Misplaced Pages

West PC-800

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Dag Erik Hagesæter (talk | contribs) at 09:20, 1 August 2019 (spell correction). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 09:20, 1 August 2019 by Dag Erik Hagesæter (talk | contribs) (spell correction)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
This article, West PC-800, has recently been created via the Articles for creation process. Please check to see if the reviewer has accidentally left this template after accepting the draft and take appropriate action as necessary.
Reviewer tools: Inform author
  • Comment: Fails WP:GNG, lacks significant coverage in multiple independent secondary sources Dan arndt (talk) 12:14, 31 March 2019 (UTC)
Picture is show the West PC-800 with its keyboard.
West PC-800. Apple II clone computer.

West PC-800 was an Apple II clone built by West Computer AS in Norway – started and invented by Tov Westby. And released Autumn 1984 at the Sjølyst "Home and Hobby" fair. It was markedet as a 4 in 1 computer: Apple II, CP/M, Alarm and Datamodem/number transmitter. It had four 4 microprocessors: 6502, Z80, 8400 and 8035. When reviewed in the Norwegian magazine in 1985 it got good reviews.

The machine was built on a Apple II clone motherboard. If compared with the original Apple II motherboard we can only detect a few modification. One of them is the on-board Z80 CPU for running CP/M. Connections like keyboard, joystick, video and datasette is the same as the original. Even the modification to change the NTSC/PAL mode is done the same way. The machine came with two extra ROM's, a PAL RF Card and a alarm/modem card. On the back-plane of the computer was a circuit board with external connectors. In the front was a circuit board with LED's for the alarm central status, power and CPU mode.

The machine had two power switches. The main switch in the back gave power to the computer, but also independent power to the alarm/modem card. This way the alarm would work regardless of the computer was turned on or not. You need an external alarm box to actually connect any alarm sensors. The front power switch turn on the computer i Apple II mode. The prompt stated "West PC" - very much the same way as the Apple II would greet you with "Apple II".

The machine is said to be 100% compatible with the Apple II. One can indeed use the same cards or even the Apple II keyboard on this machine.

The extra ROMS gave several useful built-in software: A system monitor, the alarm software and a terminal program for modem/dial-up. It also had built in BASIC - just like the Apple II.

When sold it came standard with West DOS (Clone of the Apple II DOS), CP/M, WestText and three games. It was upgrade-able with two (200KB) floppy drives in an external cabinet that fitted neatly under the machine. You could also buy an alarm package. It was in 1985 priced at NOK 9998,-. This later dropped to 500,-

You could attach a Joystick to the DB9 port on the front. The Joysticks was the same type as the Apple II computers would use, but with an adapter to fit the joystick plug.

The keyboard for the West PC-800 was nothing like the Apple II keyboard. First of all it used a Wireless IR (infrared) connection AND a serial cable (DB9) connection. This was done by translating the parallel keyboard interface to a serial signal by the use of a AY3-1015 UART. The serial signal was then used on both the IR and the DB9 connection in the front. The keyboard was retrofitted with an IR interface and given a 10,5v battery package. Pin 6 on the DB9 supplied the keyboard with power when it was connected. When disconnected the IR would automatically take over. The keyboard was much improved over the Apple II keyboard. And had 13 special keys for e.x. entering the built-in-ROM machine code monitor or the alarm/terminal software.

Hardware details.

  • 4 microprocessors:
    • Z 80 CPU for CP/M
    • 6502 CPU for Apple II
    • 8400 CPU for alarm and modem (300 baud)
    • 8035 CPU for in the keyboard. Some machines had an improved 8048 (needs confirmation)
  • 64KB RAM - max 256KB
  • 18KB ROM (10KB BASIC, 2 KB system monitor, 2 KB character set, 4 KB alarm/modem)
  • Ports:
    • Joystick. Analog/digital
    • Composite video PAL
    • RF utgang - PAL
    • Datasette I/O - Jack
    • RS232
    • Phone outlet for modem
  • Graphics:
    • Mode 1: 40x48, 15 colours.
    • Mode 2: 140x192, 6 colours.
    • Mode 3: 280x192, black/white.
  • 4 available slots
  • IR receiver for wireless keyboard. AY3-1015 UART for converting the Apple II parallel keyboard signal til serial signal.
  • Up-gradable with a 8086 and 68000 card with up to 1MB RAM

External Links

References

  1. "Datarevolusjon i Molde". rbnett.no. 20 November 2018.
  2. "Capture Web". web.min-sky.no. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
  3. "Hjemmedata nr. 3-1985" (PDF). Hjemmedata. 3: 66. Winter 1985.
  4. "Mikrodata no. 3-1985" (PDF). Mikrodata. 3–1985: 64. Winter 1985.
  5. "Capture Web". web.min-sky.no. Retrieved 2019-03-31.
  6. "Frithjof Arngren Katalog 1996" (PDF). Frithjof Arngren Katalog 1996. 9: 116. Autumn 1985.
This article, West PC-800, has recently been created via the Articles for creation process. Please check to see if the reviewer has accidentally left this template after accepting the draft and take appropriate action as necessary.
Reviewer tools: Inform author

Category:Computers Category:Apple II clones Category:Microcomputers Category:Personal computers

Categories: