CompuMate

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.^[3][6][7][8]

'UNIVERSUM Heimcomputer' alias 'Spectravideo CompuMate SV-010' Face of right side with audio in and audio out for tape player

'UNIVERSUM Heimcomputer' alias 'Spectravideo CompuMate SV-010' aerial view

CompuMate SV010

Atari 2600 Junior with the 'UNIVERSUM Heimcomputer' German clone of the CompuMate
Also known as	CompuMate[1]
Manufacturer	Spectravideo[2]
Release date	6 January 1983; 42 years ago (1983-01-06)[3]
Introductory price	79.99 US$ (today $252.53)[1][4]
Operating system	Microsoft BASIC[1][dead link]
CPU	Uses the base machine's MOS 6507 @ 1.19 MHz (Inside Atari VCS/2600/2600jr)
Memory	2K built-in RAM, 16K built-in ROM[5]
Storage	via audio jack on tape
Display	10 lines × 12 characters
Graphics	40x40 pixels with 10 selectable colors
Input	42-key Sensor Touch Keyboard, (2x) 9-pin sub-D connector, game cartridge connector, earphone mini-jack, microphone mini-jack
Dimensions	13-1/2"W x 6"D x 1-1/2"H (W 343mm x D 152mm x H 38mm)

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.^[9]

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.^[10]

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.^[11][12]

Software

The CompuMate has three simple computer programs in its internal read-only memory:^[13]

1. 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.^[4][14]
2. Music Composer, a software synthesizer with four demonstration songs: "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", "Long, Long Ago", "Jingle Bells", and "My Bonnie".
3. BASIC editor and interpreter^[15]

Spectravideo only published two programs for the CompuMate on Compact Cassette,^[2] PictureMate (1983) and SongMate (1983).^[16]

See also

• BASIC Programming cartridge for the Atari 2600