Percom Data Corporation was an early

microcomputer A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (P ...

company formed in 1976 to sell peripherals into the emerging microcomputer market. They are best known for their

floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a ...

systems, first for S-100 machines, and the later for other platforms like the

TRS-80 The TRS-80 Micro Computer System (TRS-80, later renamed the Model I to distinguish it from successors) is a desktop microcomputer developed by American company Tandy Corporation and sold through their Radio Shack stores. Launched in 1977, it is ...

and

Atari 8-bit computers The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 650 ...

. The company was purchased by Esprit Systems in 1984.

Origins

Percom started after the meeting that produced the Kansas City standard for storing data on

cassette tape The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by L ...

s. The final version of the standard was written in February 1976, co-authored by

Lee Felsenstein Lee Felsenstein (born April 27, 1945) is an American computer engineer who played a central role in the development of personal computers. He was one of the original members of the Homebrew Computer Club and the designer of the Osborne 1, the f ...

and Harold Mauch. Mauch published an article on the technical aspects of the standard in the next month's ''

Byte The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable un ...

'' magazine, entitled "Digital Data on Cassette Recorders". Mauch and his wife Lucy started what was originally PerCom Data that same month, selling the ''CIS-30'' adaptor allowing any portable cassette player to be connected to the

Motorola 6800 The 6800 ("''sixty-eight hundred''") is an 8-bit microprocessor designed and first manufactured by Motorola in 1974. The MC6800 microprocessor was part of the M6800 Microcomputer System (later dubbed ''68xx'') that also included serial and parall ...

-based micros from

SWTPC Southwest Technical Products Corporation, or SWTPC, was an American producer of electronic kits, and later complete computer systems. It was incorporated in 1967 in San Antonio, Texas, succeeding the Daniel E. Meyer Company. In 1990, SWTPC bec ...

. The CIS-30 was a success, and soon followed by similar devices for other platforms. Floppy disk drives followed, along with rapid growth. Percom incorporated (dropping the capital C in the name) in 1978. In 1979, the company branched out into the

market, starting with the ''Percom Separator'', and add-on device that corrected deficiencies in

Radio Shack RadioShack (formerly written as Radio Shack) is an American electronics retailer that was established in 1921 as an amateur radio mail-order business. Its parent company was purchased by Tandy Corporation in 1962, which shifted its focus from ma ...

's own floppy disk interface. In 1980 they introduced the ''Percom Doubler'', the first double-density floppy disk for the TRS-80 platform. They later introduced ''Electric Crayon'', a color graphics system that communicated with the TRS-80 through the printer port and output to a separate composite monitor or color television. In 1981 they moved all operations to Dallas, Texas except technical services and repair which stayed in Garland, Texas. Percom introduced a drive for the

in 1982. In contrast to the Atari 810, the only drive on the platform at that time, the RFD40 drive offered double-density formatting and higher performance. Its onboard controller also allowed three additional "dumb" drives, lacking the controller, to be connected and thereby lowering the cost of a multi-drive system. A drive with the controller cost $799, additional drives were $399. The standard 34-pin connector also allowed for the use of 8-inch drives on the same controller. The system did not ship with a compatible DOS, instead, it shipped with a utility that modified an existing copy of

Atari DOS Atari DOS is the disk operating system used with the Atari 8-bit computers. Operating system extensions loaded into memory were required in order for an Atari computer to manage files stored on a disk drive. These extensions to the operat ...

to add double-density support. The 1983 AT-88 model was a single-density version otherwise the same as the RFD40. Harold died suddenly in August 1982 and the company began to focus on the business market. This resulted in the creation of the Visionnet, an early

Ethernet Ethernet ( ) is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

card for the

IBM PC The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the List of IBM Personal Computer models, IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible ''de facto'' standard. Released on ...

Western Digital Western Digital Corporation is an American data storage company headquartered in San Jose, California. Established in 1970, the company is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard disk drives (HDDs). History 1970s Western Digital ...

licensed the design and sold it under the name Ethercard Plus.

After Mauch

Harold Mauch's sudden death in August 1982 upset the company considerably. Focussing on business products, leaving the

home computer Home computers were a class of microcomputers that entered the market in 1977 and became common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a s ...

field, the company started branching out into new product lines. ''PerComNet'' for the IBM PC was licensed by

and was sold under the name ''PC-LAN''. In 1984, Esprit Systems purchased Percom and folded many of their product lines. Esprit made video terminal systems; the company folded around 2003.

References

* Matthew Reed
"Percom Data Company"
* Roger Arrick
"Percom Data Corp. 1976-1986"

Percom Software Goes On Two Vendors Disks
Computerworld 30 Jul 1979, Page 59, ''...Percom Super Basic;...''
Percom Peripheral (1979-10)
Percom Data Company(US)
Percom
tagged media {{refend Computer companies established in 1976 Early microcomputers Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies