--- title: VISUAL TECHNOLOGY Visual 1050 categories: - Computers types: - Professional Computer origins: - U.S.A. years: - '1984' cpus: - Z80-A params: name: Visual 1050 image: /media/museum/photos/visualtech_visual1050_system_1.jpg company: /companies/visual-technology company_name: VISUAL TECHNOLOGY specs: - label: NAME value: Visual 1050 - label: MANUFACTURER value: Visual Technology - label: TYPE value: Professional Computer - label: ORIGIN value: U.S.A. - label: YEAR value: '1984' - label: END OF PRODUCTION value: 1987? - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE value: None - label: KEYBOARD value: Keytronic full stroke 93-key with numeric key pad & 17 function keys - label: CPU value: Z80-A - label: SPEED value: 4 MHz. - label: CO-PROCESSOR value: 6502 (Graphic video management) - label: RAM value: 128KB (bank-switched) - label: VRAM value: 320Kb (32Kb x 10) - label: ROM value: 8 KB - label: TEXT MODES value: 80 chars. x 25 lines - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: 640 x 300 dots - label: COLORS value: Monochrome - label: SOUND value: No sound - label: SIZE / WEIGHT value: CPU - 5'' (H) x 17'' (W) x 17'' (D) / CPU 15 lbs, Monitor 10 lbs - label: I/O PORTS value: video terminal, Serial, Parallel, Winchester HD - label: BUILT IN MEDIA value: |- 2 x 400KB, 5.25'', SSDD, 96tpi floppy disk drives (TEAC FD-55E)\ Optional 10Mb external Winchester hard disk drive. - label: OS value: Digital Research (DR) CP/M Plus (CP/M, Version 3) - label: POWER SUPPLY value: 75 watt, switching power supply unit - label: PRICE value: $2700 tabs: - photos - adverts - links - docs photos: - title: SYSTEM subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/visualtech_visual1050_system_2.jpg - title: BACK SIDE subtitle: '' text: |- **(1)** Parallel printer connector\ **(2)** Serial connector\ **(3)** Winchester hard disk drive connector\ **(4)** Video terminal connector image: /media/museum/photos/visualtech_visual1050_back_1.jpg adverts: - title: US ADVERT (APRIL 1984) subtitle: '' text: Thanks to Dave Dunfield for the picture image: /media/museum/pubs/visual1050_pub_1.jpg links: - title: Visual Technology Visual 1050 url: http://www.metabarn.com/v1050/index.html text: Richard Bramante's page where he collected lots of information on this system docs: - title: THE VISUAL 1050 USER'S GUIDE url: http://www.metabarn.com/v1050/ cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/visual-1050_user-guide.jpg text: |- [**THE VISUAL 1050 USER'S GUIDE**](http://www.metabarn.com/v1050/)written by Visual Technology Incorporated  compiled/archived by Richard Bramante\  type of document : PDF\  size : 6.9 MB\  source : [Visual Technology Visual 1050 info page](http://www.metabarn.com/v1050/) - title: V1050 PERSONAL COMPUTER MAINTENANCE MANUAL url: http://www.metabarn.com/v1050/ cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/visual-1050_maintanance-manual.jpg text: |- [**V1050 PERSONAL COMPUTER MAINTENANCE MANUAL**](http://www.metabarn.com/v1050/)written by Visual Technology Incorporated  compiled/archived by Richard Bramante\  type of document : PDF\  size : 1 MB\  source : [Visual Technology Visual 1050 info page](http://www.metabarn.com/v1050/) - title: 1050 PROGRAMMER'S TECHNICAL DOCUMENT VERSION 1.0 url: http://www.metabarn.com/v1050/ cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/visual-1050_programmers-tech-doc.jpg text: |- [**1050 PROGRAMMER'S TECHNICAL DOCUMENT VERSION 1.0**](http://www.metabarn.com/v1050/)written by Visual Technology Incorporated  compiled/archived by Richard Bramante\  type of document : PDF\  size : 1.6 MB\  source : [Visual Technology Visual 1050 info page](http://www.metabarn.com/v1050/) - title: VISUAL 1050 SCHEMATICS url: http://www.metabarn.com/v1050/ cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/visual-1050_schematics.jpg text: |- [**VISUAL 1050 SCHEMATICS**](http://www.metabarn.com/v1050/)written by Visual Technology Incorporated  compiled/archived by Richard Bramante\  type of document : PDF\  size : 1.1 MB\  source : [Visual Technology Visual 1050 info page](http://www.metabarn.com/v1050/) comments: - author: Jim Schifalacqua (USA) date: Wednesday 8th December 2010 text: This was my first "real" home computer, purchased back in 1984 after I graduated college and I used it up through 1995! It was great for word-processing, spreadsheets, and programming (used FTL C and Modula-2 compilers for CP/M). The best thing was it''s VT-100 compatibility. I used it with a modem as my home terminal for UNIX systems all through graduate school. It was great for vi and editing/compiling/uploading C programs. What a great little machine, and great graphics and display capabilities. But its floppy drives were noisy! My wife referred to them as buzz-saws, and between those and the daisy-wheel printer I used with it, I couldn''t use the thing past 10 pm without waking everyone up! - author: Richard Bramante (USA) date: Tuesday 18th December 2007 text: |- I put together a basic page here for some information I have collected on this system. If anybody can help with more information please let me know. http://bramante.metabarn.com/visual1050/ oc_id: 842 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230201165415/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=842 date: '2023-02-01' --- The Visual 1050. Entered into the PC battles mid-80s from the now defunct Visual Technology company (most famous for video terminals at the time). This CP/M based machine was tailored to Wordstar with a specialized keyboard featuring all the wordstar function keys.\ Graphic capabilities were managed by a second 6502 processor. It was delivered with a set of Digital Research software, including CP/M, C-BASIC compiler, DR-GSX (graphic extensions), as well as WordStar (Word processor), Mailmerge (address database), Multiplan (spreadsheet) and TTY-1050 (communications) **John Citron** remembers:\ I worked for Visual from 1980-1987. From 1983 to 1987, I was a hardware technician with them and serviced many of these machines. In addition to the expansion ports on the outside, there is also a riser header for a, never implemented, optional memory expansion card. The 9" green monitor was manufactured in Taiwan by ADI and it, along with the keyboard, eventually became the main components for their V-50/55 and V-60/65 line of video terminals. In addition to coming with a huge bundle of applications, the system was also able to read CP/M disks from many of the competitive machines in its day. By running a special utility, one could load in programs and data from [Osborne](/museum/osborne-corp-osborne-1/), DEC VT-180, DEC [Rainbow](/museum/digital-equipment-corporation-rainbow-100/), and others. Overall, the system was great in its day and I eventually owned one for a number of years. The video was crisp and the Keytronic keyboard was comfortable to use. The only complaint that I ever had was the noise. The system was very loud due to the empty case and the noisy fan and floppy drives. Thanks to **Richard Bramante** for information and pictures.
We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system, please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.