Amstrad PCW8512

Schneider Joyce

The Amstrad PCW series (Personal Computer Word processor) was British company Amstrad's versatile line of home/personal microcomputers pitched as a complete, integrated home/office solution. It was first sold in 1985. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1174x1082, 141 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Amstrad PCW Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1174x1082, 141 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Amstrad PCW Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1725x1012, 421 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Amstrad PCW Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1725x1012, 421 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Amstrad PCW Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to... Macs like the iMac Core Duo are also personal computers. Unlike many PCs, the iMac is an all in one with all its components, including processor and speakers, in one case. ... A word processor (also more formally known as a document preparation system) is a computer application used for the production (including composition, editing, formatting, and possibly printing) of any sort of viewable or printed material. ... Amstrad is a manufacturer of electronics based in Brentwood in Essex, England and founded in 1968 by Sir Alan Michael Sugar in the UK. The name is a contraction of Alan Michael Sugar Trading. ... The Commodore 64 was one of the most popular microcomputers of its era, and is the best selling home computer of all time. ...

Some models were also affectionately known as Joyce, especially in Germany; the name is that of a secretary of Alan Sugar, the founder of Amstrad, and was the codename of the machine while it was in development. Sir Alan Michael Sugar (born. ... Amstrad is a manufacturer of electronics based in Brentwood in Essex, England and founded in 1968 by Sir Alan Michael Sugar in the UK. The name is a contraction of Alan Michael Sugar Trading. ...

General features

The PCWs came as complete setups bundled with a full-size word processor keyboard, high resolution monochrome CRT monitor, printers of various types, and floppy disk drive(s). The motherboard and disk drives were incorporated into the casing of the monitor. Although it lacked a built-in operating system, the package included bootable floppy disks containing LocoScript word processing software, and the CP/M operating system, including the Mallard BASIC dialect of the BASIC programming language and the Digital Research implementation of Seymour Papert's LOGO programming language. Something which is monochromatic has a single color. ... A floppy disk is a data storage device that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible (floppy) magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangular plastic shell. ... A motherboard, also known as a mainboard, system board, or logic boards on Apple Computers, and sometimes abbreviated as mobo (generally credited to the magazine Maximum PC) is the central or primary circuit board making up a complex electronic system, such as a modern computer. ... The word monitor is a Latin term for warner or suggester. ... An operating system (OS) is a computer program that manages the hardware and software resources of a computer. ... The word processing software package LocoScript by Locomotive Software was bundled with Amstrad PCW series Z80-based microcomputers. ... CP/M (Command Processor for Microcomputers) was an operating system for Intel 8080/85 and Zilog Z80 based microcomputers. ... Mallard BASIC was a BASIC interpreter for CP/M written by Locomotive Software and supplied with the Amstrad PCW range of small business computers, the ZX Spectrum +3 version of CP/M Plus and the Acorn BBC Micro Z80 Second Processor. ... BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of high-level programming languages. ... Digital Research, Inc. ... Seymour Papert Seymour Papert (born March 1, 1928 Pretoria, South Africa) is an MIT mathematician, computer scientist, and prominent educator. ... Logo turtle graphic The Logo programming language is a functional programming language. ...

3" drive common on Amstrad machines

The floppy disk drives on early models were the relatively obscure 3-inch 'compact floppy' format. Later models replaced these with standard 3½" 'microfloppy' drives. Download high resolution version (852x768, 85 KB)3 floppy disk drive branded Amstrad that I) took just minutes ago. ... Download high resolution version (852x768, 85 KB)3 floppy disk drive branded Amstrad that I) took just minutes ago. ... A floppy disk is a data storage device that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible (floppy) magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangular plastic shell. ... A floppy disk is a data storage device that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible (floppy) magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangular plastic shell. ...

In order to allow a bundled printer to be included with every PCW, Amstrad devised a new, lower-level printer control protocol, placing the majority of the printer drive electronics inside the PCW cabinet. Instead of having a relatively sophisticated microcontroller inside the printer casing, the printer consisted only of electromechanical components and high current driver electronics; the power supply was fed from inside the PCW, and pin and motor drive signals were driven by a very small and simple microcontroller on the PCW mainboard. Initially the PCW was bundled with a 9-pin dot matrix printer mechanism, though a daisywheel was soon added. These PCW printers could not, of course, be used on other computers, and the original PCW lacked a then-standard Centronics printer port. Instead, the Z80 bus and video signals were brought to an edge connector socket at the back of the cabinet. Many accessories including parallel and serial ports were produced for this interface. This does not cite its references or sources. ... The ABIT KT7, an ATX format motherboard A motherboard is a printed circuit board used in a personal computer. ... A dot matrix printer or impact matrix printer refers to a type of computer printer with a print head that runs back and forth on the page and prints by impact, striking an ink-soaked cloth ribbon against the paper, much like a typewriter. ... A daisy wheel printer is a type of computer printer that produces high-quality type, and is often referred to as a letter quality printer (this in contrast to high-quality dot-matrix printers, capable of near-letter-quality, or NLQ, output). ... Centronics logo 23 June 1986 Centronics logo 1971 Centronics Data Computer Corporation was a pioneering American manufacturer of computer printers, now remembered only for the parallel interface that bears their name. ... The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor designed and manufactured by Zilog from 1976 onwards. ...

The machines were built around the 8-bit Zilog Z80 processor, running at 4 MHz, and managed the relatively large amount of RAM main memory using a technique known as bank switching (allowing access to more than the Z80's normal 16-bit address bus reach of 64 kB). The PCW divided RAM into 16 kB sections, of which four could be accessed at any time. In CP/M, the memory used for the display was switched out while programs were running, giving more than 60 kB of usable RAM. While the Joyce architecture was designed with configurations of 128 kB and 256 kB of RAM in mind, no PCW was ever sold with 128 kB of RAM. 8-bit refers to the number of bits used in the data bus of a computer. ... One of the first Z80 microprocessors manufactured; the date stamp says well before July 1976. ... MegaHertz (MHz) is the name given to one million (106) Hertz, a measure of frequency. ... Different types of RAM. From top to bottom: DIP, SIPP, SIMM 30 pin, SIMM 72 pin, DIMM, RIMM RAM redirects here. ... Bank switching (also known as paging, but only loosely related to the ordinary meaning of paging in computing) was a technique common in 8-bit microcomputer systems, to increase the amount of addressable RAM and ROM without extending the address bus. ... In computer science, 16-bit is an adjective used to describe integers that are at most two bytes wide, or to describe CPU architectures based on registers, address buses, or data buses of that size. ... An address bus is (part of) a computer bus, used by CPUs or DMA-capable units for communicating the physical addresses of computer memory elements/locations that the requesting unit wants to access (read/write). ... CP/M is an operating system originally created for Intel 8080/85 based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. ...

The PCWs were not at all designed as games machines, although some software authors considered this a minor detail, releasing games like Batman, Head Over Heels, and Bounder. The PCW video system was not at all suited to games. In order that it be able to display a full 80 column page plus margins, the display's addressable area was 90 columns and the display had 32 lines. The display was, in fact, monochrome and bitmapped, giving a resolution of 720 by 256. Even with one bit per pixel, this occupied 23 kB of RAM, making software scrolling far too slow for fluid text manipulation. In order to improve this, the PCW implemented roller RAM, with a 512-byte area of RAM used to hold the address of each line of display data, effectively allowing very rapid scrolling. The video system also fetched data in a special order designed so that plotting a character eight scan lines high would touch eight contiguous addresses. This meant that very fast Z80 copy instructions like LDIR could be used. Unfortunately, it meant that drawing lines and other shapes could be very complicated. A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... Batman has been adapted into a video game on several occasions. ... For the rock group Cocteau Twins album, see Head over Heels Head Over Heels is a arcade adventure, first released in 1987 for Z80-microprocessor-based home computers (ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX) by Jon Ritman (game design and programming) and Bernie Drummond (graphics). ... Myasishchev M-50 The Myasishchev M-50 (NATO reporting name Bounder) was a Soviet prototype four-engine supersonic bomber which never attained service. ... Something which is monochromatic has a single color. ... Suppose the smiley face in the top left corner is an RGB bitmap image. ... This article needs cleanup. ... The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor designed and manufactured by Zilog from 1976 onwards. ...

The original PCW did not have ROM software. On boot, the onboard microcontroller normally used to run the integrated printer was connected to the data port of the main processor, feeding it instructions, allowing it to start running. This code had to be very small in order to fit into the limited ROM of the microcontroller, and as a consequence it has no character generation code; this is why the Amstrad PCW machines do not display text to indicate the loading of software from floppy disk. Instead, they display a bright screen which is progressively filled by black stripes as the code is loaded. A floppy disk is a data storage device that is composed of a disk of thin, flexible (floppy) magnetic storage medium encased in a square or rectangular plastic shell. ...

The PcW16 does not share any hardware with the original PCW series and should be considered to be a completely different machine.

PCW models

• The PCW8256 or Joyce (1985) featured 256 kilobytes of RAM and one 3-inch single-sided floppy drive that could store 180 kilobytes on each side of the disk (the disk had to be turned over, "flipped", to access alternate sides). The 8256 had a green screen monitor.
• The PCW8512 or Joyce Plus (1985) came with 512 kB RAM and two 3-inch floppy drives, the second of which could store 720 kB on an 80-track double-density floppy without needing the disk to be turned over.
• The PCW9512 (1987) was supplied with a daisy wheel printer instead of the 9-pin dot matrix of the 8000 series. It had a single 3-inch 720 kB floppy drive, and a white-screen monochrome display. The visual appearance was significantly changed. It came with a parallel printer port as standard.
• The PcW9256 (1991) had a modern, smaller case design similar to the 9512, but had 256 kB RAM, a single 3½-inch 720 kB floppy drive, a dot-matrix printer, and no parallel port.
• The PcW9512+ (1991) was a rework of the older PCW9512, with a 3.5" floppy instead of 3". As a deriative of the 9512, it retained the parallel port. It was offered with the choice of the PCW9512 daisywheel or Canon Bubblejet printer.
• The PcW10 (1993) was a 9256 with 512 kB RAM and a parallel port.
• The PcW16 or Anne (1996) was a radical departure from earlier machines. The Z80 CPU was retained, but ran at 16 MHz and had 1 MB of Flash RAM. The system supported 1.44 MB 3½-inch floppy disks, and came bundled with an entirely rewritten GUI software suite (Rosanne) and a mouse. It did not, however, come with a printer, and nor did it run software designed for the earlier machines.

A kilobyte (derived from the SI prefix kilo-, meaning 1000) is a unit of information or computer storage equal to either 1024 or 1000 bytes. ... Different types of RAM. From top to bottom: DIP, SIPP, SIMM 30 pin, SIMM 72 pin, DIMM, RIMM RAM redirects here. ... The IBM PC with green screen Green screen was the common name for a monochrome CRT computer display using a green P1 phosphor screen. ... A daisy wheel printer is a type of computer printer that produces high-quality type, and is often referred to as a letter-quality printer (this in contrast to high-quality dot-matrix printers, capable of near-letter-quality, or NLQ, output). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Dot matrix printer. ... Something which is monochromatic has a single color. ... Canon Inc. ...

Market impact

The PCW series was extremely successful in addressing its particular market. These machines were not sold as general-purpose computers but rather as simple word processors. They were not bought in preference to a PC or an Amiga; but rather in preference to an electric typewriter. The PCW screen displayed 32 lines with 90 characters each (256 lines of 720 pixels), so more text could appear on a single screen simultaneously than on the 80×25 layout used on other machines. The Columbia MPC was one of the many IBM PC compatibles that flooded the US market. ... The original Amiga 1000 (1985) with Commodore 1080 monitor The Amiga is a family of home/personal computers originally developed by Amiga Corporation as an advanced home entertainment and productivity machine. ... Mechanical desktop typewriters, such as this Underwood Five, were long time standards of government agencies, newsrooms, and sales offices. ...

Despite this they were capable microcomputers which were used for database management, online services, spreadsheets, programming, and even graphics and desktop publishing. They introduced a generation of British writers to computers who might not have otherwise become involved with them.

See also

• Amstrad CPC

The Amstrad CPC was a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad during the 1980s and early 1990s. ...

External links

• PCW Joyce Computer Club