{"id":4494,"date":"2022-10-31T10:14:44","date_gmt":"2022-10-31T09:14:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quantum-bits.org\/?p=4494"},"modified":"2022-10-31T13:03:27","modified_gmt":"2022-10-31T12:03:27","slug":"on-retro-computing-matra-hachette-alice-90","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quantum-bits.org\/?p=4494","title":{"rendered":"On retro-computing: Matra-Hachette Alice 90"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the short LEGO<\/a> break from last post, let’s go back to vintage computers. I had explored a few 16-bit computers (Atari ST<\/a> and Mac Plus<\/a>), so I decided to change. This time, I went for an usual 8-bit machine: the Matra-Hachette Alice<\/a> 90.<\/p>\n

This little red corvette<\/del> device is actually … a derivative of the Tandy<\/a> TRS-80 MC-10<\/a>, built in France by Matra<\/a> in collaboration with Hachette<\/a>. I acquired it at the very end of September, and it arrived home the first week of October. Since it usually takes me about a month to explore and restore a vintage computer, I missed #septandy 2022 I was originally aiming to … by quite a lot !<\/p>\n

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The Matra-Hachette Alice series<\/span>
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The Matra-Hachette Alice<\/strong> series of 8-bit machines is a line of computers … I technically know very little about. Of course, these computers were well known among French geek kids in the 80’s. But they were famous … for not being great computers<\/strong>. To be frank, there were not utterly bad machines. But they came too late<\/strong> and overpriced in a market already crowed with Apple, Commodore, Sinclair, Oric, Thomson, MSX and Amstrad 8-bit computers.<\/p>\n

I knew no one that had an Alice computer. I had never touched one before nor had I even seen one in real life before. Neither at friend’s, computer stores nor school. I only knew them from magazines, their reputation and their very distinctive red look.<\/p>\n

The first Alice<\/strong> (sometime named Alice 4K<\/strong>) was a clone of the Tandy<\/a> TRS-80 MC-10<\/a>, with a red casing, a French AZERTY keyboard, and a SCART<\/a> connector replacing the RF modulator:<\/p>\n

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The collaboration between Tandy and Matra wasn’t surprising, since Matra was building MC-10’s under Tandy’s license in its Wintzenheim<\/a> factory.<\/p>\n

The first Alice<\/strong> was released in 1983<\/strong> and priced around 1200F (approx. 180\u20ac at the time, 382\u20ac today). It shipped with 4 kilobytes of RAM and 4 kilobytes of ROM (including MS BASIC). Hachette, which was responsible for documentation and software, asked genius artist M\u0153bius<\/a> (Jean Giraud) to draw illustrations:<\/p>\n

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To be blunt, nowadays, M\u0153bius’ artwork and the funky red look are the major drivers for collecting Alice computers. But, at the time, this was clearly not enough to buy one. The Alice was marketed as a Sinclair ZX-81<\/a> challenger, when … the ZX-81 itself was considered outdated and was already replaced by the much more capable Sinclair ZX Spectrum<\/a>. Needless to say that the Alice 4K wasn’t a huge success<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

One year later, in 1984<\/strong>, Matra launched the Alice 32<\/strong>. It looked almost identical as the old Alice, apart …<\/p>\n