Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!ukc!tcdcs!csvax1.cs.tcd.ie!swift.cs.tcd.ie!csaran!cjmchale From: cjmchale@cs.tcd.ie (Ciaran McHale) Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth Subject: Re: Jupiter Ace (long) Message-ID: <1989Sep11.110119.22033@cs.tcd.ie> Date: 11 Sep 89 11:01:19 GMT References: <18198@ut-emx.UUCP> Reply-To: cjmchale@cs.tcd.ie (Ciaran McHale) Organization: DSG, Dept. of Comp.Sc., Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. Lines: 66 To: NEWSMGR@swift.cs.tcd.ie CC: Subj: In article <18198@ut-emx.UUCP> kogan5@walt.cc.utexas.edu (Robert George) writes: >Hello all, > Does anyone remember hearing about a machine called the Jupiter Ace? >It was about the size of a TS1000 and ran Forth as its main language. I think >I saw ads for it in Creative Computing around 1984 (they only ran for about 3 >months). Anyone have the specs on this thing or know what happened to it? > Bob George kogan5@walt.cc.utexas.edu > The Indefinite Man > "Time has little to do with infinity and jelly doughnuts." - Mac's ghost Yup, I have one at home. The history of the Ace is as follows: Some people who were involved in the design of the Sinclair ZX81 and Spectrum ( as they were known in the UK - I think that the TS1000 is the name that the Spectrum was reseased under in the USA ) set up their own company called Jupiter Cantab ( or something like that ). They released the Jupiter Ace which had the following specs: Z80 CPU running at about 4MHz. 3K of inbuilt RAM. This was spilt up into (approx) 0.75K for the byte mapped screen (32 cols by 24 lines) 1K for the character set. All 128 chars could be redefined A few hundred bytes for the system variables. The rest ( 1k ) available for the user's dictionary. It was possible to buy a 16 or 48 RAM pack to extend the memory. The ROM was 8k. The FORTH was a non-standard version. It was the only FORTH that I've ever used so I couldn't tell you exectly what the differences are. There was no concept of "screens". All save/load operations were to a standard cassette recorder in a similar manner to the Spectrum. The keyboard was a rubber pad similar but worse (!) than the Spectrum's. It was ( to my knowledge ) the only home machine with FORTH as the built in language. It failed in the UK and USA markets and Jupiter Cantab sold it's stock to a company called "Boldfield Computing limited" in England. Boldfield Ltd continued to support the Ace for a year or two. I bought mine from them for next to nothing ( 40 pounds incl. the 16K RAM ). Some software was brought out such as an assembler/disassembler, games, spreadsheet (!). Eventually Boldfield decided to stop supporting the ACE. Everybody on their mailing list was told that the remaining bulk stock, the distribution rights, copyrights of the ROM code etc were up for sale. I've no idea if any company decided to take up this offer so I don't know if it's still supported. If you want, I should have Boldfield's address at home - you could ask them for details on the Ace's fate. When Boldfield were stopping support on the Ace they had a sale. I bought a "lucky dip bag" for about 5 pounds. In it I got, among other things, about 3 spare copies of the user manual. If anybody wants a copy then email me, rather than post to the net. First come first served. The only charge will be the price of an enveolpe and a stamp. To save people asking ... "No, I don't want to sell my Ace." I'd prefer to keep it for the antique status it will have in 20 years. CJ. P.S. I'm going away on 2 weeks holidays soon so there might be a delay in response to any email I get. ----- If email to the adress in the header bounces then try ... cjmchale@csvax1.tcd.ie dpmkelly.cs.tcd.ie "All things take time - but in the end time takes everything" Felix de Bod.