Cambridge Z88 Computer

Cambridge Z88 computer. Shipped with USPS Priority Mail.Own a piece of history! This was one of the very first portable 8bit computers commercially available.  Uses a Z88 processor.  Runs BASIC and has several built in programs such as write and diary. Batteries not included. Instruction manuals and case included. External 6V power supply not included.This small machine was quite powerful; its operating system could exceed the 64 KB limitation of the Z80 with a good memory ma...nager. It could also divide the memory into 16 KB pages, so the RAM could be expanded up to 3 MB thanks to 2 expansion ports. RAM cartridges of 32 KB and 128 KB were available. It had a built-in EPROM programmer available on the 3rd expansion port, so data could be saved directly on 128 KB EPROMs.The BASIC built into the Z88 also contains a machine code editor, which allows you to embed Z80 assembly language into your Z88 BBC BASIC programs. This feature was used quite often for the 'extra speed' portion of programs.  Having the assembly language embedded inside your source code meant that the code was very portable, and all loaded in one go - no messy 'support files' for your application.Pipedream, the internal WP software (it also functions as a spreadsheet), is idiosyncratic and not easy to drive, but it is extremely powerful; quite amazing for an 8-bit operating system. You could get a graphical preview of the page you're editing on the right-hand side of the LCD (and still get 80 columns of text). The diary, terminal, calculator and other software are also very functional, and the built-in BASIC is good old BBC BASIC. Lovely. There was also a wealth of third-party software(not included) available for the machine.


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