A Tribute to the Dick Smith System 80
(aka Video Genie and PMC-80/81)

What's New

(If you want to keep abreast of updates, the best way is to subscribe to my Twitter feed at @classiccomputNZ )

27th October, 2023. Added the Micro-80 Expansion Unit User Manual.

27th July, 2022. Updated the Genie III page with more accurate information.

12th March, 2022. Added Hangman, Concentration, Speed Reading, Stock Market Game and Personal Income Tax to the Dick Smith Software Page.

7th February, 2022. Added the Accounts Receivable manual to the Dick Smith Software page. Also, expanded the emulators section to mention SDL2TRS. Many thanks to Jeff Paewai for supply the Accounts Receivable manual.

16th August, 2021. Elaborated on the DP1000 expansion interface and added a zip with detailed photos of the circuit board. Also discussed a similar expansion interface for the Colour Genie

29th September, 2020. Added a link to Dick Smith's Getting to know Personal Computers in the Manuals section. Many thanks to Michael Mulhern for scanning this and uploading to the Internet Archive.

13th May, 2020. Added Zork II, Zork III, Seastalker and Local call for Death manuals to the disk image archive.

12th May, 2020. Added a new disk (Arcade Games 8) and Rescue at Rigel to the disk software archive.

15th April, 2020. Added a link to the Service Manual for the Video Genie in the Manuals page.

2nd April, 2020. Minor updates to the Emulators and Disk Software archive pages.

1st April, 2020. Added some pictures of the insides of the two version of the System 80 Expansion Unit. See the bottom of the hardware images page. Many thanks Antony Beagley for the X4010 images.

30th March, 2020. Added a manual for the "Share Market Analysis Program" on the Dick Smith Software page.

11th June, 2019. Added some information on a Dick Smith joystick adaptor kit to the Expansion Options page. Many thanks to Scott Kevill for providing this information.

2nd June, 2019. Scanned and added the DATFILE manual to the Dick Smith Software page.

1st June, 2019. Added Electronic Shopping flyer and disk image (provided by Ian Mavric) to the Dick Smith Software page, and Promotions page. Added the Dick Smith stand-alone disk-based programs to the Software Archive Directory. Also added a screen shot of the Stock Control and Pricing software to the Dick Smith Software page and arranged the programs on that page so they are in alphabetical order.

30th May, 2019. Updated the Common System 80 Expansion Options page with information on a colour modification and the 300 baud duplex acoustic modem. The latter info. includes blurb sheets on the modem and an online service called MIDAS. Also added is an information sheet on the printer interface and the S100 dynamic RAM card for the original version of the expansion unit.

Also updated the Dick Smith Software page with a tweak as regards the information on WORP-9 and an information brochure on DATFILE.

Thanks to Ian Mavric for these new resources.

29th May, 2019. Updated the HT-1080z page (added a link to a modern retro-kit). Also updated the emulators page.

29th January, 2019. Added the Exatron Stringy Floppy Manual (1980 and 1982 versions) to the Hardware Accessories page.

8th April, 2018. Revised and added pictures to the Driving Instructions page.

9th March, 2018. Added revised/enhanced content for the "Sound Off!" package in the "expansion options" section under Hardware.

9th March, 2018. Added the Worp9 wordprocessor manual to the Dick Smith Software page.

9th March, 2018. Added a writeup from Garry (Gazza) Howarth on the freHDaptor, a card which allows the System 80/Video Genie to use the freHD hard disk emulator.

4th March, 2018. Added photos and more information on the "Sound off!" hardware accessory.

31st January, 2018. Corrected a mistake in the footnote section of the System 80 Models and Variants page. The C/Micro seems to been distributed by "Control Electronics Ltd." not "Dynamic Applications".

30th January, 2018. Added information on another System 80 accessory. The Fred sound/music synthesizer.

16th January, 2018. Added more program screenshots and links to the Dick Smith Software page.

14th January, 2018. Recovered Dick Smith's Accounts Receivable package. Added to the Dick Smith software page and disk archive as a downloadable zip.

11th January, 2018. Added some information on the General Northern Microcomputers Ltd. DP1000. An expansion option for the System 80 and Video Genie.

10th January, 2018. Added a full schematic of the green screen X-1198 Dick Smith monitor. This is linked in the Expansion Options section. The PDF was kindly provided by George Kirkham. Also added hi-res top and bottom images of the Syspand 80 Expansion Unit circuit board, in the same section.

27th December, 2016. Added a picture of a doubler board on an X4020 expansion interface mainboard. It's linked to the discussion on the expansion interface. Also added a short PDF showing some Video Genie advertisements linked to the Video Genie page, and a second review of the Colour Genie, linked to its page.

26th December, 2016. Added a detailed step-by-step guide (PDF) to 64k memory expansion written in 2015. The guide is linked to the first alternative method described here. Also added an advertisement for the Jenson and Parr GraphCard linked in the hardware modifications section.

Another set of additions was a PDF of selected pages from the first New Zealand Dick Smith catalogue, and the whole 1981 Dick Smith catalogue. These were linked to the Promotions page.

Finally I added a top-view close-up image of a naked and extremely modded System 80 in the ROMDOS/80 page.

24th December, 2016. Added the manual to Paymaster, a Dick Smith software release listed in the DS software section.

22nd December, 2016. Added a note about, and the manual of, a TRS-80 Model 1 accessory sometimes used with the System 80. The MICROMINT Disk-80 Expansion Unit.

23rd December, 2015. Added this collection of games and a new games database link to the Colour Genie page.

22nd July, 2015. Added new photos to the System 80 models page. Also retired the RSS feed.

18th July, 2015. Revamped the site to make it suitable for mobile platforms. A new navigation structure and a new look.

11th April, 2015. New additions to the Dick Smith Software page. Self-booting disks of Worp 1, Diagnostics, Disk Mailing List System and Paymaster Payroll System v1.41. Manuals for Worp 1 and the Disk Mailing List System also upoaded and linked. (supplied by Gazza). Also added a utilities EPROM manual and binary to the modifications page.

10th April, 2015. Added new scans from Australian Personal Computer and a new advertising flyer to the promotions page. (supplied by Ian Mavric)

30th May, 2014. Scanned and uploaded a copy of the User Manual for the System 80 MkII business model, and linked it to the manuals page.

17th February, 2013. With the assistance of Ian Mavric, I have imaged 3 self-booting disks containing original Dick Smith software namely Share Market Analyisis, Data File Manager (DATFILE) and Worp-9, a word processor. Details can be found on the Dick Smith Software page.

I've also added the System 80 MK II ROM to the rom zip file. WORP-9 requires the MK II ROM.

18th November, 2012. Added a triva note to the front page i.e. that the System 80 was used in the development of The Hobbit for the Sinclair Spectrum.

3rd March, 2012. Added an interview with Michael Molloy, founder of mail-order software distributor Molymerx PTY Ltd.

30th October, 2011. Added a note from Garry Howarth on his System 80 repair and ROMDOS/80.

11th September, 2011. Added Garry Howarth to the Reminiscences section.

20th July, 2011. Added rescanned versions of Micro 80 to the Micro 80 archive. Many thanks to Kevin Parker and Ian Mavric for providing these.

18th July, 2011. Added a small section on the Dick Smith Green Screen Monitor (X-1198) to the Hardware Accessories page and also included a PSU schematic of this monitor, drawn by Philip Avery.

8th June, 2011. To create more room on the site for HTML pages, shifted the Technical Manual and the System 80 Programming Manual to the Fileden archive site (and zipped them).

17th May, 2011. Added Micro 80 Volume 1, Issue 12 (1980) to the Micro 80 archive site . Scan supplied by Ian Mavric.

25th April, 2011. Added some material suppied by Ian Mavric. Many thanks Ian!

* The scurve invaders manual is now in the Dick Smith software page.
* A disk drive leaflet was added to the accessories page under disk drives.
* The X3252 printer promo sheet was added to the accessories page under printer interface and printers.
* The Dick Smith "Sound off" hardware/software solution was added to the accessories page.
* Extra scanned ads were added as links to the second page of advertisments.

3rd February, 2011. Added the last two "missing" Micro-80 issues (Vol 1 #5 and #9) to the Micro 80 download section and added some more Dick Smith advertisements. Many thanks to Ian Mavric for these.

27th October, 2010. Added the Video Genie expander (EG 3014) manual to the site for download here. The EG 3014 is the same as the Dick Smith X-4020 expander.

13th March, 2010. Reformatted the site to closer match the appearence of other sites in classic-computers.org.nz

26th February, 2010. Added a link to an EACA ROM repository for the Colour Genie on the Colour Genie page.

1st August, 2009. Re-uploaded a faulty low memory TASMON (6000H - 7FFFH) WAV file attached to the Stringy Floppy imaging page.

30th July, 2009. Corrected an assumption regarding distribution of the PMC-80 and 81 in the U.S. after Tandy won a court ruling against Personal Micro Computers. Originally the articles here and here stated sales were stopped after the court case. Although some evidence suggests this happened (at least temporarily), other sources recently bought to my attention indicate continued sales. Some folk are still looking for evidence as to what the real situation was, and I will amend those sections again if anything comes to light.

28th July, 2009. Added a link to Attila Grosz's virtual cassette transfer tools to the bottom of the Colour Genie page.

26th July, 2009. Expanded the Colour Genie section with more information and included a link to Attila Grosz's new Colour Genie emulator. I've also linked a small software archive to the section.

10th July, 2009. Added an Exatron Stringy Floppy software archive. These are just a few programs there at the moment but I hope to add more as I gradually trawl through my wafers. Also added a page with instructions on how to get programs from a real wafer to a virtual one.

21st June, 2009. Added information on ROM upgrades to the Colour Genie section. Also gave the Colour Genie its own separate page as I might be adding more to this area soon.

9th June, 2009. Attila Grosz has updated his HT 1080z (System 80/Video Genie) emulator to version 1.6.1. It can be downloaded from Attila's site at http://gaia.atilia.eu .

3rd June, 2009. Added some new software and manuals to the disk archive. These are:

31st May, 2009. Reluctantly, I've decided to implement Google advertising on the site to offset bandwidth and dedicated server costs, which given the traffic and content is not inconsequential. There has also been many internal changes, with the software manuals and books moved to a separate file storage server, again to keep costs down. If any downloading links appear broken, please let me know.

24th February, 2009. Scanned. and added the remaining Micro-80 issues I have to the archive. These are all early editions from Volume 1 and include issues, 4, 6, 7, 8 10 and 13. Also added some more information to the Origins page on why the System 80 appeared many months after it was announced by Dick Smith Ltd.

13th January, 2009. Added Malcolm Davis's contribution to the Reminiscences section.

15th November, 2008. Added the Colour Genie Technical Manual to the site. This can be downloaded from the Colour Genie section

14th November 2008. Added a link to Matthew Reed's article in the "Legal Status" section on the Origins page. Also amended the LNW info there and (as the question has been answered) deleted the LNW information request from the "Can You Help" page.

15th October 2008. Expanded the Common Hardware Modifications section adding new subheadings and a new advertisement.

15th July, 2008. Re-organised the physical location of some of the documents. No change in functionality of the site though.

7th July, 2008. Introduced a new section. The Micro-80 magazine archive contains PDF downloads of most issues. More will be uploaded as they are scanned. Also added three more manuals, Toxic Dumpsite and Spook House, Space Castle and The Institute.

7th July, 2008. Discovered my replacement copy of "Local Call for Death" was also damaged(!!) but sourced one that now seems to work. I've refreshed the disk image below.

5th July, 2008. Discovered "Local Call for Death", a game on Adventure Disk 1 was corrupted. Removed it from the disk and uploaded a replacement copy. Put a good copy of "Local Call for Death" on the archive as a stand-alone disk image.

4th July, 2008. Added some new software manuals to the site. These are linked from their software titles and include Adventure, Bedlam, Bounceoides, Cosmic Fighter, Eliza, Escaper from Traam, Frogger, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Laser Defense, Sargon II, Telengrad, Voyage of the Valkyrie, Xenos, Zaxxon, Zork 1.

21st June, 2008. Found that the CGENIE emulator now has a website so I've included a link to it in the text of the Colour Genie page.

19th June, 2008. Moved the site to a new domain. From webweavers.co.nz to classic-computers.org.nz

9th June, 2008. Added information on a System 80 ---> TRS-80 peripheral cable.

18th May, 2008. Updated instructions for using CAS files on a real System 80 in the Cassette Archive page. Also added a paragraph to the section on the Colour Genie, mentioning the 24 vrs 25 line varients.

23rd February, 2008. Updated the Links Page.

6th February. 2008. Updated the Cassette Archive page with further information on getting WAV files from emulators to real machines.

27th January, 2008. Added Matthew Reed's new TRS-80.org site to the bottom of the Links Page.

11th November, 2007. Added a manual for the game Z-Chess, and linked it to instances on the site. Also noticed that the third-party hardware accessory "Syspand Unit" was incorrectly spelt. So corrected it.

26th October, 2007. Added a Program Index to the disk image archive.

5th October, 2007. Added another emulator link to the Colour Genie section.

28th September, 2007. Opps! Just realised that the NewDOS/80 v2 disk that I freshened on the 16th September had a drive 1 setting that was incompatible with these virtual disks. This would not phase veteran NewDos users as they would understand what was going on and just tweak the PDRIVE command. Newbies on the other hand would just see that the disks wouldn't load in drive 1 and leave it at that!

Consequently, I've freshened it again, so if you downloaded between the 16th Sept and now, get a new copy of the NewDos/80 v2 disk.

27th September, 2007. FINALLY, my disk library is now uploaded to the disk image archive. This is my full collection. My next project is to produce an index page, showing what program is on what disk.

22nd September, 2007. Added a number of new disks to the disk image archive. Two misc. disks, two strategy disks, a flight simulator disk and a music disk.

17th September, 2007. Added another BASIC games disk (BASIC Games 3) to the disk image archive.

16th September, 2007. A number of arcade game and BASIC game disks have been added to the disk image archive. Also, the NEWDOS/80 disk has been replaced with a version that contains the full compliment of utility programs.

13th September, 2007. Added Brian Howarth's Mysterious Adventures to the disk image archive and reformatted the table.

12th September, 2007. Updated the Site Map with the disk image links and uploaded a Communications and a DunjonQuest disk to the disk image archive .

11th September, 2007. Added word processing, spell checking and business applications disks to the disk image archive .

10th September, 2007. A couple of language disks now reside on the disk image archive .

9th September, 2007. The disk image archive now contains 12 virtual disks, with more to come.

7th September, 2007. Ok, this disk archive project is really turning into "work-in-progress" and this page into a kind of blog. After some experimentation, I've now decided the archive will be best served if the images are in jv1 format, rather than the much larger disk images created by TRS32. Jv1 (Jeff Vavasour's original format) seems to be more compatible in TRS32..at least with NEWDOS/80 v2.0. As archive disk collection, there are other advantages too namely that :

Unless otherwise notified therefore, all disk images on the archive will be single-sided, single-density, 80 track disks in jv1 format.

6th September 2007. NewDOS/80 v2 in double-density (d/d) has been giving me grief so I've decided to post single-density (s/d) images up instead. I've replaced the d/d disks images I put up yesterday on the disk image archive with equivalent s/d ones.

5th September, 2007. Posted three re-vamped disk images back up on the disk image archive site.

5th September 2007. I've decided I also need to change the disk format to make it more compatible. Consequently I've removed the disk image archive temporarily from the site, until I can work through the disks one, by one. Check the work-in-progress section.

4th September 2007. Added a "work-in-progress" section. Added new text, updated disk images and icons to the disk image archive.

2nd September 2007. Tided up the Favourites disk in the software archive, adding a few new titles and deleting old ones.

14th August, 2007. Added video screen grabs of my Favourite Games. (Flash format).

8th August, 2007. Added a Reminiscences section to the website.

2nd August, 2007 - Packed all the System 80 ROMS into a zip file for easier downloading. Added Dick Smith material to the Cassette and Disk Image Archives. Removed the file links from the EACA and Dick Smith Software pages (as these files are now on the Image Archive pages).

1st August, 2007 - Added a small Cassette Image Archive.

31st July, 2007 - Scriptsit was added to the tools 1 disk in the Disk Image Archive and extra text was added to the Introduction, Favourite Games, Favourite Business and Favourite Communications software pages.

27th July, 2007 - Added an RSS Feed and uploaded PDF copies of some books and magazines. These are linked to their images.

21st July, 2007 - Added a Downloadable Disk Images section . This is my own software archive. Also fixed a few broken links.

15th February, 2007 - Added scurve invaders to the Disk Smith Software section.

24th April, 2006. - Added links to Zoltan Kollar's HZ-1080z emulator in the emulators page.

13th January, 2006 - Thanks to Alan Whitford (e.x Lowe Electronics) added photo of a meeting with EACA and some European distributors to the EACA page.

28th August, 2005 - Added more information on the keyboard changes pertaining to variants of the System 80 on the hardware and images pages.

20th August, 2005 - Found out what date the System 80 Mk 1 (version 2b) shipped and added this to the System 80 hardware page.  Added a new graphic to the Dick Smith software page.

16th August, 2005 - Found out when the last 80-Micro was published.

15th August, 2005 -  Added more historical information to the site after some research, and communications with Dick Smith Electronic employees who were around at the time (and Dick Smith himself). 

Added a new section on the Origins of the System 80 and new information to the System 80 history page and the Video genie page.  Spit the EACA page into two, one dealing with the rise and fall of EACA itself and the other dealing with its computers.

6th August, 2005 - Split the Other Guises section into separate pages depending on the model, to give the Video Genie, PMC 80/81 and HT1080Z more exposure on the site.

5th August, 2005 - Added Site Survey form

23rd July, 2005 - Added text to the System-80 photo gallery.  Added a scan of the X4020 expansion board and linked it to the Accessories page.

20th July, 2005 - Added a Photo Gallery to the System 80 Hardware Section.

19th July, 2005 - Added another flyer to the Advertising page.

18th July, 2005 - Added photo on Rationale page.

17th July, 2005 - Added all PDF and Software files to the Site Map page, so viewers can get a better idea of what this site contains.  Added a note on WORP-9, Radiolog and other software to the Dick Smith Software page.  Changed the menu to reflect that fact that "Manuals" refer to Dick Smith published manuals only.  Linked Eddy Paay's Level II ROM manual to the System 80 Hardware page and the ROM Differences page.  Requested software examples on the "Can you help?" page.

16th July, 2005 - Linked to Attila Grosz's newly-revised System 80 emulator (now version 1.3) on the emulator page.

12th July, 2005 - Added a scanned copy of the first issue of Micro-80 and linked it to the magazine section.  Modified the introduction to mention the recent widening of scope.  Added the rationale behind constructing this site as a menu item.

11th July, 2005 - Added some information about the sound chip of the Hungarian HT 1080Z to the Other Guises page.  Added a link to the German GenieIIIs on the EACA page. Made some minor changes on the Links page.  Put some games in the Colour Genie emulator zip (obtained from this URL).  Added Nick Andrew's System 80 Picture Gallery and the Dick Smith section of the PC Museum to the Links page.

10th July, 2005 - Added a new page on EACA.  Added a new section to the ROM differences page and suggested, in the System 80 hardware page, that people check out www.trs-80.com for a full System 80 ROM description.

7th July, 2005 - Added a scan of the sleeve of the official EACA demo tape supplied with the Video Genie, to the EACA software page.  Supplied by Simon N. Goodwin.

4th July, 2005 - Added a section dealing with small demo programs written specifically for the EACA machines (and an unpublished game).

1st July, 2005 - Added some new ROMS to the Emulator page and expanded this section a little.

30th June, 2005 - Added a new page on the rationale behind constructing this site.

29th June, 2005 - Returned a Discussion Board to the site.  Re-ordered menu items

28th June, 2005 - Added a whole new section on EACA System-80 equivalents called "Other Guises".  This page will expand as more information comes to hand.

27th June, 2005 - Found some sales figures on the web and added them to the bottom of the hardware history page.  Added a site map link to the JavaScript menus at the left 

26th June, 2005 - Minor edits on the Emulator page.  Added a page showing the exact difference between the System 80 and the TRS-80 Model 1 ROM

21st June, 2005 - Added a new manual, "Dick Smith's Easy Guide to Understanding Your Computer".  Removed the Syspan 80 manual link from the main menu (but left it linked under Accessories).  Added new brochures on SCAP and the System 80 Mark II to the advertising page. Added SCAP as a note in the Dick Smith Software section.  Added a Contributors section

20th June, 2005 - Added a page on the Expansion Unit Manual.  Added John Gilbert's clock speed and memory upgrade the hardware modifications section.  Added more on OS 80 and included a pdf of the second revision of the System 80s User Manual.  Added a manual link to the disk drive section. Made the site map link more obvious for those with high security settings on their browsers.  Other minor improvements in the formatting and text.

17th June, 2005 - Improved formatting and added a the odd snippet to the System 80 accessories page (on OS-80 and the X4020) and included the manual for the X4020 expansion unit.  

7th June, 2005 - Added a small snippet of information as to why Dick Smith might have gone with the VZ-200 rather than the EACA colour computer to the System 80 history page.  Also added a link to another System 80 review on this page.  Deleted the scanned copies of Micro-80 and the download page, and instead linked to the Micro-80 repository on www.trs-80.com (where there are more issues).  Mentioned the Vavasour emulator as my first one, and put a link on the emulator page to the "stories" section of www.trs-80.com . Updated the links page.

25th November, 2004 - Added a link to the Attila Grosz's Hungarian Video Genie/System-80/ht1080z support site.

24th November, 2004 - Added a page for emulators, and expanded the section on the expansion interface.  Also added a few other snippets of information.  Removed the reference to the now defunct discussion board.  Moved the Driving Instructions to the main menu.

12th November, 2004 - Changed the preferred emulator to David Reed's TSR32 program and corrected a few minor linking errors.

21st November, 2002 - Added the Dick Smith's Easy way to programming in Basic manual in pdf format. (Note, no longer in PDF, now in ZIP)

16th November, 2002 - Added three new issues to the Micro-80 download section.

10th November, 2002 - Added a section with links to downloadable issues of Micro-80

10th November, 2002 - Added a pdf file of the upgrades detailed on this site, but not included in the technical manual

9th November, 2002 - Added the System 80 bundled manuals in pdf format to the bundled manuals section .  Also enhanced the Technical Manual Section with full scans of every page from Issue 3 (the definitive issue), and included a pdf download.

The PDF files were added with the kind permission of Dick Smith Electronics.  They are not to be placed on another site or used for commercial gain.  Please respect these conditions.

4th October, 2002 - Added a section on specific Dick Smith Software and driving instructions for those who know nothing about running TRS-80/System 80 software (and would like to).

1st October, 2002 - Added http://oldcomputers.dyndns.org/public/pub/rechner/eaca/info.html to the links page.

26th September, 2002 - Added a Site Map for those with browsers who cannot display the JavaScript pop-up navigation menus.

21st September, 2002 - Added links page and "can you help?" section.

19th September, 2002 - Added more advertisements to the Advertising section and a page on "Dick Smith's Easy way to Programming in BASIC for the System 80" in the manuals section.

13th September, 2002 - Added the Syspan-80 manual to the site.

12th September, 2002 - Replaced Jeff Vavasour's emulator (downloadable from the software page) with the most recent one (model1-g.zip)

11th September, 2002 - Changed the navigation from a frames structure to a separate pages with a pop-up menu.

26th August, 2002 - Added Leslie Ayling's contribution detailing how to increase the System 80 memory.

26th August, 2002 - Added John Grieive's two large scans from the Dick Smith 1980 catalogue and images of the educator.   Thanks John!

23rd February, 2001 - Replaced Jeff Vavasour's old Model 1 emulator (downloadable from the software page) with the most recent one (model1-f.zip).

15th February, 2000 - Fixed discussion board so it now works consistently and made it Y2k compatible.

23rd August, 1999 - Received an award for best site of the week from Wammo.  Added Wammo star and link.

18th July, 1999 - Added a review of the supplied System-80 DOS (OS-80), on the accessories page.

13th July, 1999 - Added more information on the Technical Manual releases, the Expansion Unit and Disk Drives. Thanks to Leslie Ayling, Australia for filling in these pieces of the jigsaw.

12th July, 1999 - Added three pictures of modifications to the modifications section and amended text accordingly.

8th July, 1999. - Site uploaded to the web and made public.