Wednesday 1 December 1982

Convergent Technologies Workslate EDCC Keyboard Interface (prop)

Screen Shot from Airwolf Season 2 Episode 3 Moffetts Ghost


Airwolf's computer keyboard was a portable WorkSlate made by Convergent Technologies in 1982.

It was a portable device using NiCad batteries and used a micro cassette tape to load and save data.
It featured a Hitachi 6303 CPU and 16K of RAM along with a 64K ROM, it also has a serial port.

The screen is a 16x46 character monochrome LCD and the CMOS comes from a Motorola 6800.

When you figure the Airwolf premier on Tv was in January 1984 and you know the work slate didn't go into production until November 1983 it makes you wonder...






The WorkSlate initially cost $895 upon release, its rival at the time (TRS-80 Model 100) cost $800 with 8K of RAM and $1000 with 18K of RAM.


Only around 8000 where made and the workslate was discontinued in July 1984, the company lost approximately $15 million. 









TRIVIA:
notice the keyboard has a "DoIt" key.

The President of the company "Allen Michaels" used to roam the halls of the company at night and spray paint "DoIT" everywhere, hence the key name.








FULL SPECS DETAILS:
NAME Workslate
MANUFACTURER Convergent Technologies
TYPE Portable
ORIGIN U.S.A.
YEAR December 1982
END OF PRODUCTION July 1984
BUILT IN LANGUAGE None
KEYBOARD 61 rubber keys with numeric keypad and 5 function keys
CPU Hitachi 6303 (CMOS version of the Motorola 6800)
SPEED 1.228 MHz.
RAM 16 KB
ROM 64 KB
TEXT MODES 46 chars x 16 lines. LCD display
GRAPHIC MODES Unknown
COLORS Monochrome
SOUND      Unknown
SIZE 28 (W) x 21.5 (D) x 2.5 (H) cm.
WEIGHT: 1.5 Kg.
I/O PORTS Telephone jack, Printer
BUILT IN MEDIA Micro-cassette drive
POWER SUPPLY 4 x AA size batteries or AC adaptor
PERIPHERALS Printer, universal peripheral adapter
PRICE $1795 - Pen-type printer/plotter: $399

No comments:

Post a Comment

Please KEEP it CLEAN.. Airwolf is a Childrens TV show.....

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.