Cromemco


cromemco system 1.png

1976- System 1

These computers were built around the S100 bus. The S100 BUS was a standard (also known under the name IEEE 696) for connection on Zilog Z80 or Intel 8080 processors. A lot of S100 cards were available for the Cromenco systems.

Four Cromenco systems were available :

- System 0: Z80 A + RAM 64 KB + 2 floppy disk drives (390 KB each),
- System I: As system 0 + 1 hard disk (5 MB).
- System III: Z80 CPU, Dual 8" Persci electrically driven floppy drives, 64 KB RAM. It was S-100 bus, Multiuser, used MP/M operating system.

In 1982, Cromemco also introduced the CS-1H system using a dual processor board (Motorola 68000 and Z80) and offering 16 MB of address space.

For the moment, we don't know exactly the specific features for the Systems II and IV.

These systems ran under Cromix (the Cromenco Unix version). They could run under CP/M and CDOS too (CDOS is a CP/M like operating system). Several languages were developped especially for these computers : Fortran IV or a 16 K Z80 Basic wich was given as "one of the fastest and most capable. Full 14-digit precision".

cromemco c10.png

1982- C-10

The C-10 is Cromemco's only attempt to step in the market of personal and family oriented computers.

The goal was to compete with Apple II's and IBM PC's in small businesses as they started getting equipped with computer systems.

This standard CP/M based system featured a 12'' screen housing a single motherboard, without extension capabilities (no S-100 bus), a keyboard and floppy drive.

The CDOS operating system (a CP/M variant) came with several business software tools (spreadsheet, word processor, BASIC language).