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1.1
Profile of the
MZ-80A
You
must know
the configuration of a computer
to
construct programs which
can
actually run
on
it
.
The
more
you know about the
console,
memory,
processors,
peripheral
environment,
and language processing
programs,
the
more efficient and elaborate your
programs
will be because you
can
create
your programs taking full advantage of the
computer
facilities. You
can.
however,
acquire
detailed such detailed
knowledge only by accumulating experience in
designing and
running
programs on a computer yourself.
This first
section presents
a profile
of the
SHARP MZ-80A
personal computer to allow you
to
grasp an outline of
its hardware
configuration and
basic
operating procedures.
In
the
next section,
we
will take our
first
steps
in
computer
programming.
■
Profile
The MZ-80A
is
an integrated personal computer which made its debut in the
fall of 1 98 1
.
It
is
a completely new
multi-purpose
small computer designed with
a wide range of future hardware and software applications
in
mind. Its
greatest
features
are its high speed and
ease of
operation. When
it
was
introduced,
the
MZ-80A
was
widely acclaimed as
a system which would
open
a new dimension in
computer
programming.
Figure
1.1
is
a simplified illustration of the hardware configuration of the MZ-80A. It consists of
a
storage unit
(which stores programs and data),
a
central
processing
unit (which performs operations on data
as
directed by the pro¬
grams in the storage
unit
and transfers the data
to and
from the
storage
unit), and several input/output units. The
storage unit is divided into main
memory, monitor program, and video RAM sections. The MZ-80A has 32 K
bytes of
RAM
(read/write
memory) in its main memory section. The
main memory section can be expanded
to
48
K
bytes by
incorporating
an additional 16 K
bytes
of RAM. The
input
units include a keyboard and a cassette
tape
unit. The
output units
include CRT display,
cassette tape, and
audio
output units.
Keyboard,
casselte
tape unit,
input port
Central
processing unit (Z80 CPU)
CRT
display unit,
cassette
tape
unit,
audio output unit,
output port
Figure
1.1 MZ-80A configuration
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