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The ABC 80 (Advanced BASIC Computer 80) was a home computer engineered by the Swedish corporation Dataindustrier AB (DIAB) and manufactured by Luxor in Motala, Sweden in the late 1970s (first model August 1978) and early 1980s. It was based on the Zilog Z80 and had 16 KB RAM and 16 KB ROM, the latter containing a BASIC interpreter. It had a Texas Instruments SN76477 sound chip, but there was no way to control the chips features in any detail, so the sound was limited to a small set of fixed sound effects. The monitor was a black and white TV set modified for the purpose (an obvious choice since Luxor also made TVs). Download high resolution version (2272x1704, 1268 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...
Download high resolution version (2272x1704, 1268 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...
TRS-80 Color Computer II The home computer is a consumer-friendly word for the second generation of microcomputers (the technical term that was previously used), entering the market in 1977 and becoming common during the 1980s. ...
Dataindustrier AB or DIAB was a Swedish computer engineering and manufacturing firm, founded in 1970 by Lars Karlsson and active in the 1970s through 1990s. ...
Luxor was Swedish home electronics and computer manufacturer located in Motala, acquired by Nokia in 1985. ...
Motala (population 42,175) is a Municipality in Östergötland County, in southeast Sweden. ...
The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ...
The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...
One of the first Z80 microprocessors manufactured; the date stamp says well before July 1976. ...
A kilobyte (derived from the SI prefix kilo-, meaning 1000) is a unit of information or computer storage equal to either 1024 or 1000 bytes. ...
Random access memory (usually known by its acronym, RAM) is a type of data store used in computers that allows the stored data to be accessed in any order — that is, at random, not just in sequence. ...
Read-only memory (ROM) is a class of storage media used in computers and other electronic devices. ...
BASIC (Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a family of high-level programming languages. ...
An interpreter is a computer program that executes other programs. ...
A computer display A computer display or computer monitor is an output device that is part of a computers display system. ...
Braun HF 1, Germany, 1958 Television is a telecommunication system for broadcasting and receiving moving pictures and sound over a distance. ...
ABC 80 was also manufactured on license as BRG ABC80 by Budapesti Radiotechnikai Gyar in Hungary. It use the same keyboard, but the case was metal instead of plastic.
Popularity
The ABC 80 was a huge hit in Sweden, and grasped a majority share of the rising personal computer market, thanks to office software in swedish. Although the ABC 80 fans would defend the ABC 80 by referring to it's good basic and useable extension bus, couldn't defend the home market against the gaming computers with color graphics and better sound that arrived in the early 80s, even though a new cheaper version was released that could use an ordinary TV instead of the dedicated monitor.
Luxor held on to it's office market for a couple of years longer with the ABC 800 series, that had more memory and high-resolution graphics. In 1985 Luxor also tried to compete in the office market against the IBM PC with it's ill-fated ABC 1600 and ABC 9000 series UNIX computers, but failed. The Luxor ABC800 series were office_versions of the ABC80 home computer. ...
IBM PC (IBM 5150) with keyboard and green screen monochrome monitor (IBM 5151), running MS-DOS 5. ...
Unix or UNIX is a computer operating system originally developed in the 1960s and 1970s by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and Douglas McIlroy. ...
See also: Compis Compis (Swedish name), Scandis (Norwegian name) was a computer system designed and sold to schools in the 1980s. ...
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