Content as Markdown with YAML front matter

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01YDRjtmAiNpo5mK5N3d7QwZ
2026-10-11 16:08:12 +02:00
parent e586197fcf
commit 35ede38dde
397 changed files with 7360 additions and 6458 deletions
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+---
+title: EXIDY ANNOUNCES ITS SORCERER
+date: '1978-04-01'
+years:
+- '1978'
+topics:
+- Hardware
+params:
+  when: APRIL 1978
+  image: /media/history/images/timeline_0478_sorcerer_2.jpg
+  oc_id: 3
+  source:
+    url: https://web.archive.org/web/20211018201426/http://www.old-computers.com/history/detail.asp?n=3
+    date: '2021-10-18'
+---
+
+![](/media/history/images/timeline_0478_sorcerer_2.jpg)
+
+Exidy, Incorporated, was founded in 1974 by **H.R. Kaufman** at Sunnyvale, California, and became a leading manufacturer of arcade type video games.\
+Their first release was TV Pinball, followed by Mouse Trap or Boulder Dash which became worldwide hits when licensed to Coleco.
+
+While developing the Sorcerer hardware, Exidy designers closely examined all-in-one competitor systems released a few months earlier, the Commodore PET and Tandy TRS-80. The Sorcerer was thus a combination of best features they offered plus an innovative idea, the software ROM cartridge called **ROM PAC**, making the Sorcerer the first Home Computer to support ROM cartridge use, even if these ROM PAC's were enclosed into 8-track audio housings!
+
+In spite of marketing and production problems, first sales occurred in the USA about 5 months after the machine was announced. The Sorcerer was then introduced in Europe and in Australia by **Dick Smith Electronics** making it the first personal computer available in this country.
+
+In Holland, **Compudata** produced the Sorcerer under licence for several years, and sold a lot of them to educational market with several hardware and software improvements: CP/M operating system, S-100 bus support allowing various mass storage systems - including hard discs - to be connected.
+
+Despite obvious qualities, the Sorcerer - and the Sorcerer II launched in 1980 - never met a real success. Exidy ceased production and closed its doors in 1982, but the CompuData version was still produced in Europe until 1984.
+
+![](/media/history/images/timeline_0478_sorcerer_1.jpg)