Welcome back to part 14 of my fourth SepTandy Spectacular. In the last post ended our look at the Model 100 with it's miscellaneous peripherals. In this entry we move on to the MC-10, with its early peripherals and add ons.
Now being one of the shorter lived computer in Tandy's catalog, there weren't exactly a lot of peripherals available, In fact there were a whopping 2!, but their still worth looking at nonetheless.
The first of these was the 16K RAM Module (Catalog number 26-3013), released alongside the computer in 1983, for a retail price of $49.95.
A listing for the MC10's 16K RAM Module in the 1984 Radio Shack Catalog
The device itself is very similar to the 16K RAM expansion for the Sinclair ZX81/Timex Sinclair 1000, which makes sense since the MC-10 was meant to compete with it
The Sinclair ZX81 16 RAM expansion
The device itself is just a little box that just simply slides into the back of the MC-10, and attaches to the expansion port.
The MC10 with the 16K RAM Module connected
With this you can expand the MC-10's memory from 3124 bytes to 19526 bytes, But what could you really do with that expanded memory? Well, for one thing it could be used to store more complex BASIC programs. Of course, considering the design of the computer, it wasn't bound to write programs that would actually be useful, but if you were into playing games, it could allow for more complex games to be written. Radio Shack even sold a few games that required expanded memory, for example if you look at the game advertised in the catalog notice how Checkers and Game Pak have just the catalog number and list, whereas Pinball Requires 16k.
A listing for the MC10's programs in the 1984 Radio Shack Catalog
The second of these was the TP-10 Thermal Printer (Catalog numbers 26-1332), also released alongside the computer in 1983, for a retail price of $49.95.
A listing for the MC10's TP-10 Thermal Printer in the 1984 Radio Shack Catalog
The printer was very similar to the TRP-100, only it was smaller, slower, and used thermal paper only, though due to the narrow slot for the paper.
The MC10's TP-10 Thermal Printer
While there is only two periferals for the MC-10 and thats the Realistic Portavison color TV (Catalog numbers 16-105), Introduced the year prior in 1982 for $399.95.
A listing for the Realistic Portavison color TV in the 1983 Radio Shack Catalog
While the MC-10 was originally advertised with the TC-130, The Portavision was promoted the MC-10 later.
A promotional photo for the Realistic Portavison color TV with the MC-10
The Portavision itself was a 5 Inch color TV that could pick up UHF, VHF, and even had a built in FM radio, all powered by just 4 D batteries. It was ideal to use with this computer with its small formfactor, and in theory, could besomewhat portable due to the size and weight.
The Realistic Portavison color TV
Other than these 3 peripherals, Due to the MC-10's short life, no other expansion options were available. But that didn't stop making their own after the machine became a cult collectors item, which include joystick adapters to floppy drive interfaces. This concludes Part 5 of the fourth Septandy Spectacular, join me next time as we take a closer look at the MC-10's miscellaneous peripherals.
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