Intel MCS-85 Kit

[EEVblog]

Yay or nay.
I know my answer 

[bsudbrink]

I really enjoyed building mine a few years ago.

[coppice]

We had one of those that never came out of its box, as we decided to go with a different MPU. I wonder what became of it? 

[Ampera]

A toy isn't a toy unless you can play with it!

[Ampera]

Intel should re-release these kits. With things like the (S)NES Mini, C64 Mini, it's time for an old toy to be brought back for electronics/computing hobbyists.

[Ian.M]

Meh.  The 8085 was a fairly crummy CPU that 'missed the boat', and Intel's SDK-85 / MCS-85 board was a very much under-powered trainer for it.  Its niche was CP/M systems and the Z80 wiped it out in the marketplace.   Also, who wants to have to mess around with its multiplexed address/data bus?

As there are people willing to pay silly money for the kit in unbuilt condition, unless Dave's got a project in mind for it that he'll get several videos out of + a lasting interest in the 8085, its better left in its box, rather than halving its value or worse by assembling it.

Personally I'd far rather see Dave's take on the design and build of an 8051, 6502, Z80, or 68000 based development system, (all processors that have left a lasting legacy in the embedded systems market) and followup on setting up the required legacy toolchain,  debugging options and hands-on interfacing.   

[NivagSwerdna]

Meh.  The 8085 was a fairly crummy CPU that 'missed the boat', and Intel's SDK-85 / MCS-85 board was a very much under-powered trainer for it.  Its niche was CP/M systems and the Z80 wiped it out in the marketplace.

+1

Recently I've been playing with MCS-48 which is a dogs breakfast of an architecture but quite fun from a crusty point of view. Z80A (and 6502) have vintage nostalgia attached so a sure winner.  I was fortunate enough that the department at University got a sponsorship from Motorola so they threw 68000s at us.

I'd watch a EEVBLOG 8085 kit assembly video though. 

(Seems 8085 architecture is still taught in India... bizarre)

[medical-nerd]

Hiya

I used to drool over the adverts for these as a kid. Damn I still do. 

Give/sell it to someone with a piece of childhood waiting to be fulfilled!!

Cheers

[rrinker]

 I always wanted one of those. Maybe not enough to keep an active search or I'd probably have one.  There are new retro kits for systems similar to my first computer but I've always passed, mainly because I've done that one already, still have it, the sucker still works, although I'm wondering if I should be trusting that giant Mallory cap in the power supply.
 At one point I did have some 8085 stuff. In fact I might have a CPU in my stash somewhere.

 As for building it or keeping the kit mint - I will say that in neither of my main hobbies, model trains or electronics, am I a collector. I don't buy things to sit on shelves to look pretty, I buy them to use. Life's too short for shelf queens. Absolutely no problem with opening it up and assembling it.

[coppice]

Meh.  The 8085 was a fairly crummy CPU that 'missed the boat', and Intel's SDK-85 / MCS-85 board was a very much under-powered trainer for it.  Its niche was CP/M systems and the Z80 wiped it out in the marketplace.   Also, who wants to have to mess around with its multiplexed address/data bus?

Zilog would have been ecstatic if they'd achieved the volumes that Intel achieved with the 8085. Even most CP/M systems used the 8085. Very little CP/M software ever used the expanded instruction set of the Z80, because it would have been unsaleable if it didn't run on an 8085.

[PA0PBZ]

Only if you can do better than him: 

[Bruce Abbott]

Zilog would have been ecstatic if they'd achieved the volumes that Intel achieved with the 8085. Even most CP/M systems used the 8085.

Some computers with Z80 CPU  and CP/M:-

Amstrad CPC series ~3 million sold
Amstrad PCW series ~8 million sold
Commodore 128 5.7 million sold

Other Z80 based computers:-

ZX Spectrum ~5 million sold
MSX 5 million sold in Japan alone

Z80 CPU: notable uses:-

Desktop computers
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Z80 was used in a great number of fairly anonymous business-oriented machines with the CP/M operating system, a combination that dominated the market at the time. Four well-known examples of Z80 business computers running CP/M are the Heathkit H89, the portable Osborne 1, the Kaypro series, and the Epson QX-10.... the Radio Shack TRS-80, introduced in 1977, as well as the Models II, III, 4, and the proposed Model V, used the Z80. in Japan Sharp used the Z80 in its MZ and X1 series. The Hong Kong-based VTech made its Laser 200 home computer with a Z80...  the BBC Micro, Apple II, and the 6510 based Commodore 64, could make use of the Z80 with an external unit, a plug-in card, or an expansion ROM cartridge. The Microsoft Z-80 SoftCard for the Apple II was a particularly successful add-on card and one of Microsoft's few hardware products of the era.

Embedded systems and consumer electronics
The Zilog Z80 has long been a popular microprocessor in embedded systems and microcontroller cores, where it remains in widespread use today.

Industry
The IBM PC-XT's hard drive controller... Office equipment such as matrix printers, fax machines, answering machines, and photocopiers... Industrial programmable logic controllers (PLCs)... RS-232 multiplexers... Seagate Technology's and other manufacturers' hard disks... Adaptecs SCSI boards... telephone switches and modems... Cash registers and store management systems... The Stofor message switch, used extensively by banks and brokers in the UK.

Consumer electronics
Amstrad NC100/NC200 and Cambridge Z88 notebook computers...  coin-operated arcade games...ColecoVision, Sega Master Systemand Sega Game Gear video game consoles, Sega Genesis, SNK Neo-Geo,  Texas Instruments TI-73, TI-81, TI-82, TI-83, TI-83+, TI-84+, TI-85 and TI-86 calculators,

[dexters_lab]

defo needs to be built!

not making it is like having a car and never driving it to keep it in showroom condition

[Tomorokoshi]

The Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 and other associated computers also use the 8085. The block diagram is very similar to the system architecture of it.

What I see in that kit:
The keys! Look at the sculpting and the font! How lovely! Why can't anyone do style like that anymore?