The Thomson TO8 is a home computer introduced by French company

Thomson SA 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 ...

in 1986, with a cost of 2,990 FF. It replaces its predecessor, the

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 ...

, while remaining essentially compatible. The new features of the TO8, like larger memory (256KB) and better graphics modes (powered by the

Thomson EF9369 The Thomson EF936x series is a type of Graphic Display Processor (GDP) by Thomson-EFCIS. The chip could draw at 1 million pixels per second, which was relatively advanced for the time of its release (1982 or earlier). There are various versions ...

graphics chip), are shared with the other third generation Thomson computers ( MO6 and TO9+). The TO8 has a tape drive and

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 ...

1.0 (in standard and 512 KB versions) on its internal ROM, and there is an optional external

floppy drive 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 ...

. Graphics were provided by the

chip, allowing the display of 16 colors from a palette of 4096. More than 120 games exist for the system. An improved version, the Thomson TO8D, includes a built-in 3.5" floppy drive.

Bibliography

References

External links

Thomson TO8/O8D
at Old-Computers.com *

site of Antoine Miné 6809-based home computers Thomson computers {{microcompu-stub