CP/M (Control Program for Microcomputers) is an early microcomputer OS written by hacker Gary Kildall for 8080 and Z80 based machines. It was very popular in the late 1970s but was virtually wiped out by MS-DOS after the release of the IBMPC in 1981. Legend has it that Kildall's company blew its chance to write the OS for the IBMPC because Kildall decided to spend a day IBM's reps wanted to meet with him enjoying the perfect flying weather in his private plane. Many of CP/M's features and conventions strongly resemble those of early DEC operating systems such as TOPS-10, OS/8, RSTS, and RSX-11. Research CP/M
RM/COBOL is an implementation of a CSA-certified COBOL that is based on the ANSI 74 standards. It executes on more than 35 operating systems, including PCDOS, MSDOS, TRS-DOS, RM/COS, OASIS, and Unix. The program is used often for accounting applications. RM/COBOL is available on the MC68000, Z80, 6809, Z8000, 8086, 9900, PDPll, LSI-11, and the IBM 30xx, 43xx, and 370 mainframes. A major advantage of RM/COBOL is its ability to develop an application on the mainframe for use on the PC or vice versa. Software developed in RM/COBOL on one system can execute on any
RM/COBOL system. RM/ COBOL supports all standard COBOL file-access methods at the highest ANSI 74 level. Research RM/COBOL
The Z80 is an 8 bit microprocessor chip by Zilog widely used during the 1970's and 1980's - and still in widely used in 2004 - in early personal computers, and which formed the successor to the 8080 microprocessor with some Intel designers leaving Intel and designing the Z80. The Z80 retains all the 8080 instructions and added new instructions. In 2000 Zilog released the eZ80, an updated version of the Z80 microprocessor for modern embedded applications, which operates four times faster at the same clock speed as traditional Z80 microprocessors and can access 16mb of address space, as opposed to the 64 kb accessible by the original
Z80. It should be noted that the original Z80 microprocessor is still in production and use more than twenty years after its inception. Research Z80 More information about Z80
The ZX80 was a revolutionary computer invented by Clive Sinclair and released in 1980. It was based upon the Z80 microprocessor, and used few other chips. It had a built in BASIC interpreter and introduced computing for the first time to the masses by being affordable by any household. Video display was produced by a domestic television set which was connected by an aerial fly-lead to the computer. A year later the ZX80 was replaced by the improved ZX81 which in turn was replaced in 1982 by the far superior ZX Spectrum. Research ZX80
The ZX81 was a revolutionary computer invented by Clive Sinclair and released in 1981. It was based upon the Z80 microprocessor, and used only three other chips in the basic model which had just 1K of RAM (enough to hold a functional player v computerchess game). It had a built in BASIC interpreter and introduced mass computing for the first time to the masses by being affordable by any household. Video display was produced by a domestic television set which was connected by an aerial fly-lead to the computer. Peripherals could be fitter to an exposed slot of the PCB, the most popular being a 16K RAMextension (RAMpack). Most remarkable was the award winning manual which accompanied the ZX81 which taught computing basics and the BASIC programming language in a clear and popular language for the first time. It replaced the ZX80 and was replaced itself in 1982 by the far superior ZX Spectrum. Research ZX81
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