Transdata Advert - May 1981

Here's another Z80-based system, albeit with a slight twist in that it's aimed not just at business but at the scientific community.

The entry-level Cx502 had a Z80A CPU, 64K RAM and twin 8" IBM-format floppy disk drives, whilst the top-of-the-line Cx504 swapped one 8" disk for a 20MB Winchester hard disk, as well as coming with a tape backup unit.

Slightly unusually, the Cx500 range shipped with four V.24 serial interfaces - a standard more commonly associated with modems.

Armed with the company's "Comspak" communications software package, it was possible to connect directly to "most remote computers".

An advert for the Transdata Cx502-S Superspeed, from Practical Computing, February 1982

The company was back the following year with its Cx502-S Superspeed micro.

This was now running a Zilog Z80B at 6MHz, for a 50% increase in performance.

It also had another Z80 in use as an "intelligent" floppy disc controller, which apparently helped give it a performance five times better than conventional floppy-based CP/M systems.

Unfortunately, Transdata was not one for showing the prices of its hardware in the adverts - clearly if you have to ask how much it is, you can't afford it.