Apparat, Inc., was an American software developer, peripheral manufacturer, mail order company, and retailer active from 1978 to 1988 and primarily based in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Colorado. They are best known for

NewDos/80 NewDos/80 is a third-party operating system for the Radio Shack TRS-80 line of microcomputers released in 1980. NewDos/80 was developed by Apparat, Inc., of Denver, Colorado. NewDos/80 version 2.0 was released in August 1981. It ran on the TRS-8 ...

, an alternative operating system to

TRSDOS TRSDOS (which stands for the Tandy Radio Shack Disk Operating System) is the operating system for the Tandy TRS-80 line of eight-bit Zilog Z80 microcomputers that were sold through Radio Shack from 1977 through 1991. Tandy's manuals recommended ...

for

Tandy Corporation Tandy Corporation was an American family-owned Retail, retailer based in Fort Worth, Texas that made leather goods, operated the RadioShack chain, and later built personal computers. Tandy Leather was founded in 1919 as a leather supply store ...

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 ...

line of home computers, sold through their

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 ...

stores. Apparat themselves sold modified TRS-80s through their mail order catalog. The company pivoted to selling peripherals for the

IBM Personal Computer The IBM Personal Computer (model 5150, commonly known as the IBM PC) is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible ''de facto'' standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a ...

in 1982, continuing in this market until Apparat went defunct in 1988.

History

Foundation (1978–1980)

Apparat was founded in 1978 by Jim Lauletta and Clifford Ide, two computer programmers from

, Colorado. The company began as a mail-order reseller of peripherals and disk drives for

, products which were usually only sold through Tandy's own

stores and catalogs. Lauletta was also a founding member of the Denver 6502 Group, a very early computer club dedicated to systems running

MOS Technology MOS Technology, Inc. ("MOS" being short for Metal Oxide Semiconductor), later known as CSG (Commodore Semiconductor Group) and GMT Microelectronics, was a semiconductor design and fabrication company based in Audubon, Pennsylvania. It is ...

6502 The MOS Technology 6502 (typically pronounced "sixty-five-oh-two" or "six-five-oh-two") William Mensch and the moderator both pronounce the 6502 microprocessor as ''"sixty-five-oh-two"''. is an 8-bit microprocessor that was designed by a small ...

processor (unlike the TRS-80, which was based on

Zilog Zilog, Inc. is an American manufacturer of microprocessors, microcontrollers, and application-specific embedded System on a chip, system-on-chip (SoC) products. The company was founded in 1974 by Federico Faggin and Ralph Ungermann, who were soo ...

Z80 The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor designed by Zilog that played an important role in the evolution of early personal computing. Launched in 1976, it was designed to be software-compatible with the Intel 8080, offering a compelling altern ...

). Apparat eventually became a

value-added reseller A value-added reseller (VAR) is a company that adds features or services to an existing product, then resells it (usually to end-users) as an integrated or complete " turn-key" product. This practice occurs commonly in the electronics or IT industr ...

of entire TRS-80 systems, outfitting them with enhanced

Tandon Tandon (Tandan, Tanden, or Tondon) is a surname found among the Hindu Khatris and Sikhs of Punjab, India. Notable people Notable people with the surname, who may or may not be affiliated to the Surname, include: Activists * Purushottam Das Tan ...

floppy disk drives and more

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to: * A male sheep * Random-access memory, computer memory * Ram Trucks, US, since 2009 ** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans ** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...

. In the year of their founding, Apparat began work on an alternative

disk operating system A disk operating system (DOS) is a computer operating system that requires a disk or other direct-access storage device as secondary storage. A DOS provides a file system and a means for loading and running computer program, programs stored on th ...

for the TRS-80. After two years of semi-public beta testing, the operating system was formally released as

in 1980, the name christened by Dick Miller, Apparat's East Coast distributor.

NewDos/80 (1980)

Authored by Ide, NewDos/80 was the first third-party operating system for the TRS-80, giving users an alternative to the TRS-80's native

. Initial versions of NewDos/80 were actually patches to TRSDOS requiring the user already own a legal copy of the latter. Later versions were programmed from the ground up. NewDos/80 was immensely popular among users of the TRS-80 almost immediately after its publication. ''

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 ...

'' published a rave review of the operating system in 1980, writing: "NEWDOS/80 belongs in every TRS-80 disk owner's software library. It is a superior operating system that increases the value of the microcomputer, whether you use it for recreation, business, or miscellaneous household purposes." Tandy were displeased with the popularity of NewDos/80, perceiving the software as infringing their copyrights to TRSDOS, and lodged cease and desist letters at Apparat's front desk. However, a formal lawsuit was delayed by a dispute over legal ownership of TRSDOS between Tandy Corporation and Randy Cook, the original author of TRSDOS. According to Cook, Apparat themselves countered with a lawsuit against Tandy, giving Tandy an ultimatum by having them pay for Apparat to fix an exhaustive list of bugs within TRSDOS. Cook found Apparat's settlement terms tantamount to blackmail, but according to him, Tandy gave this strong consideration in order to avoid the battle for ownership of TRSDOS between the company and Cook. The lawsuit dissolved after Apparat rewrote NewDos/80 from scratch in 1981.

Beyond NewDos, IBM PC products, and dissolution (1980–1988)

Starting in late 1980, Apparat briefly marketed Apex, an operating system developed by Peter Boyle. Apex was targeted at the

Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...

and other 6502-based personal computers. It was based on the command format and syntax of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) operating systems such as Top-10, and was similar to CP/M, which was also based on DEC operating systems. Apex was written in XPL0, one of the first block structured programming languages for microcomputers. XPL0 was also written by Peter Boyle. Employment at Apparat reached 35 in 1983, the company hiring 10 more people the following year. In late 1982, Apparat pivoted to vending for the

and compatibles. The company resold entire IBM PCs and peripherals for the system through their mail-order catalog and introducing their own bespoke

hard disk drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...

product for the PC in 1983. Apparat's Hard Disk Subsystem received high marks in the technology press of the time and was featured on the front cover of ''

PC Magazine ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and continues . Overview ''PC Mag ...

'' in 1984. Other IBM PC peripherals that Apparat sold included the Clock/Calendar Board, a

real-time clock A real-time clock (RTC) is an electronic device (most often in the form of an integrated circuit) that measures the passage of time. Although the term often refers to the devices in personal computers, server (computing), servers and embedded ...

expansion card; the Combo Card, a multifunction board adding real-time clock and additional serial and parallel ports; CGA monitors, RAM expansion cards, and floppy disk drives. As well as developing hardware and software and running their mail-order catalog, Apparat was also active in retailing, opening up a couple of locations in the Denver area dedicated to selling products listed in the company's catalog. In 1984, the company opened up a branch office and retail store in

Arlington Heights, Illinois Arlington Heights is a village in Cook County, Illinois, Cook County Illinois, United States. A northwestern Chicago metropolitan area, suburb of Chicago, it lies about northwest of the city's downtown. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

, near

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. In 1985, the company began selling their own bespoke IBM PC–compatible computer systems exclusively through their retail locations. Apparat ceased operations in 1988.

References

{{reflist, colwidth=30em 1978 establishments in Colorado 1988 disestablishments in Colorado American companies established in 1978 American companies disestablished in 1988 Computer companies established in 1978 Computer companies disestablished in 1988 Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies Defunct computer systems companies Defunct retail companies of the United States Defunct software companies of the United States TRS-80