Xerox 820-II

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The Xerox 820 was an 8-bit desktop computer sold by Xerox. The computer featured floppy disk drives for mass storage, and used the CP/M operating system. The design of the microprocessor board was a licensed variant of the Bigboard computer.

The Xerox 820 was released in June 1981. The Xerox 820-II followed in 1982, featuring a Z80A processor clocked at 4.0 MHz. The units were priced starting at $3000.

The processor board was located inside the CRT unit, and included the Z80A, 64K of RAM (with optional expansion up to 32-34K), and 6-8K of ROM (expandable). The CRT itself was a 12-inch, 24-line, 80-character (7x10 dot matrix) white-on-black monochrome display, with software-selectable variations such as reverse video, blinking, low-intensity (equivalent to grey text), and 4x4-resolution graphics.

The 820-II came with a 96-character ASCII keyboard with a 10-key numeric keypad and a cursor diamond which otherwise defaulted to control characters 'A-D. It also included "Help" and "Line Feed" keys, and attached to the back of the CRT unit with a thick cable.

The 820-II included two RS-232 25-pin serial ports (including one intended for a Xerox 620 or 630 printer or compatible) and two optional parallel ports which could be added via an internal pin header with either an official Xerox cable or one's own modification.

A typical 820-II came with CP/M 2.2, a diagnostic disk, a copy of MicroPro's WordStar suite, and Microsoft's BASIC-80.

Manufacturer: Xerox
Date: 1982



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Xerox 820-II Manuals:

Item Manufacturer Date
Xerox - Standard English Printwheels Xerox Unknown
Miscellaneous Engineer Instructions for the Xerox 820-II Xerox Unknown
Rank Xerox 3700 - Distributed Electronic Printing System - Government Branch - Introduction Rank Xerox Unknown
Rank Xerox 820-II Rigid Disk Installation Guide Rank Xerox Unknown
XDS Sigma 3 Computer - Reference Manual Xerox Development Systems Feb 1970
Rank Xerox 820 - QSORT Xerox 15 Oct 1979
Rank Xerox 820 - COBOL 80 Users Guide Xerox 1980
Rank Xerox 820 - COBOL 80 Reference Manual Xerox 1980
Xerox Ranger 3200 Applications Software Manual 1980
BCL Ranger 3200 Accounting System Installers Manual Xerox/BCL 1980
Xerox Business BASIC Reference Manual Xerox Aug 1980
Xerox Model 630 Communications Terminal - Operators Guide Xerox Dec 1980
Rank Xerox 820 - MACRO-80 Assembler Reference Manual Xerox 1981
Rank Xerox 820 Information Processor - CP/M Manual Xerox Corporation 1981
Rank Xerox 820 - Diablo 630 Printer Manual Diablo 1981
Xerox Diablo Hyterm Primer Model 1640 Xerox 1981
Rank Xerox 820 - BASIC-80 Reference Manual Nov 1981
Rank Xerox 820 - CBASIC-II - Reference Manual Xerox Nov 1981
Rank Xerox 820 - Sort-80 (MSORT) Xerox Nov 1981
Corvus Systems - Installation and User Guide - Disk System - Xerox 820 Computers Corvus Systems 1982
Xerox - 610C Memorywriter Communication Handbook Xerox 1982
Rank Xerox - 8-inch DSSD Disc Drive - Maintenance Document Rank Xerox 1982
Rank Xerox 820 - 5.25 Inch SS DS Disc Drive - Refurbishing Operation Summary Xerox May 1982
Rank Xerox 820 - Refurbishing Manual - 5.25 SS and DS Disc Drive Modules Xerox Sep 1982
Rank Xerox 820 - Refurbishing Manual - Double Sided Disc Drive Xerox Sep 1982
Xerox - Keyboard Setup - Version 10.42B Xerox 1983
Xerox - 820 IPS Processor PWB - Technical Guide - April 1983 Xerox Apr 1983
Xerox - Printer Control PWB - Technical Guide (for use in Service Centres) - issue 1 Xerox May 1983
Rank Xerox - 'Hotline' - Technical Bulletin Rank Xerox 18 Aug 1983
Xerox - 630 API Printer - Information Package Xerox Oct 1983
A.S.D. - Technical Service Planning and Support - 820 Family - Latest Information A.S.D. / Xerox Feb 1984
Xerox - 820-II Processor PWB - Technical Guide - May 1984 Xerox May 1984

Xerox 820-II Articles:

Item Manufacturer Date
The History of the Computer Mouse Unknown
A Research Center for Augmenting Human Intellect 9 Dec 1968
Ralph Land: Interview Leo Computers Society 31 Oct 2011
Alan Kay May 2022

Other Systems Related To Xerox 820-II:

Item Manufacturer Date
Xerox Diablo 3100 Xerox 1981
Xerox 820 16/8 Personal Computer Xerox 1983

This exhibit has a reference ID of CH3139. Please quote this reference ID in any communication with the Centre for Computing History.

 

Xerox 820-II

  Software Archive   [2]
  Peripherals   [3]

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