Was the Elektor TV Games Computer sold before the Sharp Corporation sold it's Ever-Sharp mechanical pencil?
3059898528fa77cfaa0871307cef4866
Sharp Corporation Sharp Corporation (シャープ株式会社 , Shāpu Kabushiki-gaisha ) is a Japanese multinational corporation that designs and manufactures electronic products, headquartered in Sakai-ku, Sakai. Since 2016 it has been an integral part of Taiwan-based Foxconn Group. Sharp employs more than 50,000 people worldwide. The company was founded in September 1912 in Tokyo and takes its name from one of its founder’s first inventions, the Ever-Sharp mechanical pencil, which was invented by Tokuji Hayakawa in 1915.
943f50bb30b92566cd37c0868c82c604
Elektor TV Games Computer The Elektor TV Games Computer (TVGC) was a programmable computer system sold by Elektor in kit form from 1979. It used the Signetics 2650 CPU with the Signetics 2636 PVI for graphics and sound. These were the same chips as used in the Interton VC 4000 console family. A 2K monitor ROM written by Philips and a cassette interface were the most important differences between the TVGC and the Interton family. Many VC 4000 games were adapted versions of TV Games Computer games. It is possible to add cartridge slots to the TVGC to enable it to play console games, and the Hobby Module of the Acetronic console effectively transforms it into a basic TVGC.
a75a30bc9226f98317912c41618b08ae
Cinematronics Cinematronics Incorporated was a pioneering arcade game developer that had its heyday in the era of vector display games. While other companies released games based on raster displays, early in their history, Cinematronics and Atari released vector-display games, which offered a distinctive look and a greater graphic capability (at the time), at the cost of being only black and white (initially).
63476f17117747d359b2c3db4425ba61
Cut &amp; Paste (word processor) Cut & Paste is a word processor published in 1984 for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, IBM PC, and IBM PCjr. It is one of the few productivity releases from game developer and publisher Electronic Arts; "Financial Cookbook" is another. In the UK it was distributed by Ariolasoft.
b4bf095b0859cb0bc98e8816b9a32e11
Ameprod TVG-10 The TVG-10 is a first-generation video game console produced in Poland in 1978–1984. It was released by Elwro company in 1978, three years later the production was transferred to the Ameprod company, . In 1978–1984 about 100 000 TVG-10 consoles were made.
c42bd6cb6e05c6180c21ae29c6159c44
SmartLink (television) SmartLink was the trademark name for a proprietary technology by Sharp Corporation for wireless transmission of television signals. The system involved two devices, each a little bit bigger than a paperback book: one attached to a television screen and the other was hooked up to a TV tuner, DVD player, or any playback device. The video information was transmitted wirelessly using the 802.11b wireless standard, allowing the playback device to be up to 98 ft away from the television screen.
8d27063e4342867d2923c9ea2594826b
Compaq Compaq (a portmanteau of Compatibility And Quality; occasionally referred to as CQ prior to its final logo) was a company founded in 1982 that developed, sold, and supported computers and related products and services. Compaq produced some of the first IBM PC compatible computers, being the first company to legally reverse engineer the IBM Personal Computer. It rose to become the largest supplier of PC systems during the 1990s before being overtaken by HP in 2001. Struggling to keep up in the price wars against Dell, as well as with a risky acquisition of DEC, Compaq was acquired for US$25 billion by HP in 2002. The Compaq brand remained in use by HP for lower-end systems until 2013 when it was discontinued.
04193ac05554c9ef103b774d3b6a0461
Sord M5 The Sord M5 is a home computer launched by Sord Computer Corporation in 1982. Primarily the Sord M5 competed in the Japanese home computer market. It was also sold as the CGL M5 in the United Kingdom by Computer Games Limited, and was reasonably popular in Czechoslovakia, where the M5 stood as one of the first affordable computers available to the general public. Takara also sold models in Japan as the Game M5, and models were also exported to South Korea.
6a6618c43cce8899b6a097a59c5947c0
Amiga 1000 The Commodore Amiga 1000, also known as the A1000 and originally simply as the Amiga, is the first personal computer released by Commodore International in the Amiga line. It combines the 16/32-bit Motorola 68000 CPU which was powerful by 1985 standards with one of the most advanced graphics and sound systems in its class, and runs a preemptive multitasking operating system that fits into 256 KB of read-only memory and shipped with 256 KB of RAM. The primary memory can be expanded internally with a manufacturer supplied 256 KB module for a total of 512 KB of RAM. Using the external slot the primary memory can be expanded up to 8.5 MB.
637e731663da6b80d802e43d759e179a
Sharp Nintendo Television The Sharp Nintendo Television (often described as the C1 NES TV; originally released for Japanese markets as My Computer TV C1 (マイコンピュータテレビC1 , Mai Konpyuta Terebi C1 ) ) is a television produced by Sharp Corporation with a built-in licensed Nintendo Entertainment System. Originally released in Japan in 1983, the unit was released in the US in 1989. The C1 is notable for having provided the high-quality screenshots displayed in video game magazines of the period, due to its having slightly better picture quality than a Famicom or NES paired with a separate television. The concept was followed up in Japan by the Super Famicom-based SF1 in 1990.
e6216148cc36d09169aef39727a6aeb7
Disk II The Disk II Floppy Disk Subsystem, often rendered as Disk ][, is a 5¼-inch floppy disk drive designed by Steve Wozniak and manufactured by Apple Computer. It went on sale in June 1978 at a retail price of US$495 for pre-order; it was later sold for $595 ( ) including the controller card (which can control up to two drives) and cable. The Disk II was designed specifically for use with the Apple II personal computer family to replace the slower cassette tape storage. These floppy drives cannot be used with any Macintosh computer without an Apple IIe Card as doing so will damage the drive or the controller.
96987ad52102fe08dc4e92ecf7d986d1
Commodore 64 Games System The Commodore 64 Games System (often abbreviated C64GS) is the cartridge-based home video game console version of the popular Commodore 64 home computer. It was released in December, 1990 by Commodore into a booming console market dominated by Nintendo and Sega. It was only released in Europe and was a considerable commercial failure.
8e880a24767965907470a54c08498e02
IBM 608 The IBM 608 Transistor Calculator, a plugboard-programmable unit, was the first IBM product to use transistor circuits without any vacuum tubes and is believed to be the world's first all-transistorized calculator to be manufactured for the commercial market. The 608 contained more than 3,000 germanium transistors. Announced in April 1955, it was released in December 1957. It was similar in nature of operation to the vacuum tube IBM 604, which had been introduced a decade earlier. Although the 608 outpaced its immediate predecessor, the IBM 607 by a factor of 2.5, it was soon rendered obsolete by newer IBM products and only a few dozen were ever delivered. The 608 was withdrawn from marketing in April 1959.
48c380ec6b4ec06df92c07926bde31f3
Umtech Umtech Incorporated., also known as the VideoBrain Computer Company, was an early entrant in the personal computer market that developed, manufactured, and marketed the first computer, VideoBrain, sold in department stores. Although VideoBrain generated major excitement and strong orders when it was introduced at the January 1978 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), consumers did not adopt it as readily as hoped. The company halted manufacturing in the spring of 1979 and was folded into the structure of its largest financial backer, the Cha Group.
34a1d39a32b4aefe7640e3720bd1181d
Videoton TV-Computer The TV-Computer (or TVC in short) is an 8-bit home computer which was mmanufactured by the Hungarian company Videoton around 1986. The computer was based on the Enterprise (computer) and had a built-in BASIC interpreter. Programs could be loaded via tape or floppy. It had a built-in joystick and a keyboard with Hungarian letters and nine function keys.
cc641e66e2af3a63020680db31cab40b
Commodore VIC-20 The VIC-20 (in Germany: VC-20; In Japan: VIC-1001) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the PET. The VIC-20 was the first computer of any description to sell one million units.
a0758a3d4dca227efae6c3ed042eb40b
Computer terminal A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that is used for entering data into, and displaying data from, a computer or a computing system. Early terminals were inexpensive devices but very slow compared to punched cards or paper tape for input, but as the technology improved and video displays were introduced, terminals pushed these older forms of interaction from the industry. A related development was timesharing systems, which evolved in parallel and made up for any inefficiencies of the user's typing ability with the ability to support multiple users on the same machine, each at their own terminal.
0ca6d4c44bd0a31b2746d4d651c3e390
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (video game) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (also referred to simply as E.T.) is a 1982 adventure video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. for the Atari 2600 video game console. It is based on the film of the same name, and was designed by Howard Scott Warshaw. The objective of the game is to guide the eponymous character through various screens in a cubic world to collect three pieces of an interplanetary telephone that will allow him to contact his home planet.
684d5cba48300a3a06bddc3b79c4caa3
TV Scoreboard The TV Scoreboard is a Pong-like game console manufactured from 1976 through the early '80s and made by Tandy. Distribution was handled exclusively by Radio Shack. The machines were constructed in Hong Kong. The TV Scoreboard consisted of a left and right player, with dials or paddles on the hand held piece, and had multiple "Pong" era games. It also came with a revolver-type light gun, which was used for a clay pigeon shooting game. Using additional cosmetic attachments to the light gun, the user could change its appearance to be that of a rifle. The games included but were not restricted to tennis, squash, hockey and practice. Games and game modes, including difficulty settings and serving settings, could be adjusted with switches. It ran on either an AC adapter, or (6) 1.5v AA battery.
b2544377fbe7f8929176dc9ada6b2aa6
Hexbus The Texas Instruments Hex-bus Interface was designed in 1982 and intended for commercial release in late 1983. It connected the console to peripherals via a high-speed serial link. Though it was prototypical to today's USB (plug and play, hot-swappable, etc.), it was never released, with only a small number of prototypes appearing in collector hands after TI pulled out of the market. Several Hex-bus peripherals were planned or produced. A WaferTape drive never made it past the prototype stage due to reliability issues with the tapes. The 5.25-inch Floppy drive also never made it past the prototype stage, even though it worked. Prototype DSDD disk controllers and Video controllers were also made. A 4-color Printer-Plotter, a 300-Baud Modem, RS-232 Interface, an 80 column thermal/ink printer, and a 2.8" "Quick Disk" drive were the only peripherals released in quantity, mostly for use with the TI CC-40. All Hex-bus peripherals could be used with a TI-99/4A when connected through the Hex-bus Interface, through direct connection to the TI-99/8, or through direct connection to the Texas Instruments Compact Computer 40.
2006f5305d1307d0d037ac19ecf69d19
Super Invader (video game) Super Invader is a clone of "Space Invaders" written by Japanese programmer M. Hata for the Apple II and published by California Pacific Computer Company. Debuting in November 1979, the game sold 20,000 copies by June 1982, tied for seventh on "Computer Gaming World"' s list of top sellers. It was voted the most popular program of 1978-1980 in a "Softalk" readers poll. The magazine described the game as the progenitor of the home arcade.
35de6f5bf0b96602dd361bb1e7a5347d
History of personal computers The history of the personal computer as a mass-market consumer electronic device began with the microcomputer revolution of the 1980s. The 1981 launch of the IBM Personal Computer coined both the term "Personal Computer" and "PC". A personal computer is one intended for interactive individual use, as opposed to a mainframe computer where the end user's requests are filtered through operating staff, or a time-sharing system in which one large processor is shared by many individuals. After the development of the microprocessor, individual personal computers were low enough in cost that they eventually became affordable consumer goods. Early personal computers – generally called microcomputers – were sold often in electronic kit form and in limited numbers, and were of interest mostly to hobbyists and technicians.