Intellivision _made_ PCs...

From: Bryan Pope <bpope_at_wordstock.com>
Date: Tue Mar 4 10:16:00 2003

This is from the Intellivision newsletter:


INTELLIVISION LORE FROM THE FILES OF THE BLUE SKY RANGERS: THE INTV PC-XT
COMPUTER
Most Intellivision buffs are familiar with the three attempts Mattel
Electronics made at producing a home computer: the Intellivision Keyboard
Component, the Entertainment Computer System (ECS), and the Aquarius Home
Computer System. Less well known is INTV Corp.'s foray into the computer
business: the INTV-PC/XT.

Sold only through a 1986 brochure to those on the Intellivision catalog
mailing list, the computer was touted as "From the makers of Intellivision
...a name you know. We've been around awhile. We manufacture Intellivision,
which brought a new standard of quality to home computer games in 1979.
The INTV-PC/XT does the same for personal computers today."

The brochure featured a half-dozen cartoons by Blue Sky Ranger Keith
Robinson (TRON Solar Sailer) of average people using the computer to better
their lives.

The INTV-PC/XT sold for $999.95 plus $25.00 shipping and handling. It had
switchable clock speeds: 4.7 MHz (same as the original IBM-PC) and 8 MHz.
It came with 640K RAM, IBM PC-DOS, a monochrome monitor, and two 5.25"
floppy disk drives.

In reality, the computer was simply another of the nearly identical
IBM-compatibles that a dozen generic companies were selling in the mid-1980s.
INTV didn't manufacture it, they just put their label on it.

The brochure - and the use of "XT" in the name of the computer - were a
bit misleading. The brochure claimed that "the INTV-PC/XT is a true
IBM-PC/XT compatible." Since the IBM-PC/XT (unlike the IBM-PC) came with
a built-in hard drive, it could be inferred that the INTV-PC/XT also came
with a hard drive. It didn't.

In 1986, over 300,000 people were on the Intellivision mailing list. How
many bought an INTV-PC/XT? We don't really know. If any of you out there
owned one, we'd love to hear from you!

Did you own an INTV-PC/XT? Drop us a line! > newsletter_at_intellivisionlives.com
Received on Tue Mar 04 2003 - 10:16:00 GMT