Cromemco Advert - January 1981
From Practical Computing
MicroCentre introduces... System Zero
Cromemco's System Zero was a small Z80A-based machine primarily intended in process control situations, which was first released in 1980.
It was designed primarily to take ROM-based software, although it did ship with a small Control BASIC and could be expanded, if required, with all the usual S-100 stuff like memory and input/output.
Despite the name, the System Zero was actually one of the newer of Cromemco's various "systems", fitting somewhere in-between 1978's System Two and System Three and 1981's System One.
Cromemco was fairly unusual in that it never established a local UK office, always relying on its various importers and resellers to advertise on its behalf.
In this case, the advert comes from MicroCentre of Edinburgh, which was a fairly consistent reseller between at least 1979 and 1984.
Pictured in the advert, to the right, is MicroCentre's director Andrew Smith, along with Cromemco's co-founder Roger Melen, who was over in the UK for the launch of the System Zero range.
The entry-level System Zero retailed for only £587, which is about £3,150 in 2026 terms.
A version of the system which came set up as a development machine - the System Zero/D - retailed for £2,355, or about £12,600.
This however included 64K of RAM, the DDF controller with twin 5½" floppy disk drives, and R-DOS-2, a disk operating system with self-test diagnostics.
It could also run CDOS, Cromemco's CP/M-compatible operating system, and with 128K RAM could even manage Cromemco's version of Unix - Cromix.
Date created: 05 February 2026
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