Archives, Inc.

Realistic Controls Corporation

Company type	Private
Industry	Computer hardware
Founded	1974
Founder	Robert Staib
Defunct	1983
Fate	Ceased operations
Headquarters	Davenport, Iowa , United States
Products	Microcomputers, industrial computer control systems, computerized utility meters
Number of employees	40 (1983)

Realistic Controls Corporation (NCC), which later became known as Nylac Computer Corporation and subsequently Archives, Inc., was a U.S.-based computer firm located in Davenport, Iowa, established in 1974.

Realistic Controls Corporation (1974–1979)

Robert Staib founded Realistic Controls Corporation circa 1974 in Davenport, Iowa. By 1976, the company had set up its main office at 404 W. 35th Street, occupying a former pharmacy site. At this stage, RCC concentrated on the design, production, and implementation of computerized utility meters along with tailored industrial computer control systems. The firm also maintained a short-lived presence in Cleveland, Ohio.

By 1977, RCC's clientele included major entities such as John Deere, Caterpillar Inc., a utility provider from California, and the state government of Iowa. That same year, the company introduced the Z/100 series—microcomputers utilizing the Intel 8080 CPU—aimed specifically at programmers working with Fortran IV.

During the summer of 1977, RCC ventured into the personal computer market with intentions to launch before the holiday season. This initiative produced the REX, a microcomputer powered by a Z80 processor, equipped with 24 KB of RAM expandable up to 64 KB, an integrated keyboard, composite and RF video outputs supporting both color and monochrome displays, two internal 5.25-inch floppy disk drives, and a 15-amp power supply unit. Its motherboard incorporated an S-100 bus architecture featuring five expansion slots. The following year, RCC released the MPPS 100—a single-board computer based on the RCA 1802 microprocessor.

Nylac Computer Corporation (1979–1980)

In approximately May 1979, ownership of Realistic Controls transferred to Gary Martin who rebranded the company as Nylac Computer Corporation. Under this new identity, the company launched the Nylac computer—a system built around a Z80 processor running at 4 MHz, complemented by an 8257/8275 video controller mapped to address 0×F800 and an 8251 serial input/output controller. The machine supported six S-100 bus slots, one dedicated to a 5.25-inch disk controller card.

The hardware included a 13-inch CRT monitor, a linear power supply, and dual 5.25-inch floppy drives; subsequent versions featured drives with dual heads. Towards the conclusion of its production cycle, Nylac incorporated a single 5 MB hard disk drive (5.25-inch), replacing one of the floppy drives. The operating system utilized was CP/M.

Archives, Inc. (1980–1983)

In 1980, Archives, Inc.—originally founded in 1978 by Patricia "Tish" Hewett (spouse of former John Deere chairman William Alexander Hewitt)—acquired Nylac along with its facility at 404 W. 35th Street. Archives introduced its inaugural product, the Archive I (initially called Archive Business System), in April 1980. While capable of running diverse software including games, it was primarily positioned as a word processing machine. This model featured a Z80 CPU and came with 64 KB of RAM.

Later releases comprised the Archives II (April 1981) and Archives III (September 1981). Although there were plans for an Archive IV slated for late 1983, the company declared in March of that year that it would cease operations by June due to manufacturing setbacks and financial difficulties despite employing forty personnel and having reported satisfactory sales figures in preceding months.