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CompuMate

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CompuMate SV010
Atari 2600 Junior with the 'UNIVERSUM Heimcomputer' German clone of the CompuMate
Also known asCompuMate[1]
ManufacturerSpectravideo[2]
Release date6 January 1983; 41 years ago (1983-01-06)[3]
Introductory price79.99 US$ (today $244.7)[1][4]
Operating systemMicrosoft BASIC[1]
CPUMOS 6507 @ 1.19 MHz (from the Atari VCS/2600/2600jr)
Memory2K built-in RAM, 16K built-in ROM[5]
Storagevia audio jack on tape
Display10 lines × 12 characters
Graphics40x40 pixels with 10 selectable colors
Input42-key Sensor Touch Keyboard, (2x) 9-pin sub-D connector, game cartridge connector, earphone mini-jack, microphone mini-jack
Dimensions13-1/2"W x 6"D x 1-1/2"H (W 343mm x D 152mm x H 38mm)

The CompuMate SV010 was a home computer peripheral manufactured by Spectravideo International for the Atari 2600 home video game console. It was released on 6 January 1983 at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.[3][6][7][8]

'UNIVERSUM Heimcomputer' alias 'Spectravideo CompuMate SV-010' Face of right side with audio in and audio out for tape player
'UNIVERSUM Heimcomputer' alias 'Spectravideo CompuMate SV-010' aerial view

In Germany, the CompuMate was marketed by Quelle, a catalogue company, as the Universum Heimcomputer. In Brazil (circa 1985), at least two clones of CompuMate were made: the Dactar-Comp by Milmar Electronics, and the CompuGame.[9]

Hardware

The ComputeMate consists of a membrane keyboard, output interfaces, and read-only internal storage. It connects to the console's module slot and to both controller ports. The user could optionally place the ComputeMate on top of the console—although not when used with the Atari 2600 Jr. model.[10]

The CompuMate has a 3.5-mm phone connector in order to connect a Compact Cassette unit for non-volatile data storage. Its read-only memory is preinstalled with three computer programs.

PAL and NTSC versions of the CompuMate were manufactured.[11][12]

Software

The CompuMate has three simple computer programs in its internal read-only memory:[13]

  1. Magic Easel, a drawing and animation program with a 40×40-pixel canvas and 10 selectable colors. It can animate up to nine frames in a repeating loop. It has two demonstration pictures: a world map and a snowman.[4][14]
  2. Music Composer, a software synthesizer with four demonstration songs: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", "Long, Long Ago", "Jingle Bells", and "My Bonnie".
  3. Microsoft BASIC editor and interpreter[15]

Spectravideo only published two programs for the CompuMate on Compact Cassette,[2] PictureMate (1983) and SongMate (1983).[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c (Advertisement) CompuMate Basic Keyboard Enhancer, Page 7, Electronic Games Magazine (August 1983), Internet Archive
  2. ^ a b Video games into computers:Spectravideo, By Myron Berger, Page 166, Popular Science, Oct 1983
  3. ^ a b Spectravideo CompuMate at the Wayback Machine (archived February 8, 2002)
  4. ^ a b CompuMate (SpectraVideo) Archived 22 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Part of the Secret to the VCS's Longevity, By Scott Stilphen, 2600 Connection
  5. ^ Atari 2600 peripherals: Spectravideo Compumate, Mostly Inclusive Atari 2600 Mapper / Selected Hardware Document, 2012-04-03, Kevin Horton aka kevtris, Version 1.00
  6. ^ Atari 2600 Spectravideo Compumate Keyboard, Geek Vintage
  7. ^ The history of Spectravideo, By Roger Samdal
  8. ^ Spectravideo CompuMate, AGH Museum
  9. ^ A history of Atari in Brazil.
  10. ^ How to Turn Your Atari Into a Computer(For Less Than $90), by Martin Bass, Appeared in the August/September 1983 issue of "Video Games Player"
  11. ^ PAL version, CompuMate
  12. ^ NTSC version, CompuMate
  13. ^ CompuMate, Battle of the Bits Lyceum
  14. ^ Subject: Compumate - the REAL "Music Machine"! (was "What's a Spectravideo Compumate keyboard for?", Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997, From: christian-oliver windler, Newsgroups: rec.games.video.classic
  15. ^ SongMate (SF-984)
  16. ^ PictureMate (SF-985)
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