The Z-80 SoftCard is a plug-in Apple II processor card developed by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

to turn the computer into a

CP/M CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initial ...

system based upon the

Zilog Z80 The Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog as the startup company's first product. The Z80 was conceived by Federico Faggin in late 1974 and developed by him and his 11 employees starting in early 1975. The first working samples wer ...

central processing unit (CPU). Becoming the most popular CP/M platform and Microsoft's top revenue source for 1980, it was eventually renamed the Microsoft SoftCard, and was succeeded by Microsoft's Premium Softcard IIe for the Apple IIe.

Overview

Introduced in 1980 as Microsoft's first hardware product, and bundled with the

Microsoft BASIC Microsoft BASIC is the foundation software product of the Microsoft company and evolved into a line of BASIC interpreters and compiler(s) adapted for many different microcomputers. It first appeared in 1975 as Altair BASIC, which was the first ve ...

programming language, the Z-80 SoftCard is an Apple II processor card that enables the

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...

to run

, an operating system from

Digital Research Digital Research, Inc. (DR or DRI) was a company created by Gary Kildall to market and develop his CP/M operating system and related 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit systems like MP/M, Concurrent DOS, FlexOS, Multiuser DOS, DOS Plus, DR DOS and ...

. This gives Apple II users access to many more business applications, including

compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that ...

s and interpreters for several

high-level language In computer science, a high-level programming language is a programming language with strong abstraction from the details of the computer. In contrast to low-level programming languages, it may use natural language ''elements'', be easier to us ...

s. CP/M, one of the earliest cross-platform operating systems, is easily adaptable to a wide range of auxiliary chips and peripheral hardware, but it requires an

Intel 8080 The Intel 8080 (''"eighty-eighty"'') is the second 8-bit microprocessor designed and manufactured by Intel. It first appeared in April 1974 and is an extended and enhanced variant of the earlier 8008 design, although without binary compatibil ...

-compatible CPU, which the Zilog Z80 is, but which the Apple's CPU, the

MOS Technology 6502 The MOS Technology 6502 (typically pronounced "sixty-five-oh-two" or "six-five-oh-two") William Mensch and the moderator both pronounce the 6502 microprocessor as ''"sixty-five-oh-two"''. is an 8-bit microprocessor that was designed by a small t ...

, is not. The SoftCard has a

CPU plus some 74LS00 series

TTL TTL may refer to: Photography * Through-the-lens metering, a camera feature * Zenit TTL, an SLR film camera named for its TTL metering capability Technology * Time to live, a computer data lifespan-limiting mechanism * Transistor–transistor lo ...

chips to adapt that processor's

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

to the Apple bus. As CP/M requires contiguous memory from address zero, which the Apple II doesn't have; addresses are translated in order to move non-RAM areas to the top of memory.

History

The SoftCard was

Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American business magnate, computer programmer, researcher, investor, and philanthropist. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation with childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which h ...

's idea. Its original purpose was to simplify

porting In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desi ...

Microsoft's computer-language products to the Apple II. The SoftCard was developed by

Tim Paterson Tim Paterson (born 1 June 1956) is an American computer programmer, best known for creating 86-DOS, an operating system for the Intel 8086. This system emulated the application programming interface (API) of CP/M, which was created by Gary Kild ...

Seattle Computer Products Seattle Computer Products (SCP) was a Tukwila, Washington, microcomputer hardware company which was one of the first manufacturers of computer systems based on the 16-bit Intel 8086 processor. SCP began shipping its first S-100 bus 8086 CPU bo ...

(SCP). SCP built prototypes, Don Burtis of Burtronix redesigned the card, and California Computer Systems manufactured it for Microsoft. Unsure whether the card would sell, Microsoft first demonstrated it publicly at the

West Coast Computer Faire The West Coast Computer Faire was an annual computer industry conference and exposition most often associated with San Francisco, its first and most frequent venue. The first fair was held in 1977 and was organized by Jim Warren (computer spec ...

in March 1980. Microsoft also released a version for the

Apple IIe The Apple IIe (styled as Apple //e) is the third model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer. The ''e'' in the name stands for ''enhanced'', referring to the fact that several popular features were now built-in ...

, the Premium Softcard IIe. The card has functionality equivalent to the

Extended 80-Column Text Card The Apple 80-Column Text Card was an expansion card for the Apple IIe computer to give it the option of displaying 80 columns of text instead of the usual 40 columns. Two models were available; the cheaper 80-column card had just enough extra RAM t ...

, including its 64 kB RAM, so would save money for users who wanted CP/M capability, additional memory, and 80-column text.

Reception

Sales

The SoftCard's immediate success surprised Microsoft. Although unprepared to take orders at the West Coast Computer Faire, a Microsoft executive accepted 1,000 business cards from interested parties on the first day; ''Compute!'' reported that the company was "inundated" with orders. The SoftCard became the company's largest revenue source in 1980, selling 5,000 units in three months at $349 each, with high sales continued for several years. The SoftCard was the single most-popular platform to run CP/M, and Z-80 cards became very popular Apple II peripherals. By 1981 Microsoft,

Lifeboat Associates Lifeboat Associates was a New York City company that was one of the largest microcomputer software distributors in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Lifeboat acted as an independent software broker marketing software to major hardware vendors suc ...

, and

Peachtree Software Sage 50 is a set of accountancy and payroll products developed by Sage Group aimed at small and medium enterprises. Sage offer different products under the Sage 50 name in different regions. The product name originally derives from the UK and Ir ...

published their CP/M software on Apple-format disks.

Critical reception

''Compute!'' witnessed the SoftCard's debut in March 1980 at the West Coast Computer Faire, calling it "an Apple breakthru". ''

InfoWorld ''InfoWorld'' (abbreviated IW) is an information technology media business. Founded in 1978, it began as a monthly magazine. In 2007, it transitioned to a web-only publication. Its parent company today is International Data Group, and its siste ...

'' in 1981 called the SoftCard "a fascinating piece of hardware". While criticizing the "computerese" of the CP/M documentation, the magazine wrote "if you need a lightweight, portable Z80 computer, the Apple/SoftCard combination is a perfect pair." ''

BYTE The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit ...

'' wrote, "Because of the flexibility that it offers Apple users, I consider the Softcard an excellent buy .. The price is reasonable, and it works". ''InfoWorld'' in 1984 also favorably reviewed the SoftCard IIe, approving of its ability to also replace the Extended 80-Column Text Card. The magazine concluded that it "is a good system among several good systems on the market", especially for those who wanted to run Microsoft BASIC or wanted functionality beyond CP/M.

Alternatives

Following Microsoft's success, several other companies developed Z80 cards for the Apple II as well, including Digital Research with and a CP/M card developed by Advanced Logic Systems named "The CP/M Card" (with a 6 MHz Z80 and 64 kB RAM) and Digital Research's CP/M Gold Card for CP/M Pro 3.0 (with 64 or 192 kB RAM). Others independent designs came from

Applied Engineering Applied Engineering, headquartered in Carrollton, TX, was a leading third-party hardware vendor for the Apple II series of computers from the early 1980s until the mid-1990s. History {{original research, section, date=September 2018 In its day ...

, PCPI (with their 6 MHz Appli-Card), Cirtech, IBS. There were also about a dozen SoftCard clone manufacturers.

References

External links

AppleLogic website
showing peripheral cards for the Apple II series of computers, including the Microsoft Softcard {{Microsoft Apple II family Compatibility cards Computer-related introductions in 1980 Microsoft hardware