Microprofessor - The MESSUI Place
Contents
1. other CPUs Actually the Z 80 has 22 separate registers in all The use of the R command is as follows R return to display all registers To display just the C register for example the command R C return is used Next is the W command which is used for storing programs or data on tape Its format is as follows W starting address space lt ending address space lt filename return To retrieve data or programs from tape the L command is used Its format iS L lt filename return The read program is stored into the same location in RAM as it originally occupied As well a checksum is performed by the MPF IP The operation of the checksum is as follows when a program is originally stored a checksum value is calculated and also stored on the tape When the program is read back into the MPF IP a checksum is again calculated by the system if both checksums agree all is well otherwise an error message is issued A useful command for the inexperienced programmer is the J command This command is used for the calculation of relative addresses for jump instructions Another useful command is the I command which is used for inserting data into memory For example data 1 2 3 45 is inserted at location F800 The Micro Professor is a single board system which comes complete with three manuals as follows lt I FE00 lt I F800 12345 Simple isn t it But the value of the I command is in that the dat2. p r a A Video Type Memory mapped into system RAM pore Toa Display Mode Text low resolution graphics high aaa Daoa resolution graphics 3 modes are mixed 20MHz Screen Format 960 characters 24 lines 40 columns Input sig 0 5 to 2 0 Character Set Upper case ASCII 64 characters pD composite sinc neg Character Type 5x 7 dot matrix 240V AC amp 12V DC Graphics Capacity 1920 blocks low resolution in 40x 48 Weight 8 6 k array 53760 dots high resolution in g g 280 x 192 array Number of Colors 6 colors Keyboard 49 alphanumeric and function keys Cassette Interface Use various Cassette tapes and cartridges Software Cartridge Interface as data storage units Printer Interface Connects to printers with Centronics I F Display Interface Connects to color TV or video display Remote Contro Paddle Used for education amp entertainment Speaker 8 ohm 55mm 0 25W eee a Power A switching power supply is provided to convert AC power to eee power supply 241 x 175 x 30mm NUMBER 1 FOR KITS MAIL ORDERS TO BOX K 39 HAYMARKET SYDNEY 2000 NEW SHOP HOURS Fr 8 30 to 5 30pm Sat 8 30 to 12 00pin night to 830p ELECTRONICS Australia February 1983 109 1 TOTAL RETAIL VALUE 655 YOUR CHANCE TO LEARN ABOUT MICROS WITH THE MICROPROFESSOR FREE THAT S RIGHT HERE S YOUR CHANCE TO WIN THE AMAZING MICROPROFESSOR COMPLETE WITH SPEECH SYNTHESISER AND PRINTER COMPLIMENTS OF ETI AND EMONA ENTERPRISES
3. Electronics Australia reviews the Multitech MPF IN The MPF III from Multitech is the latest development of the Microprofessor series expanded to a full disk based computer system with video output Two microprocessors are provided the Z80 and 6502 to allow the MPF III to run software intended for the CP M system and the Apple Il Multitech has gone to a great deal of trouble to ensure that the standard operating system of the MPF II is compatible with that of the Apple Il _ without breaching Apple s copyright Most of the system calls are preserved and all software we tested ran without _ problems At the time of this review Apple s appeal against Computer Edge Pty Ltd is _ pending and we do not in fact know whether Apple s claim operating system is copyright will be successful While the point is important to manufacturers offering other Apple work alikes it will make no difference to the MPF IIl as Multitech had Apple s permission to produce a compatible operating system without actually copying the code in dispute While the MPF III may use a 6502 it _ physically in no way resembles the Apple Il The actual computer is in two parts a detachable low profile keyboard and a system unit which contains the dual processors control logic and 64K of programmable memory Two half height that their 14cm minifloppy drives in a matching case rest on top of the system
4. T POKE POP POS POSITION PRINT PR READ RECALL REM RENAME RESTORE RESUME RETURN RIGHT RND ROT RUN SAVE SCALE SCRN SGN SHLOAD SIN SPC SPEED SQR STEP STOP STORE STR TAB TAN TEMPO TEXT TRACE UNLOCK USR VAL VERIFY VLIN VTAB WAIT WRITE XDRAW 106 ELECTRONICS Australia February 1984 expected _ confusion The same placement is used on the IBM PC keyboard considerable controversy but has been abandoned in favour of the more usual layout on the PC Junior supported conjunction with alphanumeric keys Personal Computer On the review machine the space bar seemed a little stiff in action and in spite of its ergonomic design approach the _ keyboard places the left Shift key one key further to the left than normally leading to some initial causing Single key entry of Basic commands is using the ALT key in The front of the system unit is bare except for a ventilation grille and a small rectangular LED power on indicator At the rear is a socket for 240VAC power and a rocker type power switch an RF modulated TV separate composite video and external speaker outputs a printer port disk signal output and drive connectors and EAR and MIC sockets for a cassette recorder A bus expansion port and a connector for a proportional _ available at the right side joystick or paddle is Also at the rear is a four way DIP configuration switc
5. WHO MARKET THE MICROPROFESSOR IN AUSTRALIA The MPF Microprofessor features a Z80 microprocessor the most widely used 8 bit processor and the basic unit comes as a single board computer complete with 36 key keyboard a 6 digit display 2K of RAM 2K monitor ROM cassette interface for storing programs on an ordinary audio cassette tape 24 input output lines for expansion expansion units are available and a speaker for sound output It s all powered by a plug pack Special manuals are provided aimed at helping you teach yourself by experiment using the Microprofessor Amazingly it sports a tiny BASIC interpretor in a PROM you can plug in Commands include continue call for next goto gosub input if then let list load new print return run save stop You get a form of mnemonic readout on the display Expansion units include a speech synthesiser and a printer The SSB MPF Speech Synthesiser Board features e Tl speech synthesis chip e 4K EPROM for time clock program and speech utility e Two EPROM sockets for expanding vocabulary e Uses keyboard and speaker of MPF I as input output device Adjustable voice pitch and volume Rules This contest is open to all persons normally resident in Australia with the 09 V 0 5A adaptor provided exception of members of the staff of Emona Enterprises Murray Publishers Offset Alpine Australian Consolidated Press and or associated companies Closi
6. a is inserted hence any data already present is shifted into higher memory addresses rather than over written A complementary command to the I command is the D command This command is used to delete data from memory in much the same manner as the I command is used to insert data EERAKLERK REY SH BREE RR EWG Dw 2 gt This the memory expansion board for the MPF IP Debugging To help the user debug programs two commands are provided by the MPF IP The first is the B command which is used to set and clear breakpoints within a program Note that only one breakpoint can be used at any time The second debugging method is provided by the S command With this command you can execute a program one instruction line at a time Therefore each time you press the S key another instruction line is executed ELECTRONICS Australia April 1985 MiPF IP Micro Professor Text Editor To enter the editor you hold the E key down while pressing the control key or control E for short After typing control E you will be prompted to enter a starting and ending address for the text buffer The editor will now prompt you to start entering your program To exit from the editor you just hit the return key twice If you need to re enter the text editor the R command can be used With the R command you can re edit a program that already exists in the text buffer Therefore when you use the E command to enter the ed
7. chip CTC a communications interface chip USART 8251 and a parallel I O chip PIO Also included are 6K RAM and 4K ROM locations if extra memory is required Other accessories available for the MPF IP are a speech synthesiser and a sound generator board Conclusion When you consider all the features that have been mentioned above the Micro Professor is definitely good value for money The quality of the construction and the performance are high In fact there is only one noticeable short coming in the Micro Professor and that is in the documentation It appears to suffer from being translated from Chinese Another small drawback is the requirement for a separate plugpack for each accessory board added to the MPF IP Anyone who has an interest in either learning about microprocessors or has the need for a development system or a means of small scale process control in an industrial situation can make good use of the MPF IP Prices for the MPF IP and its accessories are as follows MPF IP including manuals 248 40 IOM MPF IP I O amp memory expansion board 158 40 EPB MPF IP EPROM Programmer board 190 80 SSB MPF IP TMS5220 based Speech Synthesis board 190 80 PRT MPF IP Thermal Printer 126 00 SGB MPF IP Sound Generation board 126 00 SSB VOC IP 1 200 Word l Vocabulary set 672 00 BASIC MPF IP 8K Basic Interpreter ROM 54 00 FORTH MPF IP 8K ROM 54 00 Further information on the Micro Professor range of p
8. d the object code Because the two pass assembler generates a symbol table during execution more memory is required to produce the machine code program than is actually required to store it Therefore in the situation when there is insufficient memory for the two pass assembler to work a one pass assembler may be used With this assembler as each program line is entered the line is also assembled An advantage of this is that your program is also checked for instruction errors as you enter it The function of the disassembler is simply to produce a mnemonic program from Z 80 hex machine code It is a very useful tool for reading EPROM s Useful Commands You can enter hex code directly by using the M command The M command is simply a display and alter function for the contents of memory Therefore with this command you can enter a complete program or change only certain locations An example of its use is lt M FBOO 12 13 14 to insert 12 into the location FB00 while 13 and 14 are placed into successive locations The F command is used to insert data into a specified memory range For example if you required the hex value 34 to be placed in every memory location from FC00 to FDOO the F command will do the job The command line to do it is F gt FC00 FDO0O0 34 Another command is the R command to display and alter the contents of registers The Z 80 has quite a lot of internal registers in comparison to
9. e use the W FILENAME command where FILENAME is the file name To read data from tape into memory use the R FILENAME command This is the MPF IP EPROM programmer board Accessories for the MPF IP Accessories for the MPF IP include a Basic interpreter resident in an 8K ROM which may be plugged into a spare socket on the PCB This version of Basic included floating point arithmetic If you wish to use the MPF IP as a dedicated controller a ROM containing Forth programming language is also available Forth provides the user an expandable structured stack oriented language which is programmed in Reverse Polish Notation Relative to other languages Forth is simple to use for control applications even non programmers can use it successfully A thermal printer capable of printing 20 characters a line is also available Incorporated in the printer are several useful features such as a memory dump utility and Z 80 disassembler listing utility An EPROM programmer board is available This board is capable of accepting currently used 1K 2K 4K and 8K EPROMs which operate from a single 5V supply The EPROM board allows you to read data from EPROM memory into a RAM buffer then verify display list or modify the data You can also write data from RAM to EPROM as required and delete or insert at will An input output and memory expansion board is another accessory for the MPF IP Included on this board is a counter timer
10. e accompanying this contest that they have read the above rules and agree to abide Printer head life more than 500 000 lines by their conditions 9 V 0 6A adaptor provided Just fill in this coupon attach it to your entry and sendit to ETI WIN A MICROPROFESSOR CONTEST 15 Boundary St Rusheurkes Bay NSW 2011 NaMe 202s heh sie ed nee eae ey ae Be epee ae eee eee ated ROCESS enoa eee eG eee a a as oe hana i oa eee a Postcod In 100 words or less tell us why you want the Microprofessor and what features attract you d Its that easy but hurry entries close 31st October 1982 ee i i 1 ETI September 1982 67
11. h which sets the MPF Il for an 80 column text display Epson _ or Cltoh printer operation RF television channel output and operation with 64K or 48K RAM to emulate the RCH nIS _ of the language card Only the composite video output can be used as the modulated RF output is in NTSC format unsuitable for connection to Australian television receivers There is also no PAL colour display adapter available so colour is not an option on the MPF III On the other hand the MPF III provides some compensation First of all the screen display is 24 lines of 40 characters each in upper and lowercase An lt 80 column mode is also available with its own 2k screen memory either selected by a configuration switch or from software duplicating the function of boards such as the Vision 80 for the Apple Il the dual processors atic logic and 66K of RAM Thus the MPF IIl provides both an Apple compatible display and a standard 80 x 24 line format for CP M programs In both display modes a screen editor is available allowing the user to move the cursor on the screen re type program lines and insert and delete characters High and low resolution graphics are also available Low resolution is 40 x 48 blocks and high resolution is 280 x 192 MPF III specifications POE EASAG 6502 and Z80 points In both modes four lines at the bottom of the screen can be reserved for text alt
12. hough otherwise text and graphics cannot be mixed on the screen Colour can be specified for graphics but on monochrome monitor the result is to change the pattern of the character as individual bits are shifted left or right The original Apple Il produces colour according to the phase difference between the colour burst signal and the RSET a IY ani AE LA ON MOR NEARS ER fe AM 66K including 2K butter for 80 column display ois 24 aS Serial printer Coe eee a nS eae SC ee ee a ae a ee ee ea ee cassette external expansion slot A maximum of two single sided single density 140K each unformatted 90 key full stroke IBM stvle interface Joystick interface 24 lines 40 or 80 columns text upper and lower case 40 X 48 resolution and 280 X 192 resolution graphics no colour adapter available _ Three octave range special effects and rhythm accompaniment m gt Compatible with CP M 2 2 assuming availability in a o o disk format a operating system a Bs 161 page S PERNOR manual Compatible with Apple Il ESE CNS RERET ARRE E A a 8 ARE o o Ao ge ELECTRONICS Australia February 1984 selects luminance signal so that the colour of any particular point depends on its exact position on the screen Sound is provided by an AY 3 8910 generator chip Six Basic commands are available to produce various special effects including waveforms to simu late a piano xyloph
13. itor the MPF IP automatically resets the text buffer pointer which means any new program entered is written over the top of any old program That s the difference betweeen the E and R editor entry commands To exit from the editor to the monitor the Q command is used There are many other commands available for the editor however to save space they will only briefly be mentioned in point form To insert lines when in the editor there is an I command To delete a line the D command is available To display n number of lines in the file from the current line use P n command To display all lines in a file the Z command is used To move the cursor to the bottom of a file use the B command To move the line pointer down to the nth line in the file use the G n command To move the line pointer up n lines use the U n command To move the line pointer down n lines use the N n command To move the line pointer to the top of a file use the T command To print the line number of the line currently displayed use the L command To locate a particular string in a file use the F command where is the string to be located To change a string use the C NNIXXXI command to change the string to XXX To display the addresses of the top and bottom of a file use the S command To toggle the state of the printer control ON or OFF use the X command To write data from memory to tap
14. meric green vacuum fluorescent display Also included on the board is a cassette interface for program storage and retrieval and a speaker is provided for system and programmer use With the speaker the user may generate programs for producing anything from alarm sounds through to music The entire board assembly is enclosed in a plastic binder which can be opened and closed like a book The unit is powered from a 9V DC plugpack Battery back up for the RAM is included to store programs when power is removed from the unit Included with the basic MPF IP are three softcover manuals There is a 130 page Users manual a Monitor Program Source Listing and an Experiment Manual The monitor program manual contains a listing of the monitor program in both Z 80 assembler mnemonics and Z 80 assembled hex code Included in the monitor program is a full Two Pass Assembler a Line 92 ELECTRONICS Australia April 1985 Assembler and a Dissambler The MPF IP also offers a long list of subroutines 44 in all What is a two pass assembler It is itself a program which is used to convert other programs into machine code The conversion process takes two steps or passes hence the name In the first pass the assembler produces a symbol table which contains all the labels and their corresponding values found in the program In the second pass the assembler uses the symbol table to generate the actual machine code or as it is Sometimes calle
15. ng date Complete accessories including 40 pin double headed for the contest is the 31st October 1982 Entries received ath seven days of that connector audio jumper operation manual etc date will be accepted if postmarked prior to and including 31st October 1982 The The PRT MPF Printer features winning entry will be drawn by the editor of Electronics Today International whose decision will be final No correspondence can be entered into regarding the decision e Compact thermal printer Winner will be advised by telegram the same day the result is declared The name of Built in alphanumeric character patterns eee ee winning a will be published in the next possible issue of ectronics Today International Contestants must enter their names and addresses Built in MPF I memory dump utility where indicated on each entry form Photostats or clearly written copies will be Built in MPF I BASIC program listing utility accepted but if sending copies you must cut out and include with each entry the month and page number from the bottom of the page of the contest In other words you can send in multiple entries but you will need extra copies of the magazine so e Built in Z80 Disassembler listing utility e 20 characters 138 dots per line that you send an original page number with each entry This contest is invalid in e Printing speed 0 8 line per second states where local laws prohibit entries Entrants must sign the declaration os an
16. one organ and bell sounds and a percussion accompaniment which can be set for various rhythm patterns Sound is produced through an internal speaker although there is a connector at the rear for an external loudspeaker Statements controlling the sound generator are SONG BASS TEMPO INSTR PLAY and EFFECT SONG takes parameters specifying the pitch and duration of notes over a three octave range while BASS selects one of eight percussion accompaniments TEMPO is specified in beats per minute from 16 different settings available and INSTR the instrument or sound waveform The MPF III comes with a floating point Basic interpreter in 11K of ROM a machine language monitor and a comprehensive driver for the Epson MxX 80 and C ltoh printers Sound effects and the 80 x 24 display screen are also supported When a disk drive is connected the MPF III will automatically load a disk operating system on start up allowing immediate access to disk based application programs If a CP M master disk is used to boot up the system the Z80 processor will be switched in automatically and the screen will display the CP M prompt In conclusion At 699 for the system unit and keyboard the MPF III offers the ability to run software for two of the most widely used microcomputer operating systems Apple DOS and CP M It is not really a beginner s system however as the user is very much alone when it comes to obtaining software in the co
17. or the rather small liquid crystal display 20 characters x 2 lines There is a full QWERTY keyboard and the unit has cassette interface Cen tronics printer interface and 4K RAM expandable to 24K An EPROM programming option is also available and soft ware options include a BASIC interpreter Forth language and a two pass assembler and editor The unit comes with three in formative manuals user s guide monitor source listing and to the delight of software hackers an experiment manual More information from Emo na Instruments 720 George Street Sydney 2000 NSW 02 212 4599 COMPUTER Skt ISAC TS You may have wondered why Jaycar did not until now sell ome computers We had many reasons but our main one was that we were not entirely happy with any of the units currently on the market The closest we came to what we thought was a pretty good computer was the Apple We thought that it was quite frankly expensive However it was sold and serviced throughout Australia by a reputable sales network so there was no need for Jaycar That s why we got so excited when we saw the Micro Professor MkII It is the closest thing that we have seen to be software compatible with the Apple Yes we know what you re thinking It s NOT one of those cheap Taiwanese Apple copies which infringe Apples copyright The Micro Professor MkII is a completely new and unique design in its own right It ju
18. roducts can be obtained from the Australian distributors Emona Computers Pty Ltd 720 George St Sydney Phone 02 212 4599 ELECTRONICS Australia April 1985 95 Learn 8088 computing with the MPF 1 88 amp T o hand is a nice glossy leaf let put out by Multitech In dustrial Corp of Taiwan and bearing Emona Instruments stamp This well produced sheet reminds us that To understand the computer is to understand many of the changes our world is undergoing and to really un derstand the computer you must first understand the microprocessor the heart of today s microcomputers In an effort to convert mere button pushers to microproces sor engineers the MicroProfes sor MPF I 88 sets out to teach how it all works And not just any microprocessor it says but the Intel 8088 the same one that powers the IBM PC and other popular 16 bit microcom puters The instrument is claimed to be a complete learning kit with everything you need to grasp the fundamentals of computer operation The special design al 86 Australian Electronics Monthly November 1985 lows you to open the case and look at the system board s com ponents Most hackers we know would open the case in any case even if it was perma nently welded but at least this saves the mess The MPF I 88 is not just a crude PCB with hex pad however In fact it is very simi lar to the current crop of lap portables except f
19. rrect disk formats The MPF III operating manual lists the facilities available and provides details of the hardware and memory arrangement but must be supplemented by other material if the user is not already familiar with a similar computer Against these disadvantages is the relatively low price and potentially vast software base For an experienced computer user looking for a compatible the MPF III has much to offer Further information on the MPF III and a range of other computer systems is available from Emona Computers Pty Ltd PO Box K720 Haymarket NSW 2000 2 107 MPF IP Micro Professor development system The MPF IP Micro Professor is a product of the Multitech Industrial Corporation of Taiwan The MPF IP is a complete microprocessor system based on the Z 80 lt comes with detailed instruction manuals and a full range of options and accessories by FRANCO UBAUDI The Micro Professor is not an evaluation kit It is a multi purpose product intended to satisfy the needs of Education Control Interfacing and Development There are two models the MPF I and the MPF IP We reviewed the latter version The MPF IP is one neat board measuring 157 x 220mm which accommodates a Z 80 processor chip two 2K RAMs one 8K ROM two I O port ICs and 12 other ICs for such tasks as decoding The board is fitted with a 49 key keyboard with QWERTY layout and a 20 digit 14 segment alphanu
20. st so happens that most of the widely distributed Apple soft ware will run on this machine O K But why so excited LOOK AT THE PRICE Check out the STANDARD FEATURES of this unit Sit down Think about it and COMPARE what you get with the Micro Professor Mkil as STANDARD that are options on other machines Jk 54K OF RAM SUPPLIED STANDARD all that you are ever likely to need etext lo and high resolution graphics STANDARD k Video AND TV RF output STANDARD Centronics printer interface STANDARD Multitech BASIC is compatible with APPLE II BASIC Most APPLE soft ware will run on the CRO Professor Mk II 3k Easy to use manual included in the price over 248 pages Power supply included as STANDARD ha xk SPECIFICATIONS Paddle Optional Dimensions Jayca 125 YORK STREET SYDNEY 2000 PHONE 264 6688 TELEX 72293 NEVILLES CORNER Cnr CARLINGFORD amp PENNANT HILLS ROAD CARLINGFORD PHONE 872 4422 or 872 4444 icon data Cassetie Micron adjustable azimuth data compatible cassette x64950 gt POST ANOPACKING CHARGES 5 9 99 1 50 10 24 99 3 20 Mon 25 49 99 4 50 S50 99 99 S6 50 Mail Order By BANKCARD Via Your Phone 100 up 8 00 Thurs CPU R6502 ROM 16K Bytes RAM 64K Bytes S 5 BASIC Interpreter More than 90 instructions stronger than creen 12 Display area 80 char s wore TOP Apel II
21. unit and a 30cm green phosphor video monitor on a tilt and swivel stand complete the set up i A coiled extensible cable connects the keyboard to the system unit via a 15 pin D type connector plugged into the right side of the system unit while the disk drives are connected by a flat cable at the rear lt The MPF III keyboard is in the latest ergonomic style measuring just 18mm high at the front by 400 x 178mm W x D Height at the rear is 34mm or 45mm when two small legs are used to tilt the keyboard The key layout is dished or slightly concave from back to front and 90 keys are provided in buff and grey with black legends _ In addition to 48 alphanumeric keys the MPF II provides 12 programmable function keys a 14 key keypad with cursor control keys and its own Return key and 16 miscellaneous system control keys including Caps and Number lock Reset Break and Halt MPF III Basic statements and functions ABS AND APPEND ASC ATN BASS BLOAD BRUN BSAVE CALL CATALOG CHR CLEAR CLOSE COLOUR CONT COS DATA DEF FN DEL DELETE DIM DRAW EFFECT END EXEC EXP FLASH FOR NEXT FP FRE GET GOSUB GOTO GR HCOLOR HGR HGR2 HIMEM HLIN HOME HPLOT HTAB IF THEN INIT INPUT INSTR INT INVERSE IN LEFT LEN LET LIST LOAD LOCK LOG LOMEM MAXFILES MID MON NEW NOMON NORMAL NOT NOTRACE ON GOSUB ON GOTO ON ERR GOTO OPEN OR PDL PEEK PLAY PLO
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