Thomson computers

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

Thomson TO7 computer on display at the Musée Bolo, Lausanne

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
  • Thomson MO5
    Thomson MO5
  • Thomson MO5 "Michel Platini" edition
    Thomson MO5 "Michel Platini" edition
  • Thomson TO7
    Thomson TO7
  • Thomson TO7-70
    Thomson TO7-70

Second generation
  • Thomson TO9
    Thomson TO9
  • Thomson MO6
    Thomson MO6
  • Thomson TO9+
    Thomson TO9+
  • Thomson TO8D
    Thomson TO8D

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.".[36]

PC compatible
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thomson computers.

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. "Le Nanoréseau". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2022-11-08.
  6. "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.
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  27. "Le Nanoréseau". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2022-11-08.
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  29. "Thomson 16 bits - forum.system-cfg.com". forum.system-cfg.com.
  30. "Thomson TO16". forum.system-cfg.com.
  31. Thomson MO6 MESS driver
  32. "Thomson MO6". www.old-computers.com.
  33. Thomson TO8 MESS driver
  34. "Thomson TO9+". December 27, 2020.
  35. "OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum". www.old-computers.com.
  36. "International – "Multi-user micro systems running on Unix are ideally suited for decision support applications."" (PDF). Datamation: 88–4. July 1985.
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  38. "Thomson Micromega 32". www.silicium.org. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  39. "Thomson Micromega 32". www.system-cfg.com. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  40. Holmes, Lewis (May 1982). "Hanover: power and electronics fare". Electronics & Power. 28 (5): 368. doi:10.1049/ep.1982.0189.
  41. Etheridge, James (March 1984). "FOREIGN VENTURES: FOREIGN VENTURES - TWO FOR THE ROAD" (PDF). Datamation (84): 115.
  42. "32:16 Fortune". www.old-computers.com. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
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  49. 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.
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  53. "Ordinateurs". Le Devoir. 8 December 1982. p. 20.
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  64. Corti, Laura (1988). SN/G Report on Data Processing Projects in Art: Projects. Scuola normale superiore.
  65. Jouannet, Francis; Bonetto, Ch (1987). Modèle informatisé du traitement des tons: domaine bantou (in French). Peeters Publishers. ISBN 978-2-85297-204-9.
  66. Bornes, Christian (1984). Les nouvelles technologies dans l'information scientifique et technique: cours INRIA (in French). INRIA. ISBN 978-2-7261-0405-7.
  67. Middle East Computing. Reed Business Publishing Developments, a division of Business Press International,300. 1985.
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