[ Retro Scan of the Week ] Compucolor II
August 10th, 2009 by Benj Edwards
Finally. A respectable computer. Took long enough.
The Compucolor II was one of the world’s first personal computers with color display capabilities. It’s now quite rare. Does anybody out there have one that they don’t want?
Discussion topic of the week: Have you ever regularly used a computer without a color display? If so, tell us about it.
August 10th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
I did regularly use my schools apple classic and apple IIe. I used to love playing Number/Word Munchers and Oregon Trail.
August 10th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
My memory’s pretty fuzzy on this but I remember owning a “Color Computer” from Radio Shack. Funny enough the monitor only supported a single color – orange I think. I had a spreadsheet app, word processor (no printer) and Tetris…the only thing I used regularly : )
August 11th, 2009 at 2:28 am
Computers I used w/out a color display: TRS 80 Model 1, TRS 80 Model 100, Apple IIe, Apple IIc, Sun Workstation (forgot which), the original Fat Mac, some generic XT with an amber screen (perfect for bouts of Test Drive), a Zenith 286 “Laptop”. I also had a summer job once where I had some 286 with an amber monitor for CAD work. And at uni I had the joy of learning C and C++ on Sun Sparcstations.
August 11th, 2009 at 5:27 am
Apple IIe clone and few years later, a generic XT with 640 KB of ram with two 5 1/4″ floppy drives. That XT really became my first entry to PC gaming.
August 11th, 2009 at 7:41 am
Happy Birthday Steve Wozniak!
August 17th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
I used a 13 inch black and white TV (that I got in 1969) with my Color Computer 2. I later got a 12 inch amber monitor for it. Still have them.
August 20th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
We had an early Apple IIe (Mom was a teacher), and I had a VIC-20. Does using an original Gameboy regularly still count? 🙂
August 26th, 2009 at 9:43 am
I owned an IBM XT that had an orange monochrome monitor, as well as a Commodore 16 (!) that had a green monochrome monitor. I self-taught myself most of what I knew back then (I’ve forgotten about 98% of what I knew back then :P) about BASIC and DOS on the IBM, and used the Commodore 16 to play games on tape. Also, back then, our schools had Apple ][e’s, and that’s where I applied much of my self-taught knowledge to get all A’s in my computer classes, doing mostly programming and playing Oregon Trail.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
I used a Compucolor II computer back in high school, circa 1978, in my vocational electronics class. I loved it. I remember writing a program that would draw a random colored line that would move across the screen, similar to the game QIX. I thought I was da bomb! Later I got an Atari 800 and I was king of the world! I would hook up to bulletin boards around town (pre-internet) with my 300-baud modem. Those were the days.
October 29th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
It reminds me of the keyboards on an ancient IC layout workstation that a previous employer of mine used.
February 6th, 2011 at 11:08 pm
Only 8K of memory? What are you supposed to do with that?!
March 30th, 2011 at 11:53 pm
I got a compucolor in extremely good condition, packed away in 88 when my dad updated his computer, still with software, mainly games. Want to sell now he has passed away. You know someone I could sell to? I live in australia but could ship anywhere in the world.
Sincerely,
Michael
Cheers
February 15th, 2012 at 4:32 am
I have used Apple ][+ and IIe computers with monochrome monitors. My Coleco ADAM used a B&W TV. I have both an 8086 and an 8088 PC and I am told they use monochrome monitors. My ex-gf had an IBM Portable with an amber monitor. Loved playing a pinball game on that thing!
November 18th, 2015 at 2:19 pm
I have a CompuColor II, but not the classic 1978 model. I have the “3621” model that is in an all-in-one case. Still the same logic board and CRT, just stuffed into a really classy case. It doesn’t work, and I have been advised to replace all the capacitors because evidently they fail with age. There is a great web site that covers the CompuColor II and has a lot of scans of old ads and manuals. The best part is they have a CompuColor II emulator (written in JavaScript) that can run all the old software, which they just happen to have in their library! Star Trek, Swarms, Lunar Lander are just some of the old games that I can play again on their site. I even found the image editor program I submitted to the Rochester NY CompuColor User’s Group and ran that!
July 5th, 2019 at 3:53 am
I am looking for an compucolor II, if any one Is selling one, please let me know.