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---
title: Lucas Nascom 2
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Home Computer
origins:
- United Kingdom
years:
- '1979'
cpus:
- Z80-A
params:
name: Nascom 2
company: /companies/lucas
company_name: Lucas
specs:
- label: NAME
value: Nascom 2
- label: MANUFACTURER
value: Lucas
- label: TYPE
value: Home Computer
- label: ORIGIN
value: United Kingdom
- label: YEAR
value: '1979'
- label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
value: Microsoft BASIC
- label: KEYBOARD
value: Full stroke 53 keys with arrow and graphic keys
- label: CPU
value: Z80-A
- label: SPEED
value: 4 MHz.
- label: CO-PROCESSOR
value: None
- label: RAM
value: 9 KB expandable to 32 KB
- label: VRAM
value: 1 KB
- label: ROM
value: 10 KB - Monitor ( 2 KB) + Microsoft BASIC
- label: TEXT MODES
value: 48 chars. x 16 lines
- label: GRAPHIC MODES
value: Gra
- label: COLORS
value: Graphic characters in ROM
- label: SOUND
value: Unknown
- label: SIZE / WEIGHT
value: 30.5 (L) x 19.2 (W) cm. (8 x 12 in)
- label: I/O PORTS
value: Serial RS232, TV-UHF and composite video, I/O lines, TTY
- label: BUILT IN MEDIA
value: Cassette tape
- label: OS
value: Monitor in ROM
- label: POWER SUPPLY
value: External power supply unit
- label: PERIPHERALS
value: Memory board, graphic board, 5.25'' floppy disc controller
- label: PRICE
value: £399
tabs:
- photos
- hardware
- emulators
- links
photos:
- title: NASCOM 2 ORIGINAL CASE
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: null
- title: KEYBOARD CLOSE-UP
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: null
- title: INSIDE NASCOM CASE
subtitle: ''
text: |-
From bottom to top:\
• Nascom 2 main board\
• Nascom memory card (32 KB RAM, 8 KB ROM)\
• Pluto Graphics card\
• IEEE 488 interface card
image: null
- title: NASCOM POWER SUPPLY
subtitle: ''
text: Nascom 3 Amp. power supply unit. Provides +5v, -5v, +12v, -12v
image: null
- title: RUNNING SYSTEM
subtitle: ''
text: Memory dump command from the NAS-SYS 3 monitor.
image: null
- title: BOOT-UP SCREEN
subtitle: ''
text: Microsoft 8KB ROM basic interpreter boot-up screen
image: null
- title: 'COMPLETE SYSTEM #1'
subtitle: ''
text: |-
This homebrew system is one of the most complete (and expensive) Nascom 2 systems. It includes following parts:\
• Nascom II main board\
• I/O card\
• Floppy disk controller card\
• 48 KB dynamic RAM card\
• ROM/EPROM card\
• Colour graphics card\
• EPROM burner\
• 4-channel Analog to Digital converter\
• Two single side 5.25" Shuggart floppy drives.
image: null
- title: 'COMPLETE SYSTEM #2'
subtitle: ''
text: |-
The Eprom burner **(1)** and Analogue to Digital converter cards **(2)** are mounted onto a Plexiglass plate and connected to the I/O card.
The ROM card **(3)** is here fitted with a Pacal interpreter, a Z80 assembler and various tools.
image: null
- title: 'COMPLETE SYSTEM #3'
subtitle: ''
text: Keyboard close-up
image: null
- title: 'CUSTOM CASE #1'
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: null
- title: 'CUSTOM CASE #2'
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: null
- title: MAIN BOARD EXPLAINED
subtitle: ''
text: |-
**(1)** Memory decoder straps\
**(2)** Nascom Basic 8 KB ROM\
**(3)** Video RAM. 2 KB Mostek 4118 chip\
**(4)** First 8 KB ROM or RAM bank, here fitted with 4x6116 RAM chips\
**(5)** NAS-SYS alphanumeric character generator ROM\
**(6)** NAS-SYS monitor 2 KB ROM\
**(7)** NAS-SYS graphics character generator\
**(8)** Second ROM/RAM 8 KB bank. Also fitted with RAM chips\
**(9)** Workspace 2 KB RAM\
**(10)** UHF TV modulator\
**(11)** Monochrome composite video connector\
**(12)** Parallel port connector\
**(13)** Keyboard connector\
**(14)** Serial port connector\
**(15)** Tape recorder connector\
**(16)** Z80A PIO chip (Parallel Input Output)\
**(17-20)** Board configuration switches\
**(18)** UART chip (Universal Asynchronour Receiver/Transmitter)\
**(19)** Z80A processor.
image: null
hardware:
- title: IEEE488 CARD
subtitle: ''
text: Made by EV Computing Ltd.
image: /media/museum/hardware/lucas_nascom2_ieee488board_1.jpg
- title: ROM CARD
subtitle: ''
text: |-
This card can be fitted with 2708 (1 KB) or 2716 (2 KB) EPROM chips, giving up to 32 KB of ROM area.
The card also provides a special socket (bottom left) for the 8K Microsoft BASIC interpreter ROM.
image: /media/museum/hardware/lucas_nascom2_romboard_1.jpg
- title: ROM/RAM MEMORY CARD
subtitle: ''
text: Features 32 KB RAM (16 x 4116) and 8 KB ROM (4 x 2708)
image: /media/museum/hardware/lucas_nascom2_memoryboard_1.jpg
- title: 48 KB RAM CARD
subtitle: ''
text: This card holds 3 banks of 16 KB 4116 RAM chips.
image: /media/museum/hardware/lucas_nascom2_48kramboard_1.jpg
- title: COLOR GRAPHICS CARD
subtitle: ''
text: The PLUTO color graphics card offered a maximum resolution of 768 x 576 pixels with 8 colours. It featured an Intel 8088 processor, 192 KB of RAM (3 planes of 64 KB) and could be connected to any RGB TTL or composite colour or monochrome monitor.
image: /media/museum/hardware/lucas_nascom2_plutographcard_1.jpg
- title: I/O CARD
subtitle: ''
text: |-
This card provides support for six 8-bit parallel ports, one serial port (not installed here), and one counter/timer control unit.
The card was supplied with empty sockets. Each device could be acquired separately.
image: /media/museum/hardware/lucas_nascom2_iocard_1.jpg
- title: FDD CONTROLLER CARD
subtitle: ''
text: Floppy disk drive controller card along with its genuine Lucas box.
image: /media/museum/hardware/lucas_nascom2_fdboard_s1.jpg
- title: BUS CARD EXTENDER
subtitle: ''
text: This card allowed to check any Nascom card without it being directly inserted into the Nascom bus.
image: /media/museum/hardware/lucas_nascom2_busextender_s1.jpg
emulators:
- title: Nascom 1 emulator
url: http://members.aol.com/mk14emu/nascom.htm
platform: MS DOS
text: This emulator, written by Paul Robson, supports all the hardware of the standard Nascom 1
- title: MESS
url: http://www.mess.org
platform: Windows
text: MESS also emulates Nascom computers !
- title: Nasemu
url: http://www.myplace.nu/nascom/nasemu.htm
platform: Windows
text: This Nascom-2 emulator is a work in progress. It is an attempt to fully emulate a Nascom-2 computer.
- title: Nascom 2 / 3 Java Emulator
url: http://www.nascomhomepage.com/#Virtual%20Nascom
platform: Other platform
text: Java emulator written by Richard Espley is available.
- title: Virtual Nascom
url: http://www.nascomhomepage.com/#Virtual%20Nascom
platform: Multiplatform
text: Nascom emulator for Unix/X11 and DOS
links:
- title: All things Nascom, Gemini and MAP-80
url: HTTP://WWW.80BUS.COM
text: A complete archive for 80 BUS Systems
- title: MIXTEL - Nascom.info
url: http://www.mixtel.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/nascgem/index.html
text: Great Nascom history and info
- title: Nascom Nostalgia
url: http://www.myplace.nu/nascom/
text: Excellent ressource with info, software and documentations
- title: The Nascom Home Page
url: http://www.nascomhomepage.com/
text: Wow, you want to go there. Info, links ,software, documentations and more !
comments:
- author: Malcolm Neave (England)
date: Tuesday 2nd August 2022
text: The Nascom 2 was my first computer - I wasn''t bravce enough to build it myself so got the shop (Evesham Micros) to build it for me for an extra £50.I had it for about 10 years, upgrading to colour graphics and a disk drive, and even wrote a Scrabble program which could beat the Spectrum version (only on low levels though!). I gave it to a friend who wanted to use the interface for some control experiments and it never came back :(
- author: John Harrison
date: Tuesday 23rd October 2018
text: Previous post seems to have gone wrong. This URL should work. Nascom link on home page
- author: John Harrison (England)
date: Tuesday 23rd October 2018
text: 'I built a Nascom 2 and designed a sound card to go with it. I subsequently added discs and more storage. Full story $ picture at: http://jaharrison.me.uk/Misc/Nascom/'
- author: Chris Blackmore (United Kingdom)
date: Monday 17th November 2014
text: I started with a Nascom 1 in 1978, upgraded to a Nascom 2, and added a Z80B based Gemini display card, two 256K RAM boards, floppy disc board with two 5.25" drives, I/O board, sound card with two sneaky copies of the Winchester sound card, a floating-point add-on processor card, and a Pluto colour graphics card with added palette card. I called it Marvin.
related:
- /museum/lucas-nascom-1
- /museum/lucas-nascom-3
oc_id: 815
source:
url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230607053729/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=815
date: '2023-06-07'
---
The Nascom 2 was a deep evolution of the [Nascom 1](/museum/lucas-nascom-1/) that required 18 months of design and development but offered lots of enhancements: a faster processor (4 MHZ.), greater RAM and ROM capacity (10 KB + 10 KB), built-in Microsoft BASIC, extended keyboard, improved tape interface, etc.
User RAM could be expanded to 32 KB on board and the system didn't need the use of expansion board or system bus to run large applications. Even now, the Nascom 2 is regarded as the most versatile single board computer in 1980's.
Sadly, in 1980, **Nascom Limited** company met difficulties in components sourcing, specially RAM chips, and the company ceased Nascom 2 deliveries. Some Nascom dealers will then set up the **Gemini** company and produce a copy of the Nascom 2. Finally, Nascom Limited is sold to **Lucas Logic** (later **Lucas Nascom**) in 1982 and the Nascom 2 will come back in a cased version called [Nascom 3](/museum/lucas-nascom-3/).
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