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Digital Research Z80 "Gold Card"

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AppleCPM

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May 31, 2011, 12:29:12 AM5/31/11
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Hi, y'all!

When this card popped up on eBay, I went after it even though I'd
never heard of it. I won it hoping that the boot disk I have for
another Digital Research CP/M card would serve to boot the card but it
doesn't. So, either the card is bad or it needs its a unique boot
disk. Finding such a boot disk is one thing but it would be nice to
know whether or not the "Gold Card" actually needs a special boot
disk. Searching the 'net turned up a review of the "Gold Card" but
the review makes no mention of the card needing a special boot disk.

Willi

Sean Fahey

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May 31, 2011, 9:19:10 AM5/31/11
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You didn't include a link to the auction, but I think I recall seeing it.

Try the CP/M boot disk for a PCPI Applicard. I think they were the same.

AppleCPM

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May 31, 2011, 10:47:50 AM5/31/11
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Hi!

On May 31, 9:19 am, Sean wrote:
> You didn't include a link to the auction, but I think I recall seeing it.
> Try the CP/M boot disk for a PCPI Applicard. I think they were the same.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170641495982

Willi

Steven Hirsch

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May 31, 2011, 5:58:10 PM5/31/11
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My, that _does_ look a lot like an Applicard.

Sean Fahey

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May 31, 2011, 6:14:23 PM5/31/11
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But the orientation of IC's is certainly different. I (probably erroneously) thought it was a earlier revision of basically the same card.

Michael J. Mahon

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Jun 1, 2011, 1:01:45 AM6/1/11
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Sean Fahey wrote:
> You didn't include a link to the auction, but I think I recall seeing it.
>
> Try the CP/M boot disk for a PCPI Applicard. I think they were the same.

That's my understanding, too. "Gold Card" is just a rebranding.

-michael

NadaNet 3.1 for Apple II parallel computing!
Home page: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon/

"The wastebasket is our most important design
tool--and it's seriously underused."

AppleCPM

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Jun 2, 2011, 6:45:20 AM6/2/11
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Hi, y'all!

I tired booting the "Gold Card" with an AppliCard boot disk. No
go.

On Tuesday night I acquired a Hewlett-Packard scanner via a local
Freecycle group. Last night I installed it on this system and used it
to create a high definition scan of the "Gold Card". The scan has
been uploaded to the Yahoo! CP/M group 'Files' area. You have to be a
member of the group to access it. If you want to see the image but
are put off by joining a Yahoo! group, please contact me privately.

Willi

AppleCPM

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Jun 3, 2011, 3:45:41 AM6/3/11
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Hi!

On Jun 1, 1:01 am, Michael wrote:
> That's my understanding, too.  "Gold Card" is just a re-branding.

Sorry, Michael, but your understanding is wrong. The "Gold Card"
is NOT a re-branding of an AppliCard. They do seem similar at first
glance . The cards are the same size and the eight 64Kx1 RAM chips
are arranged the same way at the left side of the card. But, on the
AppliCard, the remainder of the chips are arranged horizontally
whereas on the "Gold Card" they're arranged vertically. Also, the
"Gold Card" has chips that are not used on the AppliCard. They are:
two 6116s (2Kx8 static RAM) and an HD46505 (CRT controller).

Willi

Steven Hirsch

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Jun 3, 2011, 9:06:12 AM6/3/11
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According to the review that Willi posted on the Yahoo Apple/CPM group, the
Gold Card had its own on-board CRT controller! What a cool idea. I wish I
had one of these (with the software, of course).

Willi, have you captured any scans of the card that are detailed enough to
reverse-engineer the board? Does it use any programmable logic (PALs or PLDs)?

Steve

Polymorph

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Jun 3, 2011, 10:01:40 AM6/3/11
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Hi Willi,

On a whim, I did a bit of a search but all I could turn up of any
substance was the following comp.os.cpm post (scroll down until you
see the topic "Free to a good home - DRI CPM "Gold Card" docs..."):

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.cpm/tree/browse_frm/month/1999-08?_done%25253D

Mr. Hirsch was actually involved in the discussion (albeit briefly),
but I won't hold that against him seeing as it was nearly 12 years
ago. :-P

Not much I know, but there might be a possible lead, and at least you
can see what disks were available for the Gold Card...

Cheers,
Mike

AppleCPM

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Jun 3, 2011, 10:35:24 AM6/3/11
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Hi!

On Jun 3, 9:06 am, Steven wrote:
> According to the review that Willi posted on the Yahoo Apple/CPM group, the
> Gold Card had its own on-board CRT controller!  What a cool idea.  I wish I
> had one of these (with the software, of course).
> Willi, have you captured any scans of the card that are detailed enough to
> reverse-engineer the board?  Does it use any programmable logic (PALs or PLDs)?

There are three chips in sockets with little paper labels on top.
One of the paper labels has come off enough to reveal that the chip is
a PAL.

I'll scan the back of the card later today.

Willi


pitz

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Jun 3, 2011, 2:10:39 PM6/3/11
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This collector from Japan has the card listed in his collection. Maybe he has the disks that came with it too:

http://www.apple2world.jp/apple2/COL/COL-HardWare.html

AppleCPM

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Jun 3, 2011, 4:17:18 PM6/3/11
to
Hi!

On Jun 3, 2:10 pm, pitz wrote:
> This collector from Japan has the card listed in his collection.  Maybe he has the disks that came with it too:
> http://www.apple2world.jp/apple2/COL/COL-HardWare.html

Thanks for the info!!! But the site was last updated over ten
years ago and a message to the listed e-mail address bounces
immediately.

Willi


Geoff Body

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Jun 4, 2011, 7:35:01 PM6/4/11
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Willi,
the homepage of the site has
Apple II World.jp updated 2011-04-14

check the page for contact details

http://www.apple2world.jp/A2W/about_me.html

Geoff

Michael J. Mahon

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Jun 4, 2011, 9:02:30 PM6/4/11
to

Thanks for the correction. I'll have to go back and take another
look--I have this vague recollection of having a Gold Card somewhere...

Steven Hirsch

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Jun 5, 2011, 8:30:29 PM6/5/11
to
On 06/03/2011 10:01 AM, Polymorph wrote:

> On a whim, I did a bit of a search but all I could turn up of any
> substance was the following comp.os.cpm post (scroll down until you
> see the topic "Free to a good home - DRI CPM "Gold Card" docs..."):
>
> http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.cpm/tree/browse_frm/month/1999-08?_done%25253D
>
> Mr. Hirsch was actually involved in the discussion (albeit briefly),
> but I won't hold that against him seeing as it was nearly 12 years
> ago. :-P

Heh. I _still_ wouldn't pay $300 for one :-).

Sean Fahey

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Jun 6, 2011, 11:29:21 PM6/6/11
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Ouch. I assume it's not the same thing.

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Advanced-Logic-Systems-Apple-II-CP-M-Card-/140561387851

AppleCPM

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Jun 7, 2011, 6:16:48 AM6/7/11
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Hi!

On Jun 6, 11:29 pm, Sean Fahey <a2...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Ouch. I assume it's not the same thing.

> http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Advanced-Logic-Systems-Apple-II-CP-M-Card-/14...

Sean, you're right, it's not the same thing. Advanced Logic
Systems produced three different Z-80 cards. They are: Z Card, Z
Engine and "The CP/M Card". I've managed to collect examples of all
three including three revisions of the latter. There's an excellent
site about the "The CP/M Card":
>http://roger.geek.nz/apple2/cpm.html
Images of the Z Card, Z Engine and three revisions of "The CP/M Card"
are available in the 'Files' section of the Yahoo! CP/M group. "The
CP/M Card" was the result of cooperation between ALS and Digital
Research. ALS was not involved with the Gold Card. Both "The CP/M
Card" and the Gold Card came with CP/M Plus, AKA CP/M 3, which allows
the use of bank-switched RAM.

Willi

Steven Hirsch

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Jun 7, 2011, 7:46:39 AM6/7/11
to

I assume the Gold Card was the only one with its own on-board video adapter?

AppleCPM

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Jun 7, 2011, 8:42:32 AM6/7/11
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Hi!

On Jun 7, 7:46 am, Steven wrote:
> I assume the Gold Card was the only one with its own on-board video adapter?

Well, it's the only one with a CRT controller chip. I wonder if
the Gold Card came with some kind of video switch so, when changing
between 6502 and Z-80 CPUs, cable swapping or a second monitor
wouldn't be needed.

Willi

Sean Fahey

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Jun 7, 2011, 9:25:30 AM6/7/11
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Well, this is off and on topic... I'm curious about what the draw is with CP/M on the Apple II. The library (afaik) isn't very large and interoperability with other Z80 machines of the era is severely limited if not crippling because the Apple II's disk format. Yet, there is seemingly no lack of Z80 cards out there, and at least a dozen companies made their own card(s) back in the day. So... it was a popular accessory -- but was it over-hyped?

I realize the irony, coming from an Apple II enthusiast such as myself asking this, but why is CP/M on the Apple II so interesting?

I'm not immune btw, I have a small collection of different boards but I'm not using them. Whenever I crack open a new (to me) machine and find a Z80, I'm a little surprised. I assume the original owner used it for Wordstar or something similar. More often than not, the Z80 comes as part of a system but it's been removed and replaced with something else.

If anyone wants to discuss why CP/M intrigues them so much, I'd enjoy reading what you have to say on the matter.

Michael J. Mahon

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Jun 7, 2011, 1:32:12 PM6/7/11
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In my case, the draw was certain programs available for the CP/M that
were not available (to me) for the Apple--like Wordstar and muMath.
(I later found out that there _was_ an Apple version of muMath.)

The Apple II with a Z80 card was the most widely available CP/M
platform, perhaps because of the Apple's well-developed market
infrastructure and its convenient design.

The S-100 machines which preceded the Apple II were much less
"consumer-friendly" than the Apple II, and were more likely
to be used by early hobbyists or small businesses supported
by that ecosystem.

To address the interoperability question you raised, many
CP/M machines had their own proprietary disk formats, and the
standard fallback for data interchange was serial ports. The
large installed base of Apple II CP/M machines pretty much
ensured that programs would be available in Apple disk format.

A business choosing a CP/M-based solution would generally adopt
a single type of platform and replicate it to achieve the needed
media interchangeability--often with 8" floppies, since data
capacity was a big issue for a business.

Adopting the Apple II as a CP/M platform resulted in a much more
compact and affordable CP/M solution for a small office, with an
integrated keyboard. Of course, as the 1980s progressed, CP/M
became more of a legacy solution, and its users typically "graduated"
to PCDOS/MSDOS, which had substantial similarities.

I "missed" the CP/M wave of early personal computing, but I'm sure
there are participants here who remember it vividly. ;-)

Steven Hirsch

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Jun 7, 2011, 6:21:03 PM6/7/11
to

The review you posted mentions precisely that sort of arrangement. I think
the switching is on the card.

Steven Hirsch

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Jun 7, 2011, 6:23:10 PM6/7/11
to
On 06/07/2011 09:25 AM, Sean Fahey wrote:
> Well, this is off and on topic... I'm curious about what the draw is with
> CP/M on the Apple II. The library (afaik) isn't very large and
> interoperability with other Z80 machines of the era is severely limited if
> not crippling because the Apple II's disk format. Yet, there is seemingly
> no lack of Z80 cards out there, and at least a dozen companies made their
> own card(s) back in the day. So... it was a popular accessory -- but was it
> over-hyped?

All I can say is that a hot-rodded Applicard (8Mhz. Z80H) running in an
accelerated IIe was the fastest CP/M experience available "back in the day".
Obviously, emulation on a 2.8Ghz. Intel box is faster nowadays :-)

mojoehand

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Jun 7, 2011, 10:24:37 PM6/7/11
to
On Jun 7, 4:16 am, AppleCPM <a...@wilserv.com> wrote:
>
> Images of the Z Card, Z Engine and three revisions of "The CP/M Card"
> are available in the 'Files' section of the Yahoo! CP/M group.  "The
> CP/M Card" was the result of cooperation between ALS and Digital
> Research. ALS was not involved with the Gold Card.  Both "The CP/M
> Card" and the Gold Card came with CP/M Plus, AKA CP/M 3, which allows
> the use of bank-switched RAM.
>
> Willi

I had to take a look, and yes, that image of a Z-Card matches the card
I have. Some time ago, I had looked on the net and could not find a
description or picture of this exact card. I still don't know what if
any differences there are between the various cards. I do know that I
have booted and run the standard MS Softcard CP/M on this Z-Card. In
any case, it is one of the items I'm getting rid of, so if anyone is
interested, see my Marketplace posting.

Steven Hirsch

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Jun 8, 2011, 8:00:58 AM6/8/11
to

I think the subject has gotten crossed up in this thread. The Gold Card
almost certainly does not run MS Softcard CP/M.

Sean Fahey

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Jun 16, 2011, 9:50:35 AM6/16/11
to mjm...@aol.com
On Tuesday, June 7, 2011 12:32:12 PM UTC-5, Michael J. Mahon wrote:

> I "missed" the CP/M wave of early personal computing, but I'm sure
> there are participants here who remember it vividly. ;-)

Dan Wallace has piqued my interest enough to give it a whirl. Since ADT will only get me so far, I need to know what terminal program(s) are recommended for transferring all these CP/M programs that are "out there" on other platforms to the Apple. Is Z-Term a good choice?

A2CPM

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Oct 22, 2013, 2:11:21 PM10/22/13
to
Hi!

On Saturday, June 4, 2011 9:02:30 PM UTC-4, Michael J. Mahon wrote:
<--- snip --->
> Thanks for the correction. I'll have to go back and take another
> look--I have this vague recollection of having a Gold Card somewhere...

Thank you, Michael, for locating the Gold Card and sending it to Steven Hirsch. And thank you, Steven, for sending me images of the distribution diskettes. Hopefully, as soon as I get a video cable built, I'll finally be able to see my Gold Card boot up.

Willi


Michael J. Mahon

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Oct 22, 2013, 3:02:52 PM10/22/13
to
Glad to be able to help.

Steven had asked me about this card a couple of years ago, and I was unable
to find it.

Recently, I uncovered it in a most unlikely place, partly because the box
was an unusual size and shape!

-michael - NadaNet 3.1 and AppleCrate II: http://home.comcast.net/~mjmahon

5p4m...@gmail.com

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May 6, 2015, 4:03:17 PM5/6/15
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Sorry to be resurrecting an old thread. can you kindly stick the images in a common depository to be shared? I am sitting on a gold card too...

Leandro Polimeno

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May 7, 2015, 10:30:28 AM5/7/15
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UAU ... have you got one too ?! I just pass to re-open this thread today.

Let´s put those cards to work !!

Regards,

Polimeno

Leandro Polimeno

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May 7, 2015, 10:38:03 AM5/7/15
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Em quarta-feira, 6 de maio de 2015 17:03:17 UTC-3, 5p4m...@gmail.com escreveu:
Forget to ask i you have the manual OR how made the video cable for it.

One thing I can assume is that it will not work like a 80-col without turning ON the Z-80 part, you agree ?!

Leandro Polimeno

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May 13, 2015, 1:36:02 PM5/13/15
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Anyone ?!

Regards,

Polimeno

Em terça-feira, 31 de maio de 2011 01:29:12 UTC-3, A2CPM escreveu:
> Hi, y'all!
>
> When this card popped up on eBay, I went after it even though I'd
> never heard of it. I won it hoping that the boot disk I have for
> another Digital Research CP/M card would serve to boot the card but it
> doesn't. So, either the card is bad or it needs its a unique boot
> disk. Finding such a boot disk is one thing but it would be nice to
> know whether or not the "Gold Card" actually needs a special boot
> disk. Searching the 'net turned up a review of the "Gold Card" but
> the review makes no mention of the card needing a special boot disk.
>
> Willi

Leandro Polimeno

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May 13, 2015, 3:41:31 PM5/13/15
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For reference ...

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:59bTlDSfwdYJ:www.personalcomputernews.co.uk/pcnb/html/065/personal_computer_news_065_peripherals_pc_m_gold_card.html+&cd=1&hl=pt-BR&ct=clnk&gl=br

http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102645991

santo.n...@gmail.com

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May 18, 2015, 8:44:03 PM5/18/15
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I just got one of these cards a few days ago. Maybe one or two of these pictures will help. If someone can share the current available disk images with me, I can see if I can fill in anything still needed.

http://vintagecomputer.ca/digital-research-cpm-gold-card/

Hope this helps,
Santo

Steven Hirsch

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May 19, 2015, 7:56:32 AM5/19/15
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On 05/18/2015 08:44 PM, santo.n...@gmail.com wrote:
> I just got one of these cards a few days ago. Maybe one or two of these
> pictures will help. If someone can share the current available disk images
> with me, I can see if I can fill in anything still needed.

I just sent you the images attached to private e-mail. As I mentioned in my
note, it would be very helpful if you could unplug the memory piggyback from
the main board and take some very sharp close-up photos of both sides. I'd
like to take a try at cloning it.



Leandro Polimeno

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May 19, 2015, 10:22:06 AM5/19/15
to
Mr. Santo,

Can you provide the images of those disks, and if time permit a scan of techinical/squematics manual ?!

Tks

Polimeno

Leandro Polimeno

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May 19, 2015, 10:32:57 AM5/19/15
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Em segunda-feira, 18 de maio de 2015 21:44:03 UTC-3, santo.n...@gmail.com escreveu:
I just saw an incoming image on Asimov ... who is the 'father' ?!

santo.n...@gmail.com

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May 19, 2015, 5:36:20 PM5/19/15
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On Tuesday, May 19, 2015 at 7:56:32 AM UTC-4, Steven Hirsch wrote:
> As I mentioned in my
> note, it would be very helpful if you could unplug the memory piggyback from
> the main board and take some very sharp close-up photos of both sides. I'd
> like to take a try at cloning it.

Pictures have been added to the same web page at the bottom of the gallery. There are four in total. Hopefully those will cover all of the traces. If not, let me know.

Leandro,

> Can you provide the images of those disks, and if time permit a scan of techinical/squematics manual ?!

No need to. You found the archive in your later message. As for the manual, I'll try to scan the User Guide. Unfrotunately, it's bound

> I just saw an incoming image on Asimov ... who is the 'father' ?!

I think Steven posted that.

santo.n...@gmail.com

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May 19, 2015, 5:40:09 PM5/19/15
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On Tuesday, May 19, 2015 at 5:36:20 PM UTC-4, santo.n...@gmail.com wrote:
> Can you provide the images of those disks, and if time permit a scan of techinical/squematics manual ?!

(sorry. Must have submitted when I tried to edit my typo)

No need to. You found the archive in your later message. As for the manual, I'll try to scan the User Guide. Unfortunately, it's bound so it will take me a little longer to scan and put together but I will get to it as soon as I can. Happy to make the manual available. There's a bunch of other stuff in the two manual binders but it's reference for CP/M Plus and programming and is probably available elsewhere for another platform.

Hope this helps,
Santo

Leandro Polimeno

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May 20, 2015, 5:33:48 PM5/20/15
to
Sorry,

I didn't understand. Where I'm supposed to find it ?!
I need a copy of the disks, can you provide it ?!

Regards,
Polimeno

serg...@gmail.com

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Jul 28, 2018, 12:02:48 PM7/28/18
to
Good day,

I have got one Digital Research Z80 "Gold Card" for apple II

Let me know please
If any body has cp/m for this card or know where I can download it

I have 3 version of cp/m for Apple II, but no one works with this card

Thank you
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