There are two notable forums for intellivision programming, having community support is vital in making and programming a game. Photo of an original hercules graphics card circa 1984. Yes, it was the mattel aquarius that i first got my hands on back in the 80s. But now a fullfeatured aquarius system has been donated to the museum. Computers brand facebook is showing information to help you better understand the purpose of a page. The mattel aquarius 30 years on a machine so cheesy, they should have supplied rubber gloves to wear while using it. Its tempting to look at something from mattel as being just a toy. To save your current program on tape, use csave ctrla and program name in quotes. Of the 32 software titles mattel announced for the unit, 21 were released. There is a thread on the hyperspin forums about getting the roms to work on this system, started by criaganderson himself. Mattel aquarius software software for the mattel aquarius was available on cartridge and cassette tape. Not that i condone getting that personal with computers, but i suppose what people do in the privacy of their own home is their business. The aquarius was intended to be a home computer and gaming system.
It easily runs on modern hardware at full speed and is a fairly faithful representation. Internally, mattel programmers dubbed it the system for the seventies. Wav from the headphone socket in my laptop to the ear jack of the aquarius cassette cable. It features a zilog z80microprocessor, a rubber chiclet keyboard, 4k of ram, and a subset of microsoft basic in rom. That was before the company decided to take a chance by trying to establish a foothold in the blossoming business of. It was the mattel aquarius which was a z80based computer released in 1983.
Aquarius computer and game system with miniexpander by. The aquaricart is an album cartridge of my own design for the mattel aquarius home computer system. The mattel aquarius has a strange history, one that i didnt know for decades. The system would use the same cassette and printer units which were being sold for the mattel aquarius home computer, but this fact seems to have not been widely advertised by mattel. This contains a few sample programs, in the form of basic program.
Aquarius is a home computer designed by radofin and released by mattel in 1983. Software for the mattel aquarius was available on cartridge and cassette tape. The manual claims that ctlc will always enable you to recover a program after pressing reset. While you are writing your program, you would load it into basic for testing, using the procedure i will outline in my next post. Mattel claims the aquarius will be capable of expansion to 52k, and so i must assume that other memory modules will become available. It connects to a television set for audio and visual output, and uses a cassette tape recorder for secondary data storage. Mattel aquariusfalta database hyperspin theme complete. Aquarius owners have so much to look forward to with a wide range of new products about to be introduced for the best value, most reliable home computer in the world. The mattel aquarius was a shortlived home computer released by mattel in 1983, and criticized for being more of a 1970sstyle computer, out of date at the time. The basic language is there to use if someone cares to put the elements together in a particularly elegant manner. This can be used to repeat a command possibly with changes, or to duplicate a line in a basic program edit the line, press rtn, type ctrlr to recall the line, change the line number, press rtn to enter the new line. Data is transferred onto standard cassette tapes for quick and easy storage.
Pre83 aims to help centralize and curate the most useful technical documentation for its target platforms, as well as offer an entry point for curious creators who might be interested in making new software on old hardware. Aquarius is a home computer designed by radofin and released by mattel electronics in 1983. Machine language programming is also a possibility for anyone familiar with programming the z80a. It connects to a television set for audio and visual output, and uses a cassette tape recorder for. With the aquaricart, you can enjoy instant access to the full library of aquarius cartridge software. Being a newcomer to the aquarius, the first thing i did was to look into the software that was released for the system, starting with the games. Mattel aquarius basic tokenized file just solve the file. Games edit initially, at least a halfdozen ecssupporting software titles were slated to. While you are writing your program, you would load it into basic for. It was released in 1983, but its technical capabilities really didnt allow it to compete with other machines that were already established in the market place. I noticed that the library was very small, and that several of the best games were hard or impossible to find on cartridge. The info on this page is therefor for the advanced programmer with. Some vintage apple ii software and packaging that i saved. Aquarius basic programming on the aquarius intellivision.
Well in 1982 mattel decided to enter the already crowded home computer market with the aquarius. When the information is needed, it can be easily retrieved and loaded into memory. They say you never forget your first kiss, and i guess the same could be said about your first home computer. This is output from mattel aquarius running my memory window program. Logo is a simple language that lets you communicate with a computer. The main feature of aquarius logo is learning to program using turtle graphics. To address some of the limitations, mattel added a larger character set to the original radofin design, so that games could use character graphics. An improved model, the aquarius ii codenamed chess when the earlier model had been codenamed checkers, was never released. But since the aquarius basic doesnt support any commands for input output the task has to be solved by machinecode.
So big i had a hard time fitting it in the frame on my stage. Of the 32 software titles mattel announced for the unit, only 21 were released, most of which were ports from mattelsintellivision game console. It features a zilog z80 microprocessor, a rubber chiclet keyboard, 4k of ram, and a subset of microsoft basic in rom. Welcome to the wonderful world of aquarius proof that computers can stretch your mind, without stretching your pocket. The mattel aquarius used a special version of the microsoft basic. Mattel released most of their software on cartridges, small modules that plug into the backright of the aquarius console. Fair and balanced coverage of the mattel aquarius computer. Aquarius computer and game system with miniexpander by mattel electronics. There were no redefinable characters, but 256 predefined chars were available. Programming welcome to the intellivision revolution.
Of the 32 software titles mattel announced for the unit, only 21 were released, most of which were ports from mattels intellivision game console. The mattel aquarius home computer system is a home computer designed by radofin and released by mattel in 1983. Its small keyboard is not very comfortable but usable, and graphics capabilities are, for that time, below average 80x72 in. The mattel aquarius had a short lived life in the history of computing.
Mattel aquarius emulators on windows and other platforms, free mattel aquarius emulator downloads, as well as savestates, hacks, cheats, utilities, and more. Mattel made the intellivision video game system, and promised in ads and brochures that theyd come out with a magical keyboard that would plug in and turn the thing into a real computer. I acquired my first aquarius computer from the op about two weeks ago. Vintage mattel aquarius computer and game system ebay.
Character set letter number punctuation symbol other undefined. Since each program can obviously control the data sent to the port, it is still. Until recently, the name mattel was associated mainly with childrens toys, most notably, the barbie doll and hot wheels. Both forums have support from the programming community and plenty of help and knowledge.
Aquarius logo is easy to learn and becomes more complex whenever you want. The aquarius program book peter goode phoenix publishing associates books published for the mattel aquarius are few and far between but i managed to locate a used copy of peter goodes aquarius program book. Starting the program under emulator for windows pc 1. Other than mattels cartridges, very little software was ever developed for the computer. Mattel aquarius program book by peter goode geek vintage.
Most of the released titles were ports from mattel s intellivision game console, but because the aquarius lacked programmable graphics, gameplay of many games was better on the lessexpensive console. Mattel aquarius software collection playable for free in the browser at the internet archive listen to this article infodl this audio file was created from a revision of the article mattel aquarius dated 20428, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. This is the first aquarius model released shortly after mattel passed it to radofin, probably for german market. I currently recommend downloading the latest stable dev release, as it fixes many bugs from jzintv 1.
The system seen below has the 4k ram expansion cart installed. This is a fantastic emulator that even includes the roms for all of the aquarius games. So far, i have 17 unique cartidges and 36 cassette tapes in my collection. The aquarius data recorder plugs directly into the rear of the aquarius unit. Mattel aquarius welcome to the intellivision revolution. The idea of home computer computer with keyboard and programming. Mattel around the same time came out with a computer keyboard attachment for their successful home entertainment system the intellivision. Inside the cartridge, there are just a few rom chips with the program already. When plugged into the aquarius, they blend into the console, becoming totally unnoticeable. Craigandersonthemes produced a fantastic mattel aquarius wheel complete with media, roms and themes. Iq1s vintage computing and console interests related to programming, classic gaming, image optimization, emulation and more.
This is a video about programming the mattel aquarius computer. By itself, the main unit does indeed look like a toy, what with its blue rubber keys and white plastic body. This is the mattel aquarius character set which was implemented. Ive been looking for a mostly complete aquarius for years now, and ive found one thats reasonably priced on the ebay. More programming possibilities, more flexibility, more fun. Programming the ay38910 programmable sound generator psg is a relative simple task. For the love of physics walter lewin may 16, 2011 duration. Typically windows 10 and windows drivers distort sound. Click on one or more of the download links at the right to download the appropriate binaries for your system andor the source code. This is the first aquarius model released shortly after mattel passed it to. If you arent a total purist and want to check out what the mattel aquarius was like, you can download virtual aquarius for windows. If you are not a current member of either, go ahead and join and start programming. Its the perfect introduction to computer programming for childeren and adults.