--- title: Fairchild Channel F categories: - Consoles origins: - U.S.A. years: - '1976' cpus: - Fairchild F8 params: name: Channel F image: /media/museum/photos/fairchild_channel-f_1.jpg company: /companies/fairchild company_name: Fairchild specs: - label: NAME value: Channel F - label: MANUFACTURER value: Fairchild - label: ORIGIN value: U.S.A. - label: YEAR value: '1976' - label: END OF PRODUCTION value: '1978' - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE value: Hockey,Tennis - label: KEYBOARD value: Two \`grip-stick' controllers attached to main unit with dedicated wires. 8 way digital movement, forward/backwards, left/right, pull knob down/pull up and twist counter-/clockwise - label: CPU value: Fairchild F8 - label: SPEED value: 2 MHz - label: RAM value: 64 bytes - label: COLORS value: 8, only four different colors per line, unless black/white palette were chosen, then only these two colors on the whole line. - label: SOUND value: |- First models : played through the console, built-in speaker\ System II : played through TV - label: I/O PORTS value: TV out - label: BUILT IN MEDIA value: Cartridges - label: OS value: 26 programmable cartridges with between 2 and 4 games on each. - label: POWER SUPPLY value: External power supply unit - label: PRICE value: $170 (USA, 1976) tabs: - photos - adverts - connectors - software - emulators - links - docs - videos forum_thread: 870 photos: - title: CONTROL PANEL subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/fairchild_channelf_panel-control.jpg - title: INSERTING A CARTRIDGE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/fairchild_channelf_zoom_1.jpg - title: HOLDING THE CONTROLLER subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/fairchild_channelf_controller_1.jpg - title: CHANNEL F SYSTEM II subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/fairchild_channelf_sys2_1.jpg - title: SYSTEM II WITH BOX subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/fairchild_channelf_sys2_2.jpg - title: BOX subtitle: '' text: This is the box of the "Video Entertainment System", the first model. image: /media/museum/photos/fairchild_channelf_box_1.jpg - title: 'BOX #2' subtitle: '' text: Box of the "Channel F" image: /media/museum/photos/fairchild_channelf_box_2.jpg adverts: - title: PROMOTIONAL LEAFLET subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/pubs/fairchild_channelf_leaflet_1.jpg - title: 'PROMOTIONAL LEAFLET #2' subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/pubs/fairchild_channelf_leaflet_2.jpg - title: 'PROMOTIONAL LEAFLET #3' subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/pubs/fairchild_channelf_leaflet_3.jpg - title: PROMOTIONAL PICTURE subtitle: '' text: This is a promotional picture for the Channel F System II. image: /media/museum/pubs/fairchild_channelf_sys2_prm-pic.jpg - title: US ADVERT (1980) subtitle: '' text: taken from Popular Science (nov. 1980) image: /media/museum/pubs/fairchild_channelf_pub_popscience_nov1980.jpg connectors: - title: FEMALE PINOUTS subtitle: '' text: |- Pin - Function\ \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ 1 - Twist left\ 2 - Twist right\ 3 - Pull up\ 4 - Push down\ 5 - Right\ 6 - Up\ 7 - Down\ 8 - Left\ 9 - Common image: /media/museum/connectors/db9_female.jpg emulators: - title: MESS url: http://www.mess.org platform: Multiplatform text: This famous emulator, emulates the Channel F links: - title: Channel F FAQ url: http://www.classicgaming.com/museum/faqs/chffaq.shtml text: Useful! - title: Fairchild Channel F information pages url: http://www.fndcollectables.com/CHANNEL_F_INFO/channel_f_info.html text: Scans, docs, screenshots and more! - title: Fairchild Channel F page url: http://www.chris-hind.co.uk/mem01.html text: Nice scans of the Grandstand model promo flyer - title: Fairchild System Gallery url: http://w5.nuinternet.com/s660100106/ text: Excellent site with all cartridges, labels and much more! - title: Thepong.com url: http://www.thepong.com/ text: This site has good pages about the Channel F & clones - title: Videogames.org url: http://videogames.org/html/ChannelFStuff/ChannelFIndex.html text: This page offers the original Channel F manual, and some game instructions. - title: Wikipedia - Channel F entry url: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Channel_F text: Nice detailed page about the Fairchild Channel F docs: - title: FAIRCHILD CHANNEL F MANUAL url: http://videogames.org/html/ChannelFStuff/Docs/Channel_F_Manual cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/vide.gif text: |- [**FAIRCHILD CHANNEL F MANUAL**](http://videogames.org/html/ChannelFStuff/Docs/Channel_F_Manual)written by Fairchild  type of document : HTML\  source : [Videogames.org](http://videogames.org/) videos: - title: Jerry Lawson interview, creator of the Channel F url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-2498129174652261598&hl=fr text: 'Length: 8 min 55 s' - title: Jerry Lawson interview, part 2 url: http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=4639425208915226542&hl=fr text: 'Length: 15 min 28 s' software: - /software/alien-invasion - /software/backgammon-acey-deucy - /software/baseball - /software/bowling-328 - /software/casino-poker - /software/checkers - /software/desert-fox-shooting-gallery - /software/dodge-it - /software/drag-strip - /software/galactic-space-wars - /software/hangman - /software/hockey-76 - /software/magic-numbers-mind-reader-nim - /software/math-quiz-i - /software/math-quiz-ii - /software/maze - /software/memory-match - /software/pinball-challenge - /software/pro-football - /software/robot-war-torpedo-alley - /software/slot-machine - /software/sonar-search - /software/space-war - /software/spitfire - /software/tennis-77 - /software/tic-tac-toe-shooting-gallery-doodle-quadra-doodle - /software/video-blackjack - /software/video-whizball oc_id: 890 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230419201250/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=890 date: '2023-04-19' --- The Channel F was the first programmable video game system, having plug-in cartridges containing ROM and microprocessor code rather than dedicated circuits. Not a very popular or entertaining system, it was nonetheless important at the time for having a number of original features which were copied by later more successful systems. Unique to the console is a \`hold' button that allowed the player freeze the game and also change either the time, the speed or both during the course of the game, without altering the score. Another feature which was used for the Hockey game was \`overtime' which allowed one minute of extra play should there be a tie-break in the score. Detached controllers were just starting to appear on \`pong' units as opposed to having them directly on the unit itself. The Channel F controllers which were attached to the unit with dedicated wires, were gripped by the whole hand and enabled movement in all directions, including the twisting left and right for \`paddle' movement. There was no firebutton, the joystick had 8 way digital movement, forward/backwards, left/right, pull knob down/pull up and twist counter-/clockwise. Fairchild released twenty-six different cartridges for the system, with up to four games being on each cartridge. The games included sports, such as Hockey, Tennis and Baseball, educational, such as Maths Quiz, board games, such as Checkers, and shooting games, such as Space War. The cartridges had labels that contained the game instructions on them and each were given a sequential number. In this respect Fairchild started a trend in trying to boost game sales by numbering them and so appealing to consumers who wanted to complete their collection. The Channel F console's popularity lowered when the Atari released their [VCS](/museum/atari-vcs-2600/) in 1977 as the VCS had much better graphics, games and sound. Fairchild responded to the Atari VCS by changing the name of their console to the \`Fairchild Channel F' from it's original name of the \`Fairchild Video Entertainment System', but this did not raise flagging sales. In 1978, Zircon International Inc. bought the rights for the Channel F and released it as the Channel F System 2. This new system had some minor modifications : slightly different cosmetic design, sound output through TV speakers and the controller holders at the back of the unit. But this new model did not succeed either, as this time, [Atari VCS](/museum/atari-vcs-2600/), [Intellivision](/museum/mattel-electronics-intellivision/) and [Odyssey²](/museum/magnavox-odyssey2/) were already on the market... In Sweden this console was sold as the Luxor Video Entertainment System. --- **Contributors:** Abi Waddell, Fredric CJ Blaholtz, Björn Roman