VTech Laser 200
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|
Keyboard | |
Power | 10 volt |
---|---|
Dimensions | 29 × 17 × 4cm |
Mass | 800g |
Predecessor | VTech Laser 110 |
Successor | VTech Laser 310 |
The
Video Technology manufactured calculators and
The machine ran basic games on
Release
Released in 1983,
Due to Dick Smith Electronics extensive advertising throughout Australia and New Zealand, the computer gained large popularity.[3] The "Dick Smith"-badged VZ 200 was successful in Australia, where it proved popular as a first computer.[4] By 1984, a Dick Smith Electronics catalogue announced that over 30,000 units had sold within the first 12 months. In Australia, it was bought mostly to learn programming; the only other widely available system in the same price bracket being the Commodore 64. The VZ200 version of BASIC had more features compared to the Commodore 64 BASIC.[5]
The VZ200 had little impact in the UK where it sold at a similar price to the 16 kB ZX Spectrum. At its UK launch, Texet claimed that the £98 (equivalent to £352 in 2021) TX8000-branded version was the cheapest colour home microcomputer on the market. However, this was not enough to ensure its success against the dominant ZX Spectrum and similar machines already on sale.[6]
An improved version known as the VTech Laser 310, or the Dick Smith VZ 300 featured a full travel keyboard and 8K
Laser310's were a huge success throughout China. Various Primary schools throughout the country had the Laser310 sitting alongside Apple ][e's during the late 1980's.
Technical specification Laser200/Laser210/VZ200
The VZ200 has three
Externally, the VZ200 resembles a cross between the VIC-20 and the ZX Spectrum. The VZ200 has the one touch command keys of the Spectrum, but unlike the Sinclair machines, their use was not mandatory.
Internally, the VZ200 is a workalike of the
The connections consist of a port for an unregulated
The VZ200 uses a copy of a
An 8 kB system consists of 6 kB of RAM, 2 kB of video RAM, and 16 kB of ROM. The memory could be expanded to 24 kB (22 kB memory plus 2 kB video memory). Like the TRS-80, both memory and I/O locations are mapped.
Extended RAM was available above top RAM using the remote offset addressing method available on the Z80 (also known as bank switching).
Banks of system memory can be reassigned using an offset above the top RAM. Those banks are then no longer available, so program algorithms cannot be used in extended memory (as the program would "disappear" when extended memory is accessed), so it can only be used for program data.
Video RAM can be increased to access the higher modes of the 6847 since there are video RAM chip select lines on the memory expansion. Remote offset addressing must be used because the video processor cannot address system or internal expansion RAM, externally connected RAM must be used.
Video
The VZ200 uses the Motorola 6847 video processor ( like the TRS-80 Color Computer ), which has a resolution of 256 × 192 pixels made from either 8 × 8 pixel character blocks in a 32 × 24 block screen, or a monochrome bitmapped mode.
As the VZ200 is limited to only 2 kB of
The VZ200 has up to ten colours, an eight colour palette plus black and buff. The VZ200 has 256 predefined character blocks. Text is only available in upper case. The character blocks cannot be redefined. The screen can use green mode or black mode, the latter using inverse colours.
MODE 0
In mode 0, the background colour can be either dark green or orange. Dark green (COLOR,0) consists of nine individual colours, whilst with the orange background (COLOR,1) ten colours are available.
In mode 0, text uses a black foreground with either background colour. The first 128 character blocks are 64 alpha-numeric characters and their inverses. Text mode 0 is the only mode in which black is available.
The latter 128 character blocks consist of a 2×2 pixel block in each possible combination (8), in every of the 8 colour palette for foreground, together with either background colour chosen. Black is not available.
MODE 1
For mode 1, two colour sets are used with each background colour:
- SET 1 → background: light green - foreground: light green, yellow, blue or red.
- SET 2 → background: buff [white] - foreground: buff, cyan, magenta or orange.
Text is identical to Mode 0, using either colour set for foreground with each background colour. The difference is that all 2 kB of video memory is used, whereas only 512 bytes of video memory is used for Mode 0, and the text cannot be black, which is unavailable in this mode.
The graphics mode has 128×64 addressable points. For each character block, the background colour can be either light green or buff (white), with the foreground any of the four colours in the set. The colours can be used in any combination on the screen, but only one colour set can be used per screen, so screens are limited to four colours at most.
By using intricate video timing in assembly it is possible to split the display to show all eight colours on the screen, as shown in the VZ200 Five Finger Punch demo '2018AD' and Bushy555's demo '8 colours'. Both of these demos technically should not be possible.
Sound output
An internal latch is used for cassette output, to drive the
A 2.5 octave range is available in BASIC through the SOUND command.
Most of the ~70 known 1-bit music players that are written for the ZX Spectrum will also work on the VZ/Laser computer. These have since been ported to the VZ. Since the latch has two bits driving the internal piezo speaker, there is the ability of a software driven volume control - half-volume and full-volume.
Peripherals
Within a year of the Laser 310's release, an 80k disk drive unit was released on to the market, of which two could be connected to the computer at the same time. A plug-pack cartridge containing the
A number of other VTech designed plug-in peripherals were also available for both the Laser 200 and Laser 310 computers. Among them were joysticks, cassette drive,
In 2020 Ben Grimmett from BennVenn Electronics designed and built 50
Other Models
Laser 310 / VZ-300
The Laser 310 was released in 1985 throughout parts of Europe as well as for
The VZ300 had a small number of physical upgrades, but is completely compatible with the VZ200. There were three models of keyboard released for the VZ300 - being :
1) Generation 1 : Brown keys with no under-key labels. (1985)
2) Generation 2 : Brown keys with under-key labels. (1986)
3) Generation 3 : Light-grey/cream coloured keys, with under-key labels. (1987)
Externally, the rubber keys were replaced with hard plastic capped keys. The case was made with a less brittle type of plastic.
Video Technology used higher capacity memory ICs for the VZ-300, having 18 kb of memory (16 kb CPU RAM + 2 kb video RAM). The system RAM capacity was increased to 16 kB, which together with 16 kB of expansion RAM, makes a total of 34 kB RAM for the system.
The VZ200 16 kb RAM expansion could be used, but because of the way the chip select pins were arranged, only 8 kB would actually be available.
ETI magazine in Australia published an electronic circuit which would enable VZ300 owners to use all 16 kB of the VZ200 expansion.
Rare 64k VZ300 unit - There is at least one VZ300 known to exist with 66k of memory (64K RAM + 2K Video), built on the motherboard, built by Video Technology. This unit uses 8x HM4864P-2 8K
Laser 100 / Laser 110
The Laser 100 and 110 were released just prior to the Laser 210 / VZ200. These computers were very similar to TRS-80 Model 1, from the BASIC ROM's point of view.
For video part, instead, it uses a MC6847 (as the TRS-80 Color Computer, which is MC6809-based, not Z80-based like the Laser).
Both computers were released with the same orange coloured keyboard 'chicklet' style keyboard on a black background.
Both computers also had the same BASIC in ROM, of which, there are at least three versions: 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2.
The Laser 100 was released with 2K RAM + 2K Video RAM, whilst the Laser 110 was released with 4K RAM + 2K Video RAM.
Both computers supported colour within the internal language interpreters (BASIC, Assembler), however, the output video from the NTSC and PAL circuitry only supplied black and white signals.
The Laser 100 and 110 computers were never released as a re-badged 'VZ-100'.
Laser 305
The Laser 305 is an extremely rare computer produced by Video Technology. Essentially it is the Laser 310 motherboard placed inside the Laser 200 keyboard, of which, anyone with these two computers could perform themselves. However, the original release and the reasoning behind VTech releasing this particular configuration, unfortunately, has been lost to history. As of July 2021 there are only two known Laser 305's in existence.
Seltron 200
The Seltron 200 Color Computer is quite unique. Named after the supermarket retail chain 'Scale ELEKTRON' imported 80 units into Austria and was sold throughout the countries of Austria, Hungary and Italy. The known examples of the Seltron are unique with its own configuration layout of the motherboard; quite different from that of the other family of computers.
The Seltron's motherboard contained the same custom VZ300/Laser310 single packaged GA003 and GA004 chipsets (which replaced discrete VZ200/Laser200-210 components), though the design eliminated the need for the GA008 (clock
As of 2022 there are around 10 Seltron 200 computers known to be existing, mostly throughout in Hungary.
Salorian Fellow
Sold as the Salora Fellow throughout Finland, Sweden & Scandinavia. These were supplied with 2k RAM + 2K Video RAM Laser200 computers.
Smart Alec Jr
Re-labelled and sold/distributed on a small scale throughout the USA.
Texet TX8000A
Throughout the United Kingdom, the Laser200 was named the Texet TX8000A. Very few models were ever sold, and it is unknown if any exist today.
Distribution
Australia and New Zealand: The VZ200 was distributed throughout these countries by Dick Smith Electronics. Tens of thousands were sold.
United States of America:
In 1985, the first branch of Video Technology was opened in the United States at 390 Convention Way,
Redwood City, California. This location served as the main office, mail order center, kit assembly
area and retail store. Additional stores were opened in Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, California;
Stevens Creek Boulevard, San Jose, California; and in Los Angeles. Within a few years the US operation was sold.
There has also been numerous reports over the years of owners having the NTSC model Laser 310 that
has been reportedly having been sold and distributed throughout the US.
The Smart Alec Jr was one of the models sold throughout.
Canada : The VZ200 was distributed throughout Canada by Rocelco Inc. 24 Viceroy Road, Unit 1,
Germany : The VTech Laser 200, 210 and VTech Laser 310 sold and distributed all throughout the country by Sanyo.
The VZ200 was sold in Germany as the "VTECH VZ200", the "more sophisticated Models" as "SANYO VIDEO/LASER XXX".
This led to legal action because of the misleading use of the "SANYO" Brand Name. ( "SANYO VIDEO" )
Trademark Laws and trademark infringements are strictly illegal in Germany,
A friendly agreement was reached with "SANYO" at the time by Video Technology in Hong Kong.
Packaging of German LASER 310's were labelled "SANYO VIDEO".
During the early years of the VZ200 and Laser210 throughout Germany saw a large number of the computers being
sold, and as such, many user groups formed. It was interesting to note that the Light Pen was sold in Germany
in the early years, and as such, quite a number were privately imported into Australia by Gavin Williamson and
Bob Kitch and then on sold. The Light pen was never sold in Australia. The Floppy disk drive was marketed and
sold throughout Germany (1984) nearly two years before they were even advertised in Australia (end of 1985).
Once again, a number of drive units ended up in Australia long before Dick Smith got onboard. One up for Germany.
Software
With both of their releases in Germany, England, USA, Italy, Australia, New Zealand and a few other countries, commercially based software titles grew and were distributed throughout various outlets in their home county syets store fronts throughout Australia and New Zealand sold many titles, including educational and graphical games, finance programs and various software utility tools, most of which have been found and transferred for the use in the various emulators. Unfortunately, there are a number of known software packages that have simply been lost through the passage of time.
Dick Smith Electronics ran a program buying software from local programmers and selling them through their stores for $12 a cassette. Most VZ200 programs were written in Australia, it is the equivalent of the
BASIC
The VZ includes a built-in BASIC interpreter in ROM, which is used not just for programming, but for accessing the OS, recording programs, and all other operations on the micro.
The VZ200 uses a version of Microsoft BASIC II, similar but not identical to Level II BASIC on the TRS-80, including useful commands like SET, PRINT@ and IF-THEN-ELSE. Firmware machine code routines are available using the RSX command. The firmware contains a large number of useful routines provided by Zilog, via NEC.
Some TRS-80 BASIC commands, such as RANDOMIZE, ON and the really useful DEF commands (only subroutines can be used for formulae), are not available, so only simple TRS-80 programs can be entered without alteration. A number of Extended Basics were written that "unhid" approximately 25 of these hidden BASIC commands that were partially disabled from factory by Video Technology.
The BASIC can use integers, decimals and floating point numbers. Double precision numbers are not available, but can be used by storing the different power position numbers in a string and concatenating the strings.
Emulators
A number of emulators for various platforms have since been written for these models of computers:
- MAME/MESS VZ/Laser emulation by Juergen Buchmueller and Dirk Best.
- JEMU (for Java) by Richard Wilson.
- JVZ200 (for Windows) by James Tamer.
- VZEM (Windows and DOS versions) by Guy Thomason.
- Pocket VZ (for the Pocket PC) by Guy Thomason.
- Android VZ (for the Android OS) by Guy Thomason.
- WinVZ300 / DSEVZ200 / Emulator 2001 by Gavin Turner.
- VZ SoundPaint (Java) by Jürgen Reuter.
- VZ200 Remake java emu by C Wahlmann.
- Windows Laser 310 Emu by ZZemu.
- FPGA VZ emulator by ZZEMU.
- VZ Emulator by Paul Anderson.
- VZ-Next (Raspi) by Paul Robson.
- MISTer emulator by Alan Hanson
- JSMESS by Jason Scott
- laser310-emu by Antonino Porcino.
- VTech CreatiVision core for MiSTer FPGA by Jamie Blanks
References
- ^ Video Technology LASER 200 / 210 OLD-COMPUTERS.COM Museum
- ^ "New Home Computers At The Winter Consumer Electronics Show". www.atarimagazines.com. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
- ^ "VZ200 Dick Smith". www.old-computers.com. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
- ^ Dick Smith VZ-200, thepcmuseum.com. Retrieved 21 March 2007.
- ^ "BASIC - C64-Wiki". www.c64-wiki.com. Retrieved 24 July 2023.
- ^ Bennett, Bill, Texet TX-8000 review Archived 15 May 2004 at the Wayback Machine, Your Computer magazine, April 1983. Retrieved 21 March 2007.
- ^ Video Technology Laser 310, old-computers.com. Retrieved 21 March 2007.
External links
- Blue Bilby - website featuring new games, interviews, tutorials and applications.
- VZEM by Intertek – The official homepage of the VZEM emulator
- JEMU – Java based VZ200 & VZ300 Emulator
- A contemporary review – from Your Computer, April 1983
- The VZ200 – Tutorials and Programming
- A VZ200 Wiki – Information
- Clockmeisters VZ/Laser310 page
- Bushy's Absolute everything VZ page.
- Steve's VZ page.
- CreatiVEmu CreatiVision emulation central
- Software
- Intertek's software download page
- Bushy's VZ software download page.