepare a PC.
    I took my (mentioned in a blog entry before) Compaq Portable II to use Uniform for
- September
  - Vintage PC portables - oldies but goldies... my four favorite ones ;-)
    09/07/09
    Here are my favorite list of old (more than 20 years old) PC portables:
    
    Number one - a Compaq Portable (with an Intel 8088 CPU):
    
    Number two - an IBM PC Portable (Type 5155, with an Intel 8088 CPU):
    
    Number three - a Compaq Portable II (with an Intel 80286
- July
  - Microshell - a mighty CCP replacement ... and NIPSOFT Commander (for MZ-800 CP/M 2.2)
    07/12/09
    I have added a page about a very useful CP/M shell, which can be seen as a CCP replacement, too. It was a very expensive ($150) utility, so this could be one reason why it was not wide spreaded nor "popular". But New Generation Systems microshell (version 2.0) was very handy, it was easily
- May
  - Love on the buses: The S-100 and me - an interesting article at theregister.co.uk
    05/28/09
    There is a really refreshing article about the S100 bus, the history around, nice pictures of a S100 bus system and cards at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/01/s100/
    
    Don't miss that article, regardless of the fact that it's nothing really new told, but I am convinced that i
- April
  - Another rare, but surprisingly innovative CP/M portable: 'Zorba portable computer'
    04/23/09
    Yes, I didn't recognize it. But there were not many 'Zorba' produced 'til 1984.
    And as far as I can found any kind of info, this computer wasn't selled in europe.
    It looks similar to a Kaypro or a Philips P2000 (not the colors, but the concept), and it has also a 4
- March
  - Shame on me... didn't finish my CP/M Commander program, but now somebody else already did it...
    03/18/09
    I was looking for a german article about TCP/IP for CP/M and the progress this project made, and I saw there are some utilities like tftp and ping now available (still looking for a real FTP.COM...).
    Then I was looking what the site offers also.
    And I was surprised that somebody implemente
- February
  - Predecessors of 8080 hardware.... almost forgotten - R2E Micral , a Intel 8008 based "PC"
    02/19/09
    For many of us, they are not known or at least forgotten.... but 3 years before the Altair 8800, in January 1973, there was already a hardware available for computer enthusiasts:
    
    The R2E Micral was one of the first, may be the first computer which can be called "Microcomputer",
- January
  - Cool ... an Apple II, a SD/MMC card for storage, a Z80 CPU, 80 columns card, all together implemented in an FPGA prototype
    01/30/09
    Amazing what is possible !
    An Apple II and some peripheral stuff, fully equipped, and almost 100% compatible, but not running on old hardware - it can be done with a prototype board (Altera/Terrasic DE1 board).
    
    Alex Freed did that ... his first steps began earlier with his FPGApple,
  - I managed it to downgrade a Turbo PASCAL (5.5) Source of a Z80 Assembler to a Turbo PASCAL 3.0 version...
    01/24/09
    ... and it can be compiled on DOS error free. Now I tried it on CP/M 3.0 and guess what happens ?
    
    It was too big, over 50KB size was too much for the Compiler. So I was reminded on these days and the size limitations suddenly again :-(
    
    I am sure it can be stripped from all comm
2008
- December
  - Two interesting pages about the Olivetti M20 - one of the few computer which have a Z8000 and can run CP/M-8000
    12/15/08
    Full with additional links and infos, more than just a vintage computer museum entry:
    
    http://retrocomputing.altervista.org/m20/m20.html
    http://www.retrocomputing.serrantoni.co
    
    To get an impression from what I'm talking - here's an image from an M20 machine,
- November
  - Another very interesting vintage computer blog ... not very frequently updated, but good entries !
    11/25/08
    I found surprisingly two other vintage computer blogs,
    one from Howard Harte at http://hartetechnologies.com/Happenings/nfblog/
    (with less entries for the present but many for 2007),
    and a bigger one at http://www.bytecellar.com/,
    with a bigger number of Apple II related entries.
  - Cracking an Osborne 1 into parts - interesting pictures
    11/09/08
    Very interesting pictures can be found at TechRepublic - they split an Osborne 1 part by part, hopefully they assembled it back to a working unit...
    
    http://techrepublic.com.com/2346-13636_11-193055.html
    
    As far as I know, that's an older one, not the newer model with less r
- October
  - How to transfer Apple Disk Images from a modern PC to an Apple II (with a super serial card)
    10/31/08
    Indeed I didn't think about it yet. But it is not too difficult.
    Getting an image from Asimov's site at ftp://ftp.apple.asimov.net/pub/apple_II/images/
    Reading all infos at http://adtpro.sourceforge.net/
    Transferring the image back to a real Apple ][.
    Have fun.
- September
  - Another rare CP/M portable from Televideo...
    09/19/08
    Had time to search for several topics, and suddenly I found a hint about a not so well known CP/M 2.2 portable computer (less famous):
    
    A Televideo TPC-I, not really portable (with a similar weight as the Osborne 1) but still an "all-in-one" CP/M machine.
    
    More in
- August
  - Such a cute portable ... and unreachable still (to rare, to expensive...)
    08/09/08
    Still dreaming of a Otrona Attache portable CP/M computer, it's very handy (for 1982) and despite of this is still a full featured machine.
    This picture shows another model with different floppy disk drives compared to the one I already have shown at http://www.z80.eu/otrona.html ...
  - Vintage computer pages disappearing again and again....
    08/04/08
    It happens... I talked about it a few blog entries before already....
    
    http://pag-per.servicam.com/migl/amstradpcw/
    
    Miguel's Amstrad software and compiler pages seems to be lost (I mirrored his MESCC Small C variant now) ...
    
    http://www.s100-manuals.com
- July
  - Many interesting documents (e.g. PDF) can be found at bitsavers.org
    07/31/08
    Many of you already know that there is a gold mine for old (often scanned) documents at www.bitsavers.org , users and service manuals and other technical documents as well.
    If not, try it (see reated link below), it's amazing what can be found there !!!
  - Back from holidays, a Philips P2012 with a CoPower card is waiting...
    07/29/08
    I was really happy getting back from holidays and finding a big package in my house corridor - a Philips P2012 equipped with a CoPower 8088 card, which make it possible to run not only Z80 based CP/M 2.2 but also MS-DOS 2.11 on the coprocessor card (THANKS TO
    TON SCHLUTER HERE AGAIN !).
    In
  - TCP/IP stack for CP/M based systems ?
    07/25/08
    Following the discussions about a possible implementation in comp.os.cpm, I asked myself for what reason would this a goal ?
    On http://www.cpm.z80.de/randyfiles/DRI/cpm-tcp.zip an early try is ready for download, but it's made for a Xerox 820, nowadays a real rare computer.
    If you &qu
  - A 2nd CP/M-86 software repository mirror already exist
    07/18/08
    There is already a second mirror ... at http://z80cpu.eu/mirrors/klaw/
    
    Somebody named "Katzy" wrote this in comp.os.cpm, thanks.
    
    So at the moment there is no need for an additional mirror, I guess.
  - A bit concerned about the CP/M-86 software repository (Kirk Lawrence's heritage)
    07/15/08
    At the moment http://www.nostalgia8.nl/mirrors/cpm86/ is a mirror from the old seanet/~klaw CP/M-86 site, and that's good. Unfortunately I have seen many web pages already gone into the black hole of the internet, and using www.archive.org is not always the solution, because very often the bina
  - Have decided to use a blog also...
    07/14/08
    Yes, I always was a bit displeased about blogs. But I guess it's one form to get a feedback, and in the other hand also to drop some infos or ideas without using again and again a web editor or a content management system. So I will use it until it will get me stressed ;-)