Sharp MZ-700
Posted by musovern on Apr 13th, 2018 in Sharp, Vintage Computers | 0 comments
The MZ-700 was launched in Japan in October 1982. lt was the first Sharp home Computer with colour, but it came without a built-in display unit; instead, sockets were provided for a colour TV or an RGB Monitor; or a B/W TV set or a Mono Monitor. lt also had a built-in printer I/F with a switch which allowed you to run the MZ-1P01 4-pen plotter-printer or a more standard MZ-80P5( K ) dot-matrix printer.
Thus, with its clock speed of 3.5MHz, the MZ-700 seemed to meet many of the criticisms levelled at the MZ-80A when it was launched in June 1982. But it was still only a halfway-house – the printer I/F only suited Sharp printers, the screen was only 40 columns, and to run disk drives you needed an extra interface of some kind.
Read More...Olivetti M24
Posted by musovern on Apr 13th, 2018 in Olivetti, Vintage Computers | 0 commentsThe Olivetti M24 is a computer that was sold by Olivetti in 1983 using the Intel 8086 CPU. The system was sold in the United States under its original name by Docutel/Olivetti of Dallas. AT&T and Xerox bought rights to rebadge the system as the AT&T PC 6300 and the Xerox 6060 series, respectively
Read More...BBC Model B
Posted by musovern on Apr 13th, 2018 in BBC Model B, Vintage Computers | 0 comments
Acorn BBC model B. The Model B had the same features but had 32 KB RAM (expandable to 64K).
The “Tube” was an expansion port which was designed to connect other processors to the BBC (6502, Z80, 68000 or ARM 1 RISC). An interface card was specially designed for the tube. It used another 6502 and a Z80.
One of its most popular peripherals was the “Torch” floppy disk unit, a 5.25″ floppy disk drive with a Z80 which allowed the BBC to use CP/M software.
Read More...Pico/ELF
Posted by musovern on Apr 10th, 2018 in Cosmac-Elf, Single Board Computers | 0 comments
The Pico/Elf is a Micro/Elf derivative. By eliminating the displays and switches (as well as associated circuitry), Mike Riley has been able to add the IDE, Serial port, and Eprom socket. Circuitry has been added to allow the computer to boot from rom by swapping 32k banks until the upper 32k is accessed. This machine also includes the Version 2 Micro/Elf expansion connector. This is an excellent small comptuer for running Elf/OS.
Read More...Bondwell Model 2
Posted by musovern on Apr 10th, 2018 in Bondwell, Vintage Computers | 0 comments
This machine was produced by the Bondwell Holding Company, LLC, of Hong Kong, and came out in 1985. It arrived an interesting juncture of the death of CP/M and the birth of laptop computers. While there are earlier laptops and even earlier CP/M laptops, the Bondwell Model 2 came late enough that there was good enough LCD resolution (640×200) to support an 80×25 line display; CMOS chips were advanced enough to allow long battery life (up to eight hours), and 3.5 inch floppies were already commonplace. The only technology lacking from today’s perspective is that this machine used two heavy 6V sealed lead acid batteries for its power source.
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