Discussion of large systems

[William Blair]

> > Tony Duell wrote:
> > 
> > > You do. It saved them having to fit a tokenising routine into the ROM.
> > > 
> > > So how do you distinguish 'calculator' from 'computer'? 
> > They work better as a door jam. :)
> 
> Except that a common name for the ZX81 over here was the 'black 
> doorwedge' :-)
> 
> -tony

That's what Commodore used them for:

"Under this steady promotional blitz [of the C64], plus a trade-in option that offered a $100
rebate on any other computer or video game console (a clever New York chain called Crazy Eddy
started selling the cheap Timex Sinclair 1000, an Americanised Sinclair ZX-81, for $10 so that
users could get the rebate; Commodore donated most of them to charity but kept some, reportedly,
for doorstops!), sales skyrocketed and the C64 eclipsed its older sibling within a short time."

http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/secret/history.html


 
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