A CP/M like operating system with no proprietary code #VintageComputing #CPM @hjalfi
David Given posts on GitHub an open source sort-of CP/M 2.2 distribution. What is CP/M you ask?
CP/M (Wikipedia) is Digital Research’s seminal desktop operating system from 1977 that for a decade dominated the personal computer market. It’s of enormous historical value and there’s a vast wealth of programs written for it. It’s even useful today: both to study (as a superb example of sheer minimalism) but also to use; the Z80 is a common target for homebrew computers, and CP/M is the obvious operating system to run on one.
So what is CP/Mish?
CP/Mish is an open source sort-of-CP/M distribution for the 8080 and Z80 architectures (although for technical reasons currently it only works on the Z80).
It contains no actual Digital Research code. Instead, it’s a collection of third party modules which replicate it, all with proper open source licenses, integrated with a build system that should make it easy to work with.
What you get is a working CP/M 2.2 clone consisting of:
ZSDOS as the BDOS replacement
ZCPR1 as the CCP replacement
open source BIOSes for the supported platforms
various tools copying the functionality of the standard CP/M tools (some of them written by me)
Eink, E-paper, Think Ink – Collin shares six segments pondering the unusual low-power display technology that somehow still seems a bit sci-fi – http://adafruit.com/thinkink
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
