---
title: Sage Computer Technology Sage II
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Professional Computer
origins:
- U.S.A.
years:
- '1982'
cpus:
- Motorola MC-68000
params:
  name: Sage II
  image: /media/museum/photos/sage_ii_system_1.jpg
  company: /companies/sage-computer-technology
  company_name: Sage Computer Technology
  specs:
  - label: NAME
    value: Sage II
  - label: MANUFACTURER
    value: Sage Computer Technology
  - label: TYPE
    value: Professional Computer
  - label: ORIGIN
    value: U.S.A.
  - label: YEAR
    value: '1982'
  - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
    value: None
  - label: KEYBOARD
    value: Serial video terminal
  - label: CPU
    value: Motorola MC-68000
  - label: SPEED
    value: 8 Mhz.
  - label: RAM
    value: 128 KB expandable to 512 KB
  - label: ROM
    value: unknown
  - label: TEXT MODES
    value: 80 columns x 25 lines
  - label: GRAPHIC MODES
    value: none
  - label: COLORS
    value: none
  - label: SIZE / WEIGHT
    value: unknown
  - label: I/O PORTS
    value: 1 x Serial - 1 x GPIB
  - label: BUILT IN MEDIA
    value: 1 or 2 x 5.25'' 800 KB F.D. drives
  - label: OS
    value: USCD P-System - CP/M 68K
  - label: POWER SUPPLY
    value: Buit-in power supply unit
  - label: PRICE
    value: $3,600 (1 disk drive and 128 KB RAM version)
  tabs:
  - adverts
  - links
  adverts:
  - title: U.S. ADVERT
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      advert said:

      No waiting for software ...This exciting micro has fired the imagination of programmers who are busy developping new software to take full advantage of its performance capabilities...

      No wait state ...One advantage is the total elimination of memory access wait states so that interaction between the processor, RAM and disk drive is speeded up...

      A free p-System for those who don't wait ...A free p-System operating system and PASCAL, FORTRAN 77 and BASIC compilers which alone lists for $1475, we're now including free with the Sage II...
    image: /media/museum/pubs/sage_ii_pub_1.jpg
  - title: UK ADVERT, OCT 1983
    subtitle: ''
    text: Advertisement from a UK Sage dealer.
    image: /media/museum/pubs/sage_ii_pub_s2.jpg
  links:
  - title: Marcus Wigan's Homepage
    url: http://go.to/mwigan
    text: Marcus has some info about the Sage systems
  - title: sageandstride.org
    url: http://www.sageandstride.org/index.html
    text: Excellent site about systems produced by SAGE Computer/Stride Micro/MicroSage
  comments:
  - author: 'Doctor Smith says: Cackling Cacophony!'
    date: Friday 3rd February 2017
    text: 'Doctor Smith says: Cackling Cacophony! Very fast over priced junk. I prefer Apple II anyday over this Bubble-headed Booby.'
  - author: Pete Fenelon (York, UK)
    date: Friday 13rd January 2006
    text: I had one of these for a while. Nice machine, and astonishingly quick given its vintage. Distinctive feature - the CPU activity LED changed colour depending on whether the CPU was in user or system mode!
  related:
  - /museum/sage-computer-technology-sage-iv
  oc_id: 607
  source:
    url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230530103345/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=607
    date: '2023-05-30'
---

Sage Technology designed the Sage II around one of the fastest and most powerful chip available at the time, the Motorola MC68000, which was designed, among other things, for the implementation of high-level languages.

The Sage II, didn't look awesome. It was physically smaller than an Apple II, but packed a true 16 bits CPU and 512 KB of RAM. Only 128 KB were left free for the user, the remaining 384 KB being used as a RAM disc.

The Sage II used the **UCSD P-System** operating system. P-System means P-Code, an early universal intermediate code concept for programming languages, the same idea that Java is now based upon. Sage had even modified the P-System so that the system was truly multi-user. A special version of CP/M called **CP/M 68K** could also run on the Sage II.

One or two Mitsubishi 5.25 inch floppy drives were used to store programs and data. Each one could store up to 800 Kb per disk in the native Sage format. They were fully software configurable and had preset formats for IBM, Xerox, Rainbow and other systems. The only problem is that the Sage II didn't provide any hard disk management. This is will only be possible with the [Sage IV](/museum/sage-computer-technology-sage-iv/) model (10 to 40 MB hard disks).