---
title: Terak Corporation 8510 Data Processor
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Professional Computer
origins:
- U.S.A.
years:
- '1976'
cpus:
- 16-bit DEC LSI-11
params:
  name: 8510 Data Processor
  image: /media/museum/photos/terak_8510a_1s.jpg
  company: /companies/terak-corporation
  company_name: Terak Corporation
  specs:
  - label: NAME
    value: 8510 Data Processor
  - label: MANUFACTURER
    value: Terak Corporation
  - label: TYPE
    value: Professional Computer
  - label: ORIGIN
    value: U.S.A.
  - label: YEAR
    value: august 1976
  - label: CPU
    value: 16-bit DEC LSI-11/2 (EIS/FIS) or optional DEC LSI-11/23 (MMU/EIS/FPP)
  - label: RAM
    value: 64 KB (LSI-11/2), 128KB (LSI-11/23), expandable to 256 KB
  - label: TEXT MODES
    value: 24x80
  - label: GRAPHIC MODES
    value: 320x240
  - label: COLORS
    value: Black & White display
  - label: SOUND
    value: Yess
  - label: SIZE / WEIGHT
    value: 31 cm (W) x 19cm (H) x 46cm (D) / 20.6 Kg
  - label: I/O PORTS
    value: 4 x RS232C serial ports
  - label: BUILT IN MEDIA
    value: Two two-sided double density floppy drives (IBM 3740 compatible). Can read single density (0.25 MB), double density (0.6 MB) or quad density (1.2 MB)
  - label: PRICE
    value: $7850 (USA, 1978)
  tabs:
  - photos
  - adverts
  - emulators
  - links
  photos:
  - title: 8510A MODEL
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      as pictured in the official commercial documentation

      Thanks to [Bitsavers](http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/) for this picture.
    image: /media/museum/photos/terak_8510a_1.jpg
  - title: 8510 DATA PROCESSOR
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      The unit itself, sold as the 8510 Data Processor

      Thanks to [www.computerhistory.org](https://www.computerhistory.org/) for this picture.
    image: /media/museum/photos/terak_8510_1.jpg
  - title: BACK FOR THE SYSTEM
    subtitle: ''
    text: Thanks to [www.computerhistory.org](https://www.computerhistory.org/) for this picture.
    image: /media/museum/photos/terak_8510_back_1.jpg
  - title: REAR CONNECTORS
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/terak_8510_back_2.jpg
  - title: SOME EXAMPLES OF BITMAP PICTURES
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      generated by the Terak 8510a at the end of the 70s !! Quite impressive.

      Thanks to http://www.threedee.com/jcm/terak/ for these images
    image: /media/museum/photos/terak_8510_graf_surface_1.jpg
  adverts:
  - title: TERAK 8510A BROCHURE - PAGE 1
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/pubs/terak_8510a_brochure_1.jpg
  - title: TERAK 8510A BROCHURE - PAGE 2
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/pubs/terak_8510a_brochure_2.jpg
  - title: TERAK 8510A BROCHURE - PAGE 3
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/pubs/terak_8510a_brochure_3.jpg
  - title: TERAK 8510A BROCHURE - PAGE 4
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/pubs/terak_8510a_brochure_4.jpg
  emulators:
  - title: bk-terak-emu
    url: https://sourceforge.net/projects/bk-terak-emu/
    platform: Unix / Linux
    text: Elektronika BK-0010, Elektronika BK-0011M and Terak 8510/a (preliminary) emulator for Linux
  links:
  - title: Bitsavers
    url: http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/terak/
    text: Bitsavers.org has a lot of Terak documentations
  - title: Mark Riordan's home page!
    url: http://www.60bits.net/msu/mycomp/terak/terframe.htm
    text: Some info about the Terak systems here
  - title: The Terak Museum
    url: http://www.threedee.com/jcm/terak/
    text: Some valuable infos about the Terak systems including amazing screenshots
  oc_id: 1314
  source:
    url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230601215344/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1314
    date: '2023-06-01'
---

The Terak 8510 is a complete stand-alone micro-computer based on DEC's LSI-11 chipset (16-bit !), in other words, it si a PDP-11 compatible. It was one of the first high-end microcomputers and among the first desktop personal computers to offer a bitmap graphics display.

It was capable of running a stripped version of UNIX version 6. It was the first personal machine on which the UCSD p-System was widely used. Various universities in the USA used it in the late 1970s through mid-1980s to teach Pascal programming. It provided immediate graphic feedback from simple programs encouraging students to learn.

A complete disk operating system is available including single and multi-user BASIC, FORTRAN IV, APL and PASCAL.

While the 8510 Data Processor is the computer itself, the The 8510/a Graphics Computer System consists of the Model 8510 Data Processor, with FIS/EIS (Hardware floating point option) a 56K Byte memory/ video controller unit and the Model 8532 Keyboard/ Display.

This special configuration provides the user with a flexible disc based digital computer system, programmable through a variety of standard languages, with the added capabilities of producing medium resolution raster scan graphics. User programs can display both characters and graphics, independently or simultaneously in any combination of three zones in the display area. The character dot pattern is alterable through program control of a writeable character generator (192 character set capability) facilitating any special character representation desired including foreign language character sets.

Three entrepreneurs created the company in 1975: Brian Benzar, William Mayberry and Dennis Kodimer. Terak products were manufactured in Scottsdale, Arizona from 1976 thru 1984. Sales reached $10M and Terak was publicly traded in 1983-84. Besides the original frame-buffer-centric 8510/a, other products were developed: color graphics and a Unix workstation. Eventually Terak succumbed to two forces: the sales juggernaughts of Sun, IBM and Apple plus venture capitalists with little expertise in the computer industry.