Exidy Sorcerer Microcomputer
date: label: Date made
content: 1978-1980
name: label: maker
content: Exidy, Inc.
notes: label: Description
content: Exidy, a leading manufacturer of home and arcade video games, introduced its Sorcerer home computer in 1978. The Sorcer used a Z-80 processor that ran at 2.106 MHz and came with 8 KB of RAM, which could be expanded to 32 KB. It ran the CP/M operating system. It sold for $898 with 8 KB of RAM, $1150 with 16 KB of RAM, and $1395 with 32 KB of RAM. It also contained 4 K of ROM. Programs were loaded with plug-in ROM cartridges, and the machine came with a standard BASIC cartridge. This was essentially the common Microsoft BASIC already widely used in the CP/M world. But Exidy added a number of one-stroke commands that allowed users to type in common instructions such as PRINT with a single keystroke. Another popular cartridge contained an early version of the word processor Spellbinder. Users could connect the machine to a standard TV, but the company also offered its own Exidy "Video/Disk" monitor for $2,995.
label: Description
content: Judged against its competitors, the Commodore PET and Radio Shack TRS-80, the Sorcerer was comparatively advanced when it appeared. Due to a lack of marketing in the United States, however, it did not sell well there. It did better in Europe and Australia. Exidy took the machine off the market in 1980.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Exidy Sorcerer
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Computers
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content: Family & Social Life
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content: Work
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content: Computers & Business Machines
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Elmer C. Butler, Jr.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1993.0546.01
label: catalog number
content: 1993.0546.01
label: accession number
content: 1993.0546
objectType: label: Object Name
content: microcomputer
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10.8 cm x 52.2 cm x 35.5 cm; 4 1/4 in x 20 9/16 in x 14 in