Dick Smith Super 80

Posted by musovern on May 2nd, 2023 in Dick Smith Super 80 | 0 comments

Got this Super80 in the big tech sale Auckland 2020.

A little bit about the Super 80

The Dick Smith Super-80 was a Zilog Z80 based kit computer developed as a joint venture between Electronics Australia magazine and Dick Smith Electronics.

It was presented as a series of construction articles in Electronics Australia magazine’s August, September and October 1981 issues.

Electronics Australia had published a number of computer projects before the Super-80, including the EDUC-8 in 1974, the Mini Scamp and the DREAM 6800 Video Computer.

The computer was sold as a “short form” kit for A$ 289.50. For this, the purchaser received the computer PCB, an assembly manual (a copy of the construction articles from Electronics Australia) and basic components, including 16kB of RAM and a 2kB EPROM containing a machine code monitor program. The technical manual and power transformer were sold separately, as were a kit of I.C. sockets, a BASIC interpreter program and from mid-1982 onwards, a metal case to house the computer.

The computer proved to be a popular construction project, with an advertisement in November 1982 claiming: “Over 2000 sold.”[1]

The popularity of the Super-80 led to a small industry growing up around addressing the shortcomings of the original computer – especially the black and white, 32 × 16 character, upper case only video display.

It was in rough shape when pickup by my son Jim and not going, In need of some TLC to bring this machine back to life.

System arrived safety and I then stripped out the IC’s and cleaned the PCB ready for testing.