Exidy Sorcerer - Hi-Tek High Profile

[snuci]

Over the holiday break, I didn't have much time but I did manage to restore an Exidy Sorcerer. Exidy was an arcade video game manufacturer that ventured into the personal computer market with the Exidy Sorcerer. This is the Exidy Sorcerer 1. I also have the Exidy Sorcerer 2. Normally, I just show the keyboard pics but some people may appreciate the hand drawn traces used through out the internal PCB boards so I'm posting a little more.

This particular keyboard is the only example I've seen that actually has Hi-Tek imprinted on the waffle. It is from 1978 and has two particular items of interest. First, although it used cassettes as it's main software input, it also had a cartridge slot that normally held the BASIC programming language. The cartridge boards were put into hollowed out 8-track tape cartridges. Second, this has PETSCII key caps. It wasn't just the Commodore PET and later 8-bit computer line that had that.

Anyway, here are some pics.

Exidy Sorcerer - computer

Exidy Sorcerer - computer.JPG (340.62 KiB) Viewed 3684 times

Exidy Sorcerer - top underside

Exidy Sorcerer - top underside.JPG (362.42 KiB) Viewed 3684 times

Exidy Sorcerer - computer internals

Exidy Sorcerer - computer internals.JPG (477.21 KiB) Viewed 3684 times

Exidy Sorcerer - memory

Exidy Sorcerer - memory.JPG (368.33 KiB) Viewed 3684 times

Exidy Sorcerer - Exidy Monitor ROM

Exidy Sorcerer - Exidy Monitor ROM.JPG (300.68 KiB) Viewed 3684 times

Exidy Sorcerer - UART chip

Exidy Sorcerer - UART chip.JPG (418.68 KiB) Viewed 3684 times

Exidy Sorcerer - keyboard mechanism top

Exidy Sorcerer - keyboard mechanism top.JPG (262.81 KiB) Viewed 3684 times

Exidy Sorcerer - keyboard mechanism bottom

Exidy Sorcerer - keyboard mechanism bottom.JPG (280.24 KiB) Viewed 3684 times

Exidy Sorcerer - keyboard controller from 1978

Exidy Sorcerer - keyboard controller from 1978.JPG (339.44 KiB) Viewed 3684 times

Exidy Sorcerer - Hi-Tek markings

Exidy Sorcerer - Hi-Tek markings.JPG (270.95 KiB) Viewed 3684 times

Exidy Sorcerer - key switch close up

Exidy Sorcerer - key switch close up.JPG (352.72 KiB) Viewed 3684 times

Exidy Sorcerer - caps lock

Exidy Sorcerer - caps lock.JPG (279.97 KiB) Viewed 3684 times

Exidy Sorcerer - key caps

Exidy Sorcerer - key caps.JPG (167.04 KiB) Viewed 3684 times

Exidy Sorcerer I - data cassettes

Exidy Sorcerer I - data cassettes.JPG (476.29 KiB) Viewed 3684 times

Exidy Sorcerer - BASIC 8-track tape cartridge internals

Exidy Sorcerer - BASIC 8-track tape cartridge internals.JPG (318.21 KiB) Viewed 3684 times

[Daniel Beardsmore]

ah, yes, good old cassette loading. There's a great BBC Micro emulator online that lets you experience the ear-splitting joys of cassette loading without needing to install any software, but it's hard to use due to the way the keys are laid out, as well as not catering for helping people through loading cassette games.

I see it's those strange black plungers again, with the little islands in the middle. I'm curious how long it will take to get a definitive idea on what they do. I'm guessing that they increase the pretravel slightly, but what would that achieve?

These days, we truly can never say never!

[Engicoder]

This was/is an amazing machine. The I love the old tinned pcbs; who needs soldermask! The 8 track cart is pretty ingenious. It looks like they used actually 8 track tape housings. According to what I read, there was a S-100 expansion unit for this. Did you manage to get a hold of that as well? The late 70's was such an interesting time for personal computers.

[seebart]

Love the 1970's look with that logo and the color-scheme. Nice how you got the tapes with it too. Thanks for sharing.

[snuci]

According to what I read, there was a S-100 expansion unit for this. Did you manage to get a hold of that as well?

There are actually two S-100 expansion solutions. One is an S-100 expansion unit made by Exidy that included an enclosure (I don't have this). The other was an S-100 bridge card that you could plug into a an existing S-100 bus and plug the other side into the Sorcerer Expansion port and it acted like the S-100 expansion unit. I have this documented here. I haven't yet tried to power up this system yet but I posted a picture on Reddit a few months ago shown below. It has the S-100 expansion in a home-made expansion unit plus two 8" floppy drives and either a 5 or 10 MB hard drive. That would have been super expensive back then!

Spoiler:

Exidy Sorcerer.jpg (169.18 KiB) Viewed 3630 times

[Engicoder]

That is a really neat little S-100 unit. I would never guessed it was an S-100 bus from the outside. Is that an IBM external hard drive on the right? I don't think I have seen one of those before. I assume it works with the hard drive controller in the S-100 unit? What a cool old system. A great example of how people put together systems back then.

[snuci]

Is that an IBM external hard drive on the right?

No. Certainly looks like the IBM 5150 PC case but it's an aftermarket enclosure with a ST-506 type full size hard drive.

I assume it works with the hard drive controller in the S-100 unit?

Yes. I was just missing the ribbon cable for the hard drive and floppy drives so that's why I haven't tried them yet. I bought the ends but still need to pony up the money for the 50 pin ribbon cable.

What a cool old system. A great example of how people put together systems back then.

My most favourite systems are the "home brew" variety and that's why I have gravitated to the older S-100 systems. Most of my systems including my earlier MITS Altairs were hand assembled from kits and I find it extremely interested in how they were constructed (even the soldering technique used or lack of one).

[Engicoder]

My most favourite systems are the "home brew" variety and that's why I have gravitated to the older S-100 systems. Most of my systems including my earlier MITS Altairs were hand assembled from kits and I find it extremely interested in how they were constructed (even the soldering technique used or lack of one).

Yes, kits were big back then. I have a few 70's era CW/RTTY keyboards from Hal Communications. Hal offered them in factory built and kit form of which I have both. It is interesting to compare the two.

[Vecktrex]

I had no idea Exidy made personal computers! I thought they really only stuck to the arcade market. I wonder what arcade games of theirs got ports, if any. Chiller would be... interesting...

Spoiler:

[OldIsNew]

Very nice! Just love those systems from back in the day. They make great accessories too:

exidy-kids.jpg (48.37 KiB) Viewed 3505 times

Came across another site about this system as well: http://oldcomputers.net/sorcerer.html