Spectre Comms Serial Interface

Rare serial interface for the Amstrad CPC. Manufactured by: Spectre Communications Ltd, School House, Crosby Ravensworth, Penrith, Cumbria CA10 3JA.

The Spectre Comms Pack was also advertised for the ZX Spectrum, typically together with a QMOD modem.

The CPC version uses Cage Comms software in ROM. For whatever reason, the manual refers to Propak by Telemap. The Cage/Propak software is written by: David Gorski and Ian Hoare.

Technical

I/O Ports are compatible with the Amstrad Serial Interface:

 FADCh Amstrad RS323 Z8470 (Z80 DART) Channel A Data             (R/W)
 FADDh Amstrad RS323 Z8470 (Z80 DART) Channel A Control/Status   (R/W)
 FADEh Amstrad RS323 Z8470 (Z80 DART) Channel B Data             (R/W)
 FADFh Amstrad RS323 Z8470 (Z80 DART) Channel B Control/Status   (R/W)
 FBDCh Amstrad RS323 8253 Baudrate Timer 0 Channel A TX Clock    (R/W)
 FBDDh Amstrad RS323 8253 Baudrate Timer 1 Channel A RX Clock    (R/W)
 FBDEh Amstrad RS323 8253 Baudrate Timer 2 Channel B RX/TX Clock (R/W)
 FBDFh Amstrad RS323 8253 Baudrate Timer 0-2 Control Registers   (W)

Pictures

• The Spectre serial interface
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Download

• Media:CageCommsRom11.zip - Cage Comms ROM-image (v1.1, Dec 1987)