Caluser2000
Banned
Just been out in the shed and under one bench top was this wee beauty. A Zenith Z-180 XT laptop. Model ZWL-183-93. Manufactured in 1987 it came in two versions as far as I can tell. A double 3.5" 720k fdds or one 3.5" 720k fdd and hdd version. I got the later. The fdd bays are designed to pop up when in use which is a nifty feature. It has a number of external ports side and rear. The rear ports are ext. 5.25" fdd, RGB monitor output serial and ltp ports. The side are Line, Tele and a few others with power inlet and on/off switches on the opposing side. Has a built in modem. The hdd has long met its maker and looks like a previous owner has tried to pry the hdd up when the hdd is remove by removing two torx security screws and sliing the hdd from out the rear of the system. It came with two very comprehensive manuals as they did back then and the original MS Dos 3.21 system/boot disc. Getting any info online about Zenith systems is like pulling teeth. Also have the original registration cards as a bonus. Underneath is a bank of dip switches. With these you can select speed(4.77 or 8Mhz), A: drive location(Ext or internal), display width 80 or 40 characters), display type(LCD or CRT), and drive count(1 to 4-can be 3.5"or 5.25"). The back port cover catch is broken so flops about. A bit of fridge magnet and a small piece of steel or velcro will sort that out.
On boot press ESC and eventually you get a prompt to press ? and then press enter. The diagnostic monitor rom will provide you with a whole host of options, one being B 0 then press enter to boot off the fdd. You can enter the Monitor mode ant time by pressing the CTRL-ALT-INS keys at the same time. Once done you are given a few optiosn from the original boot disk. Selecting N puts you at the Dos prompt.
The carry case is currently in the clothes washer for cleaning and yes I did check it was empty before hand retrieving a number of 720k floppies in the process.
This system will compliment my Z286LP Plus quite nicely. That's been solid and I'm sure this will be too looking at the way it is built. I'll hook it up to one of my P166MMX test rigs linux installations for some serial dumb terminal fun using the Banana Dos terminal emulator.
On boot press ESC and eventually you get a prompt to press ? and then press enter. The diagnostic monitor rom will provide you with a whole host of options, one being B 0 then press enter to boot off the fdd. You can enter the Monitor mode ant time by pressing the CTRL-ALT-INS keys at the same time. Once done you are given a few optiosn from the original boot disk. Selecting N puts you at the Dos prompt.
The carry case is currently in the clothes washer for cleaning and yes I did check it was empty before hand retrieving a number of 720k floppies in the process.
This system will compliment my Z286LP Plus quite nicely. That's been solid and I'm sure this will be too looking at the way it is built. I'll hook it up to one of my P166MMX test rigs linux installations for some serial dumb terminal fun using the Banana Dos terminal emulator.
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