The Intertec SuperBrain was an all-in-one commercial

microcomputer A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (P ...

that was first sold by Intertec Data Systems Corporation of

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, USA in 1979. The machine ran the operating system

CP/M CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/Intel 8085, 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Dig ...

and was somewhat unusual in that it used dual

Z80 The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor designed by Zilog that played an important role in the evolution of early personal computing. Launched in 1976, it was designed to be software-compatible with the Intel 8080, offering a compelling altern ...

CPUs, the second being used as a

disk controller A disk controller is a controller circuit that enables a CPU to communicate with a hard disk, floppy disk or other kind of disk drive. It also provides an interface between the disk drive and the bus connecting it to the rest of the system.{ ...

. In 1983, the basic machine sold for about . There were several variants, including the SuperBrain II (released in 1982), SuperBrain II Jr., "QD" (quad-density disk drives) and "SD" (super density) models. Intertec also released a similar looking

dumb terminal A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that can be used for entering data into, and transcribing data from, a computer or a computing system. Most early computers only had a front panel to input or display ...

, the Intertube, and smart terminal, the Emulator. The SuperBrain is notable for being at the user end of the first Kermit connection in 1981. The machine was practical and useful in the office environment, but somewhat limited until the arrival of the first 5 MB

hard drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...

in one of the floppy drive bays. This was soon replaced by the 10 MB hard drive. Up to 255 CompuStar workstations could be daisy-chained together via DC-37 "Chaining Adaptor" parallel ports to share the "central disk system" (one of the three hard drive peripheral options below). Each computer, or VPU (Video Processing Unit), was assigned a unique number from 1 to 255 by setting an eight-position

DIP switch A DIP switch is a manual electric switch that is packaged with others in a group in a standard dual in-line package (DIP). The term may refer to each individual switch, or to the unit as a whole. This type of switch is designed to be used on a p ...

. The Brazilian company Prológica introduced the Sistema 700 in 1981, based on the SuperBrain and with similar characteristics.

Specifications

Peripherals

* CompuStar DSS-10 10 MB Hard Drive (CompuStar Disk Storage System) *

CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and is headquartered in Atlanta, ...

96 MB Hard Drive (80 MB fixed disk with 16 MB removable platter) *

Priam In Greek mythology, Priam (; , ) was the legendary and last king of Troy during the Trojan War. He was the son of Laomedon. His many children included notable characters such as Hector, Paris, and Cassandra. Etymology Most scholars take the e ...

14-inch 144 MB Hard Drive

Applications

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 v ...

* 8080 assembler * Microsoft COBOL 74 * APL

In pop culture

The Superbrain can be seen in two episodes of ''

Knight Rider ''Knight Rider'' is an American media franchise, entertainment franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The core of ''Knight Rider'' is its three-television series: the original ''Knight Rider (1982 TV series), Knight Rider'' (1982–1986) and sequ ...

'': one in Season 1, Episode 10, "The Final Verdict" (1982), and the second in Season 1, Episode 18, "White Bird" (1983). In John Carpenter’s '' The Thing'', Dr. Blair uses a Superbrain to analyse samples from The Thing from which he estimates that it will take over the world in about three years.

References

External links

Intertec SuperBrain
DAVES OLD COMPUTERS

at Old Computer Museum

* CP/M Microcomputers Computer-related introductions in 1979 {{microcompu-stub