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

---
title: Sord M223 series
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Home Computer
origins:
- Japan
years:
- '1979'
cpus:
- Zilog Z80 A
params:
  name: M223 series
  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
  photos:
  - title: LARGE VIEW
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: WITH DUAL HD UNITS
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: TOP VIEW
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: KEYBOARD CLOSE-UP
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - 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: null
  - title: INSIDE
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - 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: null
  adverts:
  - title: FRENCH AD (JAN. 1980)
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  hardware:
  - title: SORD MARK II SYNOPTIC SKETCH
    subtitle: ''
    text: It shows the internal organisation of the Sord Mark II
    image: null
  - title: DF44 8" UNIT
    subtitle: ''
    text: 8" external floppy disk drive unit
    image: null
  - 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: null
  - title: INSIDE HD UNIT
    subtitle: ''
    text: The 8" hard drive is enclosed into a tinted plastic case
    image: null
  comments:
  - author: Xavier (Spain)
    date: Sunday 9th February 2014
    text: |-
      I don''t have any space to keep anymore my Sord 223 mark III.

      I put it in ebay...if you want to see the photos, there are 10.

      Kind Regards
  - author: Peter Ingram (UK)
    date: Monday 9th January 2012
    text: I have an M223 in my loft. Has it any value ?
  - author: Roelof Beverdam (Enschede)
    date: Monday 31st July 2006
    text: |-
      Dear Know1,\
      There is no such thing as built-in commands in Sord OS, so all commands are programs on the disk as PROG.SAV files. You might list the directory contents of a disk to a printer using device files (also present on the disk, with zero length) like this:\
      LIST/A SOUTA/L/1\
      meaning:\
      LIST/a = list ALL files (incl. hidden)\
      SOUTA/L/1 = send output to SOUTA in Mode 1\
      (SOUTA and SOUTB are serial ports;\
      you speciafy which one to receive output;\
      Mode 1 means: as line terminator;\
      /L means: this is the list output device, if\
      you omit the /L then the filename will be\
      interpreted as the file you wish to get the\
      information about.)

      It greatly depends on the programs on your disks to decide about what more useful things could be done.\
      Further note: none of the programs have built-in help because of the small amout of disk space in those days.

      Hope this helps a bit...\
      Success!
  - author: Know1 (Tasmania, Australia)
    date: Saturday 1st November 2003
    text: |-
      I have one of these I picked up. No idea how to do anything on it though.\
      There is a list command that will give me a directory of the disk but anything else return the unhelpful\
      FILE NOT FOUND or ILLEGAL FILE NAME

      Any ideas?
  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.

<table> <tr> <td></td> <td>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.</td> <td></td> </tr> </table>