Thomson TO7 computer on display at the Musée Bolo, Lausanne

In the 1980s the French Thomson company produced a range of 8-bit computers based on the 6809E CPU.[1]

They were released in several variations (mostly concerning the keyboard or color of the casing) covering the MO and TO series[2] from late 1982 to 1989. While MO and TO models are incompatible in software, most of the peripherals and hardware were compatible.

These machines were common in France due to the 1980s governmental educational program Computing for All (Informatique pour Tous).[3][4][5] Around 100,000 MO5 and TO7/70 computers were ordered and installed in schools.[6] Export attempts to Germany, Italy, Algeria, USSR, India, Argentina and Spain were unsuccessful.

It is reported that there were 450,000 Thomson computers in France in 1986.[7] By 1988 Thomson had only sold 60,000 of the predicted 150,000 computers, abandoning computer development the following year.[6]

About 84 games were released for the TO7,[8][9] 194 for the MO5,[10][11] 3 for the TO7/70,[12] 10 for the TO9,[13] 21 for the MO6,[14][15] and 128 for the TO8.[16][17] Most titles were released between 1984 and 1987 and by French companies such as Infogrames, Loriciel, FIL or Coktel Vision.[18][19]

First generation

Second generation

Unix systems

The Micromega was fundamental on the adoption of Unix by the French government, due to the localization of the Unix operating system. According to Dominique Maisonneuve, a Unix developer at CERG (Paris): "It was thanks to the Micromega that the government became interested in installing Unix. What was needed, was some hardware with a French coloring.".[35]

PC compatible

See also

References

  1. "OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum - Thomson". Archived from the original on 25 February 2021.
  2. Thomson 8-bit computer emulation with MESS
  3. Ina.fr, Institut National de l’Audiovisuel-. "Plan informatique : conférence de presse Fabius". Ina.fr.
  4. "Près du radiateur...l'ordinateur !". Les Echos. October 2, 1991.
  5. 1 2 "Le Nanoréseau". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2022-11-08.
  6. 1 2 "Thomson". www.obsolete-tears.com.
  7. "THOMSON JOUE LES LAPINS" (PDF). Hebdogiciel Magazine (150). August 29, 1986.
  8. "Thomson TO7 video games (Hardware entity)". Universal Videogame List. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  9. "Listing of all Thomson TO7 games - Page 1". The Video Games Museum. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  10. "Thomson MO5 video games (Hardware entity)". Universal Videogame List. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  11. "Listing of all Thomson MO5 games - Page 1". The Video Games Museum. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  12. "Thomson TO7/70 video games (Hardware entity)". Universal Videogame List. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  13. "Thomson TO9 video games (Hardware entity)". Universal Videogame List. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  14. "Thomson MO6 video games (Hardware entity)". Universal Videogame List. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  15. "Listing of all Thomson MO6 games - Page 1". The Video Games Museum. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  16. "Thomson TO8 video games (Hardware entity)". Universal Videogame List. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  17. "Listing of all Thomson TO8 games - Page 1". The Video Games Museum. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  18. "Thomson - Releases per year". Universal Videogame List. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
  19. "Thomson - Most common companies". Universal Videogame List. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
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  21. Thomson MO5 MESS driver
  22. Wolf, Mark J. P. (May 27, 2015). Video Games Around the World. MIT Press. ISBN 9780262527163 via Google Books.
  23. Thomson TO7/70 MESS driver
  24. "OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum". www.old-computers.com.
  25. "Thomson TO9". www.obsolete-tears.com.
  26. "Thomson MO5NR MESS driver". Archived from the original on 2021-06-05.
  27. "Spécification du chip graphique Intel i82716 utilisée dans le prototype TO16". logicielsmoto.com.
  28. "Thomson 16 bits - forum.system-cfg.com". forum.system-cfg.com.
  29. "Thomson TO16". forum.system-cfg.com.
  30. Thomson MO6 MESS driver
  31. "Thomson MO6". www.old-computers.com.
  32. Thomson TO8 MESS driver
  33. "Thomson TO9+". December 27, 2020.
  34. "OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum". www.old-computers.com.
  35. "International – "Multi-user micro systems running on Unix are ideally suited for decision support applications."" (PDF). Datamation: 88–4. July 1985.
  36. "OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum - Thomson Micromega32". www.old-computers.com.
  37. 1 2 3 "Thomson Micromega 32". www.silicium.org. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  38. 1 2 "Thomson Micromega 32". www.system-cfg.com. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  39. Holmes, Lewis (May 1982). "Hanover: power and electronics fare". Electronics & Power. 28 (5): 368. doi:10.1049/ep.1982.0189.
  40. Etheridge, James (March 1984). "FOREIGN VENTURES: FOREIGN VENTURES - TWO FOR THE ROAD" (PDF). Datamation (84): 115.
  41. "32:16 Fortune". www.old-computers.com. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  42. "Fortune advert: Fortune 32:16 - Minicomputer Performance at Microcomputer Price". nosher.net. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
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  46. "Fortune 32:16 - The Personal Computer Museum, Brantford, Ontario, CANADA - Recycle, donate, and browse your old computers, electronics, video games, and software". 2020-01-03. Archived from the original on 2020-01-03. Retrieved 2022-12-01.
  47. Kowalezyk, R.; Morgant, G.; Baumann, F. C.; Giboudeau, J. (October–December 1986). "Biochemical laboratory management with a microcomputer" (PDF). Journal of Automatic Chemistry. 8 (4): 211–214. doi:10.1155/S146392468600041X. PMC 2547677. PMID 18925140.
  48. The Seybold Report on Office Systems. Seybold Publications. 1982.
  49. "Ordinateurs". Le Devoir. 8 December 1982. p. 20.
  50. Notes et études documentaires (in French). La Documentation Française. 1988.
  51. Les Cahiers de l'urbanisme (in French). Inspection générale de l'aménagement du territoire de la Région wallonne. 1988. ISBN 978-2-87009-337-5.
  52. Revue générale des routes et des aérodromes: RGRA (in French). 1986.
  53. Billault, B.; Degoulet, P.; Devriès, C.; Aimé, F.; Attali, J. R.; Tchobroutsky, G.; Cathelineau, G.; Passa, P. (April 1987). "[A computerized file for the surveillance of diabetic patients: the MELLITEE system]". Diabète & Métabolisme. 13 (2): 129–134. ISSN 0338-1684. PMID 3595968.
  54. Zimmermann, Marc; Maisonblanche, Pierre; Cauchemez, Bruno; Leclercq, Jean-François; Coumel, Philippe (1 June 1986). "Determinants of the spontaneous ectopic activity in repetitive monomorphic idiopathic ventricular tachycardia". Journal of the American College of Cardiology. 7 (6): 1219–1227. doi:10.1016/S0735-1097(86)80139-5. ISSN 0735-1097. PMID 2423570. S2CID 34476345.
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  60. Corti, Laura (1988). SN/G Report on Data Processing Projects in Art: Projects. Scuola normale superiore.
  61. Jouannet, Francis; Bonetto, Ch (1987). Modèle informatisé du traitement des tons: domaine bantou (in French). Peeters Publishers. ISBN 978-2-85297-204-9.
  62. Bornes, Christian (1984). Les nouvelles technologies dans l'information scientifique et technique: cours INRIA (in French). INRIA. ISBN 978-2-7261-0405-7.
  63. Middle East Computing. Reed Business Publishing Developments, a division of Business Press International,300. 1985.
  64. Marchés tropicaux et méditerranéens (in French). Rene Moreaux et Cie. 1989.
  65. 1 2 "Micro Systèmes n°75 mai 1987 - Page 32 - 33 - Micro Systèmes n°75 mai 1987 - Micro Systèmes - informatique grand public - informatique et réseaux - Sciences et Techniques - 1001mags - Magazines en PDF à 1 € et GRATUITS !". fr.1001mags.com. Retrieved 2022-12-01.
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