Fashionably late to this, so by all means ignore this post, but I’ve been a big fan of the Z88 since I first had one in 1989. But that said, it is probably the least reliable piece of computing equipment I ever had.
However, despite having to replace the keyboard membrane and keyboard very recently, otherwise it wouldn’t power up without a reset, and wouldn’t register any press on the Index or [] key, the one I have currently is serving me very well. And it’s the first piece of vintage computing I have that readily talks to modern systems with no fuss, meaning I can use it to write a wide variety of documents and Basic programs, and upload them to either a Mac or PC, with a simple cable (and serial/USB adapter). After hoping to score a TPDD for the M100, or even a NADSbox if I was lucky, all I needed for the Z88 was a copy of Easylink for the Z88, and a cable (both from Rakewell - highly recommended business IMHO) and a download of Easylink to the Mac or PC. 5 minutes after making the connection, documents were swapping back and forth. So as much as connecting a TPDD to a Z88 is a cool idea, my mass storage solution is to upload to either of my modern systems. I’m not sure where Rakewell’s page for the TPDD points, but half-way down the page at http://www.oocities.org/svenqhj/z88adm1.txt is a detailed description of connecting the TPDD to a Z88, including cabling. But for anyone looking at a Z88, (and it is worth looking at, because it’s remarkably capable), I have to say that it is so easy to get it connected to even a Windows 10 64bit system that it probably isn’t worth the hassle to solve the problem any other way. Except for those who enjoy experimenting, of course! > Message: 2 > Date: Sun, 6 Sep 2020 14:49:44 -0400 > From: Josh Malone <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Cc: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [M100] z88 and tandy portable disk drive > Message-ID: > <CAB==won0a8q1-61fcuxurqtevq7n3zwxrcrs6u6pywsuz8h...@mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Sounds like a cool experiment! I recently acquired a Z88, so maybe I'll > give this a try, once I get a chance to dig into that machine a bit. > > On Sun, Sep 6, 2020 at 2:39 PM dano none <[email protected]> wrote: > >> >> Has anyone tried hooking up a Tandy Portable Disk Drive to a Cambridge Z88? >> >> The instructions are here: >> >> http://www.rakewell.com/xob/xob.shtml >> >> I think in the instructions to build a cable is says front of connector, I >> think that means - looking in to the cable from the front. >> >> Anyway, has anyone done this? Looks like the little Tandy Portable lived a >> very exciting life, hooking up with Tandys, Z88's and even knitting >> machines! >> >> <http://www.rakewell.com/xob/xob.shtml> >> Rakewell's Z88 Archive Page <http://www.rakewell.com/xob/xob.shtml> >> 1. Introduction. Disc-88 is a portable, battery-powered disc drive for the >> Z88 computer. It uses readily available 3.5 inch floppy discs as the >> storage medium. >> www.rakewell.com
