Mattel
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Mattel Aquarius
Released in June 1983, the Aquarius was
Mattel's attempt
to break into the home computer market, following the success of their
Intellivision games console. Unfortunately, the Aquarius didn't sell in
any great numbers and production ceased in October of the same year.
Shortly after releasing the Aquarius, Mattel
announced
plans for another machine, the Aquarius II (with 20Mb RAM and a full,
typewriter
keyboard), however it never arrived.
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Memotech
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Memotech MTX500
Previously known mainly for making expansion
modules for
the ZX Spectrum and ZX81, Memotech released the MTX500 in June 1983 at
the cost of £275. The machine came with a built-in
assembler/disassembler,
terminal emulator and the ability to run CP/M. Also available were
5.25"
and 8" floppy drives and a hard disc.
Production of the MTX500 stopped in 1985.
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Memotech MTX512
Announced a few months after the MTX 500, in
October 1983
and costing £310, the MTX512 was similar to its predecessor, only
with more memory.
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Mitsubishi
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Mitsubishi ML-F 80
Released in May 1984 and costing £299,
the ML-F
80 was Mitsubishi's MSX machine.
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Multitech
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.Micro-Professor
An early hobbyist computer, the
Micro-Professor appears
primitive even by the standards of the other machines on this site. All
programming was done using machine code and the output was through a
6-digit
LED display.
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Non-Linear
Systems/Kaypro
Corporation
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Kaypro 2 Portable
Approx. Value : $100
First year of production : 1983
:
Zilog Z-80 based portable. Ran CP/M 2.2 operating system.
Followed
closely after the Osborne, and weighed 26 pounds.
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Osborne
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Osborne Portable
Approx. Value : $150
First year of production : 1981
The Osborne I was the first popular portable computer, coming out in
1981.
"Portable" was a relative term, for it weighed 23.5 pounds and
was the size of a large suitcase. It came with a 5" monitor and ran
the CP/M operating system. It had two 91K 5.25" drives built-in, could
run on an optional battery pack, and used the Zilog Z-80A processor
with
64K RAM. The screen was too small to show a full 80 columns of text at
a time, so it displayed a "window" of the screen. Alas, Adam
Osborne's efforts went for naught as his corporation, after a very
successful
start, collapsed within two years due to superior competition.
From Landmarks In Digital Computing: A Smithsonian
Pictorial History
:
Adam Osborne, an engineer who had taken on a second career
writing documentation
for computers, surveyed the booming and chaotic personal computer
phenomenon
(around 1980) and decided to enter the fray with a product of his own.
He envisioned a compact appliance, light enough to be carried as
luggage
and small enough to fit under an airline seat. It would be just cheap
enough
to be purchaed with one's credit card, thus encouraging impulse sales
($1795).
For that price one would get everything needed to begin computing right
away: system software as well as programs for word prcessing and a
database.
In March 1981 he announced the Osborne computer. It was an
instant success
and the company grew fast. Osborne later named the phenomenon
"hyper-growth":
growth too fast for a company's own good. By late 1983 the company was
bankrupt. It had made a number of mistakes, nearly all related to its
inability
to manage such a fast pace.
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Processor
Technology
Corp.
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Processor Tech Sol
Approx. Value : $500
First year of production : 1975
S-100 bus machine based on the Intel 8080A processor. Integral
keyboard,
1-64K RAM, and video circuitry standard.
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Sanyo
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Sanyo MPC 100
Released in May 1984 and costing £299,
the MPC 100
was Sanyo's MSX computer. As an extra, non-standard feature, this
machine
also had a light pen interface.
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Sega
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Sega SC3000H
Reased before Sega joined the MSX camp, the
SC3000H appears
to have been a fairly well specified machine, although the BASIC
language
came as a plug-in cartridge which, once installed, only left 515 bytes
of RAM left to program in. The machine cost £150.
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Sega Yeno DPH-64
Released in May 1984, the Yeno DPH-64 was
Sega's MSX machine.
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Sharp
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MZ-80K
Intended as a business machine rather than a
home computer,
Sharp's MZ-80K came with a built-in 10" monochrome display and a
cassette
recorder.
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