They were released in several variations (mostly concerning the keyboard or color of the casing) covering the MO and TO series[2] from late 1982 to 1989.
While MO and TO models are incompatible in software, most of the
peripherals and hardware were compatible.
It is reported that there were 450,000 Thomson computers in France in 1986.[7] By 1988 Thomson had only sold 60,000 of the predicted 150,000 computers, abandoning computer development the following year.[6]
Thomson TO7: produced from 1982 to 1984. Supplied with 24K
RAM (16K used by the video) and upgradable to 48K. 8 color display.[20]
Thomson MO5: released in 1984[21] in order to honor the Computing for All (Informatique pour Tous) plan.[22] Supplied with 48K RAM (32K available to user in
BASIC 1.0) and first released with a
rubber keyboard. Later it featured a mechanical keyboard. It was edited in a limited edition with a white casing, named "MO5
Michel Platini".
Thomson TO7/70: 1984 version with more RAM (64K, upgradable into 128K) and 16 color display.[23]
The Micromega was fundamental on the adoption of
Unix by the
French government, due to the
localization of the Unix
operating system. According to Dominique Maisonneuve, a Unix developer at CERG (Paris): "It was thanks to the Micromega that the government became interested in installing Unix. What was needed, was some hardware with a French coloring."[35]
Micromega 32000: A 1986
Alcatel branded machine with a tower layout, supporting
Unix SV. The CPU is a
68020 at 16.5 MHz (
68881 optional) with 1 to 4 MB of RAM. It features a 70MB hard drive, supports
QIC-24 cartridges and offers
Arcnet network connection.[65][66]
Micromega PC: a 1986 workstation supporting Unix and
MS-DOS, and developed based on the PC 7000 XP.[65]
Micromega SX and Micromega SX/T - These machines have a similar box but with a different floppy drive location. The CPU is a 68000 at 11 MHz and RAM is expandable to 2 MB. It supports 45 and 70 MB hard drives and
QIC-11 cartridges on the SX/T.
They were released in several variations (mostly concerning the keyboard or color of the casing) covering the MO and TO series[2] from late 1982 to 1989.
While MO and TO models are incompatible in software, most of the
peripherals and hardware were compatible.
It is reported that there were 450,000 Thomson computers in France in 1986.[7] By 1988 Thomson had only sold 60,000 of the predicted 150,000 computers, abandoning computer development the following year.[6]
Thomson TO7: produced from 1982 to 1984. Supplied with 24K
RAM (16K used by the video) and upgradable to 48K. 8 color display.[20]
Thomson MO5: released in 1984[21] in order to honor the Computing for All (Informatique pour Tous) plan.[22] Supplied with 48K RAM (32K available to user in
BASIC 1.0) and first released with a
rubber keyboard. Later it featured a mechanical keyboard. It was edited in a limited edition with a white casing, named "MO5
Michel Platini".
Thomson TO7/70: 1984 version with more RAM (64K, upgradable into 128K) and 16 color display.[23]
The Micromega was fundamental on the adoption of
Unix by the
French government, due to the
localization of the Unix
operating system. According to Dominique Maisonneuve, a Unix developer at CERG (Paris): "It was thanks to the Micromega that the government became interested in installing Unix. What was needed, was some hardware with a French coloring."[35]
Micromega 32000: A 1986
Alcatel branded machine with a tower layout, supporting
Unix SV. The CPU is a
68020 at 16.5 MHz (
68881 optional) with 1 to 4 MB of RAM. It features a 70MB hard drive, supports
QIC-24 cartridges and offers
Arcnet network connection.[65][66]
Micromega PC: a 1986 workstation supporting Unix and
MS-DOS, and developed based on the PC 7000 XP.[65]
Micromega SX and Micromega SX/T - These machines have a similar box but with a different floppy drive location. The CPU is a 68000 at 11 MHz and RAM is expandable to 2 MB. It supports 45 and 70 MB hard drives and
QIC-11 cartridges on the SX/T.