Re: Help me I.D. this card!

[nparker@cie-2.uoregon.edu (Neil Parker)]

In article <xdLkSLx.secti@delphi.com> Chris Williams <secti@delphi.com> writes:
>This came out of a Franklin Ace 1000, it has a "Z80a cpu chip on it, and a
>small light to the left of the c.p.u. Underneath the
>light is a small box with a set of switches labled 1-4. I don't believe this
>is any kind of serial or parallel card, because the card has no connecter.
>any Ideas?

That's a Z80 card.  Assuming you have the disks that go with it, it allows
you to run the CP/M operating system.  (Back in the days when there were still
hundreds of different kinds of computers, instead of just Mac and IBM, CP/M
was a very popular operating system...it could be made to run on just about
any computer with a Z80 CPU, which included a significant fraction of the
brands available at the time.)

Somebody else suggested that it might be a clone of the PCPI AppliCard.
Given that it has those four switches, and no connectors, though, I doubt
that it's a PCPI clone...more likely a Microsoft Softcard clone.  They way
to tell for sure is to look for memory chips...if the card has memory on
it, it could be a PCPI clone.  If it only has the Z80 and a bunch of
74LSxxx logic chips, then it's probably a Microsoft clone.


Whichever kind of card it is, it'll be of no use to you unless you have the
software that goes with it, i.e. a CP/M boot disk.

               - Neil Parker
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