HAAR@gmr.COM (RLH) (10/28/88)
I am considering upgrading my S-100 Z-80 computer with a replacement CPU board using either the Hitachi HD64180 or the Zilog Z280 so that I can run my current CP/M programs. I have a couple of questions and would appreciate any information anyone can share. 1) Are the Z280 and HD64180 trully object code compatible with the Z-80 ? 2) In what ways are the Z280 and HD64180 different? 3) I would like to run a version of the Z system (ZCPR & ZRDOS) that takes advantage of the larger address space of these chips. Are there implementations available? 4) Does anyone have experience with particular boards that they could comment on ? The feature set that I am looking for is: - S-100 board. - at least 12Mhz CPU. - on board RAM, either static or dynamic but fast and rock solid. - 2 serial, one parallel port. - floppy disk controller for 8 inch drives minimum, with support for 5 1/4 desirable. - ROM firmware with monitor program and low level I/O drivers. - can access off board memory and peripherals using standard S-100 addressing. - supports S-100 multi-mastering and DMA transfers to on-board memory. - SCSI or hard disk controller - optional, but nice - clock/calendar ahrdware with backup battery. - ZRDOS or CP/M 3.0 software available. If you can recommend specific products that match this description, please let me know. The only one I have found so far is a Z280 single board computer from a company called Computer Design Solutions, Inc. in Statesville, NC, phone: (704)876-2346. It sounds good but technical info is meager and the board is currently vaporware - in production around the end of the year (which year?). They are quoting a price of $550 for the board with 128K RAM. I have not heard of this company before. Does anyone have any experience with them? - sorry if this request got long winded, but I would really appreciate any advice. Bob Haar CSNET: HAAR@GMR.COM