The Thomson TO8 is a

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 ...

introduced by French company

Thomson SA Vantiva SA (formerly Technicolor SA, Thomson SARL, Thomson SA, and Thomson Multimedia) is a French multinational corporation that provides technology products and services for the communication, media and entertainment industries. Headquarter ...

in 1986, with a cost of 2,990 FF. It replaces its predecessor, the

Thomson TO7/70 The Thomson TO7, also called ''Thomson 9000'' is a home computer introduced by Thomson SA in November 1982, with an original retail price of 3750 FF. By 1983 over 40000 units were produced. About 84 games were released for the TO7. The TO7 is b ...

, while remaining essentially compatible. The new features of the TO8, like larger memory (256KB) and better graphics modes (powered by the

Thomson EF9369 The Thomson EF936x series is a type of Graphic Display Processor (GDP) by Thomson-EFCIS. The chip could draw at 1 million pixels per second, which was relatively advanced for the time of its release (1982 or earlier). There are various versions ...

graphics chip), are shared with the other third generation Thomson computers ( MO6 and TO9+). The TO8 has a tape drive and

Microsoft BASIC Microsoft BASIC is the foundation software product of the Microsoft company and evolved into a line of BASIC interpreters and compiler(s) adapted for many different microcomputers. It first appeared in 1975 as Altair BASIC, which was the first v ...

1.0 (in standard and 512 KB versions) on its internal ROM, and there is an optional external

floppy drive 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 ...

. Graphics were provided by the

chip, allowing the display of 16 colors from a palette of 4096. More than 120 games exist for the system. An improved version, the Thomson TO8D, includes a built-in 3.5" floppy drive.

References

External links

Thomson TO8/O8D
at Old-Computers.com *

site of Antoine Miné 6809-based home computers Thomson computers Computer-related introductions in 1986 {{microcompu-stub