Engineering:ComPAN 8

ComPan 8 computer at the Museum of Computer History and Computer Science in Katowice

ComPAN 8 is an 8-bit Polish microcomputer produced in the 1980s at the MERA-ELZAB factory in Zabrze, Poland. ComPAN 8 was designed at the Institute of Industry Automation Systems PAN in Gliwice.

Technical description

• Processor: 8080A or 8085 2 MHz
• Interrupt controller: 8 levels
• Address bus: extended by 5 additional lines (A16..AA20), max. 2 MB of memory
• RAM: 64 KB
• ROM: 8 KB
• Keyboard: 83 keys MERA 7926M with numerical part
• Floppy disk controller: 8- or 5,25-inch
• Interfaces: 2× RS-232C, parallel port, printer interface circuit
• Monochromatic display, divided into 2 (or 3) windows:
  • system window: 4 lines, 80 characters on the bottom of the screen
  • workspace window:
    • 24×80 characters – text mode
    • 30×80 characters – graphical-text mode
    • 288×240 pixels – graphical mode
  • additional system window (optional): 8 lines with 30 characters on the top of screen

Software

• Operation system:
  • CP/M (more popular)
  • ISIS-II
• programming languages
  • macroassembler
  • Pascal
  • Fortran
  • PL/M (ISIS-II)

External links

• Old computers magazine (polish)