website/content/museum/sord-m223-series.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Sord M223 series	Computers	Home Computer	Japan	1979	Zilog Z80 A	name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos adverts hardware oc_id source M223 series /media/museum/photos/sord_m223mk6_system_1.jpg /companies/sord Sord label value NAME M223 series label value MANUFACTURER Sord label value TYPE Home Computer label value ORIGIN Japan label value YEAR 1979 label value END OF PRODUCTION Unknown label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE Unknown label value KEYBOARD QWERTY / AZERTY mechanical keyboard\ 15 function keys & numeric keypad label value CPU Zilog Z80 A label value SPEED 4 MHz label value CO-PROCESSOR Unknown label value RAM 64 kb label value VRAM 4 kb label value ROM 512 bytes (for the loader), up to 8 kb label value TEXT MODES 80 x 24 label value GRAPHIC MODES Unknown label value COLORS Black & green (built-in monitor) label value SOUND Unknown label value I/O PORTS plug for an additional ROM\ V24 / RS232c x 2 (from 110 to 9600 bauds)\ M-223 : 3 x S100 connectors label value BUILT IN MEDIA From 1 to 4 x 5.25 label value OS Sord DOS, CP/M, UCSD Pascal label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in Power Supply Unit label value PERIPHERALS - 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 value PRICE Unknown photos adverts hardware 229 title subtitle text image LARGE VIEW /media/museum/photos/sord_m223mk6_system_2.jpg title subtitle text image WITH DUAL HD UNITS /media/museum/photos/sord_m223mk6_withhdunits_1.jpg title subtitle text image TOP VIEW /media/museum/photos/sord_m223mk6_topview_1.jpg title subtitle text image KEYBOARD CLOSE-UP /media/museum/photos/sord_m223mk6_keyboard_1.jpg title subtitle text image REAR SIDE **(1)** Dual serial ports\ **(2)** Floppy drive controller extension board\ **(3)** Four SCSI ports board\ **(4)** Hard disk controller board /media/museum/photos/sord_m223mk6_rear_1.jpg title subtitle text image INSIDE /media/museum/photos/sord_m223mk6_inside_1.jpg title subtitle text image MAINBOARD **(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 /media/museum/photos/sord_m223mk6_mainboard_2.jpg title subtitle text image FRENCH AD (JAN. 1980) /media/museum/pubs/sord_m-serie_pub_gepsi.jpg title subtitle text image SORD MARK II SYNOPTIC SKETCH It shows the internal organisation of the Sord Mark II /media/museum/hardware/sord_m223_schema.gif title subtitle text image DF44 8" UNIT 8" external floppy disk drive unit /media/museum/hardware/sord_m223mk6_fd8unit_1.jpg title subtitle text image HARD DISK UNITS 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! /media/museum/hardware/sord_m223mk6_hdunits_1.jpg title subtitle text image INSIDE HD UNIT The 8" hard drive is enclosed into a tinted plastic case /media/museum/hardware/sord_m223mk6_insidehd_1.jpg 219 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20221205122746/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=219 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)

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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.