Intertec SuperBrain II Jr.

Donor: Sally Evans
Location: Williamsburg, VA

Many, many thanks to Sally Evans for donating the SuperBrain! It's name is "Bertie", after Albert Einstein (a superbrain is there ever was one). It comes loaded with:

• Hardware:
  • twin Z80A's at 4Mhz (one churns the numbers and handles the screen, the other runs the disk I/O)
  • twin 5 1/4" drives, each holding 162Kb
  • 64Kb RAM
  • generously sized monitor, 80 columns by 24 rows (plus one status row), razor sharp, specially treated to reduce glare
  • twin RS-232 serial ports
• Software:
  • CP/M 2.2 for an operating system. (Ya gotta love an OS that only takes up 12Kb!)
  • 8080 disk assembler and debugger
  • text editor
  • file handling utilities
  • Microsoft BASIC (of course)

I absolutely love it! It boots in 7 seconds, but takes 7 more seconds for the screen to warm up enough to see anything. This is the first CP/M machine I've had a chance to actually play with and, so far, it's a blast! The SuperBrain is structurally huge, weighing a full 45 pounds. It's constructed of a special structural foam, so it's actually lighter than it looks. The area around the screen and keyboard is covered with a rubbery, felt-like coating. It's easily the most rubbable computer I've ever seen. The one drawback is that the power switch is on the back of the housing and it's a long reach!

• Another view
• Side View, shows how deep the system is
• Backside, showing the 2 RS-232 ports, power switch, and brightness knob
• Screen Shot

Back to the Museum!