The EXL 100 is a computer released in 1984 by the French brand Exelvision, based on the TMS 7020 microprocessor from Texas Instruments. This was an uncommon design choice (at the time almost all home computers either used 6502 or Z80 microprocessors) but justified by the fact that the engineering team behind the machine (Jacques Palpacuer, Victor Zebrouck and Christian Petiot) came from Texas Instruments. It was part of the government Computing for All plan and 9000 units were used in schools.
Design The design is unusual compared with similar machines of the time, as it had a separate central unit. Two keyboards were available: one with rubber keys and another with a more standard touch. Keyboard and joystick were not connected to the central unit by a cable but by infrared link, and are battery powered. Many extensions were available: modem, floppy disk drive and a 16 KB CMOS RAM powered by an integrated lithium battery. Its TMS 5220 sound processor was capable of French speech synthesis, another unusual feature.
Specifications Release price: 3,190 French francs CPU: TMS 7020 at 4.9 MHz Graphics chip: TMS 3556 (40 × 25 character text mode, 320 × 250 pixel graphics mode, 8 colors) Sound: TMS 5220 (with speech synthesis in French) Storage: cartridge port, cassettes, optional floppy disk drive Memory: 34 KB RAM (2 KB RAM + 32 KB Shared VRAM), 4 to 32 KB ROM
Variants A version with an integrated V23 modem named Exeltel was released in 1986.
Software The machine came with a BASIC version on cartridge named ExelBasic. There are more 140 games for the system.
There are 73 known commercial games released for the Exelvision EXL 100 computer.
Title Year Publisher 10000 198? Minipuce 1000 Bornes 1985 Free Game Blot Albertville Slalom Géant 1987 Editions Parallèles Amiral Cup Minipuce Anaconda 198? Exelvision Arcade 198? Editions Parallèles ATI 42: Simulateur de Vol 1985 Minipuce B-25 1987 Minipuce Backgammon 1985 Editions Parallèles Bugs Buster 1985 Free Game Blot Burgertime 1987 Exelvision Capitaine Menkar 1985 Exelvision Car Crash 1986 Initiel Casse Briques Puissance 5 1985 Exelvision CB5: Casse Briques Puissance 5 1985 Exelvision Cité d'Or 1985 Exelvision Civil War 198? Exelement Votre Coloric 1984 Free Game Blot Crapette 1985 Editions Parallèles Des Signes dans l'Espace 1985 VIFI Nathan Exel Jack 1985 Exelvision Exel Max 198? Exelvision Exel Poker 1984 Electron Soft. Formule 1 1987 Tilt Golfachiffres 198? Exelvision Golphabet 1985 Minipuce Grand Prix 1986 Editions Parallèles Guppy 1985 Exelvision Harward 1985 Sprites Histoire de Theatre 1985 Free Game Blot Imagix 1984 Exelvision Kamicar 1 1987 Exelvision Kong 1987 Exelvision Kung-Fu 1985 Exelvision La Tour de Hanoi 1985 Minipuce L'Anneau de l'Union 1985 Initiel Le Monde de Pat 1985 Exelvision Le Sphinx d'Or 1987 Editions Parallèles Le Trésor de Tout Ankh Amon 198? Editions Parallèles L'Enigme Algènubi 1985 Minipuce L'Enigme d'Algènubi 1985 Exelvision Les Aigles 1987 Exelvision L'Intrus + Smurfy 1985 Sprites Logiformes 1985 Squirelle; Langage et Informatique Logiphrases 1985 Squirelle Mario's Cement Factory 198? Exelement Votre Meurtre a Grande Vitesse 1985 Cobra Soft Midway 198? Exelvision Mille-Pattes 1985 Exelvision Monopolic 198? Free Game Blot M'yams 1985 Exelvision Neurone 1985 Editions Parallèles Nimbus 198? Micro Scoop Otho 1984 Initiel Pindo 1986 Minipuce Polichinelle Minipuce Produits et Surfaces 198? Cedic-Nathan Pyrox 1987 Editions Parallèles Quizzy 1985 Exelvision Rafale X 1987 Minipuce Robix 198? Videomatique Sphinx 1985 Exelvision Startrek 198? Exelement Votre Superbad 198? Exelvision Tennis 198? Exelvision Threat Star 1987 Tilt Tour d'Europe 198? Exelvision Une Affaire en Or 198? Free Game Blot Vega X4 1986 Minipuce Virus 198? Exelvision Voyage en France 198? Exelvision Wizord 1985 Exelvision World War 3 1984 Free Game Blot
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