Object Details
- Exidy, Inc.
- Description
- Exidy, a leading manufacturer of home and arcade video games, introduced its Sorcerer home computer in 1978. The Sorcer used a Z-80 processor that ran at 2.106 MHz and came with 8 KB of RAM, which could be expanded to 32 KB. It ran the CP/M operating system. It sold for $898 with 8 KB of RAM, $1150 with 16 KB of RAM, and $1395 with 32 KB of RAM. It also contained 4 K of ROM. Programs were loaded with plug-in ROM cartridges, and the machine came with a standard BASIC cartridge. This was essentially the common Microsoft BASIC already widely used in the CP/M world. But Exidy added a number of one-stroke commands that allowed users to type in common instructions such as PRINT with a single keystroke. Another popular cartridge contained an early version of the word processor Spellbinder. Users could connect the machine to a standard TV, but the company also offered its own Exidy "Video/Disk" monitor for $2,995.
- Judged against its competitors, the Commodore PET and Radio Shack TRS-80, the Sorcerer was comparatively advanced when it appeared. Due to a lack of marketing in the United States, however, it did not sell well there. It did better in Europe and Australia. Exidy took the machine off the market in 1980.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Elmer C. Butler, Jr.
- 1978-1980
- ID Number
- 1993.0546.01
- catalog number
- 1993.0546.01
- accession number
- 1993.0546
- Object Name
- microcomputer
- Physical Description
- plastic (overall material)
- metal (overall material)
- rubber (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 10.8 cm x 52.2 cm x 35.5 cm; 4 1/4 in x 20 9/16 in x 14 in
- See more items in
- Medicine and Science: Computers
- Family & Social Life
- Work
- Computers & Business Machines
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Exidy Sorcerer
- Record ID
- nmah_334653
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ab-b274-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
