Matra Alice - Definition and Overview

The Matra Alice

The Matra Alice was a home computer sold in France beginning in 1983. It was a clone of the TRS-80 MC-10, produced through a collaboration among Matra and Hachette in France and Tandy Corporation in the United States.

The Alice is distinguished by its unique, bright red casing. Functionally, it is equivalent to the MC-10, with a Péritel (SCART) connector replacing the RF modulator for video output.

Unlike its progenitor, the Alice became a popular computer in its home country, aided by its presence in schools as part of the country's Informatique pour tous ("Information technology for everyone") programme.

Matra later released two successor models:

• The Matra Alice 32, which shared the case style of the original but included 16 kilobytes each of RAM and ROM (the latter incorporating an assembler); and
• The Matra Alice 90, which featured 32 kilobytes of RAM and a full-size case and keyboard.

Specifications

• CPU: Motorola 6803
• RAM: 4KB on-board
• ROM: 8KB (Microsoft BASIC)
• I/O Ports:
  • RS-232C serial interface
  • Cassette interface
  • Péritel video output
  • Expansion interface
• AZERTY keyboard layout

All other specifications should be comparable to those of the TRS-80 MC-10, but have not been confirmed.

External links

• Alice (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_%28ordinateur%29) – entry in Wikipédia (French)
• Matra Alice (http://www.ornitron.com/machine/afficheordinateur.asp?idcomputer=73) – information from The Machine Room