Editing Aster CT-80 (section)

==Working modes==
The Aster used 64 KB of [[Random Access Memory|RAM]] and had the unique feature of supporting two fundamentally different internal architectures: when turned on without a boot floppy or with a TRS-DOS floppy, the Aster would be fully [[TRS-80]] compatible, with 48 KB of RAM. When the boot loader detected a [[CP/M]] floppy, the Aster would reconfigure its internal memory architecture on the fly to optimally support CP/M with 60 KB free RAM for programs ([[CP/M#Transient_Program_Area|TPA]]) and an 80 x 25 display. This dual-architecture capability only existed on one other TRS-80 clone, the [[Max-80|LOBO Max-80]].

With a special configuration tool, the CT-80 could reconfigure its floppy drivers to read and write the floppies of about 80 other CP/M systems.

A third mode was entered with a special boot floppy which turned the Aster into a [[Videotex]] terminal with a 40x25 display and a Videotex character set, The software used the built in [[RS-232]] interface of the Aster to control a modem through which it could contact a Prestel service provider.