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'''Thomson''' is a French High tech -Tech corporation who produce Weapons or HI-FI Electronic devices.
It used to produce 8-bit home computers in the 80's though sub-companies : '''SIMMIV''' (Société Internationale de Micro-Informatique et de Vidéo) also known as '''Thomson Micro.''' (1983-1989)
As we say : '''Proudly Merde in France.'''
=History : a French phenomenon=
1 primary school in five had to get one, while all secondary schools (and laters) had to get computers networks. An earlier plan to equip schools called "'''10.000 computer plan'''" was also started in 1979 and bought some TO7 as early as 1982. It was decided to favour French industry and Thomson had to hastily produce a full range of adequate computers, '''based on the MOS 6809E CPU clocked at 1mhz''' design of their 1982's computer the TO7. As a result, a lot of Thomson computers were almost only sold to schools, appart apart from the few infortunates who got one instead of an Amstrad CPC. While French National Education had to choose those French computers (hastily developed in a rush) the general public rarely got those as they were not as well rounded as an Amstrad CPC for example. A notable flaw was the '''lack of a proper Soundchip''', as only a poor '''beeper''' was put on those. Also most earlier models had very poor keyboards (just see pictures). While the second generation (MO6/TO8) fixed a lot of issues such as lack of Memory and poor video modes, it was too late for them to take a good home-market share : Amstrad CPC and Atari ST were here.
=Range and products=
The Thomson 8bit computers are '''6809E CPU based (1mhz)'''
They were released in a lot of models variations (mostly concerning the keyboard or colour of the casing) from late 1982-1983 to 1989.While MO and TO models are incompatible in software, most of the peripherals and Hardware were compatible. 2nd generation was almost fully retro-compatible with 1st generation but specific 2nd generation software couldn't run on 1st generation computers.
*'''Second generation :MO5''': released in 1984 in order to honour the "Plan Informatique pour Tous". They were clearly designed to be terminals and while sharing a lot of aspects with the TO7, were not actually software compatible (???). (extensions were compatible though)
*'''PC compatible :MO5E''' : had a different casing and was aimed at Export, but was also sold on French market as the MO5Etentu (extended), with a AZERTY keyboard though. It features an in-built joystick and (slightly) upgraded beeper.
File:F mo5.jpg|MO5File:F mo5meca.jpg|MO5 mechanical keyboardFile:F mo5platini-2.jpg|Michel Platini MO5File:F mo5e.jpg|MO5E "Export" </gallery>Pictures courtesy of MO5.com *'''TO7''' : produced from 1982 to 1984. Supplied with only 24K RAM (16K used by the video)... so actually 8K usable, upgradable into 48K (actually 32k because of the 16k video). It can display only 8 colours. Probably the worst keyboard ever. * '''TO7/70''' : in 1984, this one replaced the "faulty" TO7. The TO7/70 had a bit more RAM (64K, upgradable into 128K, still 16k used by Video) and some bug fixes and upgrades (implementations for the NanoReseau). It could display twice more colours (16 instead of 8) and became the "standard TO7". Also the keyboard was changed into a rubber keyboard (fail!), then mechanical keyboard. <gallery caption="Thomson TO7 first generation range of computers"> File:F TO7.jpg|TO7File:F to770-2.jpg|TO7/70File:F to770meca.jpg|TO7/70 mechanical keyboard </gallery>Pictures courtesy of MO5.com ===Second generation=== *'''TO9''' : released in late 1985. A professional casing with separate Keyboard and Central unit, and a lot of inbuilt peripherals and larger amount of RAM (128k upgradable into 192K). It was the prototype for the later MO6/TO8 graphical specifications. *'''MO5NR''': released in 1985-1986. Was actually a MO6 specification with in-built NanoReseaux all cased in a MO5E casing, hence no in-built Tape Driver as it was supposed to be in network with a TO model as netserver.. *'''MO6''' : Released in 1986. 128K Ram and built in Tape driver. features the in-built "joystick and sound" upgrade. *'''TO8''' : released in late 1986. 256K Ram (could be extended into 512K), 80K ROM with Microsoft's Basic512, better video modes, slightly upgraded beeper (DAC 6-bit) and a lot of connectics *'''TO9+''' : released in late 1986 (one year after the TO9). The "+" version has an in-built Modem and 512k RAM.. * '''TO8D''' : released in late 1987. a TO8 with a Built-in 3"1/2 floppy Disk drive (D=Disk). *'''Olivetti :''' Some Thomson '''MO6''' were sold in Italy, branded as '''Olivetti prodest PC128''' <gallery caption="Thomson MO/TO second generation range of computers"> File:F mo6.jpg|MO6File:F TO8.jpg|TO8File:F to8d.jpg|TO8D "Disc"File:F to9plus.jpg|TO9+File:Mo5nr.jpg|MO5 NRFile:OlivettiprodestPCS128.jpg|Olivetti branded MO6 </gallery>Pictures courtesy of MO5.com and Old-computers.com. ===PC compatible=== *TO16 : released in september 1987. it was an 8088 based IBM compatible PC with various configurations that was to be used as network server alongside NanoReseaux. A prototype TO16 was supposed to be 68000CPU based with an intel82716 graphic chipset and Unix styled "OS-9". only 5 prototype were produced and finalised. but they finally simply released an IBM PC clone instead. ===Networking kings and peripherals=== *NanoReseau (Nano-Network) was a Network solution very "popular" as it was largely used in France's Schools. Actually some sort of Ethernet. It was well known by young french peoples in the late 80's thanks to the "informatique pour tous" plan. It was developed by the '''Science and Technology University of Lille''' (city in northern France). it could enable to connect up to 31 Thomson (MO/TO) computers called "Nanomachines" with a more powerfull computer "head network". It was largely supplied to various levels of schools by 1985. *Video incrustation system : enabled to mix TV signal with Computer graphics. Also various RAM extensions, MassData storage devices, Lightpens and mouse, printers, modems/network connections, Vocal synthesisers, scanners, and so on. As those available on most other computers.. '''Yet no proper soundchip solution were available.''' The best one available was a "DAC 6 bits mono" beeper.
=Palette and Video Modes=
'''Resolution : 320x200x16 colours in 8x1 attributes (2 colours per attributes)'''
The Attribute system was comparable to MSX1 with attributes of 8x1 and 16 colours displayable on screen (2 per attributes), but with a 320x200 resolution instead of a 256x200 resolution.. Graphically the MO5/and TO7 /70 are superior to ZX Spectrum in almost every way. The TO7 (1st series) could only display 8 colours.
==MO6 and TO8==
Also TO9/TO9+, MO5E.
The 2nd generation of 8 bit thomson Thomson computers mostly got the addition of the 3 bitmap video modes (no attributes) of the Amstrad CPC/PLUS, alongside the "heritage" (legacy) 320x200x16 attribute based mode. A few other exotic and obscure video modes were added too.
But the palette have been upgraded into a 4096 colours 12bit palette, the same as on the unreleased at the time Amstrad PLUS range (and of course the Commodore Amiga... and many other computers and consoles).
[[File:Modes.png]]
*Those Bitmap video modes are , according to the TO8 documentation :
'''*320x200x4a) MO 40-column mode :'''320x200x2 (with 8x1pixels attributes , 16 colours on screen) the legacy video mode from MO5/TO7 older models.
'''*b) 80 column mode :''' 640x200x2 '''* c) BIT MODE MAP 4 :''' 320x200x4 '''* d) BIT MODE MAP 16 :''' 160x200x16 *'''further Extra Video modes :''' Those Thomson computers also had a few extra obscure video modes that enabled transparency-masked plans (but with less colours than the usual CPC-like bitmap modes) which could be used for video incrustation. Another mode enabled to manage 2 separate pages (screen) at the same time. '''* e) Mode page (page1/page2) :''' this enable to provides 2 separate screen pages in 320x200x2. '''* f) Overprinting Mode :''' Two 1bit per pixel plans on the same screen in 320x200. (possible 3 colours on screen+border) * 2nd plan is 1 colour+transparency on the 1st plan* 1st plan is 2 colours '''* g) Triple-Overprinting Mode :''' Four 1bit per pixel plans on the same screen in 160x200. This make-up for a total of 5 colours on screen (+ border). * 4th pan is 1 colour+transparency into 3rd plan* 3rd plan is 1 colour+transparency into 2nd plan* 2nd plan is 1 colour+transparency into 1st plan* 1st plan is 2 colours. Those Bitmap video modes are coded (hardware generated) slightly differently than on CPC so you can't simply port the Graphic Datas from CPC/PLUS to Thomson MO6/TO8 without some proper recoding. The Thomson always processes 16bits of graphical Datas, serialised differently according to the video mode. This makes for a constant '''16K VRAM'''(but it uses normal RAM, no dedicated RAM for this purpose) as on good old Amstrad CPC/PLUS "normal" setting, so the more resolution the less colours. There are no overscan nor full borderless screen possibilities as on the Amstrad CPC.
Minus the lack of Hardware sprites and raster interrupt facilities (still doable on Thomson machines), the MO6 and TO8 are actually superior (in graphics) to the Amstrad PLUS Range due to the attribute based mode in addition to the 3 "CPC-like" modes, and largely superior to the Amstrad CPC due to the awesome Palette.
**'''The 4096 colours 12bit palette'''
[[File:RGB 12bits palette color test chart.png]]
Thomson computers also got their share of '''[[Speccy Ports''' Port]] due to the Attribute based Video mode of the 1st generation.
'''MO5 was basically a 6809E based ZX Spectrum.'''
=Exemples Examples of games co-developped developed on Thomson and CPC=
*[[Bivouac ]] (TO8) (also known as Chamonix Challenge)
*[[Iznogoud ]] (TO8)
*[[Sapiens ]] (MO5/TO7) : originally an MO5 game.
*[[Le 5ème 5eme Axe ]] (french name) from Loriciels, was originally a MO5 game.
*[[Captain Blood ]] : the TO8 version is exactly the same as the CPC version, minus the sounds.
=Comparison=
=DemoScene=
*Don't laught, there is an actual Demoscene on Thomson computers. *[[Shinra team]] produces and releases both on Amstrad CPC/PLUS and '''Thomson''' computers. {{#ev:youtube|g3ccVWRQkWE|300}}
Most of those use the superior TO8 specifications and are visually not that different from Amstrad PLUS productions.
http://www.pulsdemos.com/images/hcl.png
=Links=
*[http://www.fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomson_MO5 MO5 on Wikipedia (french)]
*[http://www.fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIMIV More Thomson Computers on Wikipedia (french too)]
*[http://www.logicielsmoto.com/home.php Logicielsmoto.com] a complete French site with softwares and stuff on Thomson computers.
*[http://nostalgies.thomsonistes.org/index.html| French site "Nostalgie Thomsonistes"]
*[http://nostalgies.thomsonistes.org/thomson_saga.pdf| an interesting pdf file in French to explain all of this.]
[[Category:Non CPC Computers]]
