The CST Thor was a series of personal computers compatible with the Sinclair QL designed by Cambridge Systems Technology during the late 1980s. A Sinclair QL The Sinclair QL (for Quantum Leap), was a personal computer launched by Sinclair Research in January 1984, as the successor to the ZX Spectrum. ... The 1980s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1980 and 1989. ...

Thor PC

The original Thor PC (or Thor 1), launched in 1986, consisted of a standard Sinclair QL motherboard plus an expansion board providing 512 kB RAM, extra ROMs, a non-volatile real-time clock, floppy disk, SCSI, Centronics parallel, RS-232 and PC-style keyboard interfaces enclosed in a low-profile metal desktop case. Mass storage options consisted of one (Thor 1F) or two (Thor 2F) 3.5-inch floppy drives or one floppy drive and one 20 MB SCSI hard disk (Thor 2WF). The ROMs contained Eidersoft's ICE GUI and some Qdos extensions. Also bundled with the Thor was the Psion Xchange application software suite (an enhanced version of the Psion applications bundled with the QL). 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A Sinclair QL The Sinclair QL (for Quantum Leap), was a personal computer launched by Sinclair Research in January 1984, as the successor to the ZX Spectrum. ... An old Octek Jaguar V main board with an AMD 386DX-40 processor. ... Sharma Ram (disambiguation) Ram Sharma is an amazing, talented teenager that lives in Canada His talents include rapping, comedy, and cooking He is bound to success! ... Read-only memory (ROM) is used as a storage medium in computers. ... A floppy disk is a data storage device that is composed of a ring of thin, flexible (i. ... SCSI stands for Small Computer System Interface, and is a standard interface and command set for transferring data between devices on both internal and external computer buses. ... Centronics logo 23 June 1986 Centronics logo 1971 Centronics Data Computer Corporation was a pioneering American manufacturer of computer printers, now remembered only for the parallel interface that bears their name. ... RS-232 (also referred to as EIA RS-232C or V.24) is a standard for serial binary data interchange between a DTE (Data terminal equipment) and a DCE (Data communication equipment). ... Typical hard drives of the mid-1990s. ... Gui is short for Guilherme or Guilhermo or an iteration of that, in English it translates to Will. ... Sinclair QDOS was the multitasking operating system found on the Sinclair QL and its clones. ... Psion PLC is the British company mostly known for developing the pioneering Psion Organiser as well as a whole range of more advanced, clamshell-design Personal Digital Assistants: Psion Series 3 Psion Siena Psion Workabout Psion Series 5 Psion Series 3mx Psion Series 5mx Psion Revo Psion Series 7 Psion...

Thor 20/21

The Thor 20 and Thor 21 were later variants of the Thor PC fitted with a 68020 processor on a daughterboard in place of the original 68008 processor, running at 12.5 MHz or 16.67 MHz, the Thor 21 also having a 68881 floating-point co-processor. Also supplied were software development tools and documentation for the new processor(s). These models were launched in 1987 but were very expensive and enjoyed few sales. Motorola 68020 The Motorola 68020 is a microprocessor from Motorola. ... A daughterboard or daughtercard is a circuit board meant to be an extension or daughter of a motherboard (or mainboard), or occasionally another card. ... The Motorola MC68008 is a 8/16/32-bit microprocessor from the early 1980s. ... The Motorola 68881 was a floating-point coprocessor chip that was utilized in some computer systems that used the 68020 or 68030 CPU. The addition of the 68881 chip added substantial cost to the computer, but added a floating point unit that could rapidly perform floating point math calculations. ... A floating-point number is a digital representation for a number in a certain subset of the rational numbers, and is often used to approximate an arbitrary real number on a computer. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Thor XVI

The Thor XVI was developed in collaboration with the Danish company DanSoft and was announced at the 1987 Personal Computer World Show. Unlike the previous models, the Thor XVI's hardware was of a completely new design, based around an 8 MHz 68000 processor plus a 2 MHz 68B02 co-processor for audio and I/O processing. 512 kB of RAM was included as standard (expandable to 6.5 MB). The video hardware provided QL-compatible screen resolutions as well as a new 16-colour mode. Floppy disk, SCSI, Centronics, dual RS-232, keyboard, mouse, QL expansion bus and QLAN network interfaces were provided. Mass storage options were similar to the previous Thors, plus a diskless network workstation option. 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Motorola 68000 is a CISC microprocessor, the first member of a successful family of microprocessors from Motorola, which were all mostly software compatible. ...

The Thor XVI ran a Qdos-compatible operating system of uncertain provenance, called Argos, and like its predecessors, was bundled with Xchange. In computing, an operating system (OS) is the system software responsible for the direct control and management of hardware and basic system operations. ...

In 1988, a joint CST/DanSoft marketing operation, Thor International, was formed, based in Denmark and the Thor XVI entered low-volume production. However, the following year, Thor International (and CST) collapsed amid acrimony and legal action. 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Binary Dinosaurs page about the CST Thor
• Sinclair QL Hardware FAQ

References

• Thor, Sinclair QL World, July 1986.
• CST Thor — Euro-68000?, Computer Shopper, August 1988.
• QL Corner, Computer Shopper, September 1989.
• Thor saga labours on, Computer Shopper, October 1989.