Draft:Excalibur 64
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Last edited by Excally (talk | contribs) 5 days ago. (Update) |
| Manufacturer | BGR Computers P/L |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 1 July 1983 |
| Discontinued | 31 August 1984 |
| Cost | $399 |
| Processor | Z80 |
| Frequency | 4Mhz |
| Memory | 64k DRAM |
| Read-only memory | 16k |
| Connection | 2 expansion sockets Cassette and floppy drive connectors |
| Ports | RF Output
RS232C Centronics/Parallel Port |
The Excalibur 64 was a kit computer released by the now defunct Australian company BGR Computers. The Excalibur 64 sold from July 1983 to August 1984.[1]
BGR Computers was established January 1983 with the intent of developing a system similar to the MicroBee to a foot hold in both the educational and business markets. The company at time wanted to develop a complete system but the costs of development and availability of software made this prohibitive.[2] Therefore, to enter the fledging home computer market BGR engaged an independent design company to develop a diskless kit which was first advertised in the magazine Electronics Australia's July 1983 edition.
More that 300 kits were sold and with the help of user groups the software catalogue grew and included, games, utilities and educational programs.
By December 1983 the Excalibur 64 was released as a complete system the sales price jumped from $399 to $699 but was fully built and tested. This price did not include a monitor and a disc controller board that could run up to four 5 ¼ or 8-inch drives would cost a further $299.[3]
Technical Specifications
[edit]The original Excalibur 64 had the following speciation's[4]
- CPU: Z80A
- Clock Speed: 3.5Mhz
- RAM: 64k
- ROM: 16k
- Screen Memory: 2K (separate from user RAM)
- Language: Extended Microsoft BASIC
- Colour: 16 foreground and 8 background colours
- Display: 24 lines by 40 characters and 24 lines by 80 characters, 7 x 12 dot matrix (TV or monitor)
- Resolution: Low res 320 x 288,
- Graphics Mode: 128 programmable characters, 96 ASCII characters and 128 graphic characters.
Later versions were sold as a complete system and included:
- Dual 5 ¼ inch floppy disk drives
- CP/M 2.2 Operating system and later ZCPR 3.0 and 3.1
- Programming languages Forth, Pascal, and Fortram on ROM and Tape
- Increased CPU speed from 3.5Mhz to 4Mhz
- Joystick controller
- Voice synthesiser
Peripherals
[edit]A range of peripherals, or add-ons' were developed for the machine by Mick Gulovsen and these included [5]
- A RAM upgrade from 64k to 512k
- 1200/75 baud internal modem used to connect to FidoNet
- Keyboard buffer that could buffer up to 16 characters
- HIRES graphic add-on board increased the resolution to 640 x 288 pixels[6]
Reception
[edit]It is believed that just over 1000 units were sold. User groups were established across the country and a regular newsletter was published monthly from February 1984
