Ryan's SepTandy Spectacular! 3: Send in the clones Part #14 - The Miscellaneous Extra Clones

Welcome back to part 14 of my SepTandy Spectacular 3. In the last post I took a look at the Lo-tech Tandy Compatible Sound Adapter, a unique card for the PCs that can give them some features of the Tandy 1000. In this post were going to wrap up this years spectacular by taking a look at the miscellaneous clones some miscellaneous clones I didn't cover.

The many other miscellaneous clones

Finding these other clones has been difficult as they have very poor documentation (Usually just the name of the computer and nothing else) and seemingly no photos on the regular web. However, thanks to the power of Internet Archive and some extra digging I did manage to find a few, so lets take a look!

The first clone will be looking at is the Fenix II, It was released around 1982 by Fenix Sistemas e Computadores Ltda and sold in Brazil.

The Fenix Sistemas e Computadores Ltda Fenix II (1982)

It look similar to the DGT-100, but includes a numpad. It uses a Z80A CPU running at 4 MHz, with 16K of RAM (Expandable to 48K) and a 12K ROM. The screen resolution was 64 columns by 16 rows, As well as containing built in block characters for a semigraphics resolution of 128x48, with the ability to be displayed in 8 colors. There was also a graphics board available allowing for a graphics resolution of 480x192.

Next is the JP-01, by Jamper Engenharia Eletronica Ltda and released in 1983.

The Jamper Engenharia Eletronica Ltda JP-01 (1983)

It also look similar to the DGT-100, but with a numpad. It uses a Z80A CPU running at 2/4 MHz, with 16K of RAM (Expandable to 48K) and a 12K ROM. The screen resolution was 64 columns by 16 rows, As well as 32 columns by 16 rows, 80 columns by 16 rows, 80 columns by 24 rows, and containing built in block characters for a semigraphics resolution of 128x48.

Next up is the Naja 800, by Kemitron Ltda and released in 1985.

The Kemitron Ltda Naja 800 (1985)

It's compatible with the Model I, III, and IIII, using a Z80A CPU running at 3.6 MHz, with 128K of RAM (expandable to 512K) and a 16KB ROM. It also came with the option of coming with 1 or 2  disk drives, or a 5, 10, or 15MB Winchester Hard Drive, with support for up to 4 5.25 or 8 inch floppy drives. Its also capable of producing an additional text resolution of 40 columns by 24 rows or 80 columns by 24 rows with a graphics resolution of 640x240.

Next up is the Komtech I by Komtek Technologies, released in 1983, and made and sold in Hong Kong and the Netherlands.

The Komtek Technologies Komtech I (1983)

It's compatible with the Model I, III, and IIII, using a Z80A CPU running at 3.6 MHz, with 16K of RAM (expandable to 48K) and a 16K of ROM. The screen resolution was 64 columns by 16 rows or 32 columns by 16 rows, As well as containing built in block characters for a semigraphics resolution of 128x48, with the ability to be displayed in 16 colors.

Next up is the Le Guépard by HBN Electronic Sa, released in 1984, and sold in France.

The HBN Electronic Sa Le Guépard (1984)

Its an all in one machine with built in keyboard, monitor and disk drives, using a Z80A CPU running at 4 MHz, with 64K of RAM (Expandable to 256K) and a 2K ROM. The screen resolution was 64 columns by 16 rows or 80 columns by 24 rows, with the ability to display 32 colors on an external display, or 350x250 monochrome graphics mode with a separate card. It also included 2 80 track DD 720 or 360K 5.25 floppy drives, (With the option for substituting one of the drive for a 10 MB hard drive), Centronics parallel, RS-232 serial, or an optional IEE488 parallel port, A battery backed real time clock, a 3 voice sound chip, and input for a light pen.

Next is the MTI Mod III Plus by Microcomputer Technology Inc., released in 1982, and sold in the US.

The HBN Electronic Sa Le Guépard (1982)

It looks a lot like the TRS-80 Model III, and in fact it is a TRS-80 Model III, just modified with some aftermarket improvements. It uses a Z80 CPU running at 4 MHz, 48K of RAM, screen resolution of 80 columns by 24 rows, and 2 40 or 80 track DD 5.25 floppy drives, (With the option for substituting one of the drive for a 5 MB hard drive). These offered many of the improvements the Model IIII provided and possibly influenced it's release, soon rendering this machine obsolete.

Next is the PROF 80 by Pentasonic, also released in 1982, and sold in France.

The Pentasonic PROF 80 (1982)

Its a kit based clone, and sold as a bare board. It uses a Z80 CPU clocked at 2/4 MHz, 64K of RAM, 12K of ROM (Using the LNW80 BASIC ROM from the LNW80), and the option for a color graphics card based on the EF9366 graphics controller with 48K RAM with either a 512 x 512 monochrome mode and a 256 x 512 with 8 colors, a CP/M card, and a disk controller supporting from 1 to 4 single  density 8 inch or 5.25 floppy drives (or double density with the optional adapter card).

And the last TRS-80 clone on the list is the R1001 by Radionic, released in 1983, and sold in the UK.

The Radionic R1001 (1983)

It looks like the Komtech I, and presumably it has the same specs, with a a Z80A CPU running at 3.6 MHz, with 16K of RAM (expandable to 48K) and a 16K of ROM. The screen resolution was 64 columns by 16 rows or 32 columns by 16 rows, As well as containing built in block characters for a semigraphics resolution of 128x48, with the ability to be displayed in 16 colors. The story behind this machine is a mystery, but some think it was distributed by Sinclair because the Radionic logo resembles the logo used by Sinclair's former Sinclair Radionic branch, however that brand had been defunct by the time the R1001 came out. So whether or not Sinclair had any involvement is unclear.

The Radionic Calculator (1976)

Other clones I wanted to talk about but still could not obtain any more details are the Spotlight-I by Hanguk Sangyeok (South Korea), the Stolový Počítač SP830 by ZVT (Czech Republic), the RACIMEC (Racionalizao e Mecanizao Ltda Racimec) 1800 (Brazil), the Sysdata Eletronica Ltda Sysdata IV (Brazil), and the Sayfi Computadores Ltda TRS 80 (Brazil) (Really being blatant with naming huh?).

Next is Tandy Coco clones, starting with the Tomcat TC-9 by Frank Hogg Laboratory. and introduced in 1990.

 Frank Hogg Laboratory Tomcat TC-9 (1990)

The Tomcat was designed to be a Ccoo 3 compatible, containing Motorola 6809E CPU running at 0.895/1.79 MHz, with 128K of RAM and 32K of ROM, 32x16, 40x25, 80x25 text modes, and 320x200 graphics mode with 16 colors. The big appeal of these unit were that they included a propriataty system bus called the K-Bus, which would allow you to interface with a Motorola 68000 or 68030 to turn the TC-9 into a dual processor system and boosting performance. However it came out quite late in the Coco's life and very few were sold as a result.

Next is the TKS800 by Microdigital Eletrônica Ltda., introduced in 1984.

The Microdigital Eletrônica Ltda. TKS800 (1984)

This machine was only a prototype and never released officially or commercially, but was designed to be Coco compatible. It used a Motorola 6809E microprocessor running at 0.895 Mhz, 16K of RAM 32K of ROM, a 32 columns by 16 row text mode and color graphics with resolutions ranging between 64x32 and 256x192 with up to 4 simultaneous colors, and a 6-bit digital to analog converter (DAC) for single voice sound. 

And the last Coco clone on the list is the Cyclone CoCo, designed by by Roger Smith, and released in 2017.

The Roger Smith Cyclone CoCo (1985)

This is an FPGA based system with prewritted code to emulate an entire Coco 3. It uses a DE0-Nano Development and Education Board with a Cyclone® IV EP4CE22F17C6N FPGA clocked at 50 Mhz (Emulating all the Coco 3's specs with a Motorola 6809E CPU running at 0.895/1.79 MHz, with 128K of RAM and 32K of ROM, 32x16, 40x25, 80x25 text modes, and 320x200 graphics mode with 16 colors.), and Smith's own Terasic DE0-Nano Upgrade Daughter Board, which provides RAM, two PS/2 Keyboard and mouse ports, a 1/8″ audio output jack, VGA video output, and header connectors for plugging in a SD card reader module, and WiFi and Bluetooth modules. 

And finally we have a clone of the MC-10, the Sysdata Tcolor, by Sysdata Eletronica Ltda, introduced in 1984.

The Sysdata Tcolor (1984)

It exactly the same as the MC-10 and has the same specs. It uses a Motorola 6803 clocked at 0.89 MHz, 4K of RAM which is expandable to 20K (with 3142 bytes left for user), and 8K of ROM. For graphics, the Alice contains the Motorola MCC6847 Video Display Generator (the same video chip used in the CoCo), with most of the same graphics and text resolutions. For sound, the Alice uses a beeper speaker instead of the 6-bit DAC, outputting various pitches and durations, similar to the beeper speakers used in the Apple II and the IBM PC. Not much is known about this system but it can be presumed it wasn't much of a success, much like the machine it copied.

There are probably many more clones out there than ive listed here, but I think I'll stop there, otherwise we'd be here all day!

So how do I rate these machines on compatibility? they all rank as Fully Compatible due to using the same components and while some like the Cyclone may run into issues, 95% or more of available software will run on these machines.

This concludes my third SepTandy Spectacular, I hope you enjoyed my look at the The various Tandy clones sold throughout the world. In the next Special, I plan to go back to official Radio Shack products and take a look at other miscellaneous hardware and possibly even some software. But until then, that wraps it up, thanks for reading. See you next time!