Demography?

From: Eve Guerney <eve_at_powerup.com.au>
Date: Wed Mar 4 06:55:17 1998

-----Original Message-----
From: Sam Ismail <dastar_at_wco.com>


>It seems that a lot of you blokes down under have Sorcerers. Were they
>marketed a lot more "down there" than they were in the US? They are not
>very common over here.
>
>Sam Alternate e-mail:
dastar_at_siconic.com
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------

----
>
The Sorcerer was marketed  in Australia by a nationwide group called "Dick
Smith Electronics" which was a pioneer in the home computer market here in
many ways. They also sold a TRS80 Model 1 clone called "Dick Smith System
80",  the "Dick Smith VZ300" (and others in its family I think), and the
"Dick Smith Wizard". The latter is a strange machine in which the two
paddles, when placed in their slots in the console, make up the two halves
of a QWERTY membrane keyboard, with games providing slide-on overlays for
the paddles such that the game controls activate the membrane keys
underneath. I am not sure if these (other than the Sorcerer) were just
re-badged models from overseas, or commisioned by "tricky dick" (he
advertised a lot, became very rich, then became a sort of Richard Branson
adventurer and philanthropist, and he is actually now head of our civil
aviation authority, and some now want him as the first President of
Australia if we ever become a republic!)
I have here a data sheet for the Sorcerer from 1979 or 1980 in which the 8K
machine cost $A1295 and the 16K cost $1395. The only extras advertised then
were a cassette recorder for $A35 and the monitor for $A150.
from Brisbane, Australia
Phil Guerney

Received on Wed Mar 04 1998 - 06:55:17 GMT