website/content/museum/compupro-system-816.md

---
title: Compupro System 816
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Professional Computer
origins:
- U.S.A.
years:
- '1983'
cpus:
- '8085'
params:
  name: System 816
  image: /media/museum/photos/compupro_816_system_1.jpg
  company: /companies/compupro
  company_name: Compupro
  specs:
  - label: NAME
    value: System 816
  - label: MANUFACTURER
    value: Compupro
  - label: TYPE
    value: Professional Computer
  - label: ORIGIN
    value: U.S.A.
  - label: YEAR
    value: March 1983
  - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
    value: None
  - label: KEYBOARD
    value: Serial video terminal
  - label: CPU
    value: 8085, Z80, 8088, 8086, 80286, NS 16032, Motorola 68000
  - label: SPEED
    value: Depending of the CPU
  - label: RAM
    value: From 16 KB to 1 MB
  - label: ROM
    value: Depending of the board
  - label: TEXT MODES
    value: 80 chars. x 25 lines
  - label: GRAPHIC MODES
    value: None
  - label: COLORS
    value: Monochrome
  - label: I/O PORTS
    value: 6, 12 or 20-slot motherboards
  - label: BUILT IN MEDIA
    value: External 8'' F.D. drives
  - label: OS
    value: CP/M-80, CP/M-86, MP/M, MS-DOS, Concurrent Dos
  - label: POWER SUPPLY
    value: Built-in power supply unit
  - label: PERIPHERALS
    value: S-100 boards
  - label: PRICE
    value: From $5500 up to almost $20,000
  tabs:
  - photos
  - adverts
  - hardware
  forum_thread: 636
  photos:
  - title: 'INSIDE #1'
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      This 816 version was composed of:\
      • CompuPro RAM22 256K static RAM card\
      • CompuPro CPU-Z card\
      • CompuPro System Support 1 card (Math coprocessor, RTC, timers, interrupt controller, serial port)\
      • CompuPro Disk1 DMA Floppy Disk Controller card\
      • CompuPro Disk3 DMA Hard Disk Controller card\
      • CompuPro Interfacer 4 card with 3 serial ports, Centronics printer port and general-purpose parallel port.
    image: /media/museum/photos/compupro_816_inside_s1.jpg
  - title: 'INSIDE #2'
    subtitle: ''
    text: Seen from above
    image: /media/museum/photos/compupro_816_inside_s2.jpg
  - title: FD/HD UNIT
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/compupro_816_withfdunit_s1.jpg
  - title: INSIDE FD/HD UNIT
    subtitle: ''
    text: This unit holds two Misubishi 8" DSDD floppy disk drives and a Quantum 5.25" 36 MB ATA hard disk drive.
    image: /media/museum/photos/compupro_816_insidefdunit_s1.jpg
  adverts:
  - title: 816/C VERSION
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      The 816/C version was a multi-user system featuring:\
      \- Dual CPU (8085 + 8088) motherboard\
      \- 384 KB of RAM, expandable to 1 MB\
      \- 2 x 1.2 MB 8" F.D. drives\
      \- 9 serial ports\
      \- 3 to 16 users expansion

      As the magazine 'computer Age' said, this system was almost twice as quick as an IBM-PC.
    image: /media/museum/pubs/compupro_816_pub_1.jpg
  - title: U.S. AD. (1983)
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/pubs/compupro_816_pub_3.jpg
  - title: U.S. AD. (JUN. 83)
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      Advert said:

      We've wired CompuPro savvy into three of the industry most potent new processor chips. The result: more performance, more quality, more reliability, and higher speed for greater throughput than ever before.\
      CPU 286 and CPU 16032 can upgrade present systems to state-of-the-art operation, or serve as powerful fundations for new systems. CPU 68K, aside from being a superd CPU board, is also the core of our system 816/68K.\
      As always, CompuPro kept an eye on the future in designing these CPUs. With a CompuPro, you don't shudder a fast-changing technology, you welcome it.

      We give you brains and brawn in one box, and that's beautiful.
    image: /media/museum/pubs/compupro_816_pub_4.jpg
  hardware:
  - title: Z80 CPU CARD
    subtitle: ''
    text: This card could be used alone or as a slave card to run 8-bit tasks in a 16-bit system.
    image: /media/museum/hardware/compupro_816_cpuz80card_1.jpg
  - title: INTEL 80186 CPU CARD
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      With this board one could have 2 seperate 16-bit CP/M sessions running, each with their own 64K or 256K of RAM.\
      This card is fitted with 512 KB of RAM
    image: /media/museum/hardware/compupro_816_cpu186card_1.jpg
  - title: INTEL 80286 CPU CARD
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/hardware/compupro_816_cpu286card_1.jpg
  - title: 16032 CPU CARD
    subtitle: ''
    text: 16-bit National Semiconductor's 16032 processor board. The second yellow window chip is the floating point arithmetic unit. Provision is made on the card for memory management unit and additional 32 KB of ROM
    image: /media/museum/hardware/compupro_816_cpu16032card_1.jpg
  - title: ACTIVE TERMINATOR CARD
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/hardware/compupro_816_activecard_1.jpg
  oc_id: 651
  source:
    url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230603023358/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=651
    date: '2023-06-03'
---

The Compupro 8/16 system was one of the last, big, expensive CP/M system that appeared at the end of the S-100 Bus and 8-bit professional systems era.

It was actually a typical S-100 box where the user could insert almost any S-100 card build by the manufacturer or anybody else.

As Compupro manufactured a large range of S-100 card, the system could be fitted with either 8-bit and/or 16-bit processor cards. One of the best-selling card was a dual processor 8088 + 8085 that allowed running both 8 bit CP/M and 16 bit MP/M software, at a speed of 2 or 5 Mhz, in a multi-user, multi-tasking environment.

Several advanced CPU cards were available later: Z80 at 8 Mhz, Intel 80286 and National Semiconductor 16032.

Due to the large range of available CPU cards, practically all operating systems and programming languages of the time could be used.

It appears that Compupro still exists and offers a limited support, spare parts and manual hard copies.