Zenith Z-89


The Z-89 was a personal computer produced by Zenith Data Systems in the early 1980s.

Description

It was based on the Zilog Z80 microprocessor running at 2.048 MHz, and supported the HDOS and CP/M operating systems. The 2295 USD Zenith Z-89 was integrated in a terminal-like enclosure with a non-detachable keyboard, 12-inch monochrome CRT with a 80x25 screen, 48 KB RAM, and a 5.25" disk drive.
In 1979, prior to Zenith's purchase of Heath Company, Heathkit had originally designed and marketed this computer in kit form as the Heath H89, assembled as the WH89, and without the floppy but with a cassette interface card as the H88..
Heath/Zenith also made a serial terminal, the H19/Z-19, based on the same enclosure and terminal controller. They even offered an upgrade kit to convert the terminal into a full H89/Z-89 computer.
Another configuration, the Z-90, changed the floppy drive controller from the hard-sectored controller to a soft-sectored controller that supported double-sided, double density, 96 tpi drives with a capacity of 800 kB. It also came standard with 64 KB of RAM.
There were several external drive systems available for the H89/Z-89.
A maximum of two disk controller cards could be installed in a standard system.

Reception

BYTE wrote that the H-89 "has a number of unique hardware features and the same excellent software support and documentation as the original H-8 system".

Summary

Emulators