![Sage Computer](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Sage_Computer.png)
SAGE Computer Technology was a computer company based in
Reno, Nevada
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. It was founded in 1981 by Rod Coleman, Bill Bonham and Bob Needham; it went through several name changes. The change from Sage computer came about when "Sage Software" in
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
demanded cessation of use of the name Sage in the computer segment.
* SAGE Computer Technology
::- created the Sage II and Sage IV computers based on the
Motorola 68000 microprocessor.
* SAGE Computer
*Stride Micro
**MicroSage Computer Systems (a wholly owned subsidiary, 1987)
::- created the Stride 420, Stride 440, Stride 460 (
VME),
[ 090428 entertainment.webshots.com] Stride 660 and Stride 740 computers.
SAGE IV
The SAGE IV was released in 1983.
[ 101014 thebattles.net] Hardware:
* Board0: CPU:
MC68000
The Motorola 68000 (sometimes shortened to Motorola 68k or m68k and usually pronounced "sixty-eight-thousand") is a 16/32-bit complex instruction set computer (CISC) microprocessor, introduced in 1979 by Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector ...
@ 8 MHz, 2× serial RS-232 ports 19.2 kbit/s, Parallel input/output (PIO) for printers,
GPIB Glycoprotein Ib (GPIb), also known as CD42,
is a component of the GPIb-V-IX complex on platelets. The GPIb-V-IX complex binds von Willebrand factor, allowing platelet adhesion and platelet plug formation at sites of vascular injury.
It is defici ...
,
Floppy disc controller, 512 KByte
DRAM
Dynamic random-access memory (dynamic RAM or DRAM) is a type of random-access semiconductor memory that stores each bit of data in a memory cell, usually consisting of a tiny capacitor and a transistor, both typically based on metal-oxid ...
. Same as in SAGE II.
[ 090427 old-computers.com]
* Board1: 4× serial RS-232 ports 19.2 kbit/s,
Hard disk controller
{{unreferenced, date=May 2010
The disk controller is the controller circuit which enables the CPU to communicate with a hard disk, floppy disk or other kind of disk drive. It also provides an interface between the disk drive and the bus conne ...
, 512 KByte
DRAM
Dynamic random-access memory (dynamic RAM or DRAM) is a type of random-access semiconductor memory that stores each bit of data in a memory cell, usually consisting of a tiny capacitor and a transistor, both typically based on metal-oxid ...
.
* Memory consisting of 64 Kbit 150 ns memory modules.
Parity error
A parity bit, or check bit, is a bit added to a string of binary code. Parity bits are a simple form of Error detection and correction, error detecting code. Parity bits are generally applied to the smallest units of a communication protocol, ...
protected setup.
[ 090428 bp0.blogger.com]
* Minimum system memory is 256 KByte.
[ 200406 sageandstride.org]
* Storage: 1× 5¼" 800 KByte F.D. drive. 1× 5 - 40 MByte Winchester harddisk.
* Built-in multi-user
BIOS
In computing, BIOS (, ; Basic Input/Output System, also known as the System BIOS, ROM BIOS, BIOS ROM or PC BIOS) is firmware used to provide runtime services for operating systems and programs and to perform hardware initialization during the ...
.
* Introduced in November 1982
* Price: $3,600
USD
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
(for the single-floppy entry-level configuration)
The SAGE managed multitasking with six serial ports in real time with 1 MByte of RAM in 1983. It was used by scientists and engineers for more than ten years when it was popular, "running over 10 years with zero admin, and maybe even zero reboot."
"13 times faster than the
Apple II
The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...
" (when introduced).
[ 090427 suddendisruption.blogspot.com]
Sage IV computers were used for the
development
Development or developing may refer to:
Arts
*Development hell, when a project is stuck in development
*Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting
*Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped
* Photograph ...
of 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 ...
prototype computer system "Lorraine". The Sage system got the nickname "Agony".
[ 090427 floodgap.com]
Access was through an serial video terminal. Graphics capability was possible with the addition of a third-party colour graphics system from Robinson Systems which plugged directly into the Sage 68000 bus and provided output compatible with a range of colour monitors (e.g., Cotron Sword, Electrohome 1301).
The included operating system was the
UCSD p-System
UCSD Pascal is a Pascal programming language system that runs on the UCSD p-System, a portable, highly machine-independent operating system. UCSD Pascal was first released in 1977. It was developed at the University of California, San Diego (UCS ...
. Many other operating systems were available
[ 090921 sageandstride.org] including
CP/M
CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initial ...
-68K,
Idris,
PDOS PDOS is a discontinued multiuser multitasking operating system, written in assembly language developed in the early 1980s by the Eyring Research Institute for the Texas Instruments TMS9900
Introduced in June 1976, the TMS9900 was one of the firs ...
, HyperFORTH Plus,
BOS
''Bos'' (from Latin '' bōs'': cow, ox, bull) is the genus of wild and domestic cattle. ''Bos'' is often divided into four subgenera: ''Bos'', ''Bibos'', ''Novibos'', and ''Poephagus'', but including these last three divisions within the gen ...
,
TRIPOS
At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...
, Mirage, and MOSYS. Programming languages available included Pascal, Modula-2, C, FORTRAN77, BASIC, 68000 macro assembler, APL,
BCPL, LISP and Forth.
System bus
An "m68k" bus was used up to the Stride series of computers (Sage VI). Later a
VME bus was used.
NOD
NOD is a head-motion operated
mouse
A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
device that Wilbur Harvey and Rod came up with one afternoon in about 1983. It works by putting a special reflective pencil behind your ear and a quadrature detector that tracks its movement. The point was to be able to use the keyboard while you used the mouse cursor.
It had an
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 ...
C interface and cost US$400.
[{{cite web, title=The NOD(tm) (image), url=http://bp1.blogger.com/_YdtTy7yAtcU/RypQaBGRqLI/AAAAAAAAAbI/Etk0Rdxe6ZI/s1600-h/40+Nod.jpg 090428 bp1.blogger.com] Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...
were presented with a prototype but the project it was intended for got canceled.
See also
*
History of the Amiga
The Amiga is a family of home computers that were designed and sold by the Amiga Corporation (and later by Commodore Computing International) from 1985 to 1994.
Amiga Corporation
The Amiga's Original Chip Set, code-named Lorraine, was designed ...
References
External links
SAGE collector siteBooting Sage Computer - A Subjective Retrospective by Rod ColemanSage II ComputerSource code of the Sage PROMs, BIOS etc.
Defunct computer hardware companies
American companies established in 1981
1981 establishments in Nevada