Demography?

From: Adam Jenkins <adam_at_merlin.net.au>
Date: Tue Mar 3 20:12:26 1998

>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.

They aren't common here, but in Adelaide (South Australia) we still have
a Sorcerer's User Group running. I suspect that it is entirely social,
but it is there. Because Dick Smith imported them so early, it was one
of (if not the) first complete microcomputer systems available here, and
even then Dick Smith had a fairly large chain of stores. This gave it a
major advantage over its rivals (aside from the fact that it is a pretty
good system in teh first place). I also know someone who took one with
him when he went to the Antartic for 12 months. :)

Dick Smith, as I believe Andrew mentioned, sold a number of computers
here. The Sorcerer was sold as a Sorcerer, but they also sold the TRS-80
clone he mentioned (the System 80), two Laser computers (the Dick Smith
VZ-200 and VZ-300), the Creativision (the Dick Smith Wizzard), a kit
computer (the Super 80), and an Apple II clone (the Dick Smith Cat). I
was told the System 80 was a rebadged Laser, but I don't remember if they
made TRS-80 clones, and can't find any evidence to prove that the System
80 wasn't DSE's own system. The Super 80 I believe was actually theirs,
but I don't have one to check, and the Cat I assume was a rebadged clone
- I have a lead on one, but I have to go collect it. :) The VZs and
Wizzard were simply rebadged.

After a while they just started importing PC clones like everone else. I
do remember they had the one luggable, which I imagine was CP/M based,
but I'd have to do some research to find out who's it was.

Adam.
Received on Tue Mar 03 1998 - 20:12:26 GMT

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