Very interesting none the less. Very odd choice of cpu, 6802 clone... They could have had a 6502 for cheaper. I guess they were manufacturing them already and just used what they had in house.
-- Stu --
It's interesting that contemporary reviews rated its BASIC implementation as the fastest and most accurate, so that's certainly something in its favor. It's actually constructed well, despite the chiclet keyboard and it was obviously capable of decent displays pre-program. I wonder if any of the other software ever released was anything but in BASIC? Some of the screenshots on the Old-Computers.com Website seem to indicate this may have been so.
What I find most interesting is that the Mattel Aquarius is considered the ultimate technological bomb and that was released around the same time. It's true that the Aquarius was inferior on almost all counts, but it also had the benefit of professional programmers who actually were able to make and release decent software. Even with the pedigree of Datamost, I was surprised at the overall lack of polish in the few software titles I have (though at least the Datamost one does something resembling graphics). What I find most funny is that this is supposed to have three channel sound, but all I ever heard were Pong-like beeps. Very odd. A lot of this is probably a result of all the software being written in BASIC. I bet a decent ML program could actually show what this system was capable of.
===================================
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
===================================
*************************** Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
Very interesting none the less. Very odd choice of cpu, 6802 clone... They could have had a 6502 for cheaper. I guess they were manufacturing them already and just used what they had in house.
-- Stu --
It's interesting that contemporary reviews rated its BASIC implementation as the fastest and most accurate, so that's certainly something in its favor. It's actually constructed well, despite the chiclet keyboard and it was obviously capable of decent displays pre-program. I wonder if any of the other software ever released was anything but in BASIC? Some of the screenshots on the Old-Computers.com Website seem to indicate this may have been so.
What I find most interesting is that the Mattel Aquarius is considered the ultimate technological bomb and that was released around the same time. It's true that the Aquarius was inferior on almost all counts, but it also had the benefit of professional programmers who actually were able to make and release decent software. Even with the pedigree of Datamost, I was surprised at the overall lack of polish in the few software titles I have (though at least the Datamost one does something resembling graphics). What I find most funny is that this is supposed to have three channel sound, but all I ever heard were Pong-like beeps. Very odd. A lot of this is probably a result of all the software being written in BASIC. I bet a decent ML program could actually show what this system was capable of.
===================================
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
===================================
***************************
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.