Some rights reserved! Vintage technology preserved.
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It is widely known that most 8-bit architechtures mainly based on one of these CPU-s or on their descendants and backward software-compatibles:
- MOS 6502
- Intel 8080
CBM (Commodore) used 6502, 6510 etc. in their 8 bit microcomputers, especially 6510 in older breadbins and 8500 in newer C64 series like in C64C. CP/M operating system is based in Intel's 8080, needs such a cpu or at least a code-compatible, for which Zilog's Z80 is a perfect choice. So Commodore released a special CP/M cartridge containing a Z80A bundled with CP/M v2.2 OS tools/diskette crafted for this C64 version, and we gave to our configuration a shot:
Screenshots for the operation: Needed a C64, a diskette drive and the z80 cartridge with the cp/m diskette, of course. These were unearthed from one of our stores.
LOAD"CPM",8
RUN
After the asterisk progress bar finished, enjoy your CP/M prompt!
These captures had been made on real hardware of course! Instead of using a commodore monitor, a family friendly solution is used - a vintage p4 laptop with PCMCIA tuner card and its RCA input dumping with mplayer.
This CP/M solution delivered by CBM is fragile and full of bugs, suffering from several limitations. CBM learned a lot when designed their C128 product line, which was capable to boot CP/M while keeping C64-compatibily. More stuff and info about this cartrdige is in the links section.
More pictures from the kit:
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