RC2014 Mini CP/M Upgrade Kit

Description

Note that this kit is for the original RC2014 Mini. It will not work with the Mini II. If you have the RC2014 Mini II you will need the RC2014 Mini II CP/M Upgrade Kit

The RC2014 Mini is a simple 8 bit Z80 based single board computer. In its standard form it runs Microsoft BASIC or SCM Z80 monitor ROM.  This RC2014 Mini CP/M Upgrade Kit transforms a standard RC2014 Mini [0] in to a CP/M machine with 64k of RAM, pageable ROM, compact flash storage and even adds an expansion slot too.

As the Operating System of choice before the PC and MSDOS took over, there’s a wealth of CP/M software available. This goes from programming languages such as Pascal or BBC BASIC, to office productivity tools like Wordstar and dBase II. There are even games such as Zork or Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, and lots lots more.

The kit contains a 4 layer PCB with the surface mount compact flash socket pre-soldered, and all of the through-hole components needed to upgrade your RC2014 Mini. The only modification[1] needed to the Mini is the removal of the ROM and 3 jumpers. The CP/M upgrade kit boosts the memory from 32k to 64k. The kit also gives the ROM a paging function which is needed to boot CP/M. A new ROM is supplied, which contains;

• Microsoft 32k BASIC
• SCM R4
• CP/M 2.2
• SCM R1

The CP/M Upgrade Kit fits directly above the RC2014 Mini on PCB standoffs, and connects through to the Mini below via the expansion header. A keyboard passthrough connector also connects through the CP/M Upgrade Kit so that you can still use the Universal Micro Keyboard on top. Two expansion headers are available on the CP/M Upgrade Kit. A 64MB or 128MB compact flash card with CP/M and essential transient applications preinstalled is included with the kit.

Note [0] The RC2014 Mini, or the other expansion modules shown for illustration are not included with this kit.

Note [1] If you soldered a right angle header to your RC2014 Mini then this will need to be removed to fit the CP/M Upgrade Kit above the Mini. If you fitted straight pins or socket then this will be fine.

Documentation

Bill of materials