The Xitan S-100 bus computer by TDL robotic.icu

robotic.icu: The Xitan S-100 bus computer by TDL
Posted in: News | by Brian Taylor | 2019 Feb 21


XITAN S-100

This was my first computer which started it all for me. I bought it at auction on May 1st, 1981 for $84.

Even though it is outdated by what you can get today, it is still a masterpiece in design. The CPU, RAM, DISK CONTROLLER, SYSTEM MONITOR BOARD, AND VIDEO BOARDS are on separate pcbs. Later models by other manufacturers put the entire computer on a single board, which freed up slots on the backplane for other purposes.

The black button on the front panel is nothing more than a reset button. Everything else is on the back.

It features a Z-80 CPU and 32kb ram. It has 2 disk drives that are 8 inches mounted in a rack mount front panel.

I never got the manuals or software, so the screen only shows random characters at startup and doesn't do much more.