page_title: Percom
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: Percom / Origins
caption_attribution_description: English: PerCom Data Co. was started by Harold Mauch in 1976 to manufacture peripherals for early home computers. Byte magazine sponsored a conference in Kansas City to define a standard for storing data on audio cassettes. Mauch attend that conference and wrote an article for Byte showing an example design. The CI-810 Cassette Interface was PerCom's first product. It connected to a parallel port and was followed by the CIS-30+ that connect to a serial port. These interfaces were typically used with Motorola 6800 based computers such as the SWTPC6800. The "Kansas City" standard recorded binary data using two tones (1200 Hz and 2400 Hz) at a 300 baud data rate. At 30 bytes per second it took over 4 minutes to load an 8K file.
context_page_description: Percom Data was an early microcomputer company formed in 1976 to sell peripherals into the emerging microcomputer market. They are best known for their floppy disk systems, first for S-100 machines, and the later for other platforms like the TRS-80 and the Atari 8-bit family. The company was purchased by Esprit Systems in 1984.
context_section_description: Percom started after the meeting that produced the Kansas City standard for storing data on cassette tapes. The final version of the standard was written in February 1976, co-authored by Lee Felsenstein and Harold Mauch. Mauch published an article on the technical aspects of the standard in the next month's Byte magazine, entitled "Digital Data on Cassette Recorders".
  Mauch and his wife Lucy started what was originally PerCom Data that same month, selling the CIS-30 adaptor allowing any portable cassette player to be connected to the Motorola 6800-based micros from SWTPC. The CIS-30 was a success, and soon followed by similar devices for other platforms. Floppy disk drives followed, along with rapid growth. Percom incorporated (dropping the capital C in the name) in 1978.
  In 1979 the company branched out into the TRS-80 market, starting with the Percom Separator, and add-on device that corrected deficiencies in Radio Shack's own floppy disk interface. In 1980 they introduced the Percom Doubler, the first double-density floppy disk for the TRS-80 platform. They later introduced Electric Crayon, a color graphics system that communicated with the TRS-80 through the printer port and output to a separate composite monitor or color television. Floppy disks for the Atari 8-bit family were also introduced during this period. In 1981 they moved all operations to Dallas, Texas except technical services and repair which stayed in Garland, Texas.
caption: PerCom Data Company's cassette tape interface
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