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The Tandyvision One |
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WWW.8BIT-MICRO.COM ONLINE VINTAGE COMPUTER MAGAZINE |
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First Released: 1979 CPU: General Instruments CP1610 Clock speed: 3.579545 MHz Stic: (Standard Television Interface Chip): General Instruments AY-3-8900 System Ram: GI RA-3-9600 Sound Chip: GI AY-3-8914 GROM: GI RO-3-9503 2K ROM GRAM :2 GTE 3539 256- byte static RAM chips Executive ROM: In the Intellivision, the Executive ROM is physically two 2K chips, a GI RO-3-9502 and a GI RO-3-9504; in the Intellivision II it is a single 4K GI RO-3-9506 chip. SCRATCHPAD RAM: GTE 3539 256-by-8-bit static Resolution: 160 X 96
(Glen's Note: Most of the information contained in this article was supplied by the Bluesky Rangers and the Intellivision lives website. The Blue Sky Rangers were the original programming team for Mattel and the Intellivision)
In my opinion, no web site can pay homage to Tandy, if we don't recognize the TANDYVISION ONE. Everyone seems to overlook this very important piece of video game history. OK, its no Model 4, but if not for Mattel and their partnerships with Tandy, Sears and GTE, computers and the home video game market would not be where they are today. If any one has any more information on the history of the TV1 e-mail me, and I will post it. The sad part is one one really knows what HAPPENED. Obviously Tandy had plans to release more than one Tandyvision, but they never had a TV2. Speculation is that after the keyboard fiasco (more on that later) Tandy lost all confidence in Mattel. Maybe Tandy got wind of the Aquarius and just ran for the hills. No matter, the Tandyvision still remains a small part of Tandy's great history.
In 1977 Mattel wanted to get in the video game market, they wanted a cheap, "off the shelf" video game solution that was expandable, and they found it with General Instrument's Gimini 6900 system which could be built with off the shelf GI chips. After 2 years and several design changes later, The Intellivision was born. Mattel then turned around and sold the rights to Tandy, under the name Tandyvision One, Sears, under the name of the Sears Super Video Arcade, and GTE/ Sylvania under the Intellivision name. The only differences between the four units was cosmetic and Sears actually redesigned the outer case. An interesting sidebar is that Sear re-packaged all the games, while Tandy Chose not to.
The original Mattel Master Component #2609
The Keyboard Component #1149
CodeName: Black Whale CPU: General Instruments CP 6502 Clock speed: Unknown System Ram: 64K of dual dynamic port Ram Number of units produced: 4000
This was the reason why many people bought the Intellivision. Mattel was promoting that this was not a toy like the Atari 2600, It was the basis of a Home Computer system. Uniting the Tandyvision with the Keyboard, changed the system into a 16 bit power house. The biggest obstacle was the price. Mattel promised that the cost would be only $199 US, but the cost to produce 1 unit was reportedly over $700. People started to complain to the FCC and Mattel started to trickle units out to select stores and to people who complained (at a huge loss to Mattel) through mail order. The thermal printer was only available mail order; this was apparently the same printer (except for the nameplate) that later received somewhat wider release as part of the Aquarius system. Several programs on cassettes were available; some (Conversational French, Jack LaLanne's Physical Conditioning, Spelling Challenge, Jeane Dixon Astrology) were programmed in 1610 assembly language and took full advantage of the Intellivision system sound and graphics, others were more limited BASIC programs (Geography Challenge, Family Budgeting, Crosswords I, II & III) that required a BASIC cartridge to be plugged into the game port. With the BASIC cartridge, the user could also write his or her own programs.
until the Keyboard was in wide distribution. Mattel was forced to go with its back-up plan:it released instead the Entertainment Computer System (ECS) that had been quietly developed by a different division. Although less powerful than the Keyboard Component, it minimally offered what had originally been promised: to turn the Intellivision into a computer. It was sufficient (along with an offer to buy back all outstanding Keyboards) to get the FTC off Mattel's back.
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By
Glen VanDenBiggelaar
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(c) 2004, 2005 Brian K. Hahn All Rights Reserved. |