480z system disk on ebayu

[Jules Richardson]

a.carlini at ntlworld.com wrote:
> Jules Richardson wrote:
> 
>>Dan Williams wrote:
>>
>>>>>I missed that, but thanks for the hint. I am now the proud of owner
>>>>>of a 480z with colour monitor and floppy drive.
>>
>>I just picked up on that - nice score! So that's two known 480Z floppy
>>drive units surviving...
> 
> 
> They're rare? I have a beige 480Z and a beige dual floppy to
> go with it. 5-1/4" 720K (IIRC). It was working when I last
> used it umpteen years ago. 
> 
> Are we talking about the same thing? Separate from the
> 480Z unit itself (obviously). Drives are vertical, 
> positioned side by side in the (heavy) metal case.

That's the critter. I get the impression that:

a) Not many 480Z machines existed outside of schools*

b) Of those that did, users almost exclusively used tape for storage.

RML advertising pitched the disk unit as network fileserver storage for 
school/business use; it seems that they didn't intend for people 
(private or at school) to use it as a personal storage device on a 1:1 
basis. For that reason it was probably rather expensive* as RML didn't 
intend to sell that many (compared to computers)

*plus it has on-board Z80 etc. which must have really pushed parts cost 
up...

So yep, it's rather a rare thing to have - although the number I now 
know about has tripled in the last week ;)

Do you have any RML software? I'm trying to collect as much together as 
I can - so far it's all 380Z based though and other than MP/M on the 
CHAIN fileserver the only 480Z code I can lay my hands on is the Shared 
Disc software (and I haven't had time yet to see if that floppy's still 
intact)

cheers

Jules