Dec Rainbow prehistory

From: Geoff Reed <geoffr_at_zipcon.net>
Date: Thu Nov 20 14:37:08 2003

At 11:30 AM 11/20/03, you wrote:
>On Wed, 2003-11-19 at 17:13, Geoff Reed wrote:
>
> > um, I have rainbow A & B models, and the 8086 is on the main logic board,
> > not on an add on card.
>
>Sorry for my imprecision. You are right, it wasn't an "add-on" card, the
>context for the incorrect remark was the Rainbow described as a CP/M
>machine, with the 8086 "added on" to it. Obviously not so literally as I
>said.
>
>(Logically-speaking, the 8086 was an accessory to the Z80, whivch owned
>all the peripherals.)

I always found the Rainbow architecture kinda cool actually, when running
in x86 mode the Z-80 functioned as a dedicated IO processor, freeing the
X86 to run your programs without having to deal directly with the preipherals.
Received on Thu Nov 20 2003 - 14:37:08 GMT