website/content/museum/videoton-tv-computer.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Videoton TV Computer	Computers	Home Computer	Hungary	1983	Z80	name company company_name specs tabs photos hardware screenshots emulators links comments oc_id source TV Computer /companies/videoton Videoton label value NAME TV Computer label value MANUFACTURER Videoton label value TYPE Home Computer label value ORIGIN Hungary label value YEAR 1983 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE TVC Basic label value KEYBOARD Full-stroke keyboard, hungarian layout (QWERTZ)... label value CPU Z80 label value SPEED 3.125 Mhz label value CO-PROCESSOR HD46505SP (CRT controller) label value RAM 32 KB or 64 KB, depending on models label value VRAM TV-Computer 32k & 64k : 16 KB\ TV-Computer 64k+ : 64 KB (4 x 16 KB) label value ROM 20 KB (OS+Basic), 24 KB max. label value TEXT MODES 64 x 24 label value GRAPHIC MODES 128 x 240 (16 colors), 256 x 240 (4 colors), 512 x 240 (2 colors) label value COLORS 16 label value SOUND 1 channel label value SIZE / WEIGHT 46 (W) x 19 (D) x 11(H) cm / 2.8 kg (+ 0.8 kg for the separate PSU) label value I/O PORTS Cassette interface, Centronics, 2 x joystick connectors, 1 cartridge slot, 4 expansion slots (8 KB ROM max. each) label value OS TVC OS, UPM (special CP/M for TVC), VT-DOS (DOS 3.10 compatible) label value POWER SUPPLY External power supply unit: +12V, -12V, +5V label value PERIPHERALS Tape recorder, UART (Async. receiver/transmitter, with 8251), Floppy Interface (2 x 720 KB FDD) label value PRICE 12800 HUF / 53 (Hungary, 1985) photos hardware software emulators links title subtitle text image 64 KB MODEL Thanks to [HomeComputer.de](http://www.HomeComputer.de/) for this picture null title subtitle text image 64 KB+ MODEL Thanks to Gabor Monok for this picture null title subtitle text image SIDE Notice the two joystick ports and the cartridge slot. Thanks to Gabor Monok for this picture null title subtitle text image REAR From left to right: TV-out, channel selection switch, RGB out, Composite Video out, tape recorder I, tape recorder II, Power supply. Thanks to Gabor Monok for this picture null title subtitle text image KEYBOARD Hungarian layout Thanks to Gabor Monok for this picture null title subtitle text image UNDER Thanks to Gabor Monok for this picture null title subtitle text image EXPANSION SLOTS Thanks to Gabor Monok for this picture null title subtitle text image MOTHER BOARD Thanks to Gabor Monok for this picture null title subtitle text image LABEL Thanks to Gabor Monok for this picture null title subtitle text image WEIRD PICTURE Prototype or Expansion module plugged on top? Can anyone tell us what it is ? null title subtitle text image FLOPPY DISK INTERFACE Thanks to Gabor Monok for this picture null title subtitle text image FLOPPY DISK DRIVE side Thanks to Gabor Monok for this picture null title subtitle text image FLOPPY DISK DRIVE Front Thanks to Gabor Monok for this picture null title subtitle text image VT-DOS CARD Thanks to Gabor Monok for this picture null title subtitle text image GAME CARD Space Invaders Thanks to Gabor Monok for this picture null title subtitle text image BUVAR null title subtitle text image CYRUS II null title subtitle text image OTHELLO null title subtitle text image SPRINTER null title subtitle text image TV BALL null title subtitle text image UNICUM null title subtitle text image VILI A BANYASZ null title subtitle text image WALLTRIS null title subtitle text image CSAVARGA null title subtitle text image HUNGARORING null title subtitle text image INVADERS null title subtitle text image LOVERSENY null title subtitle text image MOTORODEO null title subtitle text image NINJA null title subtitle text image ORJARAT null title subtitle text image PACKMAN null title subtitle text image STARTREK null title subtitle text image UFO null title subtitle text image VADNYUGAT null title subtitle text image VOLLEY BALL null title subtitle text image WIMBLEDON null title url platform text TVC 2.18 http://WWW.TVC.HOMESERVER.HU MS DOS Hungarian emulator written by Laszlo Toth title url platform text Videoton TV-Computer http://bat21.freeweb.hu/tvc/tvc.htm MS DOS Hungarian emulator ! title url platform text WinTVC http://tvc.homeserver.hu/html/wintvcletoltes.html Windows arian emulator for Windows, with disk emulation title url text Videoton TV computer page http://www.freeweb.hu/tvc/ Many games to download (hungarian)! title url text Videoton TV computer page #2 http://TVC.8BIT.HU Nice site by Victor Varga title url text VIDEOTON TV-COMPUTER's B.A.T. 21 page http://bat21.freeweb.hu/tvc/tvc.htm Nice dedicated hungarian site author date text Frank (Canada) Thursday 17th March 2022 Videotron is also a big cable company in Canada author date text Béla Czeiner (Hungary) Monday 9th October 2006 Can you imagine a network from these PCs?\ I had worked on it! It means that 8 TVC was connected to a standalone floppy disk drive (which was able to handle 2 (!) disks). So it was possible to "distribute" data from this common FDD. But mainly we stored our programs written in Basic to tape drives. And a story: When you were ready with your program and tried to connect the tape - or doing any other hasty movement - knocked the table under your TVC you had a great chance of a reboot... ;-) author date text Viktor varga (Budapest, Hungary) Tuesday 11th October 2005 The tvc.homeserver.hu page is updated frequently, new emulators, more fotos, documentation, and programs are avaible from time to time. author date text Ryan Brown (San Jose, CA) Thursday 12th May 2005 That weird picture is a rare 3200 expansion pack that gives 3 and 1 half slots for floppy discs and more expansion slots. author date text Viktor Varga (Hungary, Budapest) Monday 14th July 2003 Check the forming new site:\ http://tvc.homeserver.hu or\ http://tvc.8bit.hu Many scanned documentations, the newest downloadable emulator. At this time not ready, but frequently updated. (Games are comming soon...) author date text Reidl Romeo (Budapest) Tuesday 24th June 2003 Good old times! With a russian Junosty televison together! And I'm wondering why I wear eyeglasses :-) I lived in Tab, where the VideoTon factory was Loacted (now it's a Flextronics factory) sure, that I had one of this beauties! And with all cool upgrades, likes 1.2 and 2.2 system, UPM and DOS system and a dual floppy drive too!!\ Unfortunatelly I sold the whole thing... that was a mistake. author date text SMokey (Hungary) Tuesday 8th April 2003 I have one at home... thinkin of combining it with my TV Tuner card :) author date text JulWCZar (Hungary) Monday 30th September 2002 It's good to see this Hungarian computer from the 80s.\ It makes me feel proud of my country, even if I have never seen any of it working. author date text Ferenc Szakacsi (Hungary, Budapest) Wednesday 12th June 2002 There is a great homepage about TVC in location http://bat21.freeweb.hu/tvc 39 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230608094144/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=39 2023-06-08

This computer was used in the 80's in Hungarian schools along with the Primo. It was very similar to the Enterprise 64 as it was a licensed product. There is even a built-in joystick on the right of the keyboard.

There are different models : 32 KB, 64 KB and 64 KB+ (picture here). The 64 KB+ has more video RAM (64 KB instead of 16 KB) and different versions of ROM (2.1 - 2.2 & 2.4 instead of 1.1 -1.2 - 1.3 & 1.4).

The main physical difference of the TV-Computer is the four expansion slots that are placed at the top left side of the case, allowing easy upgrade of the system. On the left side, one can find two joystick connectors and a cartridge slot (16 KB max.) for games, applications and operating systems. TVC OS is built-in the system (along with Basic), but UPM (special version of CP/M for the TVC) or VT-DOS (DOS 3.10 compatible) could be implemented this way. VT-DOS could only read/write IBM PC disks, as it was not fully compatible with both the hardware and software.

Thanks to Gabor Monok for all the info & pictures!

---

TVC's network, by Béla Czeiner:
Can you imagine a network from these PCs?
I had worked on it!
It means that 8 TVC was connected to a standalone floppy disk drive (which was able to handle 2 (!) disks). So it was possible to "distribute" data from this common FDD. But mainly we stored our programs written in Basic to tape drives.
And a story:
When you were ready with your program and tried to connect the tape - or doing any other hasty movement - knocked the table under your TVC you had a great chance of a reboot... ;-)

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.