APF Imagination Machine

APF Imagination Machine
Manufacturer APF Electronics Inc
Type Video game console
Generation Second generation
Release date 1979 (1979)[1]
Introductory price US$700 (equivalent to $2,360 in 2017)
Media Cartridges, Compact Cassette
CPU Motorola 6800 8-bit @ 0.89 MHz (3.579 MHz Oscillator divided by 4)
Memory 9 KB RAM (expandable to 17 KB (8 KB / 16 KB + 1 KB)) , 14 KB ROM
Graphics Video Display Controller MC6847 @ 256×192×4, 128×192×8
Sound One sound channel in 5 Octaves

The APF Imagination Machine is a combination home video game console and computer system released by APF Electronics Inc. in late 1979.[1] It was composed of two separate components, the APF-M1000 game system, and an add on docking bay with full sized typewriter keyboard and tape drive. The APF-M1000 was built specifically to compete with the Atari 2600. The full APF Imagination Machine, including the APF-M1000 console and the IM-1 computer component originally sold for around $700.

Specifications

  • CPU: 8-bit 0.89 MHz Motorola 6800 (3.579 MHz Oscillator divided by 4)
  • ROM: 14 KB
  • RAM: 9 KB expandable to 17 KB (8 KB / 16 KB + 1 KB)
  • Video Display Controller: MC6847
  • Resolutions: 256×192×4 / 128×192×8
  • Colors: 8
  • One sound channel in 5 Octaves
  • Controllers: 2
    • 13 buttons
      • 0-9 numeric keypad
      • Clear and End key
      • Trigger
    • 4 way joystick

Special features

The APF Imagination Machine had a few stand-out features for its time.

APF Basic

First and foremost was the bundled APF Basic compiler, allowing everyday users to develop their own programs. Most retailers of the system offered a full and hefty instruction manual to explain how the specialized code worked, and a tech sheet that specified every function of every chip on the console, so as to allow the users to make the most efficient code possible. To encourage more home users to create their own games and trade them, a monthly mailing list was started that lasted well through the video game crash of 1983 and into the era of the next generation of consoles.

Special cassette

Second, and often one of the most marketed features of the console, was the fact that it had a dual-sided cassette drive that would allow the user to not only write or use a game or program from it, but also either record their own voice to it or listen to prerecorded audio. The feature was generally used for programmers to leave notes of their work, or for instructions to be read aloud before a game was played.

Peripherals

Third, the console had a number of aftermarket add-ons, which included:

  • RS232 Storage Cartridge
  • Floppy Disk Storage
  • 8k RAM Cartridge
  • Mini Floppy Disk Storage
  • Telephone Modem

It also had a hub of sorts, generally called the "building block", which would allow for the connection of a good deal of standard computer accessories.

Games

Only 15 official game cartridges were ever released by APF Electronics Inc, and 1 cartridge that came with the console, the Basic interpreter; although several game cartridges contained multiple titles. Many games were created by an active programming community of owners and distributed through their monthly newsletter, but these were all released only on tape cassette form, or in some cases, merely as a print out of the code that would have to be typed in if it was not transferred through a copied cassette.

The official game list is as follows:

  • Artist and Easel
  • Backgammon
  • Baseball
  • Blackjack
  • Bowling / Micro Match
  • Boxing
  • Brickdown / Shooting Gallery
  • Budget Manager
  • Casino
  • Catena
  • Hangman / Tic-Tac-Toe / Doodle
  • Pinball / Dungeon Hunt / Blockout
  • Rocket Patrol
  • Space Destroyers
  • UFO / Sea Monster / Break it down / Rebuild / Shoot

APF IM-2 Console

APF had planned on releasing a follow up to the original M1000 Imagination Machine game console, but went out of business just before the console could go to market. No official specs have ever been released, although some who were with the company at the time have mentioned that it was essentially the same M1000 core with typical upgrades.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Bassett, S. B. (May 12, 1980). "APF's Imagination Machine". InfoWorld. Vol. 2 no. 7. Palo Alto, CA: Popular Computing. pp. 14, 16. ISSN 0199-6649.
  2. ↑ Greenfield, Larry (May 2010). "The APF Imagination Machine". Retrieved July 26, 2013.
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