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Robotron A5105 (BIC)

The Robotron A5105 was also dubbed BIC, which stands for Bildungs Computer (trainings computer in English). The system had many improvements over the KC85 line of computers. It had a much better keyboard, and was much faster then the older line. It had a dedicated graphics chip, which could produce 16 colors, and came with it's own 128KByte dedicated Video RAM. Oddly, the system came with a monochrome monitor.

The system could run CP/M using a special driver for the FDD controller. The computer was manufactured in East Germany between 1989 and 1990, and only around 5000 units were ever produced.

Zilog Z80 CPU Family

The Z80 quickly became popular in the personal computer market, with many early personal computers, such as the TRS-80 and Sinclair ZX80, using the Z80 as their central processing unit (CPU). It was also widely used in home computers, such as the MSX range, SORD, and the Amstrad CPC, as well as in many arcade games. Additionally, it was also used in other applications such as industrial control systems, and embedded systems. The Z80 was widely used until the mid-1980s, when it was gradually replaced by newer microprocessors such as the Intel 80286 and the Motorola 68000.

The Z80 microprocessor was developed by Zilog, a company founded by Federico Faggin in 1974. The Z80 was released in July 1976, as a successor to the Intel 8080. It was designed to be fully compatible with the 8080, but also included new features such as an improved instruction set, more powerful interrupts, and a more sophisticated memory management system.

The Z80 quickly became popular in the personal computer market, with many early personal computers, such as the TRS-80 and Sinclair ZX80, using the Z80 as their central processing unit (CPU). It was also widely used in home computers, such as the MSX range, SORD, and the Amstrad CPC, as well as in many arcade games. Additionally, it was also used in other applications such as industrial control systems, and embedded systems. The Z80 was widely used until the mid-1980s, when it was gradually replaced by newer microprocessors such as the Intel 80286 and the Motorola 68000. The design was licensed to Synertek and Mostek as well as the European SGS.

The Z80s instruction set is binary compatible with the Intel 8080, so that 8080 code such as the CP/M Operating System and Intel's PL/M compiler for the 8080 can run unmodified on the Z80. The Z80 had many enhancements over the 8080 such as 16-bit data movement instructions, block copy and block I/O instructions, single bit addressing of all registers, IX/IY offset registers, better interrupt system and a complete duplicate register file for context switching during an interrupt.

Source: WikiPedia
Technical Details
Released 1989 Brand VEB Robotron Type Robotron PC / KC Name Robotron A5105 CPU Class Z80 CPU Zilog Z80 @3.75MHz Memory RAM: 64kB
ROM: 48kB
VRAM: 128kB
Sound Chip none Sound 3 Voices Display Chip D7220 Graphics Chip Display 80x25 text, 320x200 16 color, 640x200 4 color graphics. Best Text 80x25 Best Color 16 colors Best Graphics 640x200 in 4 colors Sprites n/a System OS BASIC
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Robotron  A5105 (1989)
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Z80 CPU
Collection of books on the Z80 8-bit CPU used in various home-computers
World Wide Web Links
 
Wikipedia: The Z80 CPU
Wikipedia page on the very popular Z80 8-bit CPU used in many computers of the 1980's era.