Backplanes have grown in complexity from the simple Industry Standard Architecture ( ISA ) ( used in the original IBM PC ) or S-100 style where all the connectors were connected to a common bus.

The combination of CP / M and S-100 bus computers loosely patterned on the MITS Altair was an early " industry standard " for microcomputers, and this computer platform was widely used in business through the late 1970s and into the mid-1980s, expanding to include 16-bit CPUs and multiuser capability.

Initially, bus implementations were proprietary ( such as the Apple II and Macintosh ), but by the late 1970s manufacturers of Intel 8080 / Zilog Z80-based computers running CP / M had settled around the S-100 standard.

After the S-100 bus, this article mentions only buses used on IBM-compatible / Windows-Intel PCs.

** CP / M computers based on the S-100 bus, maybe the earliest microcomputer platform

Matrox's first graphics card product was the ALT-256 for S-100 bus computers, released in 1978.

By the early 1980s, the chaos and incompatibility of the first years had given way to a smaller number of de-facto industry standards, including the S-100 bus, CP / M, the Apple II, Microsoft BASIC in read-only memory ( ROM ), and the 5. 25 inch floppy drive.

Today the Altair is widely recognized as the spark that led to the microcomputer revolution of the next few years: The computer bus designed for the Altair was to become a de facto standard in the form of the S-100 bus, and the first programming language for the machine was Microsoft's founding product, Altair BASIC.

Shepardson had written a number of programs for the Apple II family, which used the same 6502 processor, and were in the middle of finishing a new BASIC for the Cromemco S-100 bus machines ( Cromemco 32K Structured BASIC ).

The Sorcerer was a combination of parts from a standard S-100 bus machine, combined with their custom display circuitry.

: Ports: composite video, Centronics parallel, RS-232, sound in / out for cassette use, 50 pin ribbon connector including the S-100 bus.

The S-100 bus or Altair bus, IEEE696-1983 ( withdrawn ), was an early computer bus designed in 1974 as a part of the Altair 8800, generally considered today to be the first personal computer ( or at least the first microcomputer, as it was designed for hobbyists rather than the general public ).

The S-100 bus was the first industry standard expansion bus for the microcomputer industry.

The S-100 bus essentially consisted of the pins of the Intel 8080 run out onto the backplane to form the single system bus.

Although the exact details are unclear, some time in 1976 the " S-100 bus " name was agreed on by the major third-party vendors, apparently for " Standard 100 pin bus ".

The standards committee introduced the 16-bit data bus to the S-100, which had up to then transferred only 8 bits at a time, by using the two separate uni-directional data buses as a single bi-directional bus.

The S-100 bus varied between manufacturers, but was eventually standardized as IEEE-696 towards the end of 1983.

The IHO has introduced ( January 2010 ) a new, contemporary hydrographic geospatial standard for modelling marine data and information, known as S-100.

Because S-100 is based on ISO 19100, it can be used by other data providers for their maritime related ( non-hydrographic ) data and information.

The development of microprocessors made inexpensive computing available for the small business and hobbyist, which in turn led to the widespread use of interchangeable hardware components using a common interconnection ( such as the S-100, SS-50, Apple II, ISA, and PCI buses ), and an increasing need for " standard " operating systems to control them.

Unlike most S-100 CP / M machines of its era, the Sorcerer did not have any internal expansion slots, and everything that was needed for basic computing was built-in.

Note that in early S-100 systems, the S-100 bus is not just for expansion ; it is a passive backplane that also ties together the essential parts of the system including CPU and memory.

Non-myelinating Schwann cells such as those that form Remak bundles and terminal Schwann cells are positive for S-100 and Glial fibrillary acidic protein ( GFAP ).

Fullmer later helped define the industry standard for Altair compatible boards, the S-100 Bus standard.

Their first product was the 80-103A, a 300 bit / s Bell 103-compatible design for S-100 bus machines.

Sales were further improved in early 1979 with the introduction of the 300 bit / s Micromodem 100 for S-100 bus computers and the Micromodem II for the Apple II that used an external " microcoupler " to connect to telephone lines.

Not only did it require special driver software, but a different hardware design was needed for every computer bus, including Apple II, S-100, TRS-80, and others.

The first BBSes used homebrew software, quite often written or customized by the SysOps themselves, running on early S-100 microcomputer systems such as the Altair, IMSAI and Cromemco under the CP / M operating system.

* Altair BASIC ( MITS Altair and other S-100 computers )

S-100 computers, consisting of processor and peripheral cards, were produced by a number of manufacturers.

These S-100 microcomputers ran the gamut from hobbyist toy to small business workstation and were common in early home computers until the advent of the IBM PC ( which some of them outperformed ).

Several other buses were designed with minor improvements on the S-100 bus: the 50-pin " Benton Harbor Bus " used in the Heathkit H8 ; the SS-50 Bus used in a variety of 6800 and 6809 computers.

These expensive specialized systems were surpassed in 1974 by general purpose S-100 computers and data acquisitions cards produced by Tecmar / Scientific Solutions Inc.

Early personal computers based on the S-100 bus are also very popular among collectors, as well as a wide variety of machines running the CP / M operating system, such as Kaypros and Osbornes.

In this heyday of the development of the first personal computers, Felsenstein designed the Intel 8080 based " SOL " computer from Processor Technology, the PennyWhistle modem, and other early " S-100 bus " era designs.

MCC ( as it was known ) initially featured the Atari 2600, an Equinox 100, 9 Processor Technology Sol 20 computers ( S-100 bus systems ), the Radio Shack Model I and the Commodore PET.

S-100 and any dependent product specifications are underpinned by an on-line registry available via the IHO website.

S-100 is aligned with the ISO 19100 series of geographic standards, thereby making it fully compatible with contemporary geospatial data standards.

Early computer busses like S-100 were essentially nothing more than the pins of the processor run out onto the backplane and then into connectors.

For larger systems, the base unit could be attached to an external S-100 expansion chassis that sat behind the console, allowing cards to expand the system as well as offering floppy disk support.

The first Sorcerers sold in the UK were imported direct from the US by a small company based in Cornwall called Liveport Ltd. Liveport also eventually designed and built extra plug-in ROM-PAC cartridges and eventually an add-on floppy disk drive ( based on Micropolis units ) that did not require the S-100 chassis.

The machine was usable without any expansion, but if the user wished to use S-100 cards they could do so with an external expansion chassis.

Another expansion option was a large external cage which included a full set of S-100 slots, allowing the Sorcerer to be used like a " full " S-100 machine.