CBM-8000 series

The following important information is missing from this article or section:

There is no information on when the model was developed, when it was launched and, at least for some sub-models, until when it was available or was marketed (e.g. with the 8096-SK it is clear that there are obviously differences in the marketing time were not shown for the individual models).

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CBM 8032-SK

The CBM ( C ommodore B usiness M achines ) 8000 series from Commodore is a 4000 series computer (FAT version), but with a larger monitor section with 80 characters. A MOS Technology 6502 with 1 MHz clock frequency worked unchanged as CPU. There was also a 5¼-inch floppy disk drive model CBM 8050 with 500 KB capacity (later CBM 8250 with 1 MB capacity) and a bidirectional 132-character printer with 160 cps. The software included a. the database program Ozz, the word processor Wordpro ​​and the spreadsheet program Visicalc are available. The computer was programmable with CBM- BASIC Version 4.0, but there was also the possibility of loading other programming languages ​​into the main memory and then programming in this; The Pascal compiler TCL-Pascal was relatively widespread .

Models

CBM 8032 with peripherals

CBM 8096 SK (1980-1985); Technical Collections Dresden

The main board of a CBM 8296

• CBM 8008 - 8 KB, 80 characters, integrated keyboard
• CBM 8016 - 16 KByte, 80 characters, integrated keyboard
• CBM 8032 - 32 KB, 80 characters, integrated keyboard
  • CBM 8032-32B - 32 KB, 80 characters, integrated keyboard, installation option for an internal 5¼-inch floppy disk drive
  • CBM 8032-SK - 32 KByte, 80 characters, ergonomic housing, separate keyboard ("SK" stands for "separate keyboard" )
• CBM 8096-SK - 96 KB, 80 characters, separate keyboard, plus 64 KB RAM expansion
• CBM 8296 - 128 KByte, 80 characters, ergonomic housing, separate keyboard, new circuit board
  • CBM 8296-D - 128 KByte, 80 characters, ergonomic housing, separate keyboard, new circuit board, internal 5¼-inch double floppy disk drive
  • CBM 8296-GD - 128 KByte, HiRes / 80 characters, ergonomic housing, separate keyboard, new circuit board, internal 5¼ inch double floppy
• MMF 9000 = CBM 8032 with 6809 CPU board with its own 64 KB RAM (outside of Europe called Super-PET )

Technically, versions of the Commodore 64 in the housings of the 8000 series do not belong in the series:

• CBM 8064 - 64 KByte, 80 characters, integrated keyboard
• CBM 8064-SK - 64 KByte, 80 characters, separate keyboard

The 8032 was manufactured in three different housing designs: the standard version, the 32B version, which had a larger housing in which a drive could be installed, and the ergonomic SK version, which had a swiveling monitor and a detachable one Keyboard. There was also an SK version of the 8064.

From the 8096 onwards, the LOS-96 operating system was also supplied, which, in contrast to the CBM-Basic, could address the entire main memory. For the 8296, which was a later but direct successor, a D version was produced that had two slim-line drives (model CBM 8250LP ) built in that could store up to one MB.

The name MMF of the model MMF 9000 stood for Micro Mainframe . The computer came with compilers for Pascal and other more advanced languages, but was extremely slow and economically unsuccessful.

Due to its popularity, the 8000 series was produced until the mid-1980s. Some of them are still used today in some companies. Before the IBM PC dominated the market, Commodore was with these devices in Germany and probably some other countries more market leader in commercial office applications and, thanks to the IEEE-488 bus, also in production automation and in universities, both for number crunching and for data acquisition Word processing. “Networking” via the IEEE-488 bus was also a strong argument for commercial success. In the early 1980s, quantities well over 100,000 were already achieved. At the end of 1983, Commodore was the market leader in Germany for office computers with this model series, see Personal Computer for detailed figures .

The motherboard of the 8000 series (up to the 8096) contained dynamic RAM of up to 32 KB as well as a video part, which for the first time had its own video chip 6545 (identical to 6845 , as it was also used in the IBM CGA card and also in today's graphics chips is included as a partial functionality). The video RAM could be reconfigured between 40 and 80 characters wide using a jumper , so that this board could also be used in the FAT versions of the 4000 series. Otherwise the motherboard was largely identical to that of the 3000 series. The 8296 had a new motherboard on which 128 KB of RAM were built in and part of the functionality was combined in custom chips developed in -house .

The 8096-SK was an interim solution because the 8296 wasn't finished as quickly as planned. The old 8032 board only fit into the new housing by turning it 90 °. After that, however, all peripheral connections in the form of circuit board plugs were in the wrong places, so that extra cables had to be routed from the circuit board plugs to the externally accessible plug contacts within the housing.

This series of computers should be continued in the same basic architecture with the models CBM 500 , CBM 600 and CBM 700 , see there.

Periphery

Type wheel printer CBM 8028

There was a wide range of peripheral devices for this series of computers :

• external floppy drives CBM 8050 (2 × 500 KB), CBM 8250 (2 × 1 MB), SFD 1001 (1 × 1 MB), the older drives of the 4000 and 3000 series could also be used; an 8-inch double drive was apparently only available as an internal prototype, for general information on hardware and software in these devices, see CBM floppy drives
• Datasette can still be connected
• Printers in needle technology ( CBM 4022 , CBM 4023 , CBM 8023, CBM 8024, MPP 1361)
• Printers with type wheel technology (CBM 8026, CBM 8027, CBM 8028, CBM 8229), with the exception of CBM 8028/8229 ( Robotron ), all of them purchased as OEMs from other manufacturers (mostly Olympia)
• Single point graphics board for installation in the expansion slot, it was equipped with a BASIC expansion in an EPROM that was integrated into the Commodore BASIC:
  • Version A with EF9365 vector graphics processor (512 × 512 interlaced )
  • Version B with EF9366 vector graphics processor enabled a screen resolution of 512 × 256 pixels
• Plotter (CBM 8075, from Watanabe as OEM)
• MBS, multi-user system for sharing peripheral devices with up to 8 computers
• Hard disks from Hübner & Worm with 20 MB with Unix controller (8 "and 5.25")
• Hard drives from Schneider & Koch as multi-user system with controller in the CBM 8032 up to 16 computers

literature

• Adam Osborne, Caroll S. Donahue: CBM-Computer Handbuch, te-wi Verlag 1981, ISBN 3-921803-13-6

Web links

Commons : CBM-8000 series  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ CBM manual graphics card (pdf, 3 MB), opened on July 20, 2014