Driver:Heathkit

8-bit Heathkit Computers/Terminals

Heath Company introduced their first digital computers in 1977. This included the H-8, which used the 8-bit 8080 processor, and the H-11, which was compatible with the DEC PDP-11, at a cheaper price. They released the H-89 in 1979, which utilized two Z-80 processors, one for the computer and one for the terminal portion of the system.

Note: This page is WIP / Preliminary Information

H-8 Computer (driver name h8)

The H-8 is currently implemented and supports cassette tape.

H-19 Terminal (driver name h19)

The H-19 Terminal is currently working. As of MAME release 0.258, the prior clones (gp19, super19, ultra19, watz19, ) have been implemented as tlbc slot device for the terminal logic board. The existing methods to select the slot device can be used to select which of these upgrades are active. The "------" option, which means the slot is empty, can not be used and still have a functional h19.

Slot Options

• Heath heath

- This the original terminal logic board, without any upgrades.

• Northwest Digital Systems GP-19 gp19

- This option adds the Northwest Digital System's GP-19 upgrade board for the H19. It add graphic support and larger screen up to 132 x 50 characters. (note: not fully functional, 50 line mode does not work).

• Cleveland Codonics Imaginator I-100 imaginator

- This option adds the Cleveland Codonics I-100 Graphics board. It offered 504 x 247 pixel resolution. Both graphics and text can be displayed at the same time.

• Super-19 super19

- This option replaces the program ROM with an upgrade ROM.

• Superset superset

- This option replaces the program ROM, font ROM, and keyboard ROM with upgrade ones.

• UltraROM ultra19

- This option replaces the program ROM and keyboard ROM with upgraded options.

• Watzman/HUG ROM watz19

- This option replaces the program ROM and keyboard ROM with upgraded options.

Key Mapping

There are several keys on the H19 (and H89) that are not on current keyboards. These keys are mapped as follows:

• Break -> Pause
• Off Line -> F12
• Repeat -> Right ALT
• Reset -> F10
• Line Feed -> Right WIN
• Erase -> F6
• Blue -> F7
• Red -> F8
• White -> F9
• Scroll -> F11

H-89 Computer (driver name h89)

There is several different versions in the H-89 family of computers. Originally, 3 models were available: the H-88, H-89, and WH-89. The H-88 had a cassette interface board and no floppy drive (or controller). The H-89 added the hard-sectored controller and a single-sided floppy drive with a capacity of 100 KB. The WH-89 came completely assembled, but did not have the cassette interface board.

After being acquired by Zenith, a new brand "Zenith Data Systems (ZDS)" was created. Two additional models were added - Z-89 and Z-90. Z-89 came completely assembled and was basically the same as previous WH-89. The Z-90 came with a soft-sectored floppy controller instead of the hard-sectored controller. With the same drives, the soft-sector controller, could hold 160 KB. And with double-sided, 96-tpi drives it could hold 640 KB.

The soft-sectored controller was an upgrade option for the base H-89.

Currently, only the Z-89-37 soft-sectored controller has been implemented for the H-89. It supports up to 4 floppy disk drives. The default option for the BIOS will allow the Z-89-37 to function properly. The tlbc slot device can be changed without impacting the Z-89-37.

Slot Options

The 4 h37:z37_fdc slots are for floppy drives connected to the Z-89-37 controller. (Note: Heath's own operating systems only supported 3 floppy drives.)

The intr_socket slot is currently fixed and set by the software to h37.

The remaining slot device is the tlbc, which is identical to the tlbc slot as defined above in the H19 section.

Key Mapping

See Key Mapping above for the H19.

BIOS Options

In order for the H89 to work with the Z-89-37, either one of the MTR-90 ROMs must be used, or the MMS's 84B. Neither MTR-88 nor MTR-89 can be used. The 444-142 version of the MTR-90 is the preferred ROM since it improved performance when different types of drives are used with the Z-89-37. The dip switch setting shown in the UI for the "[Root:]" can be configured by changing the Machine Configuration option "Switch SWw501 Definitions". The selection which best match the BIOS selected for the system should be picked here.

Floppy Disk Options

The File Manager UI can be used to load any of the disk formats supported by MAME for FM/MFM images. IMD and TD0 disk images are available for the H89.

Note: if the disk image is only 40 tracks, and the drive used is 80 tracks, the OS will set the disk to R/O to prevent the attempted writing of a 40 track disk in an 80 track drive.

H-88 Computer (driver name h88 - will be available in the next release 0.262)

This is a version of the H-89 family of computers that supported cassette tape and hard-sectored floppy drives. Currently only the cassette tape is supported.