Compis (''COMPuter I Skolan'') was a computer system intended for the general educational system in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
and sold to Swedish schools beginning in 1984 through the distributor
Esselte Studium, who also was responsible for the software packages.
The computers were also used in Danish, Finnish and Norwegian schools under the name Scandis.
History
In 1980, the
ABC 80 used in the schools was regarded as becoming obsolete, and the National Swedish Board for Technical Development (''Styrelsen för teknisk utveckling'') was tasked to find a replacement. In 1981, the procurement ''Tudis (Teknikupphandlingsprojekt Datorn i Skolan) '' was launched, and while the decision was controversial,
Svenska Datorer AB was awarded the contract with development beginning in 1982. After Svenska Datorer went bankrupt, production was transferred to TeliDatorer/Telenova under
Televerket (Sweden).
The computer was distributed by
Esselte and exclusively marketed towards, and sold to, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish schools, mainly high stage (year 7-9) and
gymnasium-level.
The computer was based on the
Intel 80186
The Intel 80186, also known as the iAPX 186, or just 186, is a microprocessor and microcontroller introduced in 1982. It was based on the Intel 8086 and, like it, had a 16-bit external Bus (computing)#Address bus, data bus multiplexed with a 20 ...
CPU and with
CP/M-86 as the operating system in
ROM (although it could also run
MS-DOS from disk). The computer had a wide selection of ports, including one for a
light pen. The Compis project was criticized from the start, and as the move to
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 ...
compatibility came it was left behind and finally cancelled in 1988 although it was in use well into the 1990s.
Applications
Notable applications being run on the Compis in an educational environment was:
*
COMAL interpreter
*
Turbo Pascal 3.0 compiler, under the name Scandis-Pascal
*
WordStar word processor
* ''Harmony'' software: word processing, spreadsheet and database. The name was a pun on
Lotus Symphony, the dominant
productivity software at the time.
Some schools had simple
local area network
A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, campus, or building, and has its network equipment and interconnects locally managed. LANs facilitate the distribution of da ...
s of Compis/Scandis computers, in which 10–20 machines shared one
hard disk
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 ...
with a typical capacity of 10
MB.
See also
*
Education in Sweden
*
Unisys ICON
External links
Telenova Compis some documentation available here (page in Swedish).
References
Nationalencyclopedins nätupplaga, "Compis"Swedish Internet museum
Personal computers
Goods manufactured in Sweden
Computer-related introductions in 1984