The CompuMate SV010 was a home computer peripheral manufactured by Spectravideo International for the Atari 2600 home video game console. It was released on 6 January 1983 at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.Atari 2600 Spectravideo Compumate Keyboard , Geek VintageThe history of Spectravideo, By Roger SamdalSpectravideo CompuMate, AGH Museum
In Germany, the CompuMate was marketed by Quelle, a catalogue company, as the Universum Heimcomputer. In Brazil (circa 1985), at least two clones of CompuMate were made: the Dactar-Comp by Milmar Electronics, and the CompuGame.A history of Atari in Brazil.
Hardware The ComputeMate consists of a membrane keyboard, output interfaces, and read-only internal storage. It connects to the console's module slot and to both controller ports. The user could optionally place the ComputeMate on top of the console—although not when used with the Atari 2600 Jr. model.How to Turn Your Atari Into a Computer(For Less Than $90), by Martin Bass, Appeared in the August/September 1983 issue of "Video Games Player"
The CompuMate has a 3.5-mm phone connector in order to connect a Compact Cassette unit for non-volatile data storage. Its read-only memory is preinstalled with three computer programs.
PAL and NTSC versions of the CompuMate were manufactured.PAL version, CompuMateNTSC version, CompuMate
Software The CompuMate has three simple computer programs in its internal read-only memory:CompuMate, Battle of the Bits Lyceum
Magic Easel, a drawing and animation program with a 40×40-pixel canvas and 10 selectable colors. It can animate up to nine frames in a repeating loop. It has two demonstration pictures: a world map and a snowman.Subject: Compumate - the REAL "Music Machine"! (was "What's a Spectravideo Compumate keyboard for?", Date: Mon, 24 Mar 1997, From: christian-oliver windler, Newsgroups: rec.games.video.classic Music Composer, a software synthesizer with four demonstration songs: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", "Long, Long Ago", "Jingle Bells", and "My Bonnie". BASIC editor and interpreterSongMate (SF-984)
Spectravideo only published two programs for the CompuMate on Compact Cassette, PictureMate (1983) and SongMate (1983).PictureMate (SF-985)
See also BASIC Programming cartridge for the Atari 2600
References
External links Spectravideo CompuMate, Oldcomputers.net Atari 2600 VCS CompuMate, scans of instructions
The CompuMate List(Loadable programs) - Atari 2600 - AtariAge Forums CompuMate Basic Programs Stella -- A multi-platform Atari 2600 Emulator Supports CompuMate emulation. z26 -- An Atari 2600 Emulator Supports CompuMate emulation.