Thanks to Tomasz "Thomsonicus" Droszcz for this picture
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MAIN UNIT
Thanks to Tomasz "Thomsonicus" Droszcz for this picture
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REAR
From left to right:\
- Terminal: connects to the terminal keyboard\
- V-24 connector (mainly for printers)\
- Monitor: connects to the terminal monitor\
- Drukarka: printer connector, ex: Robotron 1152
Thanks to Tomasz "Thomsonicus" Droszcz for this picture
We can clearly see here that this is more than a simple keyboard, but a real terminal, which manage all display features.
Thanks to [www.silicium.org](http://www.silicium.org) for this picture
Here we can clearly see that the Bosman 8 was conceived to use the monitor and the keyboard of a "classic" terminal.
Thanks to Tomasz "Thomsonicus" Droszcz for this picture
The Bosman 8 is using the floppy disk drive as a virtual memory. Apart from the original 64 KB RAM, 7 more 60 KB banks stored on disk can be accessed through a memory switching technique...
Thanks to Tomasz "Thomsonicus" Droszcz for this picture
**EXTRACTS FROM THE USER MANUAL (POLISH)**\
written by GZE Unimor
compiled/archived by Olivier Boisseau & Tomasz "Thomsonicus" Droszcz\
type of document : PDF\
size : 1.2 MB\
source : www.old-computers.com
The Bosman 8, was made by "G.Z.E. Unimor" (Gdanskie Zaklady Elektroniczne Unimor) in Poland (Gdansk to be precise). It was released in 1987 as a system for schools and offices, but even CAD/CAM software was developed for this machine and later, as being too expensive (cost 1 300 000 zl) and extremely hard to get (apparently only 1000 models have been produced), Bosman 8 was used mainly as a terminal for automatized processes (designing printed boards).
The main particularity of the Bosman 8 is that what you think is only an external disk drive is in fact the computer itself! Yes, everything is in this small box. But it needs to be connected to a terminal and a monitor. Two keyboard/terminals were available: AN-2001 and ANG-3001, the latter featuring graphic possibilities. Indeed, the Bosman 8 seems to let the terminal manage all the display, hence different display features according to what "keyboard" terminal you are using... In fact it looks like the Bosman 8 was conceived as a system to turn an already existing terminal into a real computer.
The main unit was powered by a Z80A processor running at 4MHz, and has 16 KB of ROM. Another original feature is the amount of memory available. The User Manual claims to offer 512 KB of RAM (60KB operating memory and a 416KB on disk, which doesn't even make the count). In fact it seems that the Bosman 8 has 64 KB RAM (60 KB free for user?) and then can use 7 more 60 KB banks stored on disk, through a bank switching technique. Clever and quite original...
Two 3"1/2 or one 5"1/4 (200 KB?) floppy drives were built-in the system (max disk size was 800 KB - DS DD according to the manual). The monitor shipped with the Bosman 8 was a monochrome Neptun 159. There were also two more types of 12 ''monochrome monitors developed for it - an "M4902" and a "M4801" that was capable of working with a CGA or Hercules type display.
The whole system was apparently available in two colour versions: a bright gray model and dark gray model, but the differences are unclear (anyone can help?).
It run on a CPM/R operating system and the manual says it's compatible with CP/M 2.2.
Contributors: Tomasz Droszcz (info & picture)
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.