SAGE Computer Technology was a computer company based in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. It was founded in 1981 by Rod Coleman, Bill Bonham and Bob Needham; it went through several name changes. The change from Sage computer came about when "Sage Software" in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

demanded cessation of use of the name Sage in the computer segment. * SAGE Computer Technology ::- created the Sage II and Sage IV computers based on the

Motorola 68000 The Motorola 68000 (sometimes shortened to Motorola 68k or m68k and usually pronounced "sixty-eight-thousand") is a 16/32-bit complex instruction set computer (CISC) microprocessor, introduced in 1979 by Motorola Semiconductor Products Sect ...

microprocessor. * SAGE Computer *Stride Micro **MicroSage Computer Systems (a wholly owned subsidiary, 1987) ::- created the Stride 420, Stride 440, Stride 460 ( VME), 090428 entertainment.webshots.com Stride 660 and Stride 740 computers.

SAGE IV

The SAGE IV was released in 1983. 101014 thebattles.net Hardware: * Board0: CPU: MC68000 @ 8 MHz, 2× serial RS-232 ports 19.2 kbit/s, Parallel input/output (PIO) for printers, GPIB, Floppy disc controller, 512 KByte

DRAM Dynamic random-access memory (dynamic RAM or DRAM) is a type of random-access semiconductor memory that stores each bit of data in a memory cell, usually consisting of a tiny capacitor and a transistor, both typically based on metal-oxi ...

. Same as in SAGE II. 090427 old-computers.com * Board1: 4× serial RS-232 ports 19.2 kbit/s, Hard disk controller, 512 KByte

. * Memory consisting of 64 Kbit 150 ns memory modules. Parity error protected setup. 090428 bp0.blogger.com * Minimum system memory is 256 KByte. 200406 sageandstride.org * Storage: 1× 5¼" 800 KByte F.D. drive. 1× 5 - 40 MByte Winchester harddisk. * Built-in multi-user

BIOS In computing, BIOS (, ; Basic Input/Output System, also known as the System BIOS, ROM BIOS, BIOS ROM or PC BIOS) is firmware used to provide runtime services for operating systems and programs and to perform hardware initialization during the ...

. * Introduced in November 1982 * Price: $3,600 USD (for the single-floppy entry-level configuration) The SAGE managed multitasking with six serial ports in real time with 1 MByte of RAM in 1983. It was used by scientists and engineers for more than ten years when it was popular, "running over 10 years with zero admin, and maybe even zero reboot." "13 times faster than the

Apple II The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-mold ...

" (when introduced). 090427 suddendisruption.blogspot.com Sage IV computers were used for the development of the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore International, Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and sign ...

prototype computer system "Lorraine". The Sage system got the nickname "Agony". 090427 floodgap.com Access was through an serial video terminal. Graphics capability was possible with the addition of a third-party colour graphics system from Robinson Systems which plugged directly into the Sage 68000 bus and provided output compatible with a range of colour monitors (e.g., Cotron Sword, Electrohome 1301). The included operating system was the UCSD p-System. Many other operating systems were available 090921 sageandstride.org including CP/M-68K,

Idris Idris may refer to: People * Idris (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname * Idris (prophet), Islamic prophet in the Qur'an, traditionally identified with Enoch, an ancestor of Noah in the Bible * Idris G ...

, PDOS, HyperFORTH Plus, BOS,

TRIPOS At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mathe ...

, Mirage, and MOSYS. Programming languages available included Pascal, Modula-2, C, FORTRAN77, BASIC, 68000 macro assembler, APL,

BCPL BCPL ("Basic Combined Programming Language") is a procedural, imperative, and structured programming language. Originally intended for writing compilers for other languages, BCPL is no longer in common use. However, its influence is still ...

, LISP and Forth.

System bus

An "m68k" bus was used up to the Stride series of computers (Sage VI). Later a VME bus was used.

NOD

NOD is a head-motion operated

mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

device that Wilbur Harvey and Rod came up with one afternoon in about 1983. It works by putting a special reflective pencil behind your ear and a quadrature detector that tracks its movement. The point was to be able to use the keyboard while you used the mouse cursor. It had an

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

C interface and cost US$400.{{cite web, title=The NOD(tm) (image), url=http://bp1.blogger.com/_YdtTy7yAtcU/RypQaBGRqLI/AAAAAAAAAbI/Etk0Rdxe6ZI/s1600-h/40+Nod.jpg 090428 bp1.blogger.com Apple Inc. were presented with a prototype but the project it was intended for got canceled.

References

External links

SAGE collector site

Booting Sage Computer - A Subjective Retrospective by Rod Coleman

Sage II Computer

Source code of the Sage PROMs, BIOS etc.
Defunct computer hardware companies American companies established in 1981 1981 establishments in Nevada

SAGE IV

System bus

NOD

See also

References

External links