Stack180
The Stack180 is a new system, designed around the Zilog Z8S180-33 CPU. The system is designed with a 'modular' approach, consisting of a three-board set. The first board, the CPU, can operate alone, or in conjunction with the Dual GIDE. The Dual GIDE requires the CPU board, and provides a mount point for the Mainboard, adding significant I/O capabilities to the system.
A fully-capable CP/M system requires the CPU and Dual GIDE. Two versions of CP/M are available: B/P BIOS and StackOS. Both OS models are based on the Z-System, with ZSDOS and ZCPR 3 providing the BDOS and CCP.
B/P BIOS includes a banked OS that includes advanced memory management and banking to provide a large TPA with a wealth of options that would otherwise result in a much smaller TPA. Disk I/O is limited to the one of the two IDE adapters on the D-GIDE, providing a Master and Slave IDE configuration, as well as up to four floppy drives in nearly any configuration (3.5", 5.25", or 8".)
The StackOS is partially banked; the TPA is not as large as that provided by B/P BIOS, but it provides a wider range of hardware drivers and better compatibility with standard CP/M. In addition to the IDE and Floppy drivers handled by B/P BIOS, you can also drive the second D-GIDE adapter as well as one or two 16-bit AT-Style adapters installed in one or two of the 16-bit AT slots. Drivers for a ZIP-100 drive, RamDisk, and 64K Printer Buffer are included.
The Stack180 hardware design is complete; the software is still undergoing development. At present, both OS models are boot-capable and fully operational.
Heath H89
The new Heathkit H89 Dual GIDE is nearly ready for production. The H89 page gives some specifics of the new adapter.
P112
The P112 single board computer was designed by David Brooks and was last available in kit form in 1996. In 2004, David Griffith made arrangements to issue new P112 kits. Three 'Beta' kits were assembled and debugged in late 2005, and new software development efforts began.
The original operating system software is still available here. It includes all source code for the ROM, BIOS, and a few utilities.
The new system software can be downloaded here. Included is a fully-configured Z-System with ZSDOS, ZCPR3, all source code, and numerous Z-System utilities. The only configuration item still necessary is to define your terminal capabilities with a Z3TCAP file. The downloaded file is an image of the system disk; DD.EXE is used to write the image to a formatted floppy (also available here.)
P112-GIDE
The original GIDE (Generic IDE) interface was designed by Tilmann Reh of Germany. This webpage contains the latest information. The GIDE added 16-bit IDE disk I/O capability to a generic Z80-based computer. The P112-specific version described here does the same thing, but is specifically designed to accommodate the expansion connector and mounting holes of the P112 and the Z80182 CPU. It provides 16-bit I/O to your 'typical' IDE drive, along with the software necessary to format and partition the drive. Also included is Hal Bower's B/P BIOS, a Banked and Portable BIOS that can make use of the entire 1MB address space of the P112. With the current-version ROM and B/P BIOS, the GIDE is the primary P112 cold-boot device.
The P112-GIDE has also been tested satisfactorily with a 128MB Compact Flash-IDE adapter in place of a hard drive, and is maybe a little faster. A 64MB Compact Flash module is recommended; larger is OK, but probably unnecessary. A second CF adapter can also be used in a master-slave configuration.
A dual-GIDE adapter setup has been configured and tested. The BIOS does not support a secondary adapter, but certain utilities do. The CDZSWP program has been modified to allow reading/copying CDROM contents via the secondary adapter, and a BACKUP/RESTORE program is being written to copy/restore the primary Master to/from the secondary Master or Slave. The primary Slave device can also be used for backup purposes.
Production Status and What's New
UPDATE: The latest User Manual (12 February 2012) is posted, and new system images for StackOS and StackBP.
A new StackOS image has been posted. This is primarily for publishing the latest version of BACKUSB, now referred to as BACKUP.
The Heathkit H89 Dual GIDE adapter is shipping. See the H89 page.
The StackOS now supports LAN-based printer output, along with the LAN-based Terminal I/O.
The XPORT and LCD Display Adapter is available for ordering. The adapter provides serial access to the XPORT for serial recovery, an 8-bit LED display, and a 24 character x 2 line LCD display unit. The EEPROM and StackOS support updates for the LCD Display are posted.
A 2MB RAM expansion kit is now available. The latest EEPROM can detect and test the RAM expansion; the StackOS BIOS contains a 1MB RamDisk driver for it.