Aqarius

The Aquarius computer is another example of a gamming machine company trying to break into the Home Computer Market.

As with the Coleco Company, Mattel saw a booming computer market and felt that they too should have a computer in their product lineup. But unlike Coleco they didn't want to develop their own system. They wanted a ready made one and found one in Radofin Electronics. Radofin had a computer based on the Zilog Z80 8-bit processor that they were developing and looking for a major company to distribute it. It was released under the Mattel label and named Aquarius.

The public hated it. It had a terrible keyboard, practically no user RAM, very limited graphics, and poor sound capabilities. It was released with a cassette drive, a printer, and an expansion unit with 2 game controllers.

Unfortunately, Mattel would not have time to overcome the bad reviews and dismal sales, because 1983 was the year the bottom dropped out of the video game business. Within months of the release of the Aquarius, Mattel was reeling in financial distress. In fact Mattel was close to bankruptcy and with their core business in jeopardy and they had to cut costs. So in the fall of 1983 Mattel got out of the computer business.

I believe Aquarius was as much or more a victim of the video game crash of 1983 than a poorly designed computer because even with all of its faults it could have been fixed in time. But time was the one commodity Mattel did not have. The Aquarius was only on the market for about 8 months and its hard to say if it would have found a niche in the Home Computer Market if Mattel would have been able to keep the Aquarius line alive.

System Architecture		Memory
Microprocessor	Zilog Z80A	Standard on system board	4K (1.7K user)
Clock speed	3.5 MHz	Maximum on system board	4K
Bus type	Mattel proprietary	Maximum total memory	52K
Data bus width	8-bits	Memory speed and type
Address bus width	16-bits	System board memory socket type
Interrupt levels	N/A	Number of memory module sockets
DMA channels	N/A	Memory used on system board
Standard Features		Disk Storage
ROM size	8K	Internal disk and tape drive bays	none
Optional math coprocessor	no	Standard tape drives	optional
Parallel port type	no	Optional tape drives:	1 external
RS232C serial ports	no	* uses standard audio cassettes	yes
Mouse ports	opt. adapter	* 5 1/4 inch 1.2MB	no
UART chip used	N/A	* 3 1/2 inch 720k	no
Maximum speed	N/A	* 3 1/2 inch 1.44MB	no
CMOS real time clock	no	* 3 1/2 inch 2.88MB	no
CMOS RAM	no	Hard disk controller included	no
Video & Graphics		Sound
Graphics Processor	uses CPU	Sound Interface device	uses CPU
Screen size - Col x Rows	40 x 24	Sound generation	1 channel
Resolution - Colors/High	16 / 80 x 72	ADSR capable	no
Resolution - Colors/Low	16 / 40 x 24
Max colors	16	Programming language
Sprites or Missiles	none	Built in language	Microsoft BASIC
		Built in M L monitor	no
Expansion Slots		Keyboard Specs.
Total adapter slots	1	Number of keys	49
Number of 8/16/32 bit slots		Upper/lower case	yes/yes
I / O ports	TV RF / printer / cassette	Keyboard cable length	integral keyboard
Physical Specs.		Environmental Specs.
* Height	2 1/4 inches	Operating voltage @ 60 Hz	120 VAC
* Width	13 1/2 inches	Maximum power supplied	21 watts
* Depth	6 inches	Power supply output - volts	8.8 / 16 / 19 VDC
* Weight incl. power pack	4 1/2 pounds	Power supply output - amps	1.2 / .15 / .01 amps

Introduced	March 1983
Discontinued	October 1983
Release Price