The is an

IBM PC compatible IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such computers were referred to as PC clones, IBM clones or IBM PC clones ...

system with an integrated

Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan a ...

, developed by

Sega is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, respectively. Its division ...

and manufactured by IBM in 1991. The TeraDrive allowed for Mega Drive games to be played the same time as the PC section is being used, as it is possible for the Mega Drive and PC hardware to interact with each other. The system was only released in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. Sega hoped that integrating the then popular Mega Drive console into an IBM PC would attract potential customers wishing to purchase a PC, but the system proved unpopular and was a commercial failure.

Design

One of the main processors used for the system is the

Intel 80286 The Intel 80286 (also marketed as the iAPX 286 and often called Intel 286) is a 16-bit microprocessor that was introduced on February 1, 1982. It was the first 8086-based CPU with separate, non- multiplexed address and data buses and also the ...

, which was released in 1982. However, by the time the TeraDrive was released in 1991, this processor was almost 10 years out of date - the more powerful 25 MHz

Intel 80486 The Intel 486, officially named i486 and also known as 80486, is a microprocessor. It is a higher-performance follow-up to the Intel 386. The i486 was introduced in 1989. It represents the fourth generation of binary compatible CPUs following t ...

had been released in 1989, making the TeraDrive's central processor 2 generations behind its time. The system also contains a

Motorola 68000 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 Secto ...

and a

Zilog Z80 The Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog as the startup company's first product. The Z80 was conceived by Federico Faggin in late 1974 and developed by him and his 11 employees starting in early 1975. The first working samples were ...

, the same processors which were used in the Mega Drive, that ran at 7.67 MHz and 3.58 MHz respectively. The machine's front panel ports included two Mega Drive pad ports which were similar in design to 9-pin male

serial port 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. ...

s, and 2

PS/2 port The PS/2 port is a 6-pin mini-DIN connector used for connecting keyboards and mice to a PC compatible computer system. Its name comes from the IBM Personal System/2 series of personal computers, with which it was introduced in 1987. The PS/2 m ...

s to the right side of the unit to accommodate for the mouse and keyboard. The system also contained several ports to its rear. In order from left to right: 9-pin male serial port, 25-pin

parallel port In computing, a parallel port is a type of interface found on early computers ( personal and otherwise) for connecting peripherals. The name refers to the way the data is sent; parallel ports send multiple bits of data at once ( parall ...

for connection to a printer, stereo

RCA jack The RCA connector is a type of electrical connector commonly used to carry audio and video signals. The name ''RCA'' derives from the company Radio Corporation of America, which introduced the design in the 1930s. The connectors male plug and ...

s and

composite Composite or compositing may refer to: Materials * Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances ** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts ** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic materials ...

NTSC The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...

video output for connection to a TV, analogue

RGB The RGB color model is an additive color model in which the red, green and blue primary colors of light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three addi ...

for monitor connection, and a 2nd 9-pin male serial connector labelled "EXT", similar to that found on the rear of an original Mega Drive base unit. The

motherboard A motherboard (also called mainboard, main circuit board, mb, mboard, backplane board, base board, system board, logic board (only in Apple computers) or mobo) is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expand ...

also had a spare

ISA Isa or ISA may refer to: Places * Isa, Amur Oblast, Russia * Isa, Kagoshima, Japan * Isa, Nigeria * Isa District, Kagoshima, former district in Japan * Isa Town, middle class town located in Bahrain * Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia * Mount ...

slot available for expansion, with a hole at the rear of the unit to accommodate this.

Interface

Its

interface Interface or interfacing may refer to: Academic journals * ''Interface'' (journal), by the Electrochemical Society * '' Interface, Journal of Applied Linguistics'', now merged with ''ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics'' * '' Int ...

consisted of a start-up menu with several options, including a

file manager A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to manage files and folders. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files include creating, opening (e.g. viewing, playing, editing or pr ...

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

, a clock and Mega Drive mode. The machine included IBM drivers bundled on a

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 ...

, which enabled properly written software to operate in the machine's RAM and then run on the native Mega Drive hardware. A good example of this shown in the ''Puzzle Construction'' program, one of the very few software titles included with the TeraDrive, which included a PC-side editor suite for changing the features of a falling-block puzzle game, then playable on the Mega Drive side. The operating system shipped with the system was IBM's DOS J4.0/V, which was similar to

PC DOS PC or pc may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Player character or playable character, a fictional character controlled by a human player, usually in role-playing games or computer games * '' Port Charles'', an American daytime TV soap opera * ...

. There was often speculation that the TeraDrive was specifically designed as a purpose-made development kit, to allow software makers to develop their software titles for the Mega Drive. However, given the release date of the TeraDrive (some years after the initial Mega Drive release), as well as the availability of Sega's own game development hardware, it is unlikely the TeraDrive was designed for this purpose.

Peripherals

The system's peripherals which were included or available separately, included 2 × Mega Drive pads, 1 ×

PS/2 The Personal System/2 or PS/2 is IBM's second generation of personal computers. Released in 1987, it officially replaced the IBM PC, XT, AT, and PC Convertible in IBM's lineup. Many of the PS/2's innovations, such as the 16550 UART (serial p ...

Mouse, 1 × Sega branded PS/2 IBM keyboard and 1 × 3-button joystick. The Mouse and Mega Drive pads were practically identical to those found on the Mega Drive console version. A monitor which was manufactured by a 3rd party company but with Sega branding, was available separately at a price of ¥79,800 (estimated US$600/GBP £300 at the time), which was capable of displaying 15 kHz

video signals from the Mega Drive hardware and a 31 kHz

VGA Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the PC industry within three years. The term can now ...

output from the PC hardware, both from the VGA connector.

Models

Three models were available, ranging from ¥148,000 (US$1100/GBP £580) to ¥248,000 (US$1840/GBP £950).

Sales

The system proved unpopular with the Japanese market and ultimately failed. Production numbers are unknown. The system is moderately rare in Japan, although prices are rising rapidly due to collector demand. The price to buy a TeraDrive in June 2003 was triple the price it was 2 years prior. A new PC was also in the discussion stages to be developed by Sega under the leadership of ex-IBM executive Narutomi.Ex-IBM man joins Sega to push game machines
FindArticles.com, 19 August 1991 but this likely never got past the discussion stages due to the failure of the TeraDrive.

Similar products

A similar, but unrelated system was manufactured by

Amstrad Amstrad was a British electronics company, founded in 1968 by Alan Sugar at the age of 21. The name is a contraction of Alan Michael Sugar Trading. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in April 1980. During the late 1980s, Amstra ...

and sold under the name Mega PC in

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

areas such as

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. Although it boasted a higher specification than that of Sega's TeraDrive, it was unable to act as a

Software Development Kit A software development kit (SDK) is a collection of software development tools in one installable package. They facilitate the creation of applications by having a compiler, debugger and sometimes a software framework. They are normally specific ...

due to the inability to interact both the PC and the Mega Drive together, as it was essentially just a PC with a Mega Drive bundled inside.

References

External links

Official Sega website
{{Sega, Mega Drive/Genesis 8086-based home computers IBM PC compatibles Japan-only video game hardware TeraDrive TeraDrive Products introduced in 1991