<gallery>File:Enterprise 128 arabic Large.jpg| A fine looking machine.File:Enterprise 128 arabic Keyboard Large.jpg| The infamous built-in joystick.File:Enterprise 128 Box Large.jpg| They didn''This article is t sell a stub, more informations are to be gathered for this topic, most of its content is extracted million.</gallery>pictures courtesy from WikipediaS.Walgenbach. The '''Enterprise 64''' and '''Enterprise 128''' computers were a range of [[Z80]] based machines, who were quite influancial on the design of the Amstrad CPC.
The machine has a Z80 CPU running at 4 MHz,[2] 64 kB or 128 kB of RAM and 48 kB of ROM containing the EXOS operating system and BASIC. The case is unique for its time, at least in the UK, for containing both a full-sized membrane keyboard with programmable function keys and a joystick. Its overall shape was also notably distinctive compared to the more conservative designs of the time, the designers stating that they wanted break away from the norm although this did tend to polarise opinions in the computing press.
The machine was specifically engineered for games, with display resolutions up to 672×512 pixels and up to 256 colours per pixel, one byte per pixel being particularly easy to program, though full colour capabilities were limited to its 180×80 80×180 pixel mode. Sound was 4 channels, stereo. Coprocessors for graphics and sound take some of the workload off the central processor, called "Nick" and "Dave" respectively, named after their designers: Nick Toop, who had previously worked on the Acorn Atom, and Dave Woodfield.
The machine came with a surprising array of connectors, far beyond what was common on home computers of the time. There is an RGB output, RS232/RS432 serial port, a Centronics printer port, two external joystick ports, two cassette interfaces, a ROM cartridge slot and an ordinary expansion port. To save money, however, the connectors on the rear did not come with sockets but instead had simple edge connectors using the exposed traces on the edge of the printed circuit board.
The BASIC ROM can even be replaced by a ROM which can emulate a ZX Spectrum, thus in theory allowing the Enterprise to run the existing catalogue of thousands of Spectrum games. Later, an external floppy drive became available, supporting CP/M programs.
==DeveloppmentDevelopment==
After the home computer market in the UK took off with the launch of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum in 1982, a Hong Kong trading company called Locumals decided to commission Intelligent Software in the UK to develop a home computer. The head of Intelligent Software was David Levy, an international chess player.
A successor machine, the PW360, was developed in 1986 to compete directly against the Amstrad PCW 8256, but by this time the company was in severe financial difficulties and went under.
==A Clone ?Hardware==
The Enterprise has custom video and sound hardware. ===Video Chip=== The video chip is called "Nick" and it executes a display list. This allows the mode to be redefined every scanline.The Enterprise has a variety of bitmap modes, ranging from cell based bitmap modes similar to the Spectrum, to bitmapped modes like the CPC. It also supports hardware text mode, and 256 colors (8 levels of red * 8 levels of green * 4 levels of blue). Therefore converting graphics and code from either platform was fairly easy, although mode 0 of the CPC was made somewhat more difficult by the fact that only the first 8 colors of the palette can be chosen freely, while the second 8 colors are generated by using the lower 3 bits of the color index as the most significant bit of the red, green, and blue components, and the remaining 5 bits are added from a "fixbias" register. For this reason, a 16-color CPC conversion usually needs to find a good "fixbias" value, and convert all pixel data to the changed order of colors in the Enterprise palette. In the case of Spectrum conversions, it was also necessary to convert the attribute data. ===Soundchip=== The sound chip is called "Dave" and has 3 channels of sound (square wave or noise), and a fourth channel that can only generate noise; it also has 6-bit stereo volume control for all channels, simple (digital) filters, ring modulation, various noise waveforms, has a selection of interrupts and can play samples easily. Basically, all this make approximately the same capability as a ZX spectrum128, combining an AY-3-8910 and a beeper. ==Games== The computer didn't receive many official games. Most games were ported from Spectrum or the Amstrad by fans on the Enterprise. The Enterprise has a big following in Hungary. As a Z80 based computer with good and flexible graphic capabilities, the Port port of amstrad Amstrad CPC Games was achievable on Enterprise, as evidenced by the following videos.
{{#ev:youtube|B4EQrZSQJEg|340}}
Airwolf, also a CPC port. Yet not a clever choice indeed.
{{#ev:youtube|WOVfhKK3YYA|340}}
Of course Sorcery, another game ported from CPC. {{#ev:youtube|-kq78hVK7L4|340}} Rick Dangerous 2, recently ported from the CPC. The fact the Enterprise can also be considered 64/128 could mix Character attribute system or Amstrad like bitmap Graphic modes, with a Spectrum "clone" thanks to greater freedom, means it could easily benefit from both Software Library with a special cartridge enabling full ZX Spectrum emulationbit of hacking. *http://www.enterpriseforever.com/enterprise_forum/who_has_converted_the_games-t501.0.html As evidenced there and [http://wiki.enterpriseforever.com/index.php?title=Enterprise_t%C3%B6rt%C3%A9nelem#CPC-r.C5.91l_.C3.A1t.C3.ADrt_programok here], other CPC games were ported on Enterprise : * Alien Attack* ATF* Barbarian* Castle Master* Castle Master 2* Commando* Crystal Kingdom Dizzy* Cybernoid* Cybernoid 2* Dark Side* Deflektor* Donkey Kong* Driller* Exolon* Head over Heels* H.E.R.O.* Hydrofool* Impossible Mission* Impossible Mission II* Krakout* Nebulus* Pinball Power (3D Pinball)* Prince of Persia* Rick Dangerous* Rick Dangerous 2* Sorcery* Sorcery+* Super Hero* Total Eclipse* Total Eclipse 2* WEC Le Mans
==Links==
*http://www.enterpriseforever.orgcom/index.php
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_%28computer%29
*http://www.zock.com/8-Bit/D_Enterprise64.HTML {{DE}}
*http://gafz.enterpriseforever.com/Dokumentacio/Konyvek/EXOS_2.1_technikal_information/index.html *http://ep128.hu/Menu.htm (Hungarian) *http://wiki.enterpriseforever.com/ *http://sourceforge.net/projects/ep128emu/ [[Category:Non CPC Computers]][[Category:Clones]]