RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

's VP 3000 Interactive Data Terminals were a family of portable

computer terminal A computer terminal is an electronic or electromechanical hardware device that can be used for entering data into, and transcribing data from, a computer or a computing system. Most early computers only had a front panel to input or display ...

s housed in compact keyboard-like cases, but notable for their use of a color-coded

membrane keyboard A membrane keyboard is a computer keyboard whose keys are not separate, moving parts, as with the majority of other keyboards, but rather are pressure pads that have only outlines and symbols printed on a flat, flexible surface. Very little tacti ...

. The systems supported color output to a television with 20 and 40 character-per-line modes, and an optional built-in modem. It was first advertised in September 1982. The VP series started life as an upgrade to RCA's COSMAC VIP kit-computer, originally to be known as the VIP II. Unlike the original VIP, which was a bare motherboard for hobbyists, the VIP II was intended to be a complete

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 ...

. Most of the new features were added through a series of expansion cards built into the chassis, most of which already existed as add-on cards for the VIP. Although some marketing material was produced in 1979, and RCA suggested it would be available "some time next year" at a price around $400, the VIP II was never released. Instead, the design was re-purposed as a terminal system by replacing the ROMs with ones containing a simple

terminal program A terminal emulator, or terminal application, is a computer program that emulates a video terminal within some other display architecture. Though typically synonymous with a shell or text terminal, the term ''terminal'' covers all remote termi ...

and optionally adding a modem. The machines were otherwise the same as the VIP II, which is why it included color output, a "tone generator", and the relatively limited 40-column output in an era when 80-column was the standard for terminals. The main model, the VP 3501 included a 300 bit/s

modem The Democratic Movement (, ; MoDem ) is a centre to centre-right political party in France, whose main ideological trends are liberalism and Christian democracy, and that is characterised by a strong pro-Europeanist stance. MoDem was establis ...

, an

RF modulator An RF modulator (radio frequency modulator) is an electronic device used to convert signals from devices such as media players, VCRs and game consoles to a format that can be handled by a device designed to receive a modulated RF input, such ...

for connection to any conventional

color television Color television (American English) or colour television (British English) is a television transmission technology that also includes color information for the picture, so the video image can be displayed in color on the television set. It improv ...

, and the keyboard included a 16-key

numeric keypad A numeric keypad, number pad, numpad, or ten key, is the calculator-style group of ten numeric keys accompanied by other keys, usually on the far right side of computer keyboard. This grouping allows quick number entry with right hand, ...

. The VP 3303 removed the modem and keypad, while the VP 3301 removed the RF modulator as well. The terminals were quite inexpensive, with the 3501 selling for $275 ( in ), while the 3301 was only $255. RCA also sold the systems as stand-alone keyboards as the VP 600 series. The VP 616 had an

RS-232 In telecommunications, RS-232 or Recommended Standard 232 is a standard introduced in 1960 for serial communication transmission of data. It formally defines signals connecting between a ''DTE'' (''data terminal equipment'') such as a compu ...

serial port and calculator keypad while the VP 606 removed the keypad. The VP 611 replaced the 616's serial port with an 8-bit

parallel port In computing, a parallel port is a type of interface found on early computers ( personal and otherwise) for connecting peripherals. The name refers to the way the data is sent; parallel ports send multiple bits of data at once (paralle ...

, suitable for being feeding into a typical

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 ...

keyboard controller like the one on most

S-100 bus The S-100 bus or Altair bus, later standardized as IEEE 696-1983 ''(inactive-withdrawn)'', is an early computer bus designed in 1974 as a part of the Altair 8800. The bus was the first industry standard expansion bus for the microcomputer in ...

machines. The VP 601 removed the keypad from the 611. The 616 sold for $68, while the 601 was $56.

Reception

InfoWorld ''InfoWorld'' (''IW'') is an American information technology media business. Founded in 1978, it began as a monthly magazine. In 2007, it transitioned to a Web-only publication. Its parent company is International Data Group, and its sister pu ...

'' in 1982 approved of the VIP3501's bug-free performance, durable design, and ability to fit in a briefcase. While regretting the membrane keyboard, lack of 80-column display, and lack of examples in the documentation, the magazine concluded that it was an excellent product that would become popular as an inexpensive data terminal.

References

Citations

Sources

* * {{cite magazine , magazine=VIPER , url=http://www.cosmacvip.com/VIP2/Volume2Issue03.pdf , title=VIP II Information , date=September 1979 , ref=CITEREFVIPER1979 Computer-related introductions in 1982 Computer terminals