X-Received: by 10.236.103.164 with SMTP id f24mr15400720yhg.11.1417799060156; Fri, 05 Dec 2014 09:04:20 -0800 (PST) X-Received: by 10.50.12.69 with SMTP id w5mr63033igb.3.1417799059871; Fri, 05 Dec 2014 09:04:19 -0800 (PST) Path: csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!feeder01.blueworldhosting.com!peer02.iad.highwinds-media.com!news.highwinds-media.com!feed-me.highwinds-media.com!s7no4337261qap.1!news-out.google.com!jh1ni6649igb.0!nntp.google.com!h15no13869957igd.0!postnews.google.com!glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: comp.sys.zenith.z100 Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2014 09:04:19 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: glegroupsg2000goo.googlegroups.com; posting-host=64.146.111.66; posting-account=rNpA7woAAAAfN6WOCAJdQhXFqjpC06Yq NNTP-Posting-Host: 64.146.111.66 References: User-Agent: G2/1.0 MIME-Version: 1.0 Message-ID: <3ad55b36-87a0-465d-b397-e097669a9357@googlegroups.com> Subject: Re: Who is still around? From: GC Injection-Date: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 17:04:19 +0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Received-Bytes: 4105 X-Received-Body-CRC: 3367866083 Xref: csiph.com comp.sys.zenith.z100:17 Rick: Although I don=C2=B9t have a large software collection for the Z-100, I did= write the first versions of the boot ROM for it, and have a patent in the design of the video in the Z-100. Most of my software was MS-DOS (Z-DOS) software= , although it also ran CP/M (85 and x86). It has both an 8088 and an 8085 in it. Barry Watzman wasn=C2=B9t so sure that the x86 architecture would surv= ive, so as the marketing guy at the time, he insisted on both processors. He ha= s since died. The boot ROM also emulated the H-19 terminal, although I have been lead to believe by others that CP/M did not take good advantage of this--I believe = ZDOS did. From an emulation standpoint, the Z-100 is mostly PC-like, albeit with different video=E2=80=B9more like VGA, although it was released in an EGA era. Babu Rajaram was the lead engineer on the project. Mark Nichol (sp?) was his technician at the time. I believe he put schematics on the web at one point in time. Last I knew, he was at AMD in Texas. Dave Perkins did the MS-DOS/Z-DOS porting. I went out to Redmond to make sure that the DOS versions of what are now the MS office products ran on it. There was a MS-DOS version of word, , and a spread-sheet as well. Can=C2=B9t remember = the name of the DOS version of Excel=E2=80=B9Multiplan?. The Z-100 was a nice machine, from a by-gone era=E2=80=B9before most of the= design was in one chip. Does your Z-100 have the integral monitor, or is it low profile (separate monitor usually sits on top)? Gregg Chandler Enthusiastic Software On Thursday, December 4, 2014 2:15:41 AM UTC-5, Rick Button wrote: > Hi! I've become interested in the Z-100 since I found one in a recycling = bin about a half a year ago. I have done a fair bit of research on it, and = contacted a few people that have worked with them in the past. >=20 > I'm trying to get a feel for who else still has these systems. I contacte= d Steve Vagts and he still has parts/systems/software. >=20 > The problem with this system is that it is so old that much of the inform= ation is not available easily on the internet. There are few personal websi= tes from people who own/are interested in the systems, but there are not la= rge resources of information. I think this is due to its age. >=20 > I am interested in archiving and cataloging as much software for this sys= tem as physically possible digitally in order to preserve this system, with= the hope one day that I will have the time to implement an emulator for it= . There are no large resources of digitally archived software for this syst= em publicly available. Does anyone have a large personal archive of softwar= e for this system that they are willing to share? >=20 > Even if you don't have any software to share, say hi! I would love to hea= r pings from other people who are still interested in the Z-100! >=20 > Thanks for reading, > Rick Button