The Albert is an Apple II clone released by Albert Computers, Inc., in 1983. Six models, comparable to the

Apple IIe The Apple IIe (styled as Apple //e) is the third model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Inc., Apple Computer. It was released in January 1983 as the successor to the Apple II Plus. The ''e'' in the name stands for ...

, were ultimately produced.

Description

Albert Computers, Inc. offered a "complete system" for approximately the price of a basic Apple IIe. This included 64k of RAM (192k max), upper and lower case, 256 colors (as opposed to the Apple IIe’s 16 colors), enhanced graphics, Analog RGB support, serial and

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 (paralle ...

s, a graphics digitizer tablet, voice recognition, a software package (including word processor, spreadsheet, data manager, mailing list, word speller), 110/220v AC/DC power, and even an integrated battery backup (option). The Albert had an unusual "two-piece design" which the company termed "stereo" styling.

History

Albert Computers, Inc., based in

Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, located in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles. Approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown Los Angeles, it is named after the many oak trees pr ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, modeled its line of Apple clones on the Apple IIe and aimed at home and business consumers. The company, which insisted that the Albert was not an Apple clone but an improvement, said, "It’s a next-generation computer with more than a dozen advanced hardware features and software capabilities." The base model of the Albert was $1,595, while the base price of the Apple IIe was $1,395. The options that came standard with the Albert were over $3,000. Albert's marketing featured an image of

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

and copy which read: "When you're ready to buy a personal computer, it's easy to see why Albert is smarter than Apple." However, Albert Computers, Inc. quickly ran afoul of Apple Computer, Inc., which sued for

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of Copyright#Scope, works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the c ...

Models

Specifications

Video display

; Display modes * 40-column text, 5x7

dot matrix A dot matrix is a 2-dimensional patterned Array data structure, array, used to represent characters, symbols and images. Most types of modern technology use dot matrices for display of information, including mobile phones, televisions, and pri ...

* 80-column text, 5x7 dot matrix, monitor (optional with 128 KB RAM expansion) * Low-resolution color graphics * High-resolution color graphics * RGB 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 material ...

monitor outputs ; Text capacity * 24 lines by 40 columns * 24 lines by 80 columns (optional with 128 KB RAM expansion) ; Character set * 96 printable

ASCII ASCII ( ), an acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for representing a particular set of 95 (English language focused) printable character, printable and 33 control character, control c ...

characters, upper- and lowercase ; Character formatting * Normal * Inverse * Flashing ; Low-resolution graphics * 6 on-screen colors (from 256 selectable colors) * 48 H × 48 V resolution * 48 H × 40 V with 4 lines of text ; High-resolution graphics * 6 on-screen colors (from 256 selectable colors) * Color-selectable text and background * 280 × 192 px resolution (6 colors) * 140 × 192 px resolution (16 colors)

Processing

;

CPU A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor, or just processor, is the primary processor in a given computer. Its electronic circuitry executes instructions of a computer program, such as arithmetic, log ...

* 1 MHz 6502A

8-bit In computer architecture, 8-bit integers or other data units are those that are 8 bits wide (1 octet). Also, 8-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) architectures are those that are based on registers or data bu ...

microprocessor with

16-bit 16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors. A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two ...

address bus ; Registers * Accumulator (A) *

Index register An index register in a computer's central processing unit, CPU is a processor register (or an assigned memory location) used for pointing to operand addresses during the run of a program. It is useful for stepping through String (computer science ...

s (X, Y) * Stack pointers (P) ; Register size * 8-bits ;

Data bus In computer architecture, a bus (historically also called a data highway or databus) is a communication system that transfers data between components inside a computer or between computers. It encompasses both hardware (e.g., wires, optical ...

* 8-bits ;

Address bus In computer architecture, a bus (historically also called a data highway or databus) is a communication system that transfers data between components inside a computer or between computers. It encompasses both hardware (e.g., wires, optical ...

* 16-bits ; Address range * 65,536 (64K)

Memory

; Standard memory: * 64 KB of

dynamic RAM Dynamics (from Greek δυναμικός ''dynamikos'' "powerful", from δύναμις ''dynamis'' " power") or dynamic may refer to: Physics and engineering * Dynamics (mechanics), the study of forces and their effect on motion Brands and ente ...

* Expandable on the motherboard to 192 KB ; Programmable storage * 64 KB RAM ; Read-only memory * 2 on-board

ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...

sockets

I/O

* Detached typewriter-style keyboard * Microphone input * 8-

ohm Ohm (symbol Ω) is a unit of electrical resistance named after Georg Ohm. Ohm or OHM may also refer to: People * Georg Ohm (1789–1854), German physicist and namesake of the term ''ohm'' * Germán Ohm (born 1936), Mexican boxer * Jörg Ohm (1 ...

speaker * Output speaker jack * Amplifier with volume control * Video display output (composite color or programmable RGB) *

RS-232 In telecommunications, RS-232 or Recommended Standard 232 is a standard introduced in 1960 for serial communication transmission of data. It formally defines signals connecting between a ''DTE'' (''data terminal equipment'') such as a compu ...

serial port * Parallel printer port * Serial printer port * RS-432/

422 __NOTOC__ Year 422 ( CDXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Theodosius (or, less frequently, year 1175 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denominati ...

(links to

Ethernet Ethernet ( ) is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

via network gateway connector) * 5 expansion slots (fully buffered with interrupt and DMA priority structure) ; Hand control (gaming) I/O signals (16-pin DIP) * Annunciator outputs: 4 * Strobe: 1 * Switch inputs: 3 * Analog inputs: 4 * Ground and +5 V * Soft-switched ;

Analog-to-digital converter In electronics, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC, A/D, or A-to-D) is a system that converts an analog signal, such as a sound picked up by a microphone or light entering a digital camera, into a Digital signal (signal processing), digi ...

inputs: * Analog inputs: 6 (8) * Annunciator outputs: 4 * Switch inputs: 3 * Ground and +5 V * Soft-switched ;

Digital-to-analog converter In electronics, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC, D/A, D2A, or D-to-A) is a system that converts a digital signal into an analog signal. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) performs the reverse function. DACs are commonly used in musi ...

outputs: * 8-bit digital/analog converter *

Real-time clock A real-time clock (RTC) is an electronic device (most often in the form of an integrated circuit) that measures the passage of time. Although the term often refers to the devices in personal computers, server (computing), servers and embedded ...

: month, day, hour, minutes, seconds

Power requirements

; Line * 110 to 220 VAC {{polarity, ac, or 8 to 32 VDC ; Battery * 12 VDC * 1.2 ampere-hours (All specifications standard except as indicated.)

References

External links

Albert Apple II Clone
(Time Tech Traveller

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel, June 11, 2022)
Photo Gallery
(VintageComputer.ca)
Apple2Clones.com
Apple II clones Computer-related introductions in 1983 Companies based in Thousand Oaks, California