In 1977 computing industry is changing fast. Ohio Scientific Instruments who were making a lot of expansion boards for their 400 single-board computer, called "Superboard", realize that it would be nice to sell all this hardware, all assembled, in a single case, ready to plug and use.
That's what is a Challenger computer, more a concept than a single system. Indeed under the name Challenger came different configurations based around the Superboard system:
- Challenger 65-1k: 6502A CPU, serial interface, 1KB memory for $439 (january 1977)
- Challenger 65-4k: same as 65-1K but with 4KB RAM, for $529 (january 1977)
- Challenger 65V-4k: same as 65-4k but with an OSI 440 Video Board. No need for an expensive terminal. Just plug your keyboard and monitor to this video board and you're ready to go. $675 (january 1977)
- Challenger 68-1k: based on the 6800 CPU with 1k RAM and serial interface. $459 (january 1977)
- Challenger 68-4k: same as above with 4KB RAM and OSI BASIC 4k delivered on paper tape. $529 (january 1977)