Re: Remember "Bit-Slice" Chips ?

On 12/11/24 8:58 PM, rbowman wrote:

On Wed, 11 Dec 2024 03:50:32 -0500, 186282@ud0s4.net wrote:
 

There is another golden oldie. The 5120 was a strange beast, selectable
for either BASIC or APL. It's successor, the System/23, had an 8085
rather than IBM's homebrew but had a similar look. Familiarity with the
8085 was one of the factors for using the 8088.

>
    Umm ... 5120 came well after the 8088. Got yer numbers right ?
>
    The 8085 was a pretty fair predecessor for the 8088 however. Not THAT
    much diff. However, for the time,
    the Z80 was maybe a tad better.
>
    Would still like to get my hands on a working S-100 Z80 system .....

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_5120
 Technically the 8088 processor was released in '79 while the 5120 was
released in Feb '80.  The System/23 with the 8085 was released in July
'81. The 5150 PC was released in August 1981 more than a year after the
5120. The 5100 itself was released in '75, and the 5110 in '78. Same PALM
processor throughout. The 5110 had more I/O like floppy interfaces, while
the 5120 had a larger screen and 2 built in 8" floppies.

   Ah - you were referring to a pc model number, not
   a chip number !  :-)
   Didn't the 5120s have like a REALLY dinky monitor ?
   And they wonder why nerds wear thick glasses  :-)

The company I worked for bought the 5120 and I created an inventory
control system on it but my personal machine at the time was an Osborne 1
CP/M 'portable' that I bought in April '81. I don't remember when I got
around to buying a PC clone, maybe '84? It was one of the brand x mystery
boxes with the turbo switch.

   I've used an Osbourne and the competing Kaypro. For
   the era, they really weren't bad. The 8088 more
   smoothly accessed larger RAM space however, so it
   became the worthy successor. 64/128k became obsolete
   REAL quick.
   As for Z80 :
https://z80kits.com/shop/rc2014-classic-ii/
http://cpuville.com/Kits/Z80-kits-home.html
https://feertech.com/microbeast/
https://www.budgetronics.eu/en/building-kits/z80-retrocomputer-building-kit/a-24691-20
   You can STILL get 'em - it's one those chips that
   refuse to die ...  "good enough" for a lot of practical
   uses and will run CP/M
   I've got a ZX81 around somewhere, but those were 'toys'.
   Still, always wanted my own S-100 box, but could never
   afford one while they were still in use. I think they
   were still made even for the 68000, maybe 68020, but
   the buss wasn't meant for the higher clocks that soon
   became prevalent and it became so easy to put the
   periphs into ONE CHIP that there really wasn't the
   need for 8/10/12 slot computers anymore.
   Wonder how fast, with modern techniques, you could
   REALLY make a Z80 ? Could prob fit a bunch on a
   single die ....