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Turboslave PC Z80 Card.

dabone said:
I've got one of these, does anyone have docs or software for it?

8Mhz z80 coprocessor card, with 128k of Ram.

Made by Earth Computers.

Link to a pic.

http://vintagecomputersale.com/eart...c-compatible-z80-slave-processor-isa-bus-card

Thanks.

Later,
dabone
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Dear Dabone,

Please forgive me if this isn't the right place to ask, and also because your post has become vintage in itself. I worked with this some 30+ years ago, but it got lost somewhere along the way. I still have the printed manual on my bookshelf, and it would be great fun to complete the set with the board. So, if possible, I'd like to buy it from you. Is that an option?

Cheers,

Toine
 
ThatPerson said:
Dear Dabone,

Please forgive me if this isn't the right place to ask, and also because your post has become vintage in itself. I worked with this some 30+ years ago, but it got lost somewhere along the way. I still have the printed manual on my bookshelf, and it would be great fun to complete the set with the board. So, if possible, I'd like to buy it from you. Is that an option?

Cheers,

Toine
Click to expand...
I dug up the card, but I've scavenged a few parts off it. You don't happen to have the software in that manual do you?
(The parts can be replaced, I removed them with care.)
 
Apologies for the delayed response, Dabone. Are you offering to sell or give me the card? I definitely want to cover the postage cost.
 
Of course! In 1986, in addition to my electrical engineering studies (TH-Delft), I programmed as a freelancer for a small company in Papendrecht (the Netherlands) that (after a long history) had focused on the development of plug-in modules and software for the MSX computer. In addition, they operated a BBS with Viditel as presentation layer (also used by Ceefax) in the UK. For that purpose, a modem had been developed that worked in one of the expansion slots of the MSX. After they had made a deal with the flower auction in Aalsmeer and Philips Brussels, flower growers who supplied the auction could 'retrieve' their auction prices and turnover with that combination. This was 1986 and online consultation was considered very advanced. I wrote the software to control the 'dumb' modem, as well as the presentation layer, in C (Astec C compiler). Because the compiler had to have the MSX Z80 as target language, the use of the Turboslave PC Z80 Card turned out to be the (then) ideal development environment. A nice anecdote is perhaps that on my way to a presentation in Aalsmeer my client (mr. Curt Roth) said that he hoped my costs would not exceed 20,000 guilders. As a student that was an astronomical amount to me. What should I say? Probably inspired by my work on the modem, I replied that 'coincidentally' I had just listed my hours the night before and that it had shown that I could deliver it fixed price for 19,200 guilders: the maximum baud rate of the modem... We agreed. Anyway, the investment I had made in a PC clone and the Z80 card had been earned back in one go!

More info on the company I then worked for can be found here: https://www.homecomputermuseum.nl/collectie/aster/ (in Dutch, but both Google, and ChatGPT will do the trick).
 
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