Spectravideo
Categories: Computer companies of the United Kingdom | Home computer hardware companies
Spectravideo, or SVI, was a UK computer company founded in 1977 as "SpectraVision". They originally made video games for Atari 2600 and VIC-20. Their computers were MSX-compliant, and IBM PC compatible.
Their first attempt at a computer was an add-on for the Atari 2600 called the Spectravideo CompuMate, with a membrane keyboard and very simple programmability. Their first real computers were the SV-318 and SV-328, released in 1983. Both were powered by a Z80 A at 3.6 MHz, but differed in the amount of RAM (SV-318 had 32KB and SV-328 had 80KB total, 16kb of each reserved for video) and keyboard style. The Kernel was CP/M and the OS a version of Microsoft Extended Basic. These two computers were pre MSX and not fully compatible with the standard, though the changes made to their design to create MSX were minor. The system had a wide range of optional hardware, for example a Colecovision-adapter making it possible to run the Coleco games on the SVI.
The last computer produced by Spectravideo was the SVI-838 (also known as X'Press 16), but the company still operates under the name Logic 3.