Tatung Einstein
| Industry | Computer hardware |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Bradford , England, United Kingdom |
| Products | Tatung Einstein (8-bit personal computer) |
The Tatung Einstein represents an 8-bit personal computer developed by the Taiwanese firm Tatung. Its design was carried out at Tatung's research facility in Bradford, England, with assembly operations located in Bridgnorth and Telford. The system was primarily aimed at the small business market.
History
Introduced in the United Kingdom during the summer of 1984, the Tatung Einstein TC-01 was exported to Taipei with a shipment of 5,000 units within the same year. Available accessories included options such as monochrome or colour display monitors, dot matrix printers, external floppy disk drives, and an 80-column display adapter. Additionally, the "Speculator" expansion allowed compatibility with ZX Spectrum software.
Although priced above many competing models, the Einstein found favor among developers as a programming environment but did not achieve widespread commercial success. In 1985, an updated version named the Tatung Einstein 256 was released; however, it encountered comparable difficulties in gaining market traction.
Design
The computer featured a substantial physical footprint and offered configurations with either one or two integrated three-inch floppy disk drives manufactured by Hitachi. At that period, most UK home computers relied on tape recorders for data storage. Distinctively, the Einstein started up into a basic machine code monitor known as MOS (Machine Operating System).
Disk-based software options included a CP/M-compatible operating system called Xtal DOS, developed by Crystal Computers in Torquay, alongside a BASIC interpreter named Xtal BASIC. The software library comprised over 400 titles, including roughly 120 games. Popular business applications such as DBase and WordStar were also ported to the platform.
Thanks to its dependable hardware and generous memory capacity, numerous software developers utilized the Einstein for programming tasks and porting applications to systems like the Spectrum 48k, Amstrad CPC, and Commodore 64. Eventually, it was superseded by platforms like the PC and Atari ST as the favored development environments.
The follow-up model, the Einstein 256, maintained the original architecture but introduced enhanced video capabilities via the (Yamaha V9938) graphics chip and adopted a more streamlined black casing.
Technical specifications
The specifications of the Tatung Einstein TC-01 are largely comparable to those of the MSX standard:
- CPU: Zilog Z80A running at 4 MHz
- ROM size ranging from 8K to 32K
- RAM: 64 KB for system memory; 16 KB dedicated to video
- Video hardware: Texas Instruments TMS9129, supporting 16 colours and 32 sprite planes
- Audio: AY-3-8910 chip (which also manages keyboard input)
- Z84C30 CTC (Counter/Timer Circuit)
- Z84C20 PIO (Parallel Input/Output)
- Intel 8251 SIO (Serial Input/Output)
- 1770 FDC controller for 3 floppy disks
- Z80 'Tube' bus/interface
- Analogue joystick connectors
The Tatung Einstein 256 upgraded these features with increased memory and superior graphics:
- RAM: 64K user-accessible; 192K video memory
- Video: Enhanced graphics through the Yamaha V9938, capable of displaying up to 512 colours