--- title: Sord M223 series categories: - Computers types: - Home Computer origins: - Japan years: - '1979' cpus: - Zilog Z80 A params: name: M223 series image: /media/museum/photos/sord_m223mk6_system_1.jpg company: /companies/sord company_name: Sord specs: - label: NAME value: M223 series - label: MANUFACTURER value: Sord - label: TYPE value: Home Computer - label: ORIGIN value: Japan - label: YEAR value: '1979' - label: END OF PRODUCTION value: Unknown - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE value: Unknown - label: KEYBOARD value: |- QWERTY / AZERTY mechanical keyboard\ 15 function keys & numeric keypad - label: CPU value: Zilog Z80 A - label: SPEED value: 4 MHz - label: CO-PROCESSOR value: Unknown - label: RAM value: 64 kb - label: VRAM value: 4 kb - label: ROM value: 512 bytes (for the loader), up to 8 kb - label: TEXT MODES value: 80 x 24 - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: Unknown - label: COLORS value: Black & green (built-in monitor) - label: SOUND value: Unknown - label: I/O PORTS value: |- plug for an additional ROM\ V24 / RS232c x 2 (from 110 to 9600 bauds)\ M-223 : 3 x S100 connectors - label: BUILT IN MEDIA value: From 1 to 4 x 5.25 - label: OS value: Sord DOS, CP/M, UCSD Pascal - label: POWER SUPPLY value: Built-in Power Supply Unit - label: PERIPHERALS value: |- \- 2 more floppy-drives\ \- 10 Mb hard-disk\ M-223 only :\ \- Graphic card for high resolution and 8 colors\ \- A/D and D/A convertor - label: PRICE value: Unknown tabs: - photos - adverts - hardware forum_thread: 229 photos: - title: LARGE VIEW subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/sord_m223mk6_system_2.jpg - title: WITH DUAL HD UNITS subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/sord_m223mk6_withhdunits_1.jpg - title: TOP VIEW subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/sord_m223mk6_topview_1.jpg - title: KEYBOARD CLOSE-UP subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/sord_m223mk6_keyboard_1.jpg - title: REAR SIDE subtitle: '' text: |- **(1)** Dual serial ports\ **(2)** Floppy drive controller extension board\ **(3)** Four SCSI ports board\ **(4)** Hard disk controller board image: /media/museum/photos/sord_m223mk6_rear_1.jpg - title: INSIDE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/sord_m223mk6_inside_1.jpg - title: MAINBOARD subtitle: '' text: |- **(1)** Keyboard connector\ **(2)** 64 KB RAM chips - 32 x 4116 (16K x 1bit)\ **(3)** 5 KB video RAM chips - 10 x 4027 chips (4K x 1bit)\ **(4)** AMD 9511 floating point unit\ **(5)** SMC 5027 video display controller\ **(6)** Connector for expansion box\ **(7)** Z80A processor\ **(8)** Z80 CTC counter-timer\ **(9)** Reset switch\ **(10)** Dual serial port\ **(11)** Dual 8251 serial controller chips image: /media/museum/photos/sord_m223mk6_mainboard_2.jpg adverts: - title: FRENCH AD (JAN. 1980) subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/pubs/sord_m-serie_pub_gepsi.jpg hardware: - title: SORD MARK II SYNOPTIC SKETCH subtitle: '' text: It shows the internal organisation of the Sord Mark II image: /media/museum/hardware/sord_m223_schema.gif - title: DF44 8" UNIT subtitle: '' text: 8" external floppy disk drive unit image: /media/museum/hardware/sord_m223mk6_fd8unit_1.jpg - title: HARD DISK UNITS subtitle: '' text: |- Dual 8" 10 MB hard disk unit. The top one is the main unit with various control LEDs, the bottom one is the slave unit.\ Each unit weighs about 50 kg and uses about 500W! image: /media/museum/hardware/sord_m223mk6_hdunits_1.jpg - title: INSIDE HD UNIT subtitle: '' text: The 8" hard drive is enclosed into a tinted plastic case image: /media/museum/hardware/sord_m223mk6_insidehd_1.jpg oc_id: 219 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20221205122746/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=219 date: '2022-12-05' --- These computers were generally sold for specific professionnal use along with the appropriate software. Two models were launched: the Sord MK II 203 and Sord MK II 223. The difference is that the 223 has 3 x S100 slots for easy expansion. Both have a special DMA channel for the disks (floppy and hard disk). Some software was sold with them, which included the MFDOS, several Sord BASIC's, a compiled Basic (C-Basic) and many tools. The Fortran IV and the Cobol were also available. For the M-223 and its S100 slots, 2 extensions were sold : \- A graphic card with high-resolution and 8 colors\ \- A/D and D/A convertor (16 x 12 bits channels for input and 2 x 8 bits channels for output) --- **Joe Hernandez** remembers:\ I remember introducing them in Puerto Rico in 1980 at a great celebration in the Sheraton Hotel in a conference organized by J. R. Hernandez & Associates, Inc (my company at the time), together with the Electronic Information Systems Directors Association (ADSEI in Spanish).\ I programmed them in a language MicroCobol (a mix of basic and cobol) developed by a London Company of which I don't remember the name at this moment. We were converting their accounting system from the British to the American accounting method since there was no business system in English on those days for the PC. IBM introduced their first PC 5051 in 1981.\ The retail price without software at that time was $12,800.00 plus another $5,000.00 for the whole integrating accounting system... - I never took off in this venture ;( **Harvey Platter** specifies:\ MicroCobol was the development language for BOS (Business Operating System). It was actually COBOL with the formating requirements stripped out and support for low level and system programming added.\ MicroCobol compiled to an intermediate code, rather like the, then popular, P-Code or modern Java but altogether more efficient than either. BOS itself was written in MicroCobol and was very quick, even on a 2MHz Z80. The system was amazingly portable, each target system only requiring around 2KB of machine code to bootstrap BOS. Code was 100% cross compatible across hardware, something unheard of at the time.\ Unfortunately, the marketing of the product was poor and it was swept away by the rise of the PC, which was a pity as some of its nicer features are only now being realised on, for example, Linux.
We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system, please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.