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Can S-100 cards attach to the ZX machines?
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S-100 was, as I understand, a very popular way to connect various computer equipment together in the past. Also, from what I understand, S-100 closely matches the same signals as the Intel 8080, as does the Z80 which the ZX Spectrum etc have. The only thing I can see is that the S-100 needs some unregulated power lines that have different voltages than the ZX Spectrum provides, but that's not insurmountable.
So to me, it seems extremely obvious to expand a ZX Spectrum or ZX81 with an S-100 backplane, to use disk controllers, modems, RAM expansion and all of that, but it seems it never was done, at least not commercially. Even though both are in a similar kind of budget bracket. So I suppose there are technical reasons for that?
architecture
asked 3 hours ago
Wilson
8,581437107
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
S-100 was, as I understand, a very popular way to connect various computer equipment together in the past. Also, from what I understand, S-100 closely matches the same signals as the Intel 8080, as does the Z80 which the ZX Spectrum etc have. The only thing I can see is that the S-100 needs some unregulated power lines that have different voltages than the ZX Spectrum provides, but that's not insurmountable.
So to me, it seems extremely obvious to expand a ZX Spectrum or ZX81 with an S-100 backplane, to use disk controllers, modems, RAM expansion and all of that, but it seems it never was done, at least not commercially. Even though both are in a similar kind of budget bracket. So I suppose there are technical reasons for that?
architecture
asked 3 hours ago
Wilson
8,581437107
S-100 and ZX-81 are not exactly contemporary. I do know a number of people who have equipped their Zeddies with an ECB-Bus (a European standard similar to S-100) interface, but none that went for S-100
– tofro
1 hour ago
@tofro - cromemco were still designing and building new S100 systems in 1981, and I believe continued selling them until the late 80s, so S100 was definitely still current during the Sinclair era
– Jules
41 mins ago
@Jules it was still already nearly 10 years old at the ZX time, and you simply couldn’t get cards at an acceptable price where the Sinclairs dwelled
– tofro
6 mins ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
S-100 was, as I understand, a very popular way to connect various computer equipment together in the past. Also, from what I understand, S-100 closely matches the same signals as the Intel 8080, as does the Z80 which the ZX Spectrum etc have. The only thing I can see is that the S-100 needs some unregulated power lines that have different voltages than the ZX Spectrum provides, but that's not insurmountable.
So to me, it seems extremely obvious to expand a ZX Spectrum or ZX81 with an S-100 backplane, to use disk controllers, modems, RAM expansion and all of that, but it seems it never was done, at least not commercially. Even though both are in a similar kind of budget bracket. So I suppose there are technical reasons for that?
architecture
asked 3 hours ago
Wilson
8,581437107
S-100 was, as I understand, a very popular way to connect various computer equipment together in the past. Also, from what I understand, S-100 closely matches the same signals as the Intel 8080, as does the Z80 which the ZX Spectrum etc have. The only thing I can see is that the S-100 needs some unregulated power lines that have different voltages than the ZX Spectrum provides, but that's not insurmountable.
So to me, it seems extremely obvious to expand a ZX Spectrum or ZX81 with an S-100 backplane, to use disk controllers, modems, RAM expansion and all of that, but it seems it never was done, at least not commercially. Even though both are in a similar kind of budget bracket. So I suppose there are technical reasons for that?
architecture
architecture
asked 3 hours ago
Wilson
8,581437107
asked 3 hours ago
Wilson
8,581437107
asked 3 hours ago
Wilson
8,581437107
asked 3 hours ago
Wilson
8,581437107
asked 3 hours ago
Wilson
8,581437107
8,581437107
S-100 and ZX-81 are not exactly contemporary. I do know a number of people who have equipped their Zeddies with an ECB-Bus (a European standard similar to S-100) interface, but none that went for S-100
– tofro
1 hour ago
@tofro - cromemco were still designing and building new S100 systems in 1981, and I believe continued selling them until the late 80s, so S100 was definitely still current during the Sinclair era
– Jules
41 mins ago
@Jules it was still already nearly 10 years old at the ZX time, and you simply couldn’t get cards at an acceptable price where the Sinclairs dwelled
– tofro
6 mins ago
add a comment |Â
S-100 and ZX-81 are not exactly contemporary. I do know a number of people who have equipped their Zeddies with an ECB-Bus (a European standard similar to S-100) interface, but none that went for S-100
– tofro
1 hour ago
@tofro - cromemco were still designing and building new S100 systems in 1981, and I believe continued selling them until the late 80s, so S100 was definitely still current during the Sinclair era
– Jules
41 mins ago
@Jules it was still already nearly 10 years old at the ZX time, and you simply couldn’t get cards at an acceptable price where the Sinclairs dwelled
– tofro
6 mins ago
S-100 and ZX-81 are not exactly contemporary. I do know a number of people who have equipped their Zeddies with an ECB-Bus (a European standard similar to S-100) interface, but none that went for S-100
– tofro
1 hour ago
S-100 and ZX-81 are not exactly contemporary. I do know a number of people who have equipped their Zeddies with an ECB-Bus (a European standard similar to S-100) interface, but none that went for S-100
– tofro
1 hour ago
@tofro - cromemco were still designing and building new S100 systems in 1981, and I believe continued selling them until the late 80s, so S100 was definitely still current during the Sinclair era
– Jules
41 mins ago
@tofro - cromemco were still designing and building new S100 systems in 1981, and I believe continued selling them until the late 80s, so S100 was definitely still current during the Sinclair era
– Jules
41 mins ago
@Jules it was still already nearly 10 years old at the ZX time, and you simply couldn’t get cards at an acceptable price where the Sinclairs dwelled
– tofro
6 mins ago
@Jules it was still already nearly 10 years old at the ZX time, and you simply couldn’t get cards at an acceptable price where the Sinclairs dwelled
– tofro
6 mins ago
add a comment |Â
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
up vote
2
down vote
Can S-100 cards attach to the ZX machines?
That calls for a clear Yes, But :)
S-100 closely matches the same signals as the Intel 8080, as does the Z80 which the ZX Spectrum etc have.
Adding a basic S-100 bus bridge for the ZX80/81 or Spectrum would in fact be no big deal - only some money to spend for buss board, cage, PS and so on. It would become a bit more troublesome when addressing schemes where considered, as the Sinclairs not only already fill the addresspace with RAM, ROM and I/O, but also do not always filly decode such. As a result the aailable address space is rather limited, and not compatible with all S-100 conventions.
it seems extremely obvious to expand a ZX Spectrum or ZX81 with an S-100 backplane,
Well, while S100 was still a big thing when the ZX80/81 came, and still around for the Spectrum, it also was mostly a US issue. While the Sinclair mania was more confined to Europe (*1) with Britain being a famous hot spot :)
to use disk controllers, modems, RAM expansion and all of that,
Keep in mind that people who bought a ZX machine wheren't exactly buying at the upper end
of the market - and each of the above S-100 products where rather expensive, especially when compared to STT expansions made for Sinclair computers.
but it seems it never was done, at least not commercially.
Right, to my knowledge there are no products for that. Everything that was there wass using the ZX Bus directly as their expanson bus. Jsut think about all these pluggable Memotech modules for the ZX 81. They where not only less expensive than similar S100 boards, but also didn't need the investment into a bus board and a cage.
Bottom line:
- Wrong World Region
- Wrong Market ((Cheap) Home vs. Professional)
- Too Expensive
- Non Easy Configuration
*1 - Sure, there was the TS1000/1500 in the US, but they never reached a similar popularity to make anything worthwhile.
answered 30 mins ago
Raffzahn
35.6k478141
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
not quite an answer to the question:
In our post-90ies and beginning-of-2000ies ZX practice, we were connecting ISA modems to ZX Spectrums here, used BBSes and FIDO via them (there is software for that, of course). Bus convertor was nothing more complex than /RD /WR etc. signals generator, address decoder and signal buffers.
then the formal yes useless answer:
Using enough creativity you can build virtually any bus to any bus converter. Probably S-100 bus is CPU-cycles-centric and therefore the converted would be not very complex.
answered 1 hour ago
lvd
2,152316
add a comment |Â
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
2
down vote
Can S-100 cards attach to the ZX machines?
That calls for a clear Yes, But :)
S-100 closely matches the same signals as the Intel 8080, as does the Z80 which the ZX Spectrum etc have.
Adding a basic S-100 bus bridge for the ZX80/81 or Spectrum would in fact be no big deal - only some money to spend for buss board, cage, PS and so on. It would become a bit more troublesome when addressing schemes where considered, as the Sinclairs not only already fill the addresspace with RAM, ROM and I/O, but also do not always filly decode such. As a result the aailable address space is rather limited, and not compatible with all S-100 conventions.
it seems extremely obvious to expand a ZX Spectrum or ZX81 with an S-100 backplane,
Well, while S100 was still a big thing when the ZX80/81 came, and still around for the Spectrum, it also was mostly a US issue. While the Sinclair mania was more confined to Europe (*1) with Britain being a famous hot spot :)
to use disk controllers, modems, RAM expansion and all of that,
Keep in mind that people who bought a ZX machine wheren't exactly buying at the upper end
of the market - and each of the above S-100 products where rather expensive, especially when compared to STT expansions made for Sinclair computers.
but it seems it never was done, at least not commercially.
Right, to my knowledge there are no products for that. Everything that was there wass using the ZX Bus directly as their expanson bus. Jsut think about all these pluggable Memotech modules for the ZX 81. They where not only less expensive than similar S100 boards, but also didn't need the investment into a bus board and a cage.
Bottom line:
- Wrong World Region
- Wrong Market ((Cheap) Home vs. Professional)
- Too Expensive
- Non Easy Configuration
*1 - Sure, there was the TS1000/1500 in the US, but they never reached a similar popularity to make anything worthwhile.
answered 30 mins ago
Raffzahn
35.6k478141
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
Can S-100 cards attach to the ZX machines?
That calls for a clear Yes, But :)
S-100 closely matches the same signals as the Intel 8080, as does the Z80 which the ZX Spectrum etc have.
Adding a basic S-100 bus bridge for the ZX80/81 or Spectrum would in fact be no big deal - only some money to spend for buss board, cage, PS and so on. It would become a bit more troublesome when addressing schemes where considered, as the Sinclairs not only already fill the addresspace with RAM, ROM and I/O, but also do not always filly decode such. As a result the aailable address space is rather limited, and not compatible with all S-100 conventions.
it seems extremely obvious to expand a ZX Spectrum or ZX81 with an S-100 backplane,
Well, while S100 was still a big thing when the ZX80/81 came, and still around for the Spectrum, it also was mostly a US issue. While the Sinclair mania was more confined to Europe (*1) with Britain being a famous hot spot :)
to use disk controllers, modems, RAM expansion and all of that,
Keep in mind that people who bought a ZX machine wheren't exactly buying at the upper end
of the market - and each of the above S-100 products where rather expensive, especially when compared to STT expansions made for Sinclair computers.
but it seems it never was done, at least not commercially.
Right, to my knowledge there are no products for that. Everything that was there wass using the ZX Bus directly as their expanson bus. Jsut think about all these pluggable Memotech modules for the ZX 81. They where not only less expensive than similar S100 boards, but also didn't need the investment into a bus board and a cage.
Bottom line:
- Wrong World Region
- Wrong Market ((Cheap) Home vs. Professional)
- Too Expensive
- Non Easy Configuration
*1 - Sure, there was the TS1000/1500 in the US, but they never reached a similar popularity to make anything worthwhile.
answered 30 mins ago
Raffzahn
35.6k478141
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
Can S-100 cards attach to the ZX machines?
That calls for a clear Yes, But :)
S-100 closely matches the same signals as the Intel 8080, as does the Z80 which the ZX Spectrum etc have.
Adding a basic S-100 bus bridge for the ZX80/81 or Spectrum would in fact be no big deal - only some money to spend for buss board, cage, PS and so on. It would become a bit more troublesome when addressing schemes where considered, as the Sinclairs not only already fill the addresspace with RAM, ROM and I/O, but also do not always filly decode such. As a result the aailable address space is rather limited, and not compatible with all S-100 conventions.
it seems extremely obvious to expand a ZX Spectrum or ZX81 with an S-100 backplane,
Well, while S100 was still a big thing when the ZX80/81 came, and still around for the Spectrum, it also was mostly a US issue. While the Sinclair mania was more confined to Europe (*1) with Britain being a famous hot spot :)
to use disk controllers, modems, RAM expansion and all of that,
Keep in mind that people who bought a ZX machine wheren't exactly buying at the upper end
of the market - and each of the above S-100 products where rather expensive, especially when compared to STT expansions made for Sinclair computers.
but it seems it never was done, at least not commercially.
Right, to my knowledge there are no products for that. Everything that was there wass using the ZX Bus directly as their expanson bus. Jsut think about all these pluggable Memotech modules for the ZX 81. They where not only less expensive than similar S100 boards, but also didn't need the investment into a bus board and a cage.
Bottom line:
- Wrong World Region
- Wrong Market ((Cheap) Home vs. Professional)
- Too Expensive
- Non Easy Configuration
*1 - Sure, there was the TS1000/1500 in the US, but they never reached a similar popularity to make anything worthwhile.
answered 30 mins ago
Raffzahn
35.6k478141
Can S-100 cards attach to the ZX machines?
That calls for a clear Yes, But :)
S-100 closely matches the same signals as the Intel 8080, as does the Z80 which the ZX Spectrum etc have.
Adding a basic S-100 bus bridge for the ZX80/81 or Spectrum would in fact be no big deal - only some money to spend for buss board, cage, PS and so on. It would become a bit more troublesome when addressing schemes where considered, as the Sinclairs not only already fill the addresspace with RAM, ROM and I/O, but also do not always filly decode such. As a result the aailable address space is rather limited, and not compatible with all S-100 conventions.
it seems extremely obvious to expand a ZX Spectrum or ZX81 with an S-100 backplane,
Well, while S100 was still a big thing when the ZX80/81 came, and still around for the Spectrum, it also was mostly a US issue. While the Sinclair mania was more confined to Europe (*1) with Britain being a famous hot spot :)
to use disk controllers, modems, RAM expansion and all of that,
Keep in mind that people who bought a ZX machine wheren't exactly buying at the upper end
of the market - and each of the above S-100 products where rather expensive, especially when compared to STT expansions made for Sinclair computers.
but it seems it never was done, at least not commercially.
Right, to my knowledge there are no products for that. Everything that was there wass using the ZX Bus directly as their expanson bus. Jsut think about all these pluggable Memotech modules for the ZX 81. They where not only less expensive than similar S100 boards, but also didn't need the investment into a bus board and a cage.
Bottom line:
- Wrong World Region
- Wrong Market ((Cheap) Home vs. Professional)
- Too Expensive
- Non Easy Configuration
*1 - Sure, there was the TS1000/1500 in the US, but they never reached a similar popularity to make anything worthwhile.
answered 30 mins ago
Raffzahn
35.6k478141
edited 25 mins ago
answered 30 mins ago
Raffzahn
35.6k478141
answered 30 mins ago
Raffzahn
35.6k478141
answered 30 mins ago
Raffzahn
35.6k478141
35.6k478141
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
not quite an answer to the question:
In our post-90ies and beginning-of-2000ies ZX practice, we were connecting ISA modems to ZX Spectrums here, used BBSes and FIDO via them (there is software for that, of course). Bus convertor was nothing more complex than /RD /WR etc. signals generator, address decoder and signal buffers.
then the formal yes useless answer:
Using enough creativity you can build virtually any bus to any bus converter. Probably S-100 bus is CPU-cycles-centric and therefore the converted would be not very complex.
answered 1 hour ago
lvd
2,152316
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
not quite an answer to the question:
In our post-90ies and beginning-of-2000ies ZX practice, we were connecting ISA modems to ZX Spectrums here, used BBSes and FIDO via them (there is software for that, of course). Bus convertor was nothing more complex than /RD /WR etc. signals generator, address decoder and signal buffers.
then the formal yes useless answer:
Using enough creativity you can build virtually any bus to any bus converter. Probably S-100 bus is CPU-cycles-centric and therefore the converted would be not very complex.
answered 1 hour ago
lvd
2,152316
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
up vote
1
down vote
not quite an answer to the question:
In our post-90ies and beginning-of-2000ies ZX practice, we were connecting ISA modems to ZX Spectrums here, used BBSes and FIDO via them (there is software for that, of course). Bus convertor was nothing more complex than /RD /WR etc. signals generator, address decoder and signal buffers.
then the formal yes useless answer:
Using enough creativity you can build virtually any bus to any bus converter. Probably S-100 bus is CPU-cycles-centric and therefore the converted would be not very complex.
answered 1 hour ago
lvd
2,152316
not quite an answer to the question:
In our post-90ies and beginning-of-2000ies ZX practice, we were connecting ISA modems to ZX Spectrums here, used BBSes and FIDO via them (there is software for that, of course). Bus convertor was nothing more complex than /RD /WR etc. signals generator, address decoder and signal buffers.
then the formal yes useless answer:
Using enough creativity you can build virtually any bus to any bus converter. Probably S-100 bus is CPU-cycles-centric and therefore the converted would be not very complex.
answered 1 hour ago
lvd
2,152316
answered 1 hour ago
lvd
2,152316
answered 1 hour ago
lvd
2,152316
answered 1 hour ago
lvd
2,152316
2,152316
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
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S-100 and ZX-81 are not exactly contemporary. I do know a number of people who have equipped their Zeddies with an ECB-Bus (a European standard similar to S-100) interface, but none that went for S-100
– tofro
1 hour ago
@tofro - cromemco were still designing and building new S100 systems in 1981, and I believe continued selling them until the late 80s, so S100 was definitely still current during the Sinclair era
– Jules
41 mins ago
@Jules it was still already nearly 10 years old at the ZX time, and you simply couldn’t get cards at an acceptable price where the Sinclairs dwelled
– tofro
6 mins ago