yann64andClaude Opus 5.5
35ede38dde
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01YDRjtmAiNpo5mK5N3d7QwZ
31 lines
1.9 KiB
Markdown
31 lines
1.9 KiB
Markdown
---
|
|
title: EXIDY ANNOUNCES ITS SORCERER
|
|
date: '1978-04-01'
|
|
years:
|
|
- '1978'
|
|
topics:
|
|
- Hardware
|
|
params:
|
|
when: APRIL 1978
|
|
image: /media/history/images/timeline_0478_sorcerer_2.jpg
|
|
oc_id: 3
|
|
source:
|
|
url: https://web.archive.org/web/20211018201426/http://www.old-computers.com/history/detail.asp?n=3
|
|
date: '2021-10-18'
|
|
---
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Exidy, Incorporated, was founded in 1974 by **H.R. Kaufman** at Sunnyvale, California, and became a leading manufacturer of arcade type video games.\
|
|
Their first release was TV Pinball, followed by Mouse Trap or Boulder Dash which became worldwide hits when licensed to Coleco.
|
|
|
|
While developing the Sorcerer hardware, Exidy designers closely examined all-in-one competitor systems released a few months earlier, the Commodore PET and Tandy TRS-80. The Sorcerer was thus a combination of best features they offered plus an innovative idea, the software ROM cartridge called **ROM PAC**, making the Sorcerer the first Home Computer to support ROM cartridge use, even if these ROM PAC's were enclosed into 8-track audio housings!
|
|
|
|
In spite of marketing and production problems, first sales occurred in the USA about 5 months after the machine was announced. The Sorcerer was then introduced in Europe and in Australia by **Dick Smith Electronics** making it the first personal computer available in this country.
|
|
|
|
In Holland, **Compudata** produced the Sorcerer under licence for several years, and sold a lot of them to educational market with several hardware and software improvements: CP/M operating system, S-100 bus support allowing various mass storage systems - including hard discs - to be connected.
|
|
|
|
Despite obvious qualities, the Sorcerer - and the Sorcerer II launched in 1980 - never met a real success. Exidy ceased production and closed its doors in 1982, but the CompuData version was still produced in Europe until 1984.
|
|
|
|
|