History
When the Z88 came out there was no internet or standard for communicating between different computers. The key strength of the Z88 has been its ability to share its data with a range of computers. Cambridge Computer released PC Link, PC Link II, BBC Link, Mac Link, which was quickly followed by 3rd party software for the Amiga, Archimedes, Atari ST & QL Link.
Computers and methods of communicating have changed since then, the Serial Port has given way to USB and even Bluetooth. The Z88 keeps up to date with thanks to its band of technical users
Making a good computer link for the Z88 need to address the following:-
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Ranger came up with a different approach. Rather than controlling the software from the other computer, the used the Z88 itself. They had already produced Ranger Disk and had written the software to written the Christie tape protocol to run on the Z88 for their Ranger Disk. Just a few tweaks were needed on the Z88 and a small DOS program to make the PC look like a Ranger disk and they were off. As their program ran outside of OZ, they controlled the serial port directly, enabling faster transfer speeds to be realised.
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