Amstrad Schneider  PCW 10/16
ams_pcw16

Amstrad PCW10 / 16

The PCW10 was basically a Amstrad PCW9256 with 512KByte of RAM, Locoscript 1.5 instead of Locoscript 1. It was not a success due to the fact that it still ran on the slow Z80 architecture, compared to the 16-bit 8086 architecture of competing MS-DOS systems.

In 1995 Amstrad released the PCW16. Despite having the same PCW branding, the system was not compatible with any of the previous PCW systems. The PCW16 came with a new GUI operating system called Rosanne. It was not capable of multi-tasking, so only one application could be run at a time. If a user started a new application, the running application would save it's files and close. The Word Processor that came with the PCW16 was created by Creative Technoloty and for backwards compatibily could read the older Locoscript files, but saved them in its own format. The sofware bundle also included a spreadsheet, address book, diary, calculator, and a file manager. No third party software was produced for this system.

The PCW16 was capable of a more standard 640x480 pixels in VGA mode. It came with a 1.4MByte High Density floppy disk drive and had 1 1MByte Flash memory to store programs and user files. The PCW16 still used the older Z80 CPU, but at higher speed than it's predecessors.

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
Released 1994 Country United Kingdom Brand Type AMSTR PC/PCW Name PCW 10/16 CPU Class Z80 CPU Zilog Z80A @16MHz Memory 1MB RAM, 1MB flash RAM Sound Chip none Sound 1 channel Display Chip none Display 640x480 mono Sprites none System OS Rosanne GUI, CP/M Plus Storage Internal 3.5" 1.4MByte High HD Disk Drive
Related Systems
 
Amstrad Schneider CPC
 
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PCW  10/16 (1994)
Books & Publications
 
Amstrad Schneider
Collection of books on the CPC 464, 664, 6128 and the plus series
Magazines & Serials
 
8000 Plus Magazine
A monthly British magazine dedicated to the Amstrad PCW range of microcomputers.
 
Amstrad Action
Monthly magazine, published in the United Kingdom.
 
Amstrad CU
Amstrad Computer User was the official magazine for the Amstrad CPC series of 8-bit home computers.
 
Amtix! Magazine
Amtix! magazine was a "monthly software review for the Amstrad computers" published by Newsfield Publications Ltd in the mid eighties.
 
CPC Magazine
CPC Magazine
Manuals & Catalogs
 
Amstrad Schneider
Technical manuals for the Amstrad/Schneider CPC 464, 4128, 664, 6128 and the Plus 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.