In the 1980s the French

Thomson Thomson may refer to: Names * Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin * Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson Businesses and organizations * SGS-Thomson Mic ...

company produced a range of

8-bit In computer architecture, 8-bit Integer (computer science), integers or other Data (computing), data units are those that are 8 bits wide (1 octet (computing), octet). Also, 8-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) arc ...

computers based on the 6809E CPU. They were released in several variations (mostly concerning the keyboard or color of the casing) covering the MO and TO series from late 1982 to 1989. While MO and TO models are incompatible in software, most of the

peripherals 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 ...

and hardware were compatible. These machines were common in France due to the 1980s governmental educational program '' Computing for All (Informatique pour Tous)''.' Around 100,000 MO5 and TO7/70 computers were ordered and installed in schools. Export attempts to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

were unsuccessful. It is reported that there were 450,000 Thomson computers in France in 1986. By 1988 Thomson had only sold 60,000 of the predicted 150,000 computers, abandoning computer development the following year. About 84 games were released for the TO7, 194 for the MO5, 3 for the TO7/70, 10 for the TO9, 21 for the MO6, and 128 for the TO8. Most titles were released between 1984 and 1987 and by French companies such as

Infogrames Atari SA (formerly Infogrames Entertainment SA) is a French video game holding company headquartered in Paris. Its subsidiaries include Atari Interactive and Atari, Inc. It is the current owner of the Atari brand through Atari Interactive. Bec ...

Loriciel Loriciel (also sometimes Loriciels) was a French video game developing company that was active from 1983 to the early 1990s. The name is a combination of ''logiciel'', the French word for software, and ''Oric'' which was the first computer they ...

, FIL or

Coktel Vision Coktel Vision (also known as Coktel and Coktel Studio) was a French video game developer and publisher based in Paris. It was best known for its educational and adventure games. History Coktel Vision was founded in 1984 by Roland Oskian, ...

First generation

Thomson TO7 Thomson may refer to: Names * Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin * Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson Businesses and organizations * SGS-Thomson Mi ...

: produced from 1982 to 1984. Supplied with 24K

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

(16K used by the video) and upgradable to 48K. 8 color display. *

Thomson MO5 The Thomson MO5 is a home computer introduced in France in June 1984 to compete against systems such as the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64. It had a release price of 2390 FF. At the same time, Thomson also released the up-market Thomson TO7/7 ...

: released in 1984 in order to honor the ''Computing for All (Informatique pour Tous)'' plan. Supplied with 48K RAM (32K available to user in BASIC 1.0) and first released with a rubber keyboard. Later it featured a mechanical keyboard. It was edited in a limited edition with a white casing, named "MO5

Michel Platini Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955) is a French football administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or three times in a row, in 1983, 1984 and 1985, ...

". *

Thomson TO7/70 Thomson may refer to: Names * Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin * Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson Businesses and organizations * SGS-Thomson Mi ...

: 1984 version with more RAM (64K, upgradable into 128K) and 16 color display. * Thomson MO5E: 1985 export version, with a different casing featuring a mechanical keyboard, a

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 ( parallel ...

, two

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

ports, an internal PAL modulator and an integrated

power supply A power supply is an electrical device that supplies electric power to an electrical load. The main purpose of a power supply is to convert electric current from a source to the correct voltage, current, and frequency to power the load. As a r ...

. Thomson MO5 face.JPG, Thomson MO5 Thomson MO5 édition Platini! (9368426935).jpg, Thomson MO5 "Michel Platini" edition Thomson T 07 by Moehre1992.jpg, Thomson TO7 Thomson TO7-70.jpg, Thomson TO7-70

Second generation

* Thomson TO9 : released in late 1985. Separate keyboard and central unit, 128K RAM and a 3½-inch floppy disk drive. * Thomson MO5NR: released in 1985-1986. This is a MO6 in a MO5E casing, with an integrated

network interface controller A network interface controller (NIC, also known as a network interface card, network adapter, LAN adapter or physical network interface, and by similar terms) is a computer hardware component that connects a computer to a computer network. Ear ...

, the ''nanoréseau'' (nano network), which was used in French schools.' * Thomson TO16 (prototype) called Theodore (TO d'or): 5 prototypes developed in 1985-1988. Based on a MC-68000 at 8 MHz and a rather good graphic card. *

Thomson MO6 Thomson may refer to: Names * Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin * Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson Businesses and organizations * SGS-Thomson Mi ...

: released in 1986. 128K RAM and built in tape recorder. Sold in Italy as the Olivetti Prodest PC128. *

Thomson TO8 The Thomson TO8 is a home computer introduced by French company Thomson SA in 1986, with a cost of 2,990 FF. It replaces its predecessor, the Thomson TO7/70, while remaining essentially compatible. The new features of the TO8, like larger mem ...

: released in late 1986. 256K RAM, 80K ROM with

Microsoft BASIC Microsoft BASIC is the foundation software product of the Microsoft company and evolved into a line of BASIC interpreters and compiler(s) adapted for many different microcomputers. It first appeared in 1975 as Altair BASIC, which was the first ve ...

512, extra video modes. *

Thomson TO9+ The Thomson TO9+ is a home computer introduced by French company Thomson SA in 1986. It kept the professional look of the Thomson TO9 by using a separate keyboard (lower end models usually had an integrated keyboard). It's based on the Thomson ...

: released in late 1986, Separate keyboard and central unit, 512K RAM with a built in

modem A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by Modulation#Digital modulati ...

and a 3½-inch floppy disk drive. * Thomson TO8D : released in late 1987, it was a TO8 with a 3½-inch floppy disk drive. Thomson TO9 keyboard.jpg, Thomson TO9 MO6.jpg, Thomson MO6 TO9.jpg, Thomson TO9+ Thomson TO8D.jpg, Thomson TO8D

Unix systems

* Micromega 32: released in 1982, it was 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 Sector ...

-based machine running

Version 7 Unix Seventh Edition Unix, also called Version 7 Unix, Version 7 or just V7, was an important early release of the Unix operating system. V7, released in 1979, was the last Bell Laboratories release to see widespread distribution before the commercial ...

, based on the Fortune 32:16, developed by Fortune Systems Corp. * Micromega 32000: A 1986

Alcatel Alcatel may refer to: * Alcatel, a former French telecommunications equipment company, which became Alcatel-Lucent and is now part of Nokia * Alcatel Mobile, a brand of mobile phones, tablets and wearables, formerly a joint venture between Alcatel ...

branded machine with a tower layout, supporting Unix SV. The CPU is a

68020 The Motorola 68020 ("''sixty-eight-oh-twenty''", "''sixty-eight-oh-two-oh''" or "''six-eight-oh-two-oh''") is a 32-bit microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1984. A lower-cost version was also made available, known as the 68EC020. In keepin ...

at 16.5 MHz ( 68881 optional) with 1 to 4 MB of RAM. It features a 70MB hard drive, supports QIC-24 cartridges and offers

Arcnet Attached Resource Computer NETwork (ARCNET or ARCnet) is a communications protocol for local area networks. ARCNET was the first widely available networking system for microcomputers; it became popular in the 1980s for office automation tasks. It ...

network connection. * Micromega PC: a 1986 workstation supporting Unix and

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 ...

, and developed based on the PC 7000 XP. * Micromega SX and Micromega SX/T - This machines have a similar box but with a diferent floppy drive location. The CPU is a 68000 at 11 MHz and RAM is expandable to 2 MB. It supports 45 and 70 MB hard drives and QIC-11 cartridges on the SX/T.

PC compatible

*Micromega 16: released in 1983, it was a

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. ...

machine, similar to the Eagle PC developed in 1982 by

Columbia Data Products Columbia Data Products, Inc. (CDP) is a company which produced the first legally reverse-engineered IBM PC compatible, IBM PC clones. It faltered in that market after only a few years, and later reinvented itself as a Software development, softwa ...

. *

Thomson TO16 The Thomson TO16 or Thomson TO16PC is a PC compatible personal computer introduced by French company Thomson SA in 1987, with prices ranging from 9000 to 16000 FF depending on the version. Prototype The original concept was a machine similar to ...

: released in September 1987.

Intel 8088 The Intel 8088 ("''eighty-eighty-eight''", also called iAPX 88) microprocessor is a variant of the Intel 8086. Introduced on June 1, 1979, the 8088 has an eight-bit external data bus instead of the 16-bit bus of the 8086. The 16-bit registers and ...

based

IBM compatible IBM PC compatible computers are similar to the original IBM Personal Computer, IBM PC, IBM Personal Computer XT, XT, and IBM Personal Computer/AT, AT, all from computer giant IBM, that are able to use the same software and expansion cards. Such ...

PC.

References

External links

Theodore
multi-platform Thomson 8-bit

emulator In computing, an emulator is hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run software or use pe ...