Sinclair PC 200

PC 200The PC200 was released in late 1988 when IBM PC clones were starting to dominate the computer market. The machine was a total failure; as a matter of fact the same year Amstrad stopped it’s production after only three months. The main reason for this was it’s expandability and specs were totally inadequate for that time. Amstrad tried to re-sell this machine under their name but it did the same flop. The machine is very compact but heavy. You could even add a 20MB external hard disk and an additional 3.5′ or 3′ floppy drive. The machine was shipped with two disks in which included the Dos V3.0 and the mouse driver.

PC 200
£299
532-8920196
1988
8086 16Bit CPU running at a frequency of 8 Mhz.
IBM PC Bios 16K. 51 K Exp to 640K.
The system is not a standard 3 Piece case, but instead it’s a compact unit with a black plastic case, and a small hatch on top for upgrading the PC. The Keyboard is an AT QWERTY style with a numeric keypad. On the Right hand side of the PC you will find a 3.5′ Double Sided Double Density 720K floppy drive.
Motorola 6845 chip. In Text mode the resolution is 80 x 25 and 40 x 25 with 16 colours. The Colours are the standard 8 video colours with 8 dimmer versions. In Graphic mode the resolution is 320 x 200 in 4 colours chosen out from a two predefined palettes (1:Black, White, Cyan, Magenta 2:Black, Yellow, Green, Red). Another Graphic resolution mode is available on this system but it is not supported by the bios. It offers a graphic resolution of 160 x100 with all 16 colours available. In Hi resolution Mode the resolution is 640 x 200 mono chrome.
The usual simple mono IBM PC beeper driven by a timer chip. Like all IBM PC you could use an 8 bit sound card in one of the ISA slots available.
1 x RF TV output,
2 x ISA 8 bit bus exp slot,
1 x Monitor CGA 9-pin D connector Female,
1 x Analogue Joystick,
1 x Mouse 9-pin D Connector Female,
1 x Parallel 25-pin D Connector Male,
1 x RS-232 25-pin D Connector Female
1 x Floppy Port for external Floppy Drive.
Internal Power supply with 12v, -12v, 5v.
Dimensions 455mm x 335mm x 8mm (W x L x H). Weight Approx 5.5 KG.
Not more than 9,000 Units.

The club currently owns one PC200 in good working condition with 2 manuals, mouse, and OS Dos V3.0. The machine is not boxed and the monitor is missing.

 

Expansion Slot

Edge Conector 62 Pin at the Computer
Pin Name Dir Desc
A1 RES N/A Resrvd
A2 D7 IN/
OUT		 Data Bit 7
A3 D6 IN/
OUT		 Data Bit 6
A4 D5 IN/
OUT		 Data Bit 5
A5 D4 IN/
OUT		 Data Bit 4
A6 D3 IN/
OUT		 Data Bit 3
A7 D2 IN/
OUT		 Data Bit 2
A8 D1 IN/
OUT		 Data Bit 1
A9 D0 IN/
OUT		 Data Bit 0
A10 I/O IN I/O Channel Rdy
A11 ADDR EN IN Addr Ena
A12 A19 OUT Addr Bit 19
A13 A18 OUT Addr Bit 18
A14 A17 OUT Addr Bit 17
A15 A16 OUT Addr Bit 16
A16 A15 OUT Addr Bit 15
A17 A14 OUT Addr Bit 14
A18 A13 OUT Addr Bit 13
A19 A12 OUT Addr Bit 12
A20 A11 OUT Addr Bit 11
A21 A10 OUT Addr Bit 10
A22 A9 OUT Addr Bit 9
A23 A8 OUT Addr Bit 8
A24 A7 OUT Addr Bit 7
A25 A6 OUT Addr Bit 6
A26 A5 OUT Addr Bit 5
A27 A4 OUT Addr Bit 4
A28 A3 OUT Addr Bit 3
A29 A2 OUT Addr Bit 2
A30 A1 OUT Addr Bit 1
A31 A0 OUT Addr Bit 0
B1 GND N/A Grnd
B2 SYS RES IN System Reset
B3 +5V OUT +5V DC
B4 IRQ2 IN Inter Req 2
B5 -5V OUT -5V DC
B6 DMA REQ 2 IN DMA Req 2
B7 -12V OUT -12V DC
B8 RES N/A Resrvd
B9 +12V OUT +12V DC
B10 GND N/A Grnd
B11 MEM WR IN Mem Write
B12 MEM RD IN Mem Read
B13 I/O WR IN I/O Write
B14 I/O RD IN I/O Read
B15 DMA ACK 3 OUT DMA Acknow 3
B16 DMA REQ 3 IN DMA Req 3
B17 DMA ACK 1 OUT DMA Acknow 1
B18 DMA REQ 1 IN DMA Req 1
B19 DMA ACK 0 OUT DMA Acknow 0
B20 CLK OUT Clock
B21 IRQ 7 IN Inter Req 7
B22 IRQ 6 IN Inter Req 6
B23 IRQ 5 IN Inter Req 5
B24 IRQ 4 IN Inter Req 4
B25 IRQ 3 IN Inter Req 3
B26 DMA ACK 2 OUT DMA Acknow 2
B27 TMR OUT Timer Count
B28 ALE IN Addr Latch Ena
B29 +5V OUT +5VDC
B30 OSC OUT Osciltr
B31 GND N/A Grnd
 

 

Joystick Port

15-Pin D-Sub Female Cable Connector
Pin Name Dir Desc
1 +5V OUT +5V DC
2 /B1 IN BTN 1
3 X1 IN Joy 1 – X Axis
4 GND N/A Grnd
5 GND N/A Grnd
6 Y1 IN Joy 1- Y Axis
7 /B2 IN BTN 2
8 +5V OUT +5V DC
9 +5V OUT +5V DC
10 /B4 IN Button 4
11 X2 IN Joy 2 – X Axis
12 GND N/A Grnd
13 Y2 IN Joy 2 – Y Axis
14 /B3 IN BTN 3
15 +5V OUT +5V DC
 

 

Monitor Power

Din 4 180
Pin Name Dir Desc
1 +12V OUT +12V DC
2 GND N/A Grnd
3 GND N/A Grnd
4 +5V OUT +5V DC
 

 

Mouse Port

9 Pin D-Sub Female
Pin Name Dir Desc
1 HORZ IN Horiz X Axis
2 HORZ Q IN Horiz Quad
3 VERT IN Vert Y Axis
4 VERT Q IN Ver quad
5 N/C N/A No Conn
6 BTN1 IN BTN 1
7 +5V OUT +5V DC
8 GND N/A Grnd
9 BTN 2 IN BTN 2
 

 

Serial I/O Port

DSub 25 Pin Female
at the computer
Pin OSB
 RS
232		 HAYES Dir Desc
1 GND GND GND N/A Frm Grnd
2 TXD TXD TXD OUT Tran Data
3 RXD RXD RXD IN Rec Data
4 RTS RTS —– OUT Req To end
5 CTS CTS CTS IN Clr To Snd
6 DSR DSR DSR IN Data Set Rdy
7 GND GND GND N/A Sys Grnd
8 DCD DCD DCD IN Carr Det
9 N/C —– —– N/A No Conn
10 N/C —– —– N/A No Conn
11 N/C —– —– N/A No Conn
12 N/C S.SD SI IN/
OUT		 Spd Ind
13 N/C S.CTS —– IN
14 N/C S.TXD —– OUT
15 N/C TXC —– IN
16 N/C S.RXD —– IN
17 N/C RXC —– N/A
18 N/C —– —– N/A No Conn
19 N/C S.RTS —– IN
20 DTR DTR DTR OUT Data Trm Rdy
21 N/C SQD —– IN/
OUT
22 N/C RI RI IN Ring Indic
23 N/C SS —– N/A
24 N/C TXC1 —– N/A
25 N/C N/C N/C N/A No Conn
 

 

Parallel Port

25-Pin DSUB Chassis Female
Pin Name Dir Desc
1 /STRB IN/
OUT		 Data
Strobe
2 D0 OUT Data
Bit 0
3 D1 OUT Data
Bit 1
4 D2 OUT Data
Bit 2
5 D3 OUT Data
Bit 3
6 D4 OUT Data
Bit 4
7 D5 OUT Data
Bit 5
8 D6 OUT Data
Bit 6
9 D7 OUT Data
Bit 7
10 /PRT ACK IN Printer
Ackno
11 BSY IN Busy
12 PPR IN Paper
out
13 SEL IN Select
Printer
14 /LI IN/
OUT		 Line
Feed
15 /ERR IN Printer
Error
16 /RES IN/
OUT		 Reset
Printer
17 /SEL IN/
OUT		 Select
Printer
18 GND N/A Grnd
19 GND N/A Grnd
20 GND N/A Grnd
21 GND N/A Grnd
22 GND N/A Grnd
23 GND N/A Grnd
24 GND N/A Grnd
25 GND N/A Grnd