Heathkit's and Zenith Data System's (ZDS) 8-bit & 16-bit Computers
This site was started to help preserve the early history and information of Heath Company and there early computers. It initially only cover 8-bit Heathkits (H8 & H89). Due to some recent acquisitions, it is now covering all of Heath Company's computers which were not IBM PC compatible (H11 & H100). These systems were offered by Heath Company from 1977 and to about 1984. It is getting very difficult to find information and software for these systems. If you have any comments or information you would like to share, or have old equipment or software that could use a good home, please contact me at mark (at) garlanger (dot) com.
Computer Systems
- H-8 - Heath Company's first computer. It originally used a 8080 processor. Heath Company (and others) offered Z80 processor upgrades. A terminal and some type of storage device was typically added to make it a compute system.
- H-11 - Heath Company's 16-bit computer which was compatible with the DEC PDP-11/03.
- H-88, H-89, WH89, Z-89, Z-90 - Heath Company's and Zenith's All-in-One computers, Zilog Z-80 processor at 2.048MHz, up to 64 KB of RAM, Built-in Keyboard, Monochrome Monitor - 80x25 characters (White, Green, or Amber options) . The core of these five systems were nearly identical. The main differences were whether the machine was assembled or came in kit-form and which I/O interface cards were included. Runs HDOS, CP/M, UCSD P-System (Pascal), MP/M.
- H/Z-100 - This system was a hybrid 8-bit & 16-bit system. It contained both an Intel 8085 (8-bit) and an Intel 8088 (16-bit) processor. This could be considered the last 8-bit system that Heath/ZDS built. It was superior to the IBM PC in many ways, but did not have the marketing clout of IBM. It could run CP/M-80, CP/M-86, and Z-DOS operating systems.
H89 Emulator
I'm working on an emulator for the H89. It's now booting HDOS and CP/M, and even plays many of the graphic games. See my H89 Emulator page for more details.
Peripherals
Heath Company and ZDS offered many peripherals for their computer systems. These included disk systems, printers, modems, terminals, and more. The disk systems include 5.25" & 8" floppies and a 10 MB Winchester drive.
Software
Operating Systems
- HDOS - Heath Disk Operating System. Five versions were released by Heath: 1.0, 1.5, 1.6, 2.0, and last official released by Heath was 2.0. A 3.0 version was released by a third party.
- CP/M - Three versions of CP/M-80 were release by Heath: 2.2.02, 2.2.03, and 2.2.04.
- UCSD P-System with Pascal - Version II
Programming Languages
Heath company had it's own version of Basic call BH Basic, BH stood for Benton Harbor, the city in Michigan where Heath Company started. Microsoft also provided several languages for both the HDOS and CP/M operating systems.
One of my main goals for this site, is to preserve the old software, that ran on the H8/H89. After all these years, much of the software can no longer be found. Many of the companies, that developed software for the H8/H89, are no longer in business and some of the companies that are still around, no longer have copies of their software. Some of this software can now, only be found in people's personal collections. I've acquired several large software collections and I'm in the process of imaging the disks and manuals. I've contacted a few of the companies and have received permission to post their software and manuals. With the software I have, plus help from other members of the SEBHC group. I hope to have images and scans of all the major software and will post the images/scans in the library as I receive permission since all these titles are still under copyright. With these software images, people will be able to run the software on a real system, or an emulator.
Third-Party Support
Many third-party companies offered products for Heath's line of computers. The products included both Hardware and Software. Most of these companies advertised in the various publications. REMark included listing of these companies typically once a year. BUSS also published a yearly directory.
Periodicals
The official Heath Users' Group (HUG), published it's own magazine called REMark. It was initially published quarterly, but after a few years became a monthly publication.
There were also third-party publishers that focused exclusively on Heathkit computer. The publications included BUSS, H-Scoop, Sextant, Staunch 8/89'er, and SEBHC Journal.
BUSS also published yearly directories of the companies that offered products and services for the Heath/Zenith computers.
Although Dr. Dobbs was not specific to Heath systems, they did have some Heath-related articles. I have recently received Volume 2-6 and plan to post the covers (which also includes the index).
Some of local Heath User Groups also published newsletters for their members.
- BLHUG - Blossomland Heath Users' Group (Southwest Michigan)
- RHUG Gazette - Richmond (Virginia) Heath Users' Group
Catalogs
Heath Company offered catalogs, typically quarterly, of their products.
Computer user groups were very important in the early days of computer when there were no on-line resources to get information. These groups would meet, share information, and help new-users. In the January 1984 issue of REMark, there was over 150 local groups listed from both the United States and other countries. HUG also had a huge software collection available for purchase.
SEBHC Group
If you are interested in Heath Company's 8-Bit computers, you want to join the SEBHC - Society of Eight-Bit Heathkit Computerists group/maillist at google groups.
Before moving to google groups, the maillist was handled at the sebhc.org site. Here is a copy of the sebhc.org maillist from 2004-2007.
Wanted
I'm always looking for software for these Heathkit systems. Both HDOS
and CP/M software - applications, games, programming languages, tools, etc. Interested
in some hardware (I currently have a fairly large collection of
hardware but am still looking for some items. I plan to inventory and
put pictures/info on this site). Below are some key items that I'd love to find.
Hardware
H9 terminal, H10 paper tape, H19 terminal, H27 - floppy drives for the H11, H29 terminal, H47 8" Drives, 3rd-party add-on graphic cards, 3rd-party enhancement ROMs.
Software
UCSD Pascal, Turbo Pascal, Gravitron I/II, Infocom games such as Zork I - III, and many more (to be added when I have some time).
Special Thanks
I'd like to thank all the people that have provided me with Heath related equipment, manuals, books, and software. Please check out the donation page to see the list of the people.
Contact me at 'mark (at) garlanger (dot) com' if you have comments or anything items available.
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