A friend and I have designed a front panel controller that connects to a
PC port and allows you to have up to 128 outputs (LEDs, lamps, etc.) and
64 inputs (switches, etc.) It is intended for use in functional
blinkenlights replicas (like the PDP-1 replcia I'm building). It connects
to a PC parallel port and is driven through software. It can be updated
hundreds of times a second, which for all intents and purposes will seem
continuous. We're going to write simple software drivers to control the
board. It's simple enough to be integrated into just about any PC-based
emulator and is designed to be scalable (up or down).
Would there be any other interest in purchasing this controller? Board
fab and parts in quantity 5 has the price at about $100 right now
(unassembled). If there's enough interest then I'll manufacture a large
batch to bring the price down and sell off kits to recoup the design and
manufacturing costs for myself.
E-mail me if you're interested.
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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<snip> Do you have any docs on the ICs used on this board?
Z0800110PCS CPU, the others are Z08030AB1 Z-SCC, Z0803606PSC Z-CIO,
Z0801010PSC Z-MMU and Z0858110PSC.
Zilog still CMOS versions of the Z-SCC and so there is doco on their
site for that chip. Jurjen Kranenborg (www.kranenborg.org/z8000) says he
has tech namuals for Z-MMU, Z-SCC, and Z-CIO, and a product spec for
the Z8581 clock generator chip. I also have hard copy (no scanner
thought) of the MMU so I could answer questions. I have collected
largeish PDFs from zilog's site of the Z-SCC and Z-CIO chips, and a big
PDF of the Z8000 tech manual (which is also at Jurjen's web site).
David
Hi Joe
I might have some of them. I'll not be able to check until
this weekend.
Dwight
>From: "Joe R." <rigdonj(a)cfl.rr.com>
>
>At 06:11 PM 5/11/04 -0700, Cameron wrote:
>>> > Who did make Z8000 computers? The Z8000 like several other
>>> > CPU's that never made it big and vanished out of sight.
>>>
>>> I think Commodore made a Unix machine at one point that used the Z8000.
>>> You'd have to ask Cameron for sure though. :)
>>
>>As others have said, the 900. This used the Z8001, and was released in
>>very small numbers. Recently, however, I did acquire the boot disks to
>>one from a former owner on the other side of the pond; alas, I have no
>>unit to boot them on, but I'm still working on that. ^^ I might image
>>them at least.
>>
>>http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/secret/900.html
>
> Cameron,
>
> Do you have any docs on the ICs used on this board?
>
> Z0800110PCS CPU, the others are Z08030AB1 Z-SCC, Z0803606PSC Z-CIO,
>Z0801010PSC Z-MMU and Z0858110PSC.
>
> Perhaps I should add that the card has two MMUs.
>
> Joe
>
I'm trying to find a couple of 256x8 PROMs (unprogrammed of course) for
replacements. The original part is an 82S135 (Phillips), but equivalents
are apparently: NEC uPB421; AMD/MMI 6309, 63S09, 6309-1, 63S281; Texas
Instruments 18S22 or 28L22. If anyone knows of a source for these, or has a
couple you are willing to part with, please contact me off list. So far
I've found a lot of sites advertising, but only one has actually had the
parts and I'm hoping to do better than nearly $16 each. --Patrick
I have seen documentation of three commercial Z8000 systems; the
Olivetti M20, the Zilog system 8000 (I think that was its name), and the
Ithica DPS-8000 (I saw a Byte advert for it, not sure how well it sold).
And there were as Dwight stated numerous commercial Z8000 S-100,
multibus, STD bus processor cards (once again advertised in Byte).
Lastly the Commodore C900, which only made it to evaluation machine
stage. I believe that a few 100 were ever made, I just missed one on
ebay a few months ago. I asked the purchaser a couple of times (through
ebay) for his impressions and any information on it, but I got no reply.
David
>From: "ben franchuk" <bfranchuk(a)jetnet.ab.ca>
>
>Joe R. wrote:
>> Today I found a big stack of computer cards with Z8000 CPUs on them. The
>> Z8000s are socketed and I planned on grabbing them. But I'm wondering if
>> it's worth the trouble to take the related parts off? They're all soldered
>> on so they'd take more work. Besides the Z0800110PCS CPU, the others are
>> Z08030AB1 Z-SCC, Z0803606PSC Z-CIO, Z0801010PSC Z-MMU and Z0858110PSC. Any
>> thoughts on this?
>>
>> Joe
>>
>> .
>>
>
>I like my computers whole. :)
>Who did make Z8000 computers? The Z8000 like several other
>CPU's that never made it big and vanished out of sight.
>Ben.
>
>
>
Hi Ben
I think Olivetti was the only one I know of. The M20 ( I have
one of these working ) was the most common. The M20 was also
labled as L1 for some markets. I think there was a M30 and M40
that also had the Z8000 as well( not to be confused with the
M24 that most have seen ).
There were a number of custom applications and even some
Multibus boards made with Z8000's but in the desk top like world,
I think the M20 was it.
I've got both PCOS and CPM8000 running on my M20. The board,
Joe has, has the MMU so it would be a candidate for getting CPM8000
up on. I'd be a lot of work to trace out how things were
interconnected. Not an easy project without some board schematics.
I could assist anyone wanting to get CPM8000 running on a
Z8000 system but before starting to build one, contact me and
I can describe some of the design requirements.
Dwight
>From: "Vintage Computer Festival" <vcf(a)siconic.com>
>
>On Tue, 11 May 2004, Dwight K. Elvey wrote:
>
>>
>> >From: "Michael Kleinman" <mtkleinm(a)uci.edu>
>> >
>> >If you still have the Gould 2800, I would be interested in buying it.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >Mike Kleinman
>> >
>> >
>>
>> Hi
>> Maybe these are part of some class project. You send out
>> these strange request to see what kind of response you get.
>> There are just too many of these to be real. Many, resently,
>> seem to be using the same general format.
>
>Dwight,
>
>As was explained before, the off-list messages that are sent to the list
>are held up until someone moderates them and either deletes or approves
>them. That's why they come in spurts. Also, people are responding to old
>messages that are archived and come up in Google searches.
>
>--
>
>Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
>
Hi Sellam
This has all been discussed before. It just makes me wonder
because the messages are so alike. I understand the clustering
but not why the clusters should have so much similarity.
Dwight
At 10:48 PM 5/11/04 +0100, you wrote:
>
This would save a lot of work to
>get a working Z8000 syatem. Any pictures?
This is about 1/2 the actual of the card
<http://www.classiccmp.org/hp/misc/dsc.jpg>
Joe
