Using RomWBW

RomWBW is available for any RC2014 model which has the 512k ROM 512k RAM module upgrade. It can use the Compact Flash Module for storage, and also supports IDE drives, floppy drives and RTC. RomWBW was written by Wayne Warthen and used on the RC2014 with his kind permission.

RomWBW is a ROM-based implementation of CP/M-80 2.2 and Z-System for all RetroBrew Computers Z80/Z180 hardware platforms including SBC 1/2, Zeta 1/2, N8, Mark IV, SC126/SC130 and RC2014. Virtually all RetroBrew hardware is supported including floppy, hard disk (IDE, CF Card, SD Card), Video, and keyboard. VT-100 terminal emulation is built-in.

The RomWBW ROM loads and runs the built-in operating systems directly from the ROM and includes a selection of standard/useful applications accessed via a ROM disk drive. A RAM disk drive is also provided to allow temporary file storage.

Pre-built ROM images are included for all platforms. Detailed system customization is achieved by making simple modifications to a configuration file and running a build script to generate a custom ROM image. All source and build tools are included in the distribution. As distributed, the build scripts run under any modern 32 or 64 bit version of Microsoft Windows.

For full details, see RomWBW Documentation and Releases.

RomWBW is supported by Z88DK using either the RC2014 CP/M subtype, or directly using the HBIOS subtype. The HBIOS subtype is faster than CP/M (because CP/M BDOS actually calls the HBOIS API), so for best performance use the HBIOS subtype. The HBIOS subtype also has access to FAT32 Formatted disks, so files can be shared easily with modern PCs.