koziarzw@LONEX.RADC.AF.MIL (Walter Koziarz) (06/30/89)
Fellow Z-100 persons, A recent posting by Gern prompted me to try an experiment. I tried placing the files IBMDOS.COM and COMMAND.COM from an IBM version 3.21 of MS-DOS onto a disk containing Z-100 version 3.10 MS-DOS. The IBMDOS.COM was renamed to MSDOS.SYS, COMMAND.COM was directly replaced and IO.SYS was untouched. This 'mutant system' booted and ran most of the applications/tools tested. Amonge those that did not run were FORMAT.COM, DISKxxxx.xxx, CHKDSK.COM, and other disk system-intimate programs. I am continuing experimentation with this mutant. Other preliminary experimentation (these experiments were conducted by Gern) indicate that it may be possible to run a STOCK 8MHz, recent production (circa 1985) Z-100 at 10MHz reliably with a processor change and inclusion of a GernWare (or similar) 'Turbo Board' containing a 30MHz oscillator. I intend to duplicate this experiment and will post my results as well. One last point of interest to us, with a Z-100 running at 8.67MHz with an 8087, it is possible to perform floating point math at 120% of the rate of an I(nferior) B(ut) M(arketable) P(reposterous) C(ontrivence) / A(ntiquated) T(echnology) running at 8MHz WITH an 80287!!!! [PCMagazine BenchMark 4.02, running under ZPC, no less!!!] Walt K.