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 YEAR: April 01, 1977
 ITEM: Digital Computer
 COMPANY: Vector Graphics Inc.
 COUNTRY: USA
 IN OUR COLLECTION: Yes
RARITY: Not rare   Click here for further information on our rarity scale Information on the rarity of this item is unknown.

Vector Graphic 3 (VIP)

 

The Vector Graphics VIP, or Vector 3 is inspired by the Vector 3 terminal which held a normal keyboard of 72 keys and a built in 12" video screen. The VIP held up to 6 S-100 bus boards and came with a Z80A processor equipped with 56KB of RAM. The input for this model was originally configured with a 750 kilobit token passing local area network (LinkNet). The machine was later upgraded to fit a 640k Tandon hard sectored floppy drive. Dennis Wingo1 who used to work at Vector states,

In this six slot S-100 bus system there was a ZCB a Floppy Disk Controller Card or an FD/HD (Floppy Disk/Hard Disk) (Single floppy version shown above) controller. Also plugged into the S-100 motherboard was a 56k DRAM Card, and an 20 X 24 Memory mapped video card with 2k of Fast SRAM
. A vintage film that uses the Vector 3 is 'The Soldier' from 1982 and was used the head of the CIA and later in the movie in a nuclear missile silo vital for The Soldier's plan2.

In the case of the Vector version 2, it does not exist and no information exists on why is was not created. Instead, the company went directly from the Vector V1 with only a base computer station to the Vector V1+ which upgraded a built in floppy drive, moving some power supply components that alowed for an internal 5.25" diskette drive, and later onto the Vector 3 that upgraded to a full keyboard, 12" monitor, and processing programs like Memorite III and Execuplan.

1. https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/X1092.92 2. http://www.starringthecomputer.com/computer.html?c=433





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