I believe back when I was looking into this that I saw some of the boards
that used the 80130 available on eBay. I hesitated to buy one, because I
had no confidence I would be able to get the rest of the software stack
working with it. As Ken mentioned, it's only part of iRMX there. Just the
Nucleus, I think. Now I have managed to do a custom build of iRMX86 (to
enable bubble memory), and there is a configuration menu where you can turn
features on/off, so maybe there is a way to enable Nucleus-in-80130. It
would be a very cool project to pursue.

Scott

On Fri, Jul 3, 2026 at 7:06 AM Ken Seefried via cctalk <
[email protected]> wrote:

> There is some documentation for the i80130 in the iRMX databooks (see:
> https://bitsavers.org/pdf/intel/iRMX/).  There's additional info in the
> Intel 8086 developers manuals of the time, as well as the multibus boards
> that used it (iSBC86/30?).  As I understand it, it doesn't have *all* of
> iRMX in ROM, so you still need additional software to make a system.  I
> have a couple I haven't yet taken time to do anything with.
>
> It is my understanding (probably wrong) that there is debate over
> wether the 80150 actually shipped, and if so, did it ship in volume.  I've
> never seen one nor know anyone who claims they have, but CP/M-86 isn't my
> thing, so I'll leave one of the many experts around here to chime in.
> YMMV.
>
> N.B.: If you're shopping, you want the "i80130-2", *not* the "i80130-6" or
> "i80130-A".  The former has the iRMX ROM; the latter is ROMless and was
> used for the integrated peripherals.  See:
> https://www.cpushack.com/2017/03/12/when-intel-runs-out-of-chips/
>
> KJ
>
> On Fri, Jul 3, 2026 at 6:34 AM Holger Veit via cctalk <
> [email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> > Hi all,
> >
> > Around 1981, Intel made a 8086 companion chip named _operating system
> > processor_ (i80130, and i80150, resp.) which comprised a ROM and some
> > interrupt logic. The 80130 contained sort of a BIOS for iRMX86, the
> > 80150 supported CP/M-86. Few info can be found at
> > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_80130, and a datasheet exists at
> > alldatasheet.com.
> > Some lore is also found in some history pages, but not much more than
> > the datasheet contains.
> >
> > Was the ROM content of both chips dumped and is available on the
> > Internet somewhere, or does someone have such a system (supposedly some
> > iAPX86/30) and is willing to make this public, e.g. upload to bitsavers?
> >
> > THX to any pointers
> >
> > Kind Regards
> > Holger
> >
> >
> >
>

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