website/content/museum/xerox-820-ii.md

---
title: Xerox 820-II
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Professional Computer
origins:
- U.S.A.
years:
- '1983'
cpus:
- Z80A
params:
  name: 820-II
  image: /media/museum/photos/xerox_820-2_1.jpg
  company: /companies/xerox
  company_name: Xerox
  specs:
  - label: NAME
    value: 820-II
  - label: MANUFACTURER
    value: Xerox
  - label: TYPE
    value: Professional Computer
  - label: ORIGIN
    value: U.S.A.
  - label: YEAR
    value: '1983'
  - label: END OF PRODUCTION
    value: '1985'
  - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
    value: Basic 80 delivered on disk
  - label: KEYBOARD
    value: AZERTY/QWERTY, full-stroke keyboard with separated keyboard, 74 keys
  - label: CPU
    value: Z80A
  - label: SPEED
    value: 4 Mhz
  - label: RAM
    value: 64 kb
  - label: ROM
    value: 8 kb
  - label: TEXT MODES
    value: |-
      80 x 24 (character matrix : 5 x 7)\
      12'' black & white monitor
  - label: COLORS
    value: Black & white
  - label: SIZE / WEIGHT
    value: 'Main unit / monitor : 32,8 x 38,1 x 34,3 cm / 13,6 kg'
  - label: I/O PORTS
    value: Serial 9600 bauds, Internal Expansion Slot, External Floppy Connector
  - label: BUILT IN MEDIA
    value: one 8'' disk-drive (DD/DS) (320 KB) and one 8'' hard-disk (10MB).
  - label: OS
    value: CP/M 2.2
  - label: POWER SUPPLY
    value: Built-in PSU
  - label: PERIPHERALS
    value: Additional disk-drives, printer, modem, 16-bit board
  - label: PRICE
    value: 9832 (France, 83)
  tabs:
  - photos
  - adverts
  - hardware
  forum_thread: 481
  photos:
  - title: SYSTEM
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/xerox_820ll_system_1.jpg
  - title: XEROX LOGO
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/xerox_820ll_logo_1.jpg
  - title: REAR
    subtitle: ''
    text: This picture shows how the different parts are interconnected. Some cords are a bit too short.
    image: /media/museum/photos/xerox_820-2_rear_1.jpg
  - title: CONNECTORS CLOSE-UP
    subtitle: ''
    text: Main unit and FD unit connectors
    image: /media/museum/photos/xerox_820ll_connectcloseup_1.jpg
  - title: DISKS
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      These are the 8" double-sided disk-drive (980kb) and the Shugart 10Mb 8" whinchester-technology hard-disk. Only 8MB of the drive were usable due to the 8192KB limitation of CP/M.\
      It was possible to daisy chain additional drives to the main unit.
    image: /media/museum/photos/xerox_820-2_disks_1.jpg
  - title: 'INSIDE FD/HD UNIT #1'
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/xerox_820ll_insidefd_1.jpg
  - title: 'INSIDE FD/HD UNIT #2'
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/xerox_820ll_insidefd_2.jpg
  - title: BOOT-UP SCREEN
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/xerox_820ll_screenshot_1.jpg
  - title: MASS STORAGE CONFIGURATION
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/xerox_820ll_screenshot_2.jpg
  adverts:
  - title: PRICE LIST
    subtitle: ''
    text: This reseller advert shows the initial price list from 1982 and the new prices of June 1983, about 40% less expensive.
    image: /media/museum/pubs/xerox_820_pricelist_1.jpg
  hardware:
  - title: DIABLO 630
    subtitle: Printer
    text: This printer is an option of the Model 820. It can print 132 character per line at a speed of 40 cps. It is bi-directional.
    image: /media/museum/hardware/xerox_820-2_printer_1.jpg
  oc_id: 487
  source:
    url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230530203445/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=487
    date: '2023-05-30'
---

The model 820-II is basically a [model 820](/museum/xerox-820/) with a higher clock rate (4 MHz instead of 2.5 MHz) and a 8" double density/double side disk-drive and hard-disk instead of the the two basic 8" Single density/single side disk-drive of the first [model 820](/museum/xerox-820/). But the hard-disk is said to be very noisy and the dual disks weigh more than 38 pounds!

Nearly all the hardware is housed within the monitor, a bit like a [Macintosh](/museum/apple-macintosh/). The separate keyboard is linked to the monitor by a "not-long-enough" cord. The 8" disk-drive and hard-disk are mounted in a separate huge box. The 10MB hard drive for example was boxed with an 8" drive. A real-time clock is included in the hardware. Green screens were available in all models since the screen/processor case was common to all.

Like its predecessor, the 820-II is well furnished in software of all sorts. Thanks to its CP/M compatibility nearly every profession can find a suitable program. A lot of languages and OS were also available (CP/M, Basic 80, C Basic 2, Assembler Macro 80, Cobol 80, Short 80, TTY communication, 3270/3780 emulation).\
But the 820-II has no real graphic possibilities nor sound, and a small RAM capacity (64 KB) for a professional computer. Above all it was quite expensive compared to its competitors.

There was also WP dedicated versions with unique key caps.

A 16-bit expansion board was released to upgrade the 820-II, so that its performance would nearly match the new Xerox computer(the [16/8](/museum/xerox-8-16/)), and also allowed the 820 to work under DOS. At the start of the year 1985, Xerox would definately leave the micro-computer market and stop the production of the 820.

---

**Contributors:** Jeremy Wilcox, Bronislaw Opacki Jr

**Dale Carpenter** clarifies:\
I started working for Xerox in 1983 as a PC tech in the Xerox Service Center a sevice/support part to the retail store they had back then.\
820-II's were the next step after 820's they were already double density instead of upgraded like many 820's were. They also supported double sided drives.\
The drive choices were 5.25" dual drives single or double sided, 8" dual drives also single or double sided and the top was a 8"double sided floppy paired with a 8" 10Mb Shugart hard drive.The 8" double density, 2-sided floppies had a capacity of 960K which was a lot for back then.