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The original Intellivision computer

vic user

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 12, 2003
Messages
724
Location
Ottawa, Canada
No, not the aquarius, but the original!

I used to drool over an article for this, and wanted one so bad, but I never saw one appear in Canada.

Then the aquarius came out, and I was not impressed at all.

I had no idea that any of the originals were ever made, I thought Matell decided to scrap the idea, and came out with the anaemic Aquarius, instead.

Lucky person to get this!

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3088300514&category=4315

Chris
 
Re: The original Intellivision computer

"vic user" wrote:

> No, not the aquarius, but the original!

> I used to drool over an article for
> this, and wanted one so bad, but I
> never saw one appear in Canada.

> Then the aquarius came out, and I was
> not impressed at all.

Are you sure that this system is better than
the Aquarius?

> I had no idea that any of the originals
> were ever made, I thought Matell
> decided to scrap the idea, and came
> out with the anaemic Aquarius, instead.

Seems strange that a computer was
built & scrapped before released & then
something inferior was it's replacement.

Cheers,
CP/M User.
 
I have to emphasize, that I thought they never ever made any of these.

Also, maybe it depends on who considers what to be better.

I have only used the aquarius emulator, and have not used either of the real computers, so I think my judgement is based on emotion and expectation, than anything else.

I guess I was expecting (and rightfully so), that I would be able to just slap my Intellivision into the original version, and get 64k, and all the bells and whistles they were claiming I would get.

Then, a completely different computer computer appeared, and had nothing to do with the Intellivision. except share some game titles. It had way less memory, and was made by a third party, as far as I know, and was about as usefull as a Coleco Adam.

Both companies should have just left the "computer" part, to the already established lines, I guees.

I am just glad that I know they actually made some of the originals.

I had no idea, and if I ever come across a lot of money that I can just throw away, I hope to get one, and satiate an old, (and rkindled) desire.

Chris
 
"vic user" wrote:

> I have to emphasize, that I thought they
> never ever made any of these.

> Also, maybe it depends on who considers
> what to be better.

> I have only used the aquarius emulator,
> and have not used either of the real
> computers, so I think my judgement is
> based on emotion and expectation, than
> anything else.

Oh okay, but like you said, if you're sure
you've seen these machines somewhere
(in a magazine for example), then they
must exist somewhere, wouldn't they?

Unfortunately, my Personal Electronics
Buyers Guide (which I thought had some
Intellivision system in it), didn't, just some
other Mattel products.

CP/M User.
 
The arcticle was in a computer gaming mag, and just had a little pic of the computer, and was more of a "this is what to expect in a year's time" sort of thing.

Then, no more mention of it, and then the aquarius came out, so I assumed that Mattel scrapped it altogether.

Kind of in a way like the expansion slot on the top of the Intellivoice. Looked like Mattel would be making things for that too, but nothing ever materialized.

Chris
 
"vic user" wrote:

> The arcticle was in a computer gaming mag,
> and just had a little pic of the computer, and
> was more of a "this is what to expect in a
> year's time" sort of thing.

> Then, no more mention of it, and then the
> aquarius came out, so I assumed that Mattel
> scrapped it altogether.

> Kind of in a way like the expansion slot on
> the top of the Intellivoice. Looked like Mattel
> would be making things for that too, but
> nothing ever materialized.

Oh okay, sounds like they were playing around,
but introducing this too good to be true machine.

And I'm guessing this is why the Vic Rocks! :)

Some Amstrad people have actually created
this dream Amstrad. Of course this was some
time back & it had a 5.25" disk drive (instead
of 3"). Come to think of it, I've seen a better
CPC & this thing was real! ;-)

Cheers,
CP/M User.
 
Actually I have only been using a vic 20 for a little over a year.

I used to make fun of the vic, back in the day.

I was (and still could be) a twit.

Chris
 
Wow. I wasn't even aware that it was Mattel who made the Intellivision, although I knew they made the Aquarius (but not Aquarius II, which by then had been sold away?).

By the way, there was some strange Atari - Spectravideo - Colecovision plot going on in late 1983, about when the Adam and the MSX systems were about to be released. Ronex, the Swedish Spectravideo dealer had in their advertisment the following two items:

SVI-603 Colecovision game adapter: allows the owner of a Spectravideo 318/328 to play Colecovision games

SVI Compumate: a cartridge based system for your Atari 2600, including a touch keyboard, 6K Basic ROM, 2K RAM and a tape recorder interface. It was to a certain extent Spectravideo compatible and had a built in drawing program.

Hmm.. Coleco is Z80 based, right? The Spectravideo, similar to MSX, was also while the Atari 2600 is more like 6502. I don't know if the Compumate then had some Z80 -> 6502 translator or if the compatible software was pure tokenized Basic rather than ready-to-run machine code.
 
Did the Atari have a BASIC cartridge or something?

I think I remember hearing about that, and it came with a small keypad that used the joysitck port.

There is a keypad for the Atari at a pawnshop near my house. I should at least pick it up.

Chris
 
"vic user" wrote:

> Actually I have only been using a
> vic 20 for a little over a year.

> I used to make fun of the vic,
> back in the day.

> I was (and still could be) a twit.

Why does that make you a twit?

The VIC-20 used to be such a
popular machine, but if 99%
of them decide they want to move
to the C64, then that's their
problem.

Cheers,
CP/M User.
 
"carlsson" wrote:

> Wow. I wasn't even aware that it was Mattel
> who made the Intellivision, although I knew
> they made the Aquarius (but not Aquarius
> II, which by then had been sold away?).

If an Aquarius II was build, then why hasn't
it seen the light of day?

> By the way, there was some strange Atari -
> Spectravideo - Colecovision plot going on
> in late 1983, about when the Adam and the
> MSX systems were about to be released.
> Ronex, the Swedish Spectravideo dealer
> had in their advertisment the following two
> items:

I suppose if the Aquarius II was sold, then
the name of it would have been changed
(which would explain why it's not quite what
it appears to be). It would be a question on
trying to find out who brought this machine
from Mattel, it would then in turn, help to
establish which system could be your possible
Aquarius II. Only trouble is, wouldn't an
Aquarius II be compatable with Aquarius I?
Maybe that's another clue which needs to be
looked at.

> SVI Compumate: a cartridge based
> system for your Atari 2600, including
> a touch keyboard, 6K Basic ROM, 2K RAM
> and a tape recorder interface. It was to a
> certain extent Spectravideo compatible and
> had a built in drawing program.

I knew the Atari 2600 had some cartidge with
BASIC on it & that Atari had a simple keyboard
setup for it. But I didn't think it was something
in this maginitude! I would have thought I
would of heard of this equipment.

> Hmm.. Coleco is Z80 based, right? The
> Spectravideo, similar to MSX, was also
> while the Atari 2600 is more like 6502.

Yes, the Atari 2600 certainally isn't Z80
based.

> I don't know if the Compumate then had
> some Z80 -> 6502 translator or if the
> compatible software was pure tokenized
> Basic rather than ready-to-run machine
> code.

Perhaps the Compumate had a second
CPU (Z80) with it. The 6502 are certainally
capable of doing that (the BBC can).

Cheers,
CP/M User.
 
carlsson said:
Wow. I wasn't even aware that it was Mattel who made the Intellivision, although I knew they made the Aquarius (but not Aquarius II, which by then had been sold away?).

By the way, there was some strange Atari - Spectravideo - Colecovision plot going on in late 1983, about when the Adam and the MSX systems were about to be released. Ronex, the Swedish Spectravideo dealer had in their advertisment the following two items:

SVI-603 Colecovision game adapter: allows the owner of a Spectravideo 318/328 to play Colecovision games

SVI Compumate: a cartridge based system for your Atari 2600, including a touch keyboard, 6K Basic ROM, 2K RAM and a tape recorder interface. It was to a certain extent Spectravideo compatible and had a built in drawing program.

Hmm.. Coleco is Z80 based, right? The Spectravideo, similar to MSX, was also while the Atari 2600 is more like 6502. I don't know if the Compumate then had some Z80 -> 6502 translator or if the compatible software was pure tokenized Basic rather than ready-to-run machine code.

There was also an adaptor for the Intelivision that allowed it to use Atari 2600 carts. I (my kids) used to have one back in the day.

--T
 
"Terry Yager" wrote:

> There was also an adaptor for the
> Intelivision that allowed it to use
> Atari 2600 carts. I (my kids) used
> to have one back in the day.

Do you remember what kind of CPU
the Intelivision used?

Cheers,
CP/M User.
 
CP/M User said:
It would be a question on trying to find out who brought this machine from Mattel
Both the Intellivision and Aquarius were manufactured by the Hong Kong based company Radofin, from which Mattel bought the US rights. It seems that when Aquarius sales dropped, Mattel sold the rights back to Radofin. They announced both Aquarius II and III, but neither was released.

Perhaps the Compumate had a second CPU (Z80) with it.
I was contemplating that, but the question is if the Atari has a "video through" or if the expansion kit relies on the Atari graphics to generate a picture. The MSX class systems surely are more versatile than the Atari 2600, so running Spectravideo/MSX software would only work to a certain degree unless it had its own video output.

It seemst the 1979 Intellivision was run by a General Instruments CP1600, which is 16-bit, about 0.5-0.9 MHz depending who you ask.
 
"vic user" wrote:

> Actually I have only been using a
> vic 20 for a little over a year.

> I used to make fun of the vic,
> back in the day.

> I was (and still could be) a twit.

Why does that make you a twit?

The VIC-20 used to be such a
popular machine, but if 99%
of them decide they want to move
to the C64, then that's their
problem.

Cheers,
CP/M User.


I still consider myself to be a twit back then, since I made fun of a computer, while having no real experience with it, and judged it solely on looks and the RAM available. I was pretty snobbish, with my Apple II and 64k and green display monitor, and used to remind people that I had more RAM on my pocket TRS-80 than the vic 20.

Yet, I spent $1,400 for the Apple II, and could I do half the things that a vic 20 user could do?

All those colours, built in funky characters, easy to program sounds, etc..., and for way less money.

So, in the long run, I find it funny that here I am now in love with the vic.

Chris

p.s. I think they actually did release the Aquarius II, but all it was, was an Aquarius I with a 16k cartridge attached :)
 
"vic user" wrote:

> I still consider myself to be a twit back
> then, since I made fun of a computer,
> while having no real experience with it,
> and judged it solely on looks and the
> RAM available. I was pretty snobbish,
> with my Apple II and 64k and green
> display monitor, and used to remind
> people that I had more RAM on my
> pocket TRS-80 than the vic 20.

> Yet, I spent $1,400 for the Apple II,
> and could I do half the things that a
> vic 20 user could do?

> All those colours, built in funky
> characters, easy to program sounds,
> etc..., and for way less money.

> So, in the long run, I find it funny
> that here I am now in love with the
> vic.

Oh well, I guess we were all crazy at
one time or another. Since I had to
grow up knowing about computers &
CP/M, I used to critise this (which was
not even 10 years ago - durning my
teen years). People say that I was
normal for a teenager (which in one
essence they were correct), but that
didn't stop my crazy opinions.

I'm only glad I've got rid of that &
started embrasing CP/M, for it can
do much more than what the software
written on it.

> p.s. I think they actually did release
> the Aquarius II, but all it was, was an
> Aquarius I with a 16k cartridge
> attached :)

Would have been pretty rare I dare say!

Cheers,
CP/M User.
 
"carlsson" wrote:

> Both the Intellivision and Aquarius were
> manufactured by the Hong Kong based
> company Radofin, from which Mattel
> bought the US rights. It seems that
> when Aquarius sales dropped, Mattel
> sold the rights back to Radofin. They
> announced both Aquarius II and III, but
> neither was released.

Vic User suggested that perhaps the
Aquarius II was released, which was just
a Aquarius I with a 16k RAM cartridge.
Maybe as a consequence, it didn't last too
long wherever it was released?

>> Perhaps the Compumate had a
>> second CPU (Z80) with it.

> I was contemplating that, but the
> question is if the Atari has a "video
> through" or if the expansion kit relies
> on the Atari graphics to generate a
> picture. The MSX class systems surely
> are more versatile than the Atari 2600,
> so running Spectravideo/MSX software
> would only work to a certain degree
> unless it had its own video output.

Well that may have been the case in terms
of the Atari 2600 only running certain
software. Our Amstrad had a ZX spectrum
emulator written for it & of cause it wasn't
a fully functional emulator, but one you
could type-in some programs & run them.

Cheers,
CP/M User.
 
CP/M User said:
Our Amstrad had a ZX spectrum emulator written for it & of cause it wasn't a fully functional emulator, but one you could type-in some programs & run them.
Apart from a ZX81 emulator for the Spectrum, I believe that is one of the most promising emulation attempts within 8-bit computers. The Amstrad probably with ease can simulate a ZX display, and they also have CPU (and sound?) in common, which neither would be the case with the Compumate expansion.

But as long as the Basic includes all keywords and commands one needs to program*, it is probably well within reach to load tokenized (or non-tokenized!) programs into a Basic interpreter running on another platform than the program was written for.

*) nope, Commodore Basic V2 does not qualify here - the lack of natural keywords for graphics, sound and some input devices requires a foreign interpreter to simulate quite a lot of the OS environment to work.
 
"carlsson" wrote:

>> Our Amstrad had a ZX spectrum emulator
>> written for it & of cause it wasn't a fully
>> functional emulator, but one you could
>> type-in some programs & run them.

> Apart from a ZX81 emulator for the
> Spectrum, I believe that is one of the most
> promising emulation attempts within 8-bit
> computers. The Amstrad probably with
> ease can simulate a ZX display, and they
> also have CPU (and sound?) in common,
> which neither would be the case with the
> Compumate expansion.

> But as long as the Basic includes all
> keywords and commands one needs to
> program*, it is probably well within reach
> to load tokenized (or non-tokenized!)
> programs into a Basic interpreter running
> on another platform than the program
> was written for.

Well actually, this emulator written for the
Amstrad did have some BASIC command
feature, which weren't found in Amstrad's
BASIC. The one I'm thinking of is used to
draw circles. Of course the ZX Spectrum
had this ability to do this & when the
Emulator was under review, they were
there showing it to us. For an Amstrad to
draw circles is to have a look at the
GWBASIC program I posted in the
Programming section (both almost solid &
outlined circles), while this isn't an
Amstrad program it's been translated from
one & generally the idea is the same!

On a Spectrum, it's possible to draw a solid
circle (I believe), for an Amstrad it needs
to be at least one with BASIC 1.1 (found on
the 664 & later) & using the same technique
I described above to draw the outline of a
circle & use the FILL command (found only
on BASIC 1.1) to fill it in.

Cheers,
CP/M User.
 
CP/M User said:
On a Spectrum, it's possible to draw a solid circle (I believe), for an Amstrad it needs to be at least one with BASIC 1.1 (found on the 664 & later) & using the same technique I described above to draw the outline of a circle & use the FILL command (found only on BASIC 1.1) to fill it in.
I can't remember if you can draw ellipses with the CIRCLE command too, but if it doesn't, one would have to implement the own routine like you did. However, the DRAW command on Spectrum Basic has a third parameter to bend the line which also may be something unique. It is quite possible to draw a "flower" using only one or two DRAW commands.
 
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