tomjennings
Experienced Member
Well that took some time! They're on eBay now:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/206496219323 (Orange chassis)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/206496486027 (Red chassis)
My website is https://www.bleeve.me/fZ80/index.html
Two auctions for two different colors, otherwise identical machines. Close to identical to the ones I sold in December, but better overall finish and detail. The manual has doubled in size.
There's the start of an independent MP/M User's Guide, for practical setting up of MP/M. The D.R. manuals cover all the specifics, but don't make clear the why and how of setting up disk labels, attributes, what advantages they bring, etc. It's a fairly rational system but it took some effort to untangle! I may break out a separate printed MP/M User's Guide book "soon".
The last few months have been mostly "lateral" improvements, not so noticeable. Making 25 units at once kinda taxed me, there were a lot of problems with parts availability caused by, let's just say, Current Events. Prices and time for everything literally doubled (or more). I had to learn about and take part in JLCPCB's global marketplace, that was interesting... The firmware now supports ANSI escape sequences as well as H19, though ANSI is not yet fully tested, due to lack of time. ANSI did not make it into the printed manual, but will be in the PDF soon. CP/M-MP/M utilities got some fixes and minor features. There now exists user-patchable printer port mask bits to support printer features.
This batch of machines are solid, and software/firmware changes are backwards compatible with existing machines. And now that the manufacturing effort is done, I can get back to my ersatz plan going forward:
* Write Y2K-compliant replacements for SDIR, TOD, etc.
* Complete ANSI support.
* Complete the bi-directional fileserver (portable).
* Look at deploying KA9Q (NOS) (portable).
* Alternate console configurations, eg. two windows, MP/M tools that take advantage of message-passing and can run "headless".
* Crazy ideas like cut'n'paste between applications, limited pipes and redirection (MP/M only).
* Complete the writing of histories and about amateur culture that built this stuff.
"Portable" above means that it will be made easily compatible with other CP/M or MP/M machines, patchable serial port configuration.
The last couple months have included a lot of research and writing on MP/Ms history (umm, why would D.R. write a multi-tasking OS for a chip they knew was dead in two years?) that ended up getting a lot broader, into the how's and why's of amateur culture, and how that amateur-built world was consumed by large corporations. I gave a compressed talk/slide show on this at the recent TEARDOWN '26 event, in Portland OR in late July, hosted by CROWD SUPPLY (crowdsupply.com). It went over well I think. The video from that should be available "soon" on my website, I'll post a link here when ready.
(Links so far:
https://www.crowdsupply.com/teardow...ntal-archaeology-the-mp-m-80-operating-system
from
https://www.crowdsupply.com/teardown/portland-2026/schedule
)
I am unlikely to make another batch of machines this year. It's a lot of work! The responsibility is stressful!
The only plastic used is in the knob and the rubber feet. No LLM/chatbot was used in any portion of the machine, code or documentation. All misteaks are my own.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/206496219323 (Orange chassis)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/206496486027 (Red chassis)
My website is https://www.bleeve.me/fZ80/index.html
Two auctions for two different colors, otherwise identical machines. Close to identical to the ones I sold in December, but better overall finish and detail. The manual has doubled in size.
There's the start of an independent MP/M User's Guide, for practical setting up of MP/M. The D.R. manuals cover all the specifics, but don't make clear the why and how of setting up disk labels, attributes, what advantages they bring, etc. It's a fairly rational system but it took some effort to untangle! I may break out a separate printed MP/M User's Guide book "soon".
The last few months have been mostly "lateral" improvements, not so noticeable. Making 25 units at once kinda taxed me, there were a lot of problems with parts availability caused by, let's just say, Current Events. Prices and time for everything literally doubled (or more). I had to learn about and take part in JLCPCB's global marketplace, that was interesting... The firmware now supports ANSI escape sequences as well as H19, though ANSI is not yet fully tested, due to lack of time. ANSI did not make it into the printed manual, but will be in the PDF soon. CP/M-MP/M utilities got some fixes and minor features. There now exists user-patchable printer port mask bits to support printer features.
This batch of machines are solid, and software/firmware changes are backwards compatible with existing machines. And now that the manufacturing effort is done, I can get back to my ersatz plan going forward:
* Write Y2K-compliant replacements for SDIR, TOD, etc.
* Complete ANSI support.
* Complete the bi-directional fileserver (portable).
* Look at deploying KA9Q (NOS) (portable).
* Alternate console configurations, eg. two windows, MP/M tools that take advantage of message-passing and can run "headless".
* Crazy ideas like cut'n'paste between applications, limited pipes and redirection (MP/M only).
* Complete the writing of histories and about amateur culture that built this stuff.
"Portable" above means that it will be made easily compatible with other CP/M or MP/M machines, patchable serial port configuration.
The last couple months have included a lot of research and writing on MP/Ms history (umm, why would D.R. write a multi-tasking OS for a chip they knew was dead in two years?) that ended up getting a lot broader, into the how's and why's of amateur culture, and how that amateur-built world was consumed by large corporations. I gave a compressed talk/slide show on this at the recent TEARDOWN '26 event, in Portland OR in late July, hosted by CROWD SUPPLY (crowdsupply.com). It went over well I think. The video from that should be available "soon" on my website, I'll post a link here when ready.
(Links so far:
https://www.crowdsupply.com/teardow...ntal-archaeology-the-mp-m-80-operating-system
from
https://www.crowdsupply.com/teardown/portland-2026/schedule
)
I am unlikely to make another batch of machines this year. It's a lot of work! The responsibility is stressful!
The only plastic used is in the knob and the rubber feet. No LLM/chatbot was used in any portion of the machine, code or documentation. All misteaks are my own.
(I've done lots with CP/M over the years, but have barely touched MP/M thus far)