The "Z-100 LifeLine" Web Site

"Z-100 LifeLine"
Web Site

--Divider--

Welcome to the homepage of the "Z-100 LifeLine", a professional journal for users of the Heath/Zenith H/Z-100 series computer. I'm glad you stopped by.

This web site is for computer hobbyists interested in facts about the Z-100's history, hardware, software, service and support. The Home Page contains some links to other related Z-100 Web Sites.

The LifeLine Page contains information about the newsletter. Be sure to check out the index to prior articles in the LifeLine. I've also completed an index to Z-100 related "Sextant" articles. Access to these indexes is through this page. If you haven't been a regular subscriber to the "Z-100 LifeLine", you've been missing a lot.

The What's New Page contains an update on the latest happenings in the Z-100 Community and select information from the latest issue of the "Z-100 LifeLine".

The Z-100 Page contains information on the Z-100 series computer, it's initial configurations, and the improvements made over the years.

The Repair Page contains information on disassembling the Z-100 series computer, and serves as a launching vehicle to articles on Z-100 repairs and modifications that may be of interest. The latest addition is an article on the description, differences, and servicing of the Zenith ZVM-13x series of color monitors. If you are having any difficulties with your monitors, you won't want to miss this one.

The NEW IDE Page contains information on a new IDE Controller Board to replace the Z-217 Controller Board and MFM Hard Drive system presently being used in the Z-100 series computer. This board is finally completed and all the pre-orders have now been shipped. In addition to working with IDE hard drives, it also works great with Compact Flash (CF) memory cards and Disk-on-Module (DOM) memory units. I did order a few extra boards, so if you are interested, contact me NOW!

Finally, if you haven't visited in a while and are not a subscriber to the Z-100 Lifeline, you may want a quick update on what's happening. Click on What's New! or the link in the right column.

Feel free to browse around. Use the e-mail link below to tell me what you think, or if you have any suggestions. I hope you enjoy your visit!

What's New!

The LifeLine Newsletter

That Vagts Guy

Richard Pestinger's Site

FutureLink

Other Interesting Sites:

	S-100 Computers is a relatively new website by John Monahan that is devoted to users of S-100 bus computers and concentrates on the CP/M family of operating systems. His most recent work is development of an IDE Controller for use with CP/M. If you use CP/M you may wish to check this out. When he has completed his work, we are hoping he will also help us with the Z-100's CP/M operating systems.
	Richard Pestinger's Antique Computer Website is an exciting website covering many Heath/Zenith products, including the H/Z-89, H/Z-100, monitors and accessories. This site is well worth the visit.
	The Heathkit Museum is a virtual tour of many Heathkit products. Before the demise of the @home web server, I seem to recall there was a much more extensive line-up of products described, but it is mostly radios now. I hope this expands again to include computers. I'm also disappointed because I could find no way to contact them and ask to include my site.
	Old-Computer Museum is a French web site (but in English) developed by Thierry Schembri and Olivier Boisseau. The site provides information on over 700 old computer systems from around the world, including the H/Z-89 and H/Z-100. Use the search window to locate the computer you desire information about.
	Bill Wilkinson's Site describes his experiences with the Heath Company. A former electronics technician, he also includes troubleshooting help with separate sections for the H-19 and H-89 terminals.
	Gene Buckle's Site provides an interesting step into the past, discussing numerous subjects about all the early Heathkit computers, including the H-8, H-89/90, and the H-100. He also provides an on-line copy of the first issue of "The Staunch 8/89'er", a newsletter for the H-8 and H-89 written by Kirk Thompson and Hank Lotz.
	Herb Johnson's S-100 Site and Herb Johnson's Zenith Site provide a source of information regarding the S-100 bus computers, of which the H/Z-100 was one, and an important remaining source of Zenith software, manuals, and parts. You may also recall that Herb wrote a series of articles about the S-100 Bus for *"The Computer Journal"* in the 1990s as "Dr. S-100".
	Harte Technologies provides an interesting site with manuals to a number of Heath/Zenith Computers, including the H/Z-89/90 series and the H/Z-100. For Z-100 specific documentation, add "Z-100/" at the end of the URL. This is a work in progress, but if you need a .pdf version of the Technical or Service Manual, this is the place to go. Be aware that these are LARGE documents and take awhile to download. The H/Z-100 schematics will be added in the near future. My thanks to Howard Harte, Barry Watzman, and the others who helped with this project.
	The Robot Gallery, maintained by Robert Doerr, has everything for robot lovers - a workshop (including battlebots), a robot museum (including Heathkits), and current events. If you need parts, information, or just want to talk robots for awhile, this is the place to go.

About the Z-100:

Introduced in the early 1980's as a kit by Heathkit and in an assembled version by Zenith, the H/Z-100 series computer was available as an All-In-One (H/Z-120) or Low-Profile (H/Z-110). The All-In-One had its own monochrome monitor included.

The computer used dual CPUs - an 8085 for CP/M and an 8088 for Z-DOS (MS-DOS v1.0). It initially came with 64k RAM standard (192k max) and ran at a blistering 5 MHz! The display was either yellow or green (8 gray scale levels or 8 colors if the color RAM was installed) and displayed 25x80 characters.

Modifications by Zenith, the Users' Groups, Owners, and the "Z-100 LifeLine" members have produced a machine capable of several megs of RAM, running at up to 12 MHz, using MFM, IDE, or SCSI hard drives and high density floppy drives, has bootable EEPROM or NVsRAM capability, and is nearly 100% PC-DOS compatible.

Help Wanted:

I'm sorry to announce that our software guru, John Beyers, has left "Z-100 LifeLine" rather suddenly and very unexpectedly. With us since the Z-100's early beginnings and well before my time, he has nearly single-handedly written or modified all the source code for this latest Z-DOS version, the last several monitor ROMs, and the LLSCSI and LLIDE Controller projects. He will be sorely missed and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

However, this has created a huge, very critical hole in our organization. If you have Z-80 or 8080 assembly code experience, have lots of free time on your hands, and would like to opportunity to work for free, we could sure use you. E-mail me below with any questions you may have.

Visitors since December 13, 2002:

z100lifeline@earthlink.net

	What's New!
LifeLine Page	Z-100 Page	Repair Page

Steven W. Vagts
Z-100 LifeLine
211 Sean Way
Hendersonville, NC 28792
828-685-8924