Prológica Indústria e Comércio de Mircrocomputadores, commonly shortened to Prológica, was an influential

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian

microcomputer A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (PC ...

company that reached its peak in the mid-1980s, when it ranked third among national companies in the sector.

History

Founded in 1976, the company initially commercialized machines for accounting use, namely the ''MCA-100'' and ''Alpha Disk''. The first models had an

Intel 8080 The Intel 8080 (''"eighty-eighty"'') is the second 8-bit microprocessor designed and manufactured by Intel. It first appeared in April 1974 and is an extended and enhanced variant of the earlier 8008 design, although without binary compatibil ...

processor, and in the early months the company even managed to get a partnership with

Olivetti Olivetti S.p.A. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines. Headquartered in Ivrea, in the Metropolitan City of Turin, the company has been part of ...

. The company later specialized in producing products similar to the American

TRS-80 The TRS-80 Micro Computer System (TRS-80, later renamed the Model I to distinguish it from successors) is a desktop microcomputer launched in 1977 and sold by Tandy Corporation through their Radio Shack stores. The name is an abbreviation of '' ...

series of microcomputers, under the general name of ''"CP" (for "Computador Pessoal" in

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

, "Personal Computer" in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

).'' One of its biggest successes in the professional field was the ''

CP-500 CP 500 was a Brazilian personal computer range, designed and manufactured in Brazil by Prológica. General information The CP 500 range is compatible in terms of software and hardware with the American TRS-80 Model III, using the BASIC Leve ...

'', compatible with the

TRS-80 Model III The TRS-80 Micro Computer System (TRS-80, later renamed the Model I to distinguish it from successors) is a desktop microcomputer launched in 1977 and sold by Tandy Corporation through their Radio Shack stores. The name is an abbreviation of ''T ...

. In 1990, the company was sued by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

for creating ''SO16 ("Sistema Operativo 16")'', an operating system based on

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

Line of products

A not extensive list of Prológica's products:

Home computers

NE-Z80 The NE-Z80 was a homebuilt computer kit presented by ''Nova Eletrônica'' magazine on the October 1981 issue, a publication that was part of the Brazilian Prológica group. It was the first Sinclair ZX80 clone available in Brazil. With an intro ...

(

Sinclair ZX80 The Sinclair ZX80 is a home computer launched on 29 January 1980 by Science of Cambridge Ltd. (later to be better known as Sinclair Research). It is notable for being one of the first computers available in the United Kingdom for less than a h ...

clone) *

NE-Z8000 The NE-Z8000 is a Brazilian homebuilt computer clone of the Sinclair ZX81, introduced in late 1982 by Prológica's subsidiary, the monthly magazine ''Nova Eletrônica''. General Information The NE-Z8000 computer is based around a Z80A CPU cl ...

(1982,

Sinclair ZX81 The ZX81 is a home computer that was produced by Sinclair Research and manufactured in Dundee, Scotland, by Timex Corporation. It was launched in the United Kingdom in March 1981 as the successor to Sinclair's ZX80 and designed to be a low-cost ...

clone) * CP-200 (1982,

compatible) *CP-200S (1982,

compatible, alternate case) *

CP-300 CP 300 was a personal microcomputer produced by Prológica, a computer company located in Brazil, and introduced in 1983. General information It was compatible in software and hardware with the American TRS-80 Model III The TRS-80 Micro C ...

( 1983, TRS-80 Model III compatible) * CP-400 (1984, Color Computer 2 compatible) *CP-400 II (better keyboard)

Personal computers

*Sistema 600 * Sistema 700 (1981, DOS-700 - CP/M-80 compatible) *

(1982,

compatible) *CP-500/M80 (1985) *CP-500/M80C (1986) * Solution 16 (1986, SO16 -

MS-DOS 2.11 MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

compatible) *CP-500 Turbo (1987, faster CPU) *SP 16 *AT SP 286 *AT SP 386 *AT SP 486

Peripherals

* CP-450 (

floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined w ...

drive interface) *Printer P-500 *Printer P-600 *Printer P-700 *Printer P-720 *Printer Antares 400

References

Electronics companies of Brazil Defunct computer companies of Brazil Defunct manufacturing companies of Brazil Manufacturing companies based in São Paulo Brazilian brands Brazilian companies established in 1976 1995 disestablishments in Brazil Electronics companies established in 1976 Electronics companies disestablished in 1995 {{Brazil-company-stub