Matra Alice

File:Matra Alice.jpg

The Matra Alice

The Matra & Hachette Ordinateur 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 between Matra and Hachette in France and Tandy Corporation in the United States.

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Alice 32 and cassette deck

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.

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The colour-coordinated data recorder for the Alice

Matra later released two successor models:

• The Matra Alice 32, which shared the case style of the original, but was a different computer inside, due to using the EF9345 video chip in place of the MC-10's 6847. The Alice 32 had 8 kilobytes of main RAM, 8 kilobytes of dedicated video RAM, and 16 kilobytes ROM (the ROM incorporated an assembler).
• The Matra Alice 90, an upgrade to the Alice 32, which featured 32 kilobytes of RAM and a full-size case and keyboard. Its video cable included video-in, so EF9345 graphics could be overlaid onto the input video.

Specifications

• CPU: Motorola 6803
• RAM: 4 KiB on-board
• ROM: 8 KiB (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

• Le wiki d'Alice - Everything about Alice (in French)
• Matra Alice — information from The Machine Room
• Matra Alice32 — Alice 32 information complete (in French)
• DCAlice — Alice 32 emulator and information site
• My First Alice32 — Alice 32 emulator
• FAQ on Alice32 — comprehensive FAQ regarding Alice