website/content/museum/zpa-iq-151.md

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

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
ZPA IQ-151	Computers	Home Computer	Czechoslovakia	1984	TESLA MHB 8080	name image logo company company_name specs tabs photos hardware comments oc_id source IQ-151 /media/museum/photos/zpa_iq151_system_s1.jpg /media/museum/logos/zpa_iq151_logo_s2.gif /companies/zpa ZPA label value NAME IQ-151 label value MANUFACTURER ZPA label value TYPE Home Computer label value ORIGIN Czechoslovakia label value YEAR Unknown 1984 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE Primitive monitor, various languages in cartridges label value KEYBOARD 71 key with function and arrow keys label value CPU TESLA MHB 8080 or Intel 8080 label value SPEED 2 MHz label value RAM 32 KB, up to 64 KB (then MIKROS OS could be used) label value ROM 6 KB (EPROM) label value TEXT MODES 32 or 64 columns x 32 lines label value GRAPHIC MODES 512 x 256 - Semigraphics mode with the GRAFIK external module label value COLORS Monochrome label value SOUND One voice sound generator, built-in speaker label value SIZE / WEIGHT 40.5 (W) x 44.5 (D) x 12.3 (H) cm label value I/O PORTS 5 expansion slots label value BUILT IN MEDIA None label value OS ROM monitor, AMOS (Almost Memory Oriented System - Students project - MFF UK), MIKROS (with 64 KB RAM) label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in PSU label value PERIPHERALS CONSUL 2112 or 2113, MINIGRAF 0507 (Aritma), SESTYK (teleprinter connection), printer, tape-recorder TESLA M710A or K-10 (external memory), Basic G, VIDEO , TAPER external module (printer connection), GRAFIK external module (256x512). label value PRICE 60,000 CZK ? photos hardware title subtitle text image LARGE VIEW /media/museum/photos/zpa_iq151_system_s2.jpg title subtitle text image BOTH SIDES On the left side one spots the dual video jacks (TV set and monochrome composite monitor),the dual tape recorder DIN sockets and the power switch. /media/museum/photos/zpa_iq151_sides_s1.jpg title subtitle text image REAR SIDE A basic cartridge is inserted in one of five cartridge slots. /media/museum/photos/zpa_iq151_rearside_s1.jpg title subtitle text image KEYBOARD CLOSE-UP The keyboard is really dreadful, even worth than that the Sinclair ZX-81's which is the reference in poor keyboard. When you type a key, it doesn't sink, so you never know either the typing is valid or not.\ Eack key have up to four functions, depending on the function key typed simultaneously (Shift, Control or Function). /media/museum/photos/zpa_iq151_keybcloseup_s1.jpg title subtitle text image INSIDE All of the ICs and components come from Eastern Europe. Most of the ICs come from Tesla, Tchekoslovaquia, some others from Russia. **(1)** ROM cartridge connectors\ **(2)** Monitor EPROMs\ **(3)** RAM chips\ **(4)** Tesla MHB8080A microprocessor\ **(5)** Tesla MH3212 8-bit accumulator-counter\ **(6)** Russian version of the 8255 PIA (Programmable Interface Adapter)\ **(7)** Keyboard connector\ **(8)** Power supply unit. The "gold" heat sinks are fixed to the case when closed. /media/museum/photos/zpa_iq151_inside_s1.jpg title subtitle text image MAIN BOARD CLOSE-UP /media/museum/photos/zpa_iq151_closeup_s1.jpg title subtitle text image RAM CHIPS CLOSE-UP The 32 KB RAM is composed of 16 Russian RAM chips labelled K565P. /media/museum/photos/zpa_iq151_ramarea_s1.jpg title subtitle text image MONITOR EPROMS EPROMs also come from Russia. /media/museum/photos/zpa_iq151_roms_s1.jpg title subtitle text image ZPA PLATE /media/museum/photos/zpa_iq151_plate_s1.jpg title subtitle text image ROM MODULES **BASIC 6**: Text BASIC interpreter\ **Video 64**: 64-column expansion\ **BASIC G**: Graphic BASIC interpreter\ **GRAFIK**: 256 x 512 graphics /media/museum/hardware/zpa_iq151_cartridges_s1.jpg title subtitle text image PASCAL LANGUAGE ROM MODULE Thanks to **Jan Krupka** /media/museum/hardware/zpa_iq151_pascalmodule_s1.jpg title subtitle text image ARITMA MINIGRAF 0507 A4 plotter This small A4 plotter was widely used together with the PMD-85 as well as the IQ-151. In both cases it needed a special driver in EPROM.\ The IQ-151 was connected to the Minigraf through an expansion module.\ Later it was possibe to buy the Minigraf in some shops. There were also interfaces from Aritma for Atari XL and XE and for ZX Spectrum. Thanks to **Jan Krupka** for information and pictures /media/museum/hardware/tesla_pdm85_aritmaplotter_s1.jpg author date text Jachym Lukes (Sweden) Tuesday 29th August 2006 My first owned computer. I got it sometime in nineties, from neigbour, one year before my first PC. It was painful to work on it, especially without any permanent storage. Later I managed to connect IQ 151 with tape recorder (not casette, but the magnetic tape rolling from one reel to another), so I didn't have to write my programs on paper :) One of the first things with my new-old heating machine was cuting of the speaker-wire and putting the on-off switch to it. The sound of every key pressed was just horrible, making the use of machine in the night impossible! Very high squeeky sound after every key pressed.\ In the end, I had made some games in basic, recorded on the tape. Snake and some sort of RPG made by characters. The biggest thing I did was probably a DOS-like system - it was able to create and edit text files in memory, had commands like MEM, DIR, CD, etc. In the winter, it was beautiful to sit by the computer, because the heat coming from the massive piece of metal in the back, serving as cooler, was warming the room by few degrees. I have beautiful memories on this orange thing. In fact it helped me a lot with starting to think as a programer. I remember, that there was special sort of machine-code input, activated by key press when starting up the system. I had also more cartridges, but they were probably defective, so I managed to use only Basic. 1045 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230602004729/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1045 2023-06-02

The IQ-151 was a Czechoslovakian home computer manufactured by ZPA Novy Bor (Novy Bor being the town where ZPA was based). It was mainly intended for educational purpose and was actually supplied to all types of Czech schools.

The main peripheral was a standard cassette recorder, but several modules could be connected to 5 built-in expansion slots: VIDEO (display), BASIC (interpreter), BASIC G (graphic Basic interpreter), GRAFIK (256 x 512 graphics), STAPER (printer), MINIGRAF (plotter)

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More information from Martin:
There were also two expansion cards for pascal (pascal was probaly too big to fit in one card - project AMOS) and a network card. We used them in our school. One IQ151 was set as a server with a big floppy disk (8", unknown capacity but not more than 360KB). The teacher was able to display any student's screen on his monitor, but the student noticed temporary stop response of his computer :-)

Jakub remembers:
We were using IQ 151 in the school. Its keyboard was probably the worst keyboard ever invented (at least I cannot imagine worse keyboard) and it was very difficult to type. The computer produced lots of heat (people say that they put coffee cup on it to keep their drink warm). Hardware was VERY unreliable, often there were half of the computers in our school out of order. It was used widely in Czechoslovak schools together with Tesla PMD-85 which was better and more reliable but were hardly available.

Xaint's memories (Czech Republic):
We had this monster in school too. It had different graphics and text pages, so until you dont reset graphics, it was over the text you typed. Bad, bad computer. It produced A LOT of heat, when it was rainy day and some people came to school in wet clothes, put them on the back of this metal monster to dry it.
It had a primitive sound system, mono. Keyboard was membrane type, so after long using membrane was almost unable to use. The case was from real honest cast iron. Standard language was a clone of Basic.
Ugly machine, but memories are funny :-)