General Computer Corporation

General Computer Corporation
Company type	Private
Industry	Computer hardware, software, video games, peripherals
Founded	1981
Founder	Doug Macrae, John Tylko, Kevin Curran
Defunct	2015
Headquarters	Burlington, Massachusetts, United States
Products	Arcade games (Ms. Pac-Man, Food Fight), Atari 7800 hardware and games, Macintosh peripherals (HyperDrive hard drive, printers)

General Computer Corporation (GCC), which later became known as GCC Technologies, was an American enterprise specializing in both hardware and software, established in 1981 by Doug Macrae, John Tylko, and Kevin Curran. Starting out as a developer of video games, GCC was responsible for creating prominent arcade hits like Ms. Pac-Man (1982) for Bally MIDWAY and Food Fight (1983). The firm also contributed to the Atari 7800 console by designing its hardware and developing games. By 1984, GCC redirected its efforts toward producing peripherals for home computers, such as the HyperDrive hard drive designed for the Macintosh 128K and various printers. The company ultimately ceased operations in 2015.

History

GCC initially specialized in manufacturing modification kits for arcade machines, including Super Missile Attack, an add-on for Atari's Missile Command. Although Atari initiated legal action against them, the suit was later dropped, leading Atari to hire GCC for official game development instead of unauthorized enhancements. One of GCC’s key creations was Crazy Otto, a modification kit for Pac-Man that Midway purchased and officially released as Ms. Pac-Man. They also developed the follow-up title, Jr. Pac-Man.

During their collaboration with Atari, GCC produced original arcade titles such as Food Fight and Quantum, developed the unreleased game Nightmare, ported versions of Ms. Pac-Man and Centipede to the Atari 2600, created more than half of the cartridges for the Atari 5200 system, and engineered both the chip and initial cartridges for the Atari 7800 console.

Peripherals

In 1984, GCC shifted its business model to focus on peripherals tailored for Macintosh computers. Their product lineup included the HyperDrive—the first internal hard drive available for the Mac—the WideWriter 360 large format inkjet printer, and the Personal Laser Printer, notable as the first QuickDraw-compatible laser printer. Prior to shutting down, the company concentrated exclusively on marketing laser printers.

The HyperDrive gained attention because the original Macintosh lacked built-in support for internal hard disks. By connecting directly to the CPU, it delivered speeds approximately seven times faster than Apple's external "Hard Disk 20." Despite this advantage, Apple's Macintosh File System, originally designed for 400K floppy disks, required users to divide the drive into multiple partitions called "Drawers."

In June 1985, Apple officially stated that using GCC peripherals would not void warranties related to non-Apple components. GCC cultivated this relationship by supplying products to Apple employees. A letter published in a 1985 issue of MacTech magazine described the HyperDrive's specifications: RAM expandable up to 512K, a built-in controller managing a 10MB internal hard disk, capability to boot directly from the drive, no need for external hardware, and pricing set at $2,795 for machines with 128K RAM or $2,195 for those with 512K RAM.

The following year, GCC introduced the HyperDrive 2000 featuring a 20MB internal hard disk integrated with a Motorola 68881 floating-point unit. However, when Apple released an external SCSI port on the Macintosh Plus, this innovation diminished HyperDrive’s speed advantage. In response, GCC launched the "HyperDrive FX-20," an external SCSI hard drive model but faced strong competition from other faster drives offering larger storage capacities.

Eventually rebranded as GCC Technologies and relocating to Burlington, Massachusetts, the company continued selling laser printers until it closed down in 2015.

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