CIP 01 is the first computer in the CIP series and was produced at Electronica Bucharest in 1988. The name CIP comes from Calculator pentru Instruire Programabil (Programmable Computer for Education) and was designed to be used in primary, secondary and higher education. It’s a Sinclair Spectrum clone, so programs and games written for it should run smoothly on the CIP 01.
The computer uses the MMN80 processor, the Romanian clone of the Zilog Z80 processor, 8-bit processor, operating at a frequency of 3.54 MHz. The RAM is 64 KB and the ROM is 2 KB and only contains the bootloader.
The BASIC interpreter was not stored in ROM memory, as in other contemporary computers, but had to be loaded from cassette. Thus, every time the computer was turned on, the modified Sinclair BIOS, which also contained the 4KB BASIC interpreter, had to be loaded for the first time, and only then could other programs or games be loaded. This shortcoming was eliminated in the following models, CIP 02 and CIP 03
CIP 03 is the third iteration of the CIP computer, designed and produced at the “Electronica” factory in Bucharest, starting in 1988.
Unlike the first model in the series, the CIP 01, the 03 had the BASIC interpreter stored in ROM memory, so it no longer needed to be loaded from cassette every time the computer was started.
Along with the HC91, it is one of the most popular Romanian computers, being used both as a home computer and in education - in schools or other IT clubs.
The upper part of the case was produced in 3 variants, with a red design, a blue one, or with a transparent top plate.
CIP 03 has an MMN80 processor (Zilog Z80 clone) at 3.5 Mhz, 64 KB of RAM memory, and 16 KB of ROM memory in which the BASIC interpreter is stored.
The calculator could display 32 columns and 24 lines in text mode, and in graphics mode it had a resolution of 256 x 192 pixels.
Although it could also be used for games, it did not have a port for connecting the joystick, but a module containing this port was produced and could be bought separately.
These units are really nice to use, but
