Date   : Mon, 09 Mar 1992 15:46:40 GMT
From   : cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!ira.uka.de!rz.uni-karlsruhe.de!news.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de!mbaur@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (Markus Baur)
Subject: need help with Z80 Box

Hi all,

Last week I got a mysterious box labeled "dfe BETA". It seems to be a
CP/M box manufactured by a german company (dfe). But all I have is the
hardware. NO floppies, no manuals, etc.

Is there anyone out there, who can provide me with hints,
documentation, software or even a working system disk?

Description

solid case containing 
       - big power supply
       - main board with 2(!) Z80 CPUs
       - floppy controller card
       - 2 floppy drives 5.25''

and following connectors:
       - DB 9  (unknown purpose)
       - DB 25 seems to be a serial port
       - DB 37 for monitor and keyboard 
       - DB 37 (unknown purpose)

The german keyboard is like all other components in a metal case and
has it's own Z80 CPU. I also have an additional board which connects 
to the bus and plugs between main board and monitor/keyboard. I found
that this board containing one more Z80 ;-) implements a hardware 
based debugger (ever seen something like that?!) which I can use e.g. 
to trace the bootstrap. 

When switched on the box beeps, does its selftest and then prompts with
"IPL:" for a boot device, which defaults to "D1". If I type "F3" or
"F4" the corresponding floppy drive is activated and the head makes
a little move before beeping again.

Any ideas are welcome because I'd REALLY like to get this machine up
and running. Thanks in advance,

Markus (mbaur@ira.uka.de or s_baur@iravcl.ira.uka.de)

--
- Markus (mbaur@ira.uka.de or s_baur@iravcl.ira.uka.de)