Ohio Scientific Challenger 1P, Apple II+, TRS-80 Model 1, Atari 400, Osborne 1a, System-80/Video Genie/PMC-80, IBM-5150 (IBM-PC), ZX-81, TRS-80 Colour Computer 1, Vic-20, Epson HX-20, BBC-B, ZX-Spectrum, Kaypro II, Eaca Colour Genie, RX-8800, Apple IIe, Atari 800XL, Tandy Model 100, Commodore 64, Commodore 64C, Commodore SX-64, Spectravideo 318, Mattel Aquarius, Sinclair QL, Atari 130XE, Apple IIe Platinum, IBM PS/2 30-286, Compaq SLT/286, Amiga 500, Atari 1040ST, Mac SE/30, Mac Classic II, Mac Powerbook 145B, Generic 386DX-40

Ohio Scientific Challenge 1P

This functional-looking micro gained a small but loyal following amongst hobbyist and engineers. Based on the 6502 chip, it came is a sturdy steel case with a full stroke keyboard and included 8K Microsoft BASIC in ROM with Petscii-style graphics. A 22-character screen mono screen was bound to have limited its usefulness for anything other than complex calculations and to learn BASIC, but for these tasks it was an economical computing solution.

This is 1979 we are talking about here after all!

Apart from the Dick Smith System 80 you could say this was the first computer in my collection. It's certainly the oldest! This was given to me in 1987 or so by a guy whose university department was about to junk it. I think it had been used to teach engineering students a bit of BASIC programming

Although this model was fully clothed (i.e. enclosed in a case with keyboard) when launched in 1979, it is just one step above what could be cobbled together by the enthusiast with a soldering iron. In fact, its predecessors from Ohio Scientific were single-board kits. It has the appearance of an assembled kit.

When I was given the machine I also got the manuals and a book. To today's eyes the manuals are distinctly amateurish, consisting of typed and annoted pages on photocopy paper. They also assume users are somewhat familiar with electronics and the concepts of digital logic. Much of it is beyond me! For 1979 though, when the electronic hobbiest or the professional engineer was the only one buying these micros, it was typical and I guess it did the job.

As to software, well I don't have any..at least none on tape and ready to go. One of the problems is that this particular machine has so little RAM. Just four Kilobytes which actually translates to just 2.5 KB when BASIC is booted. I have some programs I could type in from off the Internet but they are bigger than this. Besides, my days of spending hours manually typing programs in are long gone!

Anyway, I'm not worried. I do plan to get some programs someday. It's still a great little working unit to have. When I fired it up after years of inactivity I was amazed that it actually went! Discovering that I actually had more than one working vintage computer got me started on collecting a few more.

Want to know more about this micro? Google is your friend.

This page last edited 10th August, 2008

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