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yann64andClaude Opus 5.5 b274874139 All machines linked to their forum thread (full comment import) 
1,289 discussions, 9,527 archived comments; pages no longer carry the comments themselves.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01YDRjtmAiNpo5mK5N3d7QwZ
2026-10-13 17:26:43 +02:00

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---
title: Salora Fellow
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Home Computer
origins:
- Finland
years:
- '1984'
cpus:
- Zilog Z80 A
params:
name: Fellow
image: /media/museum/photos/salora_fellow_system_s1.jpg
company: /companies/salora
company_name: Salora
specs:
- label: NAME
value: Fellow
- label: MANUFACTURER
value: Salora
- label: TYPE
value: Home Computer
- label: ORIGIN
value: Finland
- label: YEAR
value: '1984'
- label: END OF PRODUCTION
value: '1985'
- label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
value: Microsoft Basic
- label: KEYBOARD
value: |-
QWERTY, 45 rubber keys\
Basic instructions and graphic symbols
- label: CPU
value: Zilog Z80 A
- label: SPEED
value: 3.58 MHz
- label: CO-PROCESSOR
value: Motorola 6847 (video processor)
- label: RAM
value: 6 KB - Up to 64 KB with memory addons
- label: VRAM
value: 2 KB
- label: ROM
value: 16 KB
- label: TEXT MODES
value: 32 x 16, 8 colors (Mode 0)
- label: GRAPHIC MODES
value: 128 x 64, 4 colors (Mode 1)
- label: COLORS
value: '8'
- label: SOUND
value: 1 voice, 3 octaves
- label: SIZE / WEIGHT
value: 29 x 17 x 4 cm / 800 gr
- label: I/O PORTS
value: |-
Tape-recorder (600 bauds)\
RF video out\
Composite video out (DIN)\
Memory upgrade port\
Expansion port
- label: POWER SUPPLY
value: 10-12v, 800ma
- label: PRICE
value: Unknown
tabs:
- photos
- hardware
- software
- emulators
- links
- docs
forum_thread: 1087
photos:
- title: LARGE VIEW
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/photos/salora_fellow_system_s2.jpg
- title: KEYBOARD CLOSE-UP
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/photos/salora_fellow_keyboard_s1.jpg
- title: UNDERSIDE
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/photos/salora_fellow_underside_s1.jpg
- title: REAR CONNECTORS
subtitle: ''
text: |-
From left to right:
• DC 9V jack, power is supplied by an external AC adaptor\
• Tape recorder jack\
• Composite video output\
• RAM expansion and printer slots\
• TV/RF video output.
image: /media/museum/photos/salora_fellow_rearconn_s1.jpg
- title: INSIDE
subtitle: ''
text: |-
In this version, the manufacturing "quality" is same as the Laser 200; that means, really dreadful, the worst ever seen in the computing industry.\
The orange add-on card is the Secam/TV video card.
image: /media/museum/photos/salora_fellow_inside_s1.jpg
- title: THE BOX
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/photos/salora_fellow_box_s1.jpg
- title: USER'S MANUALS
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/photos/salora_fellow_manuals_s1.jpg
hardware:
- title: LASER 16K RAM EXPANSION
subtitle: ''
text: This thing fits in the memory expansion port and adds 16k RAM. It cost 590fr in 1984.
image: /media/museum/hardware/vtehc_laser200_16k_cart.jpg
- title: LASER LIGHT PEN
subtitle: ''
text: Cool little light pen... But the only software using it was the on demo tape sold with it !
image: /media/museum/hardware/vtech_laser200_lpen.jpg
- title: LASER JOYSTICK
subtitle: ''
text: Nice shape. Two joysticks and their interface cost 320fr in 1984.
image: /media/museum/hardware/vtech_laser200_jstck.jpg
- title: DR-10 / DR-20
subtitle: Tape-recorder
text: |-
A originally designed tape-recorder available for the whole Laser family.\
It cost 590fr in 1984..
The DR-10 and DR-20 tape-recorders seem identicals in all points. Apparently, the DR-20 was sold for Dick Smith models, and the DR-10 for Laser machines...
image: /media/museum/hardware/vtech_200_dr10.jpg
- title: DR-30
subtitle: Tape-Recorder
text: |-
Another cool tape-recorder for the Laser serie.\
This one was also found for many other computers of that time.
image: /media/museum/hardware/vtech_200_dr30.jpg
- title: DD-20
subtitle: 5''1/4 Disk-drive
text: A small 5"1/4 floppy disk drive for the Laser computers. But its capacity is a bit short with only 78k per formated disk. One disk drive and its controller cost 2380fr in 1984.
image: /media/museum/hardware/vtech_dd20.jpg
- title: DD-20
subtitle: The inside
text: ''
image: /media/museum/hardware/vtech_dd20_2.jpg
- title: PARALLEL PRINTER INTERFACE
subtitle: ''
text: This enables the Laser computers to use ''parallel'' printers.
image: /media/museum/hardware/vtech_vz300_printer-interface.jpg
- title: TAPE RECORDER
subtitle: ''
text: All these Salora peripherals were rabadged versions of the original Video Technology's.
image: /media/museum/hardware/salora_fellow_cassettedrive_s1.jpg
- title: 16 KB RAM MODULE
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/hardware/salora_fellow_16kmodule_s1.jpg
- title: 64 KB RAM MODULE
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/hardware/salora_fellow_64kmodule_s1.jpg
- title: PRINTER INTERFACE
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/hardware/salora_fellow_printerinterf_s1.jpg
- title: PRINTER - PLOTTER
subtitle: ''
text: This printer uses the well known 4-colour / 4-pen mini printer-plotter mechanism one finds also in Sharp, Oric, Sega and numerous other brands.
image: /media/museum/hardware/salora_fellow_printerplotter_s1.jpg
screenshots:
- title: CIRCUS
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/software/vtech_ss_circus.png
- title: CRASH
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/software/vtech_ss_crash.png
- title: DAWN PATROL
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/software/vtech_ss_dawn.png
- title: DEFENCE PENETRATOR
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/software/vtech_ss_defpen.png
- title: DIGOUT
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/software/vtech_ss_digout.png
- title: DRACULA'S CASTLE
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/software/vtech_ss_dracula.gif
- title: DUEL
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/software/vtech_ss_duel2.png
- title: GALAXON
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/software/vtech_ss_galaxon.png
- title: GHOST HUNTER
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/software/vtech_ss_ghosth.gif
- title: HAMBURGER SAM
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/software/vtech_ss_hamsam.png
- title: HOPPY
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/software/vtech_ss_hoppy.gif
- title: INVADERS
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/software/vtech_ss_invaders.png
- title: KAMIKAZE
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/software/vtech_ss_kamikaze.png
- title: LADDER CHALLENGE
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/software/vtech_ss_ladder.png
- title: LUNAR LANDER
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/software/vtech_ss_llander.png
- title: MISSILE ATTACK
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/software/vtech_ss_missile.png
- title: PENGUIN
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/software/vtech_ss_penguin.png
- title: SPACE RAM
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/software/vtech_ss_spaceram.png
- title: STAR BLASTER
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/software/vtech_ss_starblst.png
- title: VZ PANIK
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/software/vtech_ss_vzpanik.png
emulators:
- title: VZEM
url: http://www.powerup.com.au/~intertek/VZ200/vz.htm
platform: MS DOS
text: The emulator is written in Borland C++. It emulates a VZ200/300 with 34k RAM
- title: Emulator2001
url: http://www.gstsoftware.co.nz/
platform: Windows
text: The VZ-200 has been added to this multi-emulator
- title: James's VZ 200 emulator
url: http://www.geocities.com/EMUCOMPBOY/
platform: Windows
text: Emulator for the NTSC version of this computer
- title: WinVZ
url: http://vzalive.bangrocks.com/emulators/
platform: Windows
text: Play your VZ games in Windows
- title: MESS Project
url: http://www.mess.org/
platform: Multiplatform
text: Emulates a lot of systems for all platforms.
links:
- title: Planet VZ
url: http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/laser/184/
text: Useful infos here...
- title: Steve75 Laser 310 page
url: http://utenti.lycos.it/STEVE75/laser.html
text: Pictures, info, games, emulators and online manual.
- title: The VZ200
url: http://vz200.tripod.com/
text: Growing website aimed at the new modern user.
- title: Tricky's VZ200 page
url: http://www.trickynz.com/VZ200.html
text: Photos and downloadable docs
- title: Video Technology official site
url: http://www.vtech.com
text: Nothing remains about the old computers...
- title: VZ Alive
url: http://vzalive.bangrocks.com/
text: Excellent site dedicated to the VZ computers
- title: VZ Online
url: http://www.vz200-online.de.vu/
text: a German VZ 200 homepage
- title: VZ-200/VZ-300
url: http://www.geocities.com/Baja/Dunes/6771/vz/
text: Lots of information and links about the Dick Smith VZ series.
- title: Yahoo Discussion Group - The VZ Color computer mailing list
url: http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/vzemu/
text: Quite active discussion group
docs:
- title: VZ-200 - GETTING STARTED MANUAL
url: http://vzalive.bluebilby.com/archive/
cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/vz200_getting-started_cover.jpg
text: |-
[**VZ-200 - GETTING STARTED MANUAL**](http://vzalive.bluebilby.com/archive/)written by Tim Hartnell/ Neville Predebon / Dick Smith
 compiled/archived by VZ-Alive\
 type of document : HTML\
 size : 357 KB\
 source : [VZ-Alive](http://vzalive.bluebilby.com/)
- title: VZ-200 TECHNICAL REFERENCE MANUAL
url: http://vzalive.bluebilby.com/archive/
cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/vz200_technical-ref-manual_cover.jpg
text: |-
[**VZ-200 TECHNICAL REFERENCE MANUAL**](http://vzalive.bluebilby.com/archive/)written by Jamieson Rowe / Dick Smith
 compiled/archived by VZ-Alive\
 type of document : ZIP\
 size : 22.6 KB\
 source : [VZ-Alive](http://vzalive.bluebilby.com)
- title: VZ200/300 ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE PROGRAMMING FOR BEGINNERS
url: http://vz200.tripod.com/index.html
cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/vz200-300%20assembly%20language%20programming%20for%20beginners.jpg
text: |-
[**VZ200/300 ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE PROGRAMMING FOR BEGINNERS**](http://vz200.tripod.com/index.html)written by Steve Olney
 compiled/archived by The VZ200\
 type of document : PDF\
 size : 6 MB\
 source : [The VZ200](http://vz200.tripod.com/id4.html)
**... READ THE ONLINE VERSION BY CLICKING BELOW :**
- title: USEFUL ROM SUBROUTINES FOR ASSEMBLY PROGRAMMING
url: http://vz200.tripod.com
cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/useful%20rom%20subroutines%20for%20assembly%20programming.jpg
text: |-
[**USEFUL ROM SUBROUTINES FOR ASSEMBLY PROGRAMMING**](http://vz200.tripod.com)written by Unknown
 compiled/archived by The VZ200\
 type of document : PDF\
 size : 110 Ko\
 source : [The VZ200](http://vz200.tripod.com)
**... READ THE ONLINE VERSION BY CLICKING BELOW :**
related:
- /museum/dick-smith-vz200
- /museum/dick-smith-vz300
- /museum/texet-tx-8000
- /museum/video-technology-laser-200-210
- /museum/video-technology-laser-310
oc_id: 1117
source:
url: https://web.archive.org/web/20190403183610/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1117
date: '2019-04-03'
---
Salora Fellow was basically the same machine as the Video Technology [Laser 200/210](/museum/video-technology-laser-200-210/) just with a different case in colors that matches Salora's other electronics.
Salora is a Finnish televison manufacturer and they mainly sold this machine in Scandinavia, mostly in Finland. Technically they are the same as the Vtech machines and the machine still says Vtech Laser 200 when booted.
The machine sold reasonably well because of Salora's good reputation, but was soon crushed by bigger companies like Commodore and Spectravideo with their better machines. Lack of software was an important factor of course. The machine was also a bit out of date on arrival.
The machine wasn't really localized as the Scandinavian Ä,Ö and Å letter were missing from the keyboard. Adding them to the rubber keys must have been too difficult or expensive.
There were two known mainboard revisions:\
• The one shown on the more-pictures section is identical with the original Laser 200 and very badly made with lots of wires, hot glue and a small sister board.\
• The second one is of much better quality, as good as big company machines like Commodore, no sister board and only one long wire running through the whole board. There is also a switch on the underside of the machine to choose between color/black&white output. Maybe Salora got tired of fixing broken Fellow's and demanded better quality from Vtech?
Salora also distributed the Laser 2001 as the **Manager**. It was meant to be the high-end computer of Salora's computer range.
Thanks to **Taneli Lukka** from Finland for this information.
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