EBCDIC

Last week - while I was on holiday on the Noprfolk Broads - someone (I forget who) asked if there had ever been a microcomputer that used EBCDIC. I have an IBM System/23 (aka Datamaster) at home. It has system board, mono monitor, twin 8-inch floppies and PC-style keyboard in one box, and a printer hung off the back. It has an 8085 processor, 64k RAM and 112K ROM. The expansion slots are suspiciously IBM PC like... This box programs in BASIC (the 112k of ROM contains almost a complete mainframe basic with matrix ops, etc.) and uses EBCDIC as its character set. It has interesting features such as a file system with 8.8 character filenames (as opposed to the CPM and later 8.3 that everyone seems to use nowadays :-( ). If the printer is switched off or disconnected, it fails power on diagnostics! As I recall, I was given it by a friend at college in ?1988. He informed me that his stepfather paid L11000 (i.e. UK pounds) for it in ?1980. I once tried to get the BASIC manual out of IBM technical publications. It was out of print, so they persuaded me to shell out L30 (about $40 or $50?) for the mainframe BASIC manual. Not a good buy!!! Anyone else out there have one of these? Know any more about it? Philip. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Philip Belben <><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Das Feuer brennt, das Feuer nennt die Luft sein Schwesterelement - und frisst sie doch (samt dem Ozon)! Das ist die Liebe, lieber Sohn. Poem by Christian Morgenstern - Message by Philip.Belben(a)powertech.co.uk