NAME

NAME  

SUPERBRAIN

MANUFACTURER  

Intertec

TYPE  

Professional Computer

ORIGIN  

U.S.A.

YEAR  

1980

BUILT IN LANGUAGE 

None

KEYBOARD  

Full-stroke 80 key with numeric keypad

CPU  

2 x Zilog Z80

SPEED  

4 MHz

CO-PROCESSOR  

Zilog Z80 (for I/O)

RAM  

16 kb (upgradeable to 64 kb)

ROM  

2 kb EEPROM

TEXT MODES 

80 chars x 25 lines

GRAPHIC MODES  

None

COLORS  

monochrome

SOUND  

Beeper

I/O PORTS 

RS232 (2), Bus Z80, Bus S100 (optional)

BUILT IN MEDIA 

Two 5.25'' disk-drives

OS  

CP/M 2.2

POWER SUPPLY 

Built-in power supply unit

PERIPHERALS  

S-100 boards

PRICE  

2 x 175 KB: about $4200
2 x 350 KB: about $5000

 

Superbrain

Superbrain

 The Superbrain was an integrated system with keyboard, display and disc drives. The system used two Z80A microprocessors at 4 MHz, one for the main processing, and the other for peripheral activities.

The dual 5" floppy disc units could be 2x170 KB (single side), 2x340 KB (DS), and a 10 MB CompuStar hard disk could be added.

The SuperBrain was sold with the CP/M operating system, Microsoft Basic, an


8080 assembler and Microsoft Cobol 74.

The SuperBrain II appeared in 1982. It offered a faster and enhanced disk operating system, new video visual attributes and better graphics capabilities. The SuperBrain and SuperBrain II were 5¼ floppy disk based CP/M machines. Four models in each category:
- 10 (no drives - network only),
- Jr 170K,
- QD 340K,
- SD 780K.
Each could have one or two drives. Intertec did not sell or support a hard drive or an S-100 bus for these machines. The network version of the SuperBrain was called CompuStar. The network was a parallel cable design with large gray cables about ½" diameter. CompuStar had three "file servers" that accepted up to 255 machines:
- DSS-10 10MB 8" Winchester drive,
- CDC 96MB, 80MB fixed with a 16MB removable platter,
- Priam 144MB 14" platter winchester.
Intertec manufactured the controllers for the last two and an enclosure/PS for the Priam. CDC had to go on-site to install the 96MB.