Interact Home Computer

The Interact Home Computer is a rare, very early (1978) American home computer made by Interact Electronics Inc of Ann Arbor, Michigan.[1] It sold under the name "Interact Model One Home Computer". The original Interact Model One computer was designed by Rick Barnich and Tim Anderson at 204 E. Washington in Ann Arbor, then moving to the Georgetown Mall on Packard St. in Ann Arbor. Interact Electronics Inc was a privately held company that was funded by Hongiman, Miller, Swartz and Cohn (a lawyer firm out of Detroit). The President/Founder of Interact Electronics Inc was Ken Lochner, who was one of the original developers of the BASIC language based out of Dartmouth college. Ken had started Interact Electronics Inc after founding the successful computer time-sharing company Cyphernetics in Ann Arbor, which was purchased by ADP in 1975. Only a few thousand Interacts were sold before the company went bankrupt. Most were sold by the liquidator Protecto Enterprizes of Barrington, Illinois, through mail order sales. The Interact Model One Home Computer debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago in June, 1978, at a price of $499. The majority of sales were thru mail order houses. It was also sold at Highland Appliance in the Detroit area, Newman Computer Exchange in Ann Arbor, and Montgomery Wards in the Houston, TX, area. Probably the most successful application available for the Interact was a program called "Message Center". With it, a store could program a scrolling message which appeared on a TV screen (such as advertisements, or a welcome message to guests). Although it was mostly a game machine (with games such as Showdown, BlackJack and Chess), users could also create their own programs using the BASIC computer language. Customers began hooking up the Interact to control everything from lights in their house, doors, windows, smoke detectors, to a Chevrolet Corvette. Later on the design was sold to a French company ("Lambda Systems"), and re-branded as the "Victor Lambda" for the French market.

Late-model Interact Model One with mechanical keyboard (U.S. government asset tag applied)

Technical specifications

CPU: Intel i8080, 2.0 MHz
Memory: 8K RAM, expandable to 16K RAM; 2K ROM
Keyboard: 53-key chiclet
Display: 17 x 12 text; eight colors, 112 x 78 graphics, four colors
Sound: SN76477 (One voice, four octaves)
Ports: Television, two joysticks
Built-in cassette recorder (1200 Bps)
PSU: External AC transformer
1980 price US$300 (equivalent to $987 in 2021)[2]

References

"Interact Home Computer System". Retrieved 24 July 2013.
1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved April 16, 2022.

External links

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[1] "Interact Home Computer System". Retrieved 24 July 2013.

[inflation-US-2] 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved April 16, 2022.