CARDCO was a computer peripheral company during the 1980s in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

, United States. CARDCO was well known in the Commodore 64 and

VIC-20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Commodore Business Machines. The VIC-20 was announced in 1980, roughly three years after Commodore's first personal computer, the ...

community because of advertisements in numerous issues of

Compute! ''Compute!'' (), often stylized as ''COMPUTE!'', was an American home computer magazine that was published from 1979 to 1994. Its origins can be traced to 1978 in Len Lindsay's ''PET Gazette'', one of the first magazines for the Commodore PET ...

magazine and availability of their products at large retailers, such as

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, f ...

History

CARDCO was founded by Ed J. Lippert II (President / Management) and Breck Ricketts (Vice President / Engineering). It went out of business in 1986 because of the decline in sales of C64 computers. In 1986, they formed a new company called ''C-Ltd'' that manufactured peripherals for Amiga computers, and it eventually went out of business in 1989 as the Amiga computer sales declined. ''Computers Anonymous'' was a spin-off company ran by Cardco owners wife Betsy Lippert & Cherie Hovaidar-Safid, which repaired devices made and sold by CARDCO.

Hardware products

Printer interfaces

There were severe shortcomings of early

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore ...

printers, so CARDCO created the ''Card Print A'' (C/?A) printer interface that emulated Commodore printers by converting the Commodore serial interface to a

Centronics Centronics Data Computer Corporation was an American manufacturer of computer printers, now remembered primarily for the parallel interface that bears its name, the Centronics connector. History Foundations Centronics began as a division ...

parallel printer interface to allow numerous 3rd-party printers to be connected to a Commodore 64 or VIC-20. A second model, a version that supported printer graphics was released called the ''Card Print +G'' (C/?+G), supported printing Commodore graphic characters using Epson

ESC/P ESC/P, short for Epson Standard Code for Printers and sometimes styled Escape/P, is a printer control language developed by Epson to control computer printers. It was mainly used in dot matrix printers and some inkjet printers, and is still widel ...

escape codes. CARDCO released additional enhancements, including a model with

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 ...

serial output, and shipped over two million total printer interfaces. Common compatible printers were manufactured by

Epson Seiko Epson Corporation, or simply known as Epson, is a Japanese multinational electronics company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of computer printers and information- and imaging-related equipment. Headquartered in Suwa, Nagano ...

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb ...

Okidata , commonly referred to as OKI, OKI Electric or the OKI Group, is a Japanese information and communications technology company, headquartered in Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo and operating in over 120 countries around the world. OKI produced the fi ...

, Star Micronics, and

C. Itoh is a Japanese corporation based in Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka and Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo. It is one of the largest Japanese ''sogo shosha'' (general trading companies). Among Japanese trading companies, it is distinguished by not being descend ...

. ''GWIZ'' - Computer Interface between a Commodore 64 and a non Commodore printer such as a (Silver Reed Printer, Gorilla Printer, Etc.)

Cassette player interface

Unlike most other systems, Commodore computers could only use specialized

cassette player A cassette deck is a type of tape machine for playing and recording audio cassettes that does not have a built-in power amplifier or speakers, and serves primarily as a transport. It can be a part of an automotive entertainment system, a part of ...

s, known as "

Commodore Datasette The third, most common version of the 1530 C2N Datassette The Commodore 1530 (C2N) Datasette, later also Datassette (a portmanteau of ''data'' and ''cassette''), is Commodore's dedicated magnetic tape data storage device. Using compact cassettes ...

s", to save data. CARDCO made an adaptor to work with normal cassette players.

Numpad

CARDCO made a

numpad A numeric keypad, number pad, numpad, or ten key, is the palm-sized, usually-17-key section of a standard computer keyboard, usually on the far right. It provides calculator-style efficiency for entering numbers. The idea of a 10-key n ...

that plugged into both of the joystick ports on the Commodore 64.

Software products

;Cartridge * ''Write Now'' (C/01) - word processor for VIC20.Compute Gazette; September 1983; Inside Back Cover.
/ref> * ''Write Now'' (C/02) - word processor for C64.Compute Gazette; September 1984; Inside Back Cover.
/ref> * ''Freeze Frame'' * ''S'MORE'' ;Floppy Disk * ''Mail Now'' (D/01) - mailing list processor for C64. * ''Spell Now'' (D/04) - spell checker for C64. * ''File Now'' (D/05) - relational database for C64. * ''Graph Now'' / ''Paint Now'' (D/06) - graph and chart generator for C64. * ''Super Printer Utility Programs'' (D/08)

References

{{Reflist

External links

CARDCO Manual Archive
* CARDCO Card Print A (C/?A) Printer Interface
User ManualAddendum
* CARDCO Card Print +G (C/?+G) Printer Interface
User ManualSupplement
VIC-20 Defunct companies based in Kansas Defunct computer hardware companies Electronics companies disestablished in 1986 Commodore 64 peripheral manufacturers