3 Jul
2026
3 Jul
'26
8:53 p.m.
I believe back when I was looking into this that I saw some of the boards
that used the 80130 available on eBay. I hesitated to buy one, because I
had no confidence I would be able to get the rest of the software stack
working with it. As Ken mentioned, it's only part of iRMX there. Just the
Nucleus, I think. Now I have managed to do a custom build of iRMX86 (to
enable bubble memory), and there is a configuration menu where you can turn
features on/off, so maybe there is a way to enable Nucleus-in-80130. It
would be a very cool project to pursue.
Scott
On Fri, Jul 3, 2026 at 7:06 AM Ken Seefried via cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
There is some documentation for the i80130 in the iRMX
databooks (see:
https://bitsavers.org/pdf/intel/iRMX/). There's additional info in the
Intel 8086 developers manuals of the time, as well as the multibus boards
that used it (iSBC86/30?). As I understand it, it doesn't have *all* of
iRMX in ROM, so you still need additional software to make a system. I
have a couple I haven't yet taken time to do anything with.
It is my understanding (probably wrong) that there is debate over
wether the 80150 actually shipped, and if so, did it ship in volume. I've
never seen one nor know anyone who claims they have, but CP/M-86 isn't my
thing, so I'll leave one of the many experts around here to chime in.
YMMV.
N.B.: If you're shopping, you want the "i80130-2", *not* the
"i80130-6" or
"i80130-A". The former has the iRMX ROM; the latter is ROMless and was
used for the integrated peripherals. See:
https://www.cpushack.com/2017/03/12/when-intel-runs-out-of-chips/
KJ
On Fri, Jul 3, 2026 at 6:34 AM Holger Veit via cctalk <
cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
wrote:
Hi all,
Around 1981, Intel made a 8086 companion chip named _operating system
processor_ (i80130, and i80150, resp.) which comprised a ROM and some
interrupt logic. The 80130 contained sort of a BIOS for iRMX86, the
80150 supported CP/M-86. Few info can be found at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_80130, and a datasheet exists at
alldatasheet.com.
Some lore is also found in some history pages, but not much more than
the datasheet contains.
Was the ROM content of both chips dumped and is available on the
Internet somewhere, or does someone have such a system (supposedly some
iAPX86/30) and is willing to make this public, e.g. upload to bitsavers?
THX to any pointers
Kind Regards
Holger