CP/M Upgrade Kit for RC2014 Classic or Classic II

Name: CP/M Upgrade Kit for RC2014 Classic or Classic II
SKU: 9932
Price: 88.00 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.75 (5 reviews)

(5 Reviews)

All the parts you need to upgrade your BASIC RC2014 Full Monty kit to allow it to run CP/M

Designed by RFC2795 Ltd in United Kingdom

CP/M Upgrade Kit for RC2014 Classic or Classic II 1

CP/M Upgrade Kit for RC2014 Classic or Classic II 2

CP/M Upgrade Kit for RC2014 Classic or Classic II 3

CP/M Upgrade Kit for RC2014 Classic or Classic II 4

CP/M Upgrade Kit for RC2014 Classic or Classic II 5

2017-06-28T18:56:10.988Z-PageableROM1.JPG

2017-06-28T18:56:10.988Z-CompactFlash1.JPG

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All the parts you need to upgrade your BASIC RC2014 Full Monty kit to allow it to run CP/M

What is RC2014? RC2014 is a simple 8 bit Z80 based modular computer. It is inspired by the home built computers of the late 70s and computer revolution of the early 80s. It is not a clone of anything…

What is RC2014?

RC2014 is a simple 8 bit Z80 based modular computer. It is inspired by the home built computers of the late 70s and computer revolution of the early 80s. It is not a clone of anything specific, but there are suggestions of the ZX81, UK101, S100, Superboard II and Apple I in here. It nominally has 8K ROM, 32K RAM, runs at 7.3728MHz and communicates over serial at 115,200 baud.

As a bare minimum, you will need a CPU, ROM, RAM, Clock and Input/Output module. The RC2014 is designed in such a way that you can build your own modules to expand it. As such, if you have access to similar components, or have specific needs, you might not need all the items I have on offer.

What is this kit

This kit contains all the parts needed to upgrade a standard 32K RC2014 Classic or RC2014 Classic II kit running BASIC in to a 64K RC2014 running CP/M. Essentially, it comprises of a Pageable ROM Module, a 64k RAM Module and a Compact Flash Module, along with a PROM pre-programmed with Microsoft BASIC, SCM and CP/M Console, and a 128mb or 64mb compact flash with CP/M 2.2 installed. The compact flash socket is a surface mount component, and will be supplied pre-soldered to the PCB.

This kit assumes that you already have the RC2014 Classic or RC2014 Classic II kit as you will be using the backplane, clock, CPU module and serial I/O module from that kit. You will also be reusing the 62256 RAM, 74HCT04 and 74HCT32 chips from the ROM and the RAM modules.

This kit represents a saving compared to buying the modules individually - however, if you already have components such as a blank compact flash card, or are happy soldering the CF socket yourself, you may be better off picking and choosing from the separate module options.

All items supplied in this kit are new, with the exception of the compact flash card.

RC2014 is a trademark of RFC2795 Ltd.

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RFC2795 Ltd Shipping Policy:

Products are normally shipped next working day, however during busy periods this may extend slightly.

Tracked or Tracked & Signed options are available to most locations. This may not get your kit to you any quicker, but it adds peace of mind that you know where it has got to.

It is your responsibility to pay any import duty or other taxes where appropriate.

Important note for European Union customers Tindie is unable to comply with new EU tax regulations, so unfortunately I am no longer shipping to the EU via Tindie, but do sell them through a website which is does handle the VAT and tax payments.

Review Breakdown

Average Ratings

Product: (5.00)

Documentation: (4.00)

Shipping: (5.00)

Communication: (5.00)

Aaron | Feb. 19, 2021

Excellent as always

I have one of the old RC2014 Full Monty kits, and wanted to run something a little bit punchier than BASIC. I thought I would have to grab all the modules a la carte, but here they are in one place! Works perfectly. I was playing Zork in only a few hours!

Assembly is mostly a matter of matching components to the silkscreen, but I was confused about the page signal between the ROM and RAM. The kit storefront pictures the RAM module with a jumper in the "LINK" marker, but this isn't what you need to do! You need to use the helpfully-included jumper wire to connect the bottom of the header marked "LINK" on the RAM module to the 4th pin on the enhanced bus on the ROM module. This is completely described in the linked documentation (with pictures, even!) but it was the only part that confused me so I mention it in case anybody else is confused.

Always happy with the quality of RC2014 kits!

Shiela | Oct. 12, 2020

Not so much useful as essential

For me the CP/M kit 'completes' the basic RC2014. Of course it's never complete, there's always something new to add on and play with. I sometimes strip the system right back but have always used the compact flash and CP/M ever since I added this kit.

It's great to be able to store everything right there on the RC2014 itself.

As usual it's all through-hole, so it's fun to assemble. The CF card socket is surface mount, but that comes ready-soldered.

David | Sept. 21, 2020

Fantastic addition to the RC2014 Full Monty

Indeed, the documentation isn't perfect, but my advice is read it all through fully a few times. It is easy to miss bits, like needing to re-use parts from the boards you will replace. On the plus side this kit adds so much more to the RC2014, as well as extra RAM, the storage is a great addition so you don't have to start from scratch on each boot. Also introducing the CP/M OS instead of being limited to Basic brings with it a whole host of software you can find online. The CF comes set up with a number of CP/M drives, C: with some utilities and commands and A: with download.com for transferring files and the rest for storing your own files and CP/M software you can find online and transfer to the card via the terminal software. This caught me out for a while as I was unable to successfully transfer anything more than a few small files through the terminal. I found an article explaining that the transfer was too fast for the CPU and described a way to modify the clock to generate a lower baud rate, however I continued searching and discovered that the modification was not necessary to sort this issue. Instead it just required ensuring that RTS/CTS flow control was being used, which through Tera Term was simple enough to select in the settings. After that I was transferring everything, Fortran and C compilers, Zork I, II and III and more at full speed to the CF card with ease.

Currently looking for a way to add one or two 5.25" floppy drives, for the ultimate retro CP/M experience for project source files etc., and then keep the compilers, utilities and the like on the CF "hard drive" as it were.

Antony | Dec. 9, 2019

Nice upgrade to the RC2014, but documentation is fragmented

Having built the standard RC2014 Full Monty, I decided to upgrade to CP/M, and this kit proved to be a painless route. As mentioned by the other reviewer, finding all of the documentation is a bit like an Easter Egg hunt, but it is there.

You use i.c.s from the standard RC2014 kit's ROM and RAM boards, with the exception of the original ROM chip, and the new boards soon go together. On running the updated computer for the first time, I was a little disappointed to find that the only way to get Basic (from the ROM) was by changing the A15 Page Selector on the ROM board from position 1 to 0 to boot into 32K basic, so effectively CP/M is divorced from Basic. I will investigate loading a version of Basic onto the Compact Flash card. Theoretically it is possible to boot into Basic from the start menu, but this is the large version of basic that doesn't work with the standard serial I/O board, you would also need to replace this board and it doesn't come as part of the upgrade kit. I have now substituted a PCB switch for the jumper/header on A15, so that I can conveniently switch between Basic and CP/M by flicking the switch and pressing the reset button.

I'm new to CP/M - one of the reasons why I built the upgrade - so I've got a steep learning curve with much internet searching and reading to be done. Such Fun!

Martin | Jan. 17, 2019

RC2014 cp/m upgrade kit

The CP/M upgrade kit arrived very quickly, it's a long trip here to the colonies ;-). Unpacking the kit revealed a very precisely packaged product. It's clear great attention to detail has been taken. I've assembled the 64k paged ram board, the paged rom board and the CF adaptor board. I've built dozens of kits over the years and this is as good as any of them. I found the documentation a little fragmented, but have rewritten it (as I have for my other rc-2014 boards). Other than that minor complaint the kit is great value for money and I would recommend it to any one wanting to build a Retro CP/M system or upgrade their basic RC-2014 system. It's probably a bit difficult for a beginner, but as I have 30+ electronics experience, building the kit was a breeze. A highly recommended kit. Smarting...