website/content/museum/thomson-micromega-32.md

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

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Thomson MICROMEGA 32	Computers	Professional Computer	France	1983	Motorola MC 68000	name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos oc_id source MICROMEGA 32 /media/museum/photos/thomson_micromega32_2.jpg /companies/thomson Thomson label value NAME MICROMEGA 32 label value MANUFACTURER Thomson label value TYPE Professional Computer label value ORIGIN France label value YEAR 1983 label value KEYBOARD Full-stroke 99 keys with numeric keypad and 16 function keys label value CPU Motorola MC 68000 label value SPEED 6 Mhz label value RAM 256 KB (up to 2 MB) label value VRAM Unknown label value ROM Unknown label value TEXT MODES 24 lines x 80 chars label value GRAPHIC MODES 800 x 480 (optional high resolution graphic card) label value COLORS monochrome label value SOUND Beeper label value SIZE / WEIGHT Total system weight : 24 Kgs label value I/O PORTS External hard-disk unit, Serial RS232, monochrome display label value BUILT IN MEDIA One or two 5''1/4 800 KB FDD, 5 to 20 MB hard disk label value OS Unix version 7 from University of California, Berkeley label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in power supply unit label value PERIPHERALS External hard disk, cartridge tape-recorder label value PRICE Unknown photos 104 title subtitle text image ANOTHER PICTURE /media/museum/photos/thomson_micromega32_1.jpg 89 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230608083154/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=89 2023-06-08

The Micromega was built by Thomson (in France) and System Fortune Corp in Great Britain (see this entry for more info).

Two other floppy drives can be connected and four hard disks (5, 10, or 20 MB). It can be used on a network with several users: 3 computers can be linked by one rs232 port.

It ran under UNIX and an optional Z80 card was available, so it also could run under CP/M.

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Grosminet (France) recalls:
I worked on this computer in the 80s in a french government ministry where it was used for word processing and custom applications based on the Informix database. French ambassies either had Micromegas (for large ones) or Bull PC clones (for the small ones) that would enable them to run the software we wrote based on the Informix database, as this RDBMS was available on Unix (Micromega) and MS-DOS (Bull Micral 30). That was portability and was not so frequent by these days.

The Micromegas worked well, even if made of low quality plastic case. It used a very old version of Unix, "version 7" (v7 came before System III, the ancestor of System V, the first "modern" Unix). The Operating System would display "Thomson Micromega" but having a deeper look at system files, you would find many comments with "Fortune systems".