5 Jun
2001
5 Jun
'01
2:26 a.m.
The SD Sales boards were wildly popular back in the early '80's, probably due at
least in part, to the fact they'd run with almost any other boards, with just a
minor amount of tweaking of the code. What do you know about their firmware?
Have you any doc/listing materials? I have the SBC 200 CPU and that video
board, as well as a keyboard that might have gone with the thing. All these
were given to me by a colleague who had been given it by another colleague who
had since moved on to another employer, back in the '87-'88 time frame. Had the
original owner, who was a fellow with whom I'd occasionally gone fishing, etc,
I'd have asked him some questions that I'd like to have answered now.
In any event, if you'd like to use that SBC 200, which I've never used for
anything, and the VDB 8024, I can send 'em to you, though I have never verified
that they work. I could even send a powered motherboafd, if you like, but you
know what those weigh.
regards,
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeff Hellige" <jhellige(a)earthlink.net>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 3:38 AM
Subject: Re: Versafloppy S-100 board
You may find
that the Versafloppy has an eprom with Z80 code which your 8080
won't like. If you have a Z80A board and 64K of RAM available you need only
figure out what the console for which the code in the EPROM was written would
be. I've got several SD boards, but no FDC, and I really don't know whether
these boards work or not, but I do believe that one popular configuration was
with the SD Sales VDB8024 board, to which one attaches a parallel
keyboard. If
your doc's suggest that's what the EPROM supports, perhaps I can
help by lending
you that board. I may even have a keyboard that is set up for the VDB8024.
Actually, the board looks rather flexible, which I guess
accounts for it's name. It's jumper selectable for two different
port address ranges (63H - 67H or E3H to E7H), CPU selection (Z-80,
8080, or 8085), 5 different interrupt handling modes and 7 different
drive selection modes, including for use with CDC9404 and 9406 drives
with a special cable, as well as support for both 8" and 5-1/4"
drives. I do have another S-100 system based on a Z80 but it's built
around a North Star floppy system and I'd just as soon leave that one
as-is. It has a homebrew ROM monitor.
Jeff
--
Collector of Classic Microcomputers and Video Game Systems:
Home of the TRS-80 Model 2000 FAQ File
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6757