SmartROM was one of
MICROCode Consulting's first endeavors commercially. It is a
complete replacement for the Xerox 820-I and BigBoard ROMs offering a monitor
and BIOS capability above and beyond that of the original package, but fitting
in the same footprint.
Written in Z-80 assembler for use under QP/M, CP/M 2.x and compatibles, features of SmartROM include:
- fully upward-compatible with original Xerox 820-I and BigBoard BIOS
- powerful resident monitor with 17 commands
- handles both 5.25" and 8" drives in a single package, including full motor control
- automatic boot of operating system when disk is present
- real-time clock for use with operating systems that support it such as QP/M
- supports the same ADM-31 video ESCape sequences available on Xerox 820-II and Kaypro computers
- automatic screen blanking after 15 minutes of screen and keyboard inactivity (Xerox 820-I only)
- optional screen display of time
- 7-bit or 8-bit keyboard operation
- screen dump to printer with single keystroke
- user-definable ABORT and PAUSE keys
- supports all Xerox 820-II ROM vector/jumps (although some are inoperative)
- utility to modify Wordstar 3.x for use with Xerox high-profile keyboard
Downloads
| Package | Version | Date | Size (bytes) | Download time (28.8K baud) |
Click to download |
| Xerox 2.5MHz Xerox keyboard ROMs | 2.3 | Aug 1985 | 3574 | 10sec | x820x25.zip |
| Xerox 2.5MHz generic keyboard ROMs | 2.3 | Aug 1985 | 3573 | 10sec | x820b25.zip |
| Xerox 4MHz Xerox keyboard ROMs | 2.3 | Aug 1985 | 3569 | 10sec | x820x4.zip |
| Xerox 4MHz generic keyboard ROMs | 2.3 | Aug 1985 | 3568 | 10sec | x820b4.zip |
| BigBoard 4MHz generic keyboard ROMs | 2.3 | Aug 1985 | 3537 | 10sec | bb4.zip |
| SmartROM software | 2.3 | Aug 1985 | 5692 | 15sec | smartrom.zip |
| SmartROM documentation (updated) | 2.3 | Dec 2005 | 185k | 1min 8sec | smartrom.pdf |
| SmartROM software and documentation | 2.3 | Dec 2005 | 124k | 46sec | smartrmd.zip |
Installation
Install this package as follows:
- Burn the "A" and "B" ROM images onto two 2716 EPROMs and then replace the "A" and "B" ROM chips prominently located in two adjacent sockets on the motherboard. (MICROCode Consulting no longer stocks these EPROMs, so please do not contact us for a copy.) Upon power-up, you should immediately see a sign-on message. If you accidentally reverse the order and plug the EPROMs into the wrong ROM socket, nothing will work but your computer will not be damaged. (Conversely, plugging in the EPROMs upside down could damage your motherboard.)
- Installation of the software package entails running NULU on your CP/M or QP/M system and extracting the files to your system to some drive/user area, likely drive A, user 0 as this is operating system software including a new operating system BIOS.
- Although not required, follow the directions given with your QP/M or CP/M operating system for replacing the BIOS in the operating system boot image. You may be unable to use some of the features offered by this package such as date/time stamping and multiple drive support if you do not replace your BIOS.
This is restricted for personal use software that is provided without any warranty whatsoever as described in the legacy Z-80 home page.