CARDCO was a computer

peripheral A peripheral or peripheral device is an auxiliary device used to put information into and get information out of a computer. The term ''peripheral device'' refers to all hardware components that are attached to a computer and are controlled by the ...

company during the 1980s in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

, United States. CARDCO was well known in the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

and

VIC-20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the PE ...

community because of advertisements in numerous issues of Compute! magazine and availability of their products at large retailers, such as

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...

History

CARDCO was founded by Ed J. Lippert II (President / Management) and Breck Ricketts (Vice President / Engineering). It went out of business in 1986 because of the decline in sales of

C64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness Wo ...

computers. In 1986, they formed a new company called ''C-Ltd'' that manufactured peripherals for Amiga computers, and it eventually went out of business in 1989 as the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

computer sales declined. ''Computers Anonymous'' was a spin-off company ran by Cardco owners wife Betsy Lippert & Cherie Hovaidar-Safid, which repaired devices made and sold by CARDCO.

Hardware products

Printer interfaces

There were severe shortcomings of early Commodore printers, so CARDCO created the ''Card Print A'' (C/?A) printer interface that emulated Commodore printers by converting the Commodore

serial interface In computing, a serial port is a serial communication interface through which information transfers in or out sequentially one bit at a time. This is in contrast to a parallel port, which communicates multiple bits simultaneously in parallel. T ...

to a

Centronics Centronics Data Computer Corporation was an American manufacturer of computer printers, now remembered primarily for the parallel interface that bears its name, the Centronics connector. History Foundations Centronics began as a division o ...

parallel printer interface to allow numerous 3rd-party printers to be connected to a Commodore 64 or VIC-20. A second model, a version that supported printer graphics was released called the ''Card Print +G'' (C/?+G), supported printing Commodore graphic characters using Epson

ESC/P ESC/P, short for Epson Standard Code for Printers and sometimes styled Escape/P, is a printer control language developed by Epson to control computer printers. It was mainly used in dot matrix printers and some inkjet printers, and is still widel ...

escape codes. CARDCO released additional enhancements, including a model with

RS-232 In telecommunications, RS-232 or Recommended Standard 232 is a standard originally introduced in 1960 for serial communication transmission of data. It formally defines signals connecting between a ''DTE'' (''data terminal equipment'') such a ...

serial output, and shipped over two million total printer interfaces. Common compatible printers were manufactured by Epson, Panasonic, Okidata,

Star Micronics is a Japanese multinational electronic components and printer manufacturing company headquartered in Shizuoka, Japan. It was founded in 1947 as a precision processor of miniature components, later expanding into automatic lathes, printers, mi ...

, and

C. Itoh is a Japanese corporation based in Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka and Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo. It is one of the largest Japanese ''sogo shosha'' (general trading companies). Among Japanese trading companies, it is distinguished by not being descende ...

. ''GWIZ'' - Computer Interface between a Commodore 64 and a non Commodore printer such as a (Silver Reed Printer, Gorilla Printer, Etc.)

Cassette player interface

Unlike most other systems, Commodore computers could only use specialized cassette players, known as " Commodore Datasettes", to save data. CARDCO made an adaptor to work with normal cassette players.

Numpad

CARDCO made a

numpad A numeric keypad, number pad, numpad, or ten key, is the palm-sized, usually-17-key section of a standard computer keyboard, usually on the far right. It provides calculator-style efficiency for entering numbers. The idea of a 10-key nu ...

that plugged into both of the joystick ports on the

Software products

;Cartridge * ''Write Now'' (C/01) - word processor for VIC20.Compute Gazette; September 1983; Inside Back Cover.
/ref> * ''Write Now'' (C/02) - word processor for C64.Compute Gazette; September 1984; Inside Back Cover.
/ref> * ''Freeze Frame'' * ''S'MORE'' ;Floppy Disk * ''Mail Now'' (D/01) - mailing list processor for C64. * ''Spell Now'' (D/04) - spell checker for C64. * ''File Now'' (D/05) - relational database for C64. * ''Graph Now'' / ''Paint Now'' (D/06) - graph and chart generator for C64. * ''Super Printer Utility Programs'' (D/08)

References

{{Reflist

External links

CARDCO Manual Archive
* CARDCO Card Print A (C/?A) Printer Interface
User ManualAddendum
* CARDCO Card Print +G (C/?+G) Printer Interface
User ManualSupplement
VIC-20 Defunct companies based in Kansas Defunct computer hardware companies Electronics companies disestablished in 1986 Commodore 64 peripheral manufacturers