[N8VEM: 20030] Re: N8-2312

[Wayne Warthen]

Sorry for the slow reply Jeff. Got busy at work. Comments below...

--Wayne

Hey Wayne,
Andrew and I had a few email conversations about 4-5 years ago, or so. I
bought several boards for the original N8VEM, but never assembled them due
to some health issues. Recently, I started reviewing my notes, but thought
that an all-in-one machine made more sense to me, than a backplane-centric
machine. I'm still kinda weighing the pros/cons, but I'm thinking that the
N8-2312 would be a better choice. I've downloaded several of the .pdf
files to my smartphone (limited to that for awhile, while I'm away from
home), but had an issue with a few .zip files (said the files weren't valid
.zip files).
The layout looks very clean, and I like that the IDE and floppy interfaces
are on the same board.

Yes, the N8 is a pretty good board if you want something that is
all-in-one. The alternative would be the Zeta2. You would combine it with
the ParPortProp to get the equivalent functionality of the N8, but the
Zeta2 is quite a bit more capable than the N8 due to the use of a Propeller
processor on the ParPortProp. The stacked board combination is very cool
and you can create a neat little package with the Zeta2, ParPortProp, and 1
or 2 3.5" floppy drives.

What's the latest CP/M version users are using with the N8-2312? My
experience is somewhat old, but I remember using both 2.2 and 3.0, on an
old Lobo Systems Max-80. In fact, back in the day, I used to work for Lobo!

RomWBW provides CP/M 2.2 and ZSDOS 1.1. CP/M 3.0 and BPBIOS are a work in
progress. Note that you can easily install NZCOM on top of either CP/M 2.2
or ZSDOS1.1. NZCOM was designed to be launched from any CP/M 2.2 variant
and is probably more capable than CP/M 3.0 in most ways.

Also, about the numbering scheme: I surmised that, with the N8-2511, the
pcb was released in 2011, and that N8-2312 was released in 2012, but what
accounts for the "25" vs. "23"?

The numbering scheme follows the datecode format of IC's. It is WWYY where
WW is the week number and YY is the year number. So, 2312 means week 23 of
year 2012 and 2511 means week 25 of year 2011. Note that the most recent
run of N8 boards seems to have another newer date code on it, but the board
is identical to the 2312.