Triumph-Adler Alphatronic PC
The Triumph-Adler company traditionally made cars, typewriters and sewing machines. They started making computers in the late 1970's and in 1983 they produced the TA Alphatronic PC. This was a Z80 based CP/M machine with a built in Microsoft Basic. CP/M had to be loaded from an external 5.25" disk drive that was connected to the system bus. The Alphatronic PC was produced in Japan and designed to be used in the office and at home.
The Alphatronic PC was not a commercial success, mainly due to a poor marketing strategy. Triumph-Adler tried mainly to get contracts with local state agencies. When the company finally tried to sell the computer through regular retail stores, the machine was outdated and did not sell well at all.
The Alphatronic has no real graphics mode, but through some tweaking a semi-graphic mode of 160x72 blocks could be used. The machine also had production issues, which caused the price to increase. Lastly, the computer lacked many of the networking abilities that other CP/M machines did have and the fate of the Alphatronic PC was sealed.
CPU View - Zilog Z80 Family
The Z80 quickly became popular in the personal computer market, with many early personal computers, such as the TRS-80 and Sinclair ZX80, using the Z80 as their central processing unit (CPU). It was also widely used in home computers, such as the MSX range, SORD, and the Amstrad CPC, as well as in many arcade games. Additionally, it was also used in other applications such as industrial control systems, and embedded systems. The Z80 was widely used until the mid-1980s, when it was gradually replaced by newer microprocessors such as the Intel 80286 and the Motorola 68000.
The Z80 microprocessor was developed by Zilog, a company founded by Federico Faggin in 1974. The Z80 was released in July 1976, as a successor to the Intel 8080. It was designed to be fully compatible with the 8080, but also included new features such as an improved instruction set, more powerful interrupts, and a more sophisticated memory management system.
The Z80 quickly became popular in the personal computer
ROM: 32kB Sound Chip none Sound Beeper Display Chip none Display 80x24 text
160x72 8 color graphics Best Text 80x24 Best Color 8 colors Graphics 160x72 in 8 colors Sprites none System OS CP/M, Microsoft Basic Storage External 5.25" Disk Drive