The PC's Soviet?

From: Doug Spence <ds_spenc_at_alcor.concordia.ca>
Date: Wed Apr 29 03:27:54 1998

On Wed, 22 Apr 1998, Sam Ismail wrote:

> > Maybe I should start collecting Apple clones, seeing as I see them more
> > frequently than actual Apples (clones were more affordable).
>
> I think the clones are more interesting than the real Apples at this
> point. They are more varied and in most areas are less common. More
> importantly they do have a historical significance.

Yes, they do have significance. At least now that "clone" means "PC" to
most people. :/

Most of the clones were straight Apple rip-offs, but some of them did
indeed have some character of their own.

> > Too bad the //e won't work with any of my Z80 cards. :/
>
> Hmmm...why is that? What do you get when you boot it up?

When I do a cold boot, I invariably get a screen full of garbage, and the
LED on the top of the Z80 card lights up. The LED will either
stay on, or it will go off after about a second. Subsequent resets may
get a screen full of garbage, with the light on or off. After the third
or fourth reset, the screen will mostly or totally clear, and I'll
get a "CAN'T FIND Z80 SOFTCARD" message. Once that message appears, that's
usually all that will appear with any future resets, and there will be
no activity from the LED.

> I guess it could be your Z-80 card.

It could be the //e as well, or it could be the ancient version of CP/M
I've got. Looking through the disk image I've stored on my Amiga, I see
"COPYRIGHT (C) 1979 DIGITAL RESEARCH", and
APPLE ][ CP/M
56K VER. 2.20
(C) 1980 MICROSOFT

> I used to have problems running my Microsoft
> Softcard //e with my Transwarp II because of some bus conflict I imagine.

Neither of my Z80 cards will work in my //e, with or without any other
boards installed in the system.

My //e motherboard is an 820-0064-A, and it's unenhanced.


Doug Spence
ds_spenc_at_alcor.concordia.ca
Received on Wed Apr 29 1998 - 03:27:54 BST