--- title: Mattel Electronics Keyboard Component categories: - Computers types: - Home Computer origins: - U.S.A. years: - '1981' cpus: - 8-bit 6502 processor params: name: Keyboard Component image: /media/museum/photos/mattel_intellivision_component-keyboard.jpg company: /companies/mattel-electronics company_name: Mattel Electronics specs: - label: NAME value: Keyboard Component - label: MANUFACTURER value: Mattel Electronics - label: TYPE value: Home Computer - label: ORIGIN value: U.S.A. - label: YEAR value: September 1981 - label: END OF PRODUCTION value: august 1982 - label: KEYBOARD value: Mechanical keyboard 59 keys (TAB, ESC, LOCK, CTRL, CLEAR SCREEN, SHIFT x 2, RETURN, DEL, REPEAT) - label: CPU value: 8-bit 6502 processor - label: CO-PROCESSOR value: TMS9927 videochip, GI CP1610 from the Intellivision console - label: RAM value: 16K 10-bit shared RAM - label: TEXT MODES value: 40x24 monochrome text display could overlay regular Intellivision graphics - label: I/O PORTS value: input for a microphone and two additional expansion ports for peripherals and RAM expansion - label: BUILT IN MEDIA value: Tape drive. The cassettes have two tracks of digital data and two tracks of analog audio completely controlled by the computer - label: PERIPHERALS value: |- Expanded memory cartridges, 40-column thermal printer was available\ a telephone modem was planned along with voice synthesis and voice recognition - label: PRICE value: $600 (fall 1981) tabs: - photos - hardware - emulators - links - docs photos: - title: PROMOTIONAL PICTURE subtitle: '' text: Taken from Popular Science magazine (june 1979) image: /media/museum/photos/mattell_keyboard-component_popular-science_june1979.jpg hardware: - title: COMPUTER ADD-ON subtitle: White version text: Mattel was in a bind to compete with the increasing amount of game systems and computers entering the market so they set up competing internal engineering teams, each trying to either fix the Keyboard Component or replace it. The result was a new component system dubbed "the Entertainment Computer System" that proved to be was much smaller, sleeker, and easier to produce than the original Keyboard Component. Users who opted to keep their old "Keyboard Components" were offered the new system in exchange. In the end, however, the "ECS" was a retail flop. Although the original Keyboard Component offered some promise if it could have been fixed, the new one was designed to be cheap, not functional and simply could not compete with the likes of computers like the Commodore 64, never mind that it was totally incompatible to the older "Intellivision Keyboard Component". image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_white_ecs.jpg - title: RIGHT SIDE subtitle: '' text: Thanks to this connector it's possible to connect other Intellivision expansions image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_ecs_r-side.jpg - title: LEFT SIDE subtitle: '' text: The ECS is attached to the Intellivision master console thanks to this interface image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_ecs_l-side.jpg - title: KEYBOARD subtitle: White version text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_ecs_keyboard.jpg - title: OPENED LID subtitle: '' text: The connectors are used to attached the keyboard via a special "Y" cable. image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_ecs_opened.jpg - title: BOX subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_ecs_box.jpg - title: PROMOTIONAL PICTURE subtitle: Brown version text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_ecs_1.jpg - title: ITALIAN PROMOTIONAL LEAFLET subtitle: featuring also the music synthesizer text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_ecs_ita_1.jpg - title: ITALIAN PROMOTIONAL LEAFLET subtitle: featuring also the music synthesizer text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_ecs_ita_2.jpg - title: DOWNLOAD GAMES subtitle: '' text: 3rd party developer Schell Electronics during the late 1990's developed the Intellicart to transfer Intellivision games from selected Internet sites and play them directly on their Intellivision unit. It connected via a 9pin serial connected to the back of a PC via a wire while it remained connected to the Intellivision via it's cartridge port. The device is no longer made. image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_intellicart.jpg - title: LET YOUR CONSOLE SPEAK ! subtitle: '' text: |- The "Intellivoice" was launched in 1982 to much fanfare when it was introduced as the second voice synthesis system ever made for video games (The first was Magnavox's voice module for the Odyssey). Innovative for the time, "Intellivoice" produced speech when used with certain games, most of which would not work without the add-on component. The VSM was a large, brown cartridge that could be plugged into the Intellivision, at which point games specifically designed for the device could be inserted like a normal cartridge into the right side of the module. More information available in the [READ MORE](/museum/mattel-electronics-intellivision/) section. image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_intellivoice.jpg - title: TURN YOUR INTELLIVISION INTO A REAL COMPUTER ! subtitle: '' text: Sometime before the failed Aquarius home computer scheme was hatched by Mattel, the Intellivision team had attempted to expand Intellivision into the growing home computer market by turning it into a full fledged computer dubbed as the "Intellivision Keyboard Component", much in the same way Coleco was soon to do with their Adam computer. The unit featured a built-in cassette tape drive for loading and saving data. The Keyboard Component would plug into the cartridge slot on the Intellivision, and had an additional cartridge slot of its own to allow regular Intellivision game cartridges to be played in the usual way. It used the famous 6502 microprocessor as its base. This device was a promise made by Mattel way back in 1979 when they claimed the Intellivision could be upgraded to become a 64K computer. image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_component-keyboard.jpg - title: PROMOTIONAL PICTURE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_component-keyboard_2.jpg - title: PROMOTIONAL PICTURE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_component-keyboard_3.jpg - title: PROMOTIONAL PICTURE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_component-keyboard_4.jpg - title: PROMOTIONAL PICTURE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_component-keyboard_5.jpg - title: KEYBOARD & BOX subtitle: '' text: |- The Intellivision Music Synthesizer was a real music keyboard providing 49 keys, 6 polifonic notes (it can play 6 notes at the same time). The keyboard demands the ECS component in order to work: it would be connected through a double 9 pin connector to the controller doors of the Mattel adapter. The Music Synthesizer could be found in the traditional but rare color brown color typical of the first Intellivision model, or in the gray color of Intellivision II. Unfortunately Mattel created only one game to take advantage of the musical add-on, that being "Melody Blaster". image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_piano-keyboard_2.jpg - title: ITALIAN PROMOTIONAL LEAFLET subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_synthe_1.jpg - title: ATTACHED TO THE INTELLIVISION subtitle: '' text: The Intellivision was the first system to feature downloadable games (though without a storage device the games vanished once the machine was turned off). In 1981, General Instrument (manufacturer of the Intellivision's CPU) teamed up with Mattel to roll out the "PlayCable", a device that allowed the downloading of Intellivision games via cable TV using what we would now call a primitive "Cable DSL Modem". This device of course assumed the user had Cable TV, as in the Early 1980's most people still did not. image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_playcable.jpg - title: 'PICTURE #2' subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_playcable_2.jpg - title: SCREENSHOT subtitle: '' text: This screenshot is what appears when you turn the unit on since the Playcable service doesn't exist anymore (you bet!). This all you get... image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_playcable_ss.jpg - title: LABEL subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_playcable_label.jpg - title: PLAY ATARI 2600 GAMES ! subtitle: '' text: 'The System Changer plugs into the Master Component and lets the owner play Atari VCS games. This new add-on is actually a VCS clone in a box complete with Atari joystick ports and game select/reset buttons. Spurred on by the System Changer, as well as Coleco''s Expansion Module #1 Atari adapter for their own ColecoVision, Atari starts to threaten lawsuits. It is helpfully pointed out that clones of the Atari machine are legal due to the off-the-shelf components and un-copyrighted software contained in them. Atari backs off, opening up the floodgates for various versions of the VCS by other manufacturers.' image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_system-changer.jpg - title: PLAY 8 DIFFERENT GAMES subtitle: without changing cartridges text: Third party developer Compro created an Intellivision device knoiwn as "Videoplexer", a gamer could plug in up to 8 games at a time at the same time instead of pulling each cartriudge out when finished. Very few of these units were ever made. The device would sit connected to Intellivision's cartridge port with the games pluggged into any or all of the 8 cartridge slots, and the user would push a button corresponding the the game they wished to play. image: /media/museum/hardware/mattel_intellivision_videoplexer_1.jpg emulators: - title: Nostalgia url: http://www.shiny-technologies.com/nostalgia.php platform: Windows text: many features including ECS, Intellivoice,CGC support, network play, menu system, box/overlay display and text manual reader - title: Bliss url: http://bliss.kylesblog.com/ platform: Multiplatform text: Intellivision emulator for Windows and PalmOS - title: IntellivisionWorld url: http://www.intellivisionworld.com/Download/List.asp?iwCat=1 platform: Multiplatform text: More emulators at IntellivisionWorld - title: jzINTV url: http://spatula-city.org/~im14u2c/intv/ platform: Multiplatform text: Good emulator for Unix, Windows and MacOS links: - title: Intellivision Exhibition url: http://www.hotcom.com/intellivision text: Overlays and screenshots for more than 100 games! - title: Intellivision FAQ url: http://www.intellivisionworld.com/FAQ/#_Toc140592017 text: Excellent FAQ. Very complete and good quality - title: Intellivision Gaming Network url: http://intvgn.roarvgm.com/ text: News, emulators and downloads - title: Intellivision Gumbo Website url: http://home.earthlink.net/~classic-videogames/intellivision/ text: At this site you'll find a tasty Intellivision stew, with pictures of rare Intellivision hardware, games, catalogs and fanzines - title: Intellivision Hot Spot url: http://www.intellivision.org/HomePage.asp text: custom overlays, hardware, software, rarity and more - title: INTELLIVISIONlives.com url: http://www.intellivisionlives.com/ text: Must see site from the Blue Sky Rangers, original Intellivison programmers - title: IntellivisionWorld.com url: http://www.intellivisionworld.com/ text: Excellent website full of info. Wonderfuly designed. - title: INTV Funhouse url: http://intvfunhouse.com/ text: Intellivision fun, facts, tips & pics - title: Wikipedia - Intellivision entry url: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellivision text: Nice article from Wikipedia docs: - title: INTELLIVISION MASTER COMPONENT - OWNER'S MANUAL url: http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/games/instructions/console.shtml cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/mattel_intellivision_owner-manual.jpg text: |- [**INTELLIVISION MASTER COMPONENT - OWNER'S MANUAL**](http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/games/instructions/console.shtml)written by Mattel  compiled/archived by www.intellivisionlives.com\  type of document : HTML\  source : [www.intellivisionlives.com](http://www.intellivisionlives.com) comments: - author: Zaius date: Thursday 16th September 2021 text: '@Christian - I remember this being advertised before then C64 existed so I would say no... :)' - author: Christian Benvenuto (United States) date: Tuesday 22nd September 2020 text: From the photo, it literally looks like a Commodore 64. Wonder if that was what they were aiming for? related: - /museum/intv-corp-system-iii - /museum/mattel-electronics-intellivision - /museum/world-book-tutor-vision oc_id: 1309 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230608093825/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1309 date: '2023-06-08' --- Sometime before the failed Aquarius home computer scheme was hatched by Mattel, the Intellivision team had attempted to expand Intellivision into the growing home computer market by turning it into a full fledged computer dubbed as the "Intellivision Keyboard Component", much in the same way Coleco was soon to do with their Adam computer. The unit featured a built-in cassette tape drive for loading and saving data. The Keyboard Component would plug into the cartridge slot on the Intellivision, and had an additional cartridge slot of its own to allow regular Intellivision game cartridges to be played in the usual way. It used the famous 6502 microprocessor as its base. This device was a promise made by Mattel way back in 1979 when they claimed the Intellivision could be upgraded to become a 64K computer.