Blue Thunder Z-80 card software

From: Christian Fandt <cfandt_at_netsync.net>
Date: Thu Jan 21 09:07:27 1999

At 08:48 AM 1/21/99 +0000, Joe <rigdonj_at_intellistar.net> wrote:
>Aaarrgghhh! I threw one away a few years ago because I couldn't get the
>software for it. I think you're the only person that I know that has heard
>of one.
>
> Joe
>
>At 07:02 AM 1/21/99 -0500, Bob Stek wrote:
>>Does anyone have the software for a Blue Thunder Z-80 card for the PC ISA
>>bus? I would like to get my hands on a copy.

Well, I've heard of them Joe. Betcha Allison has heard of them too.

Back "In The Olde Days" when product development was moved down from our
soon-to-be-ex-parent company (Bausch &Lomb) we were still using a 2 MHz Z80
in our high-end product. This was about 1983 I think. Two Zilog development
systems were sent down with all the other tools. They could not emulate the
newer 4 MHz Z80 CPUs we were going to design with so we had to figure out
something else. We could NOT afford the big prices asked for a Zilog, HP,
Tek or Kontron development system (we were cast off on our own as a
separate "profit center" during that early '80's recession before being
bought by a German company in Jan. '85. Sink or swim, as it were.)

The Blue Thunder products were released around then and that seemed to be
our solution! We started getting the then-new Zenith Z150 series PCs and
Blue Thunders to use as Z80 development platforms.

Today, I have one of the old Zilog devel. systems, couple of the Z150's and
a couple of Blue Thunders in my collection. And as for you Bob, I do have
the software. Now, since we recently moved (and you folks have heard me say
this before), I have to hunt through a houseful of boxes to find just where
the h*** the danged stuff is. :) Email me privately.

Regards, Chris
-- --

Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian
Jamestown, NY USA cfandt_at_netsync.net
Member of Antique Wireless Association
        URL: http://www.ggw.org/freenet/a/awa/
Received on Thu Jan 21 1999 - 09:07:27 GMT

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