This is a great channel and frankly I'm stunned it has such a low sub-count, with all the intensest in retro computers right now. I am sharing it with my friends.
A computer with rubber keys and a space button rather than a space bar? Who would ever think that a computer with a keyboard like that would be a good idea??? "Designed by London based....." Oh... never mind... ;-)
I used the Aquarius computer for 6 months in the 80s. There also was a Dutch Aquarius user club that had a monthly (or bi-monthly) user magazine that contained many handy self-made hardware expansions and software.
@NewsmakersTech --- Can the Aquarius play Intellivision games, and is it compatible with the Intellivoice Voice Synthesis Module or Entertainment Computer System peripherals?
Why is a power input at the back "bad"? why didn't you open the device up and give a look inside, its no more irreparable than other similar computers. The real reason why the Aquarius was so bad was that it had abysmally bad graphics capabilities! In particular it had no high-res (point for point addressable) graphics at all!making nice games for it almost impossible!.
My old man wanted to buy one. My brother and I were able to convince him to go with the more obscure, I'm not sure how many of you know this system, C64.
The what? C64? Never heard of it. Should have recommended a more reliable platform that would last forever like the Timex 1000 or the best computer of all time, the ADAM
I had a Mattel Aquarius, bought it in a Thrift store many years ago. My 1st Computer was a Timex Sinclair 1000 with 16k expansion Ram Pack, cassette deck, and several TS1000 Program tapes. My senior year of HS, I designed a Printed Circuit Board, etched & drilled it, and installer individual high end Reed Switch Key modules, each with a two piece Key cap, with a clear outer cap. I photocopied the original membrane keyboard, enlarged it to scale, cut each key/symbols installing under each cover. I built an enclosure, and ran a ribbon cable and header to the TS1000. I have owned a huge variety of early computer hardware, a Vectrex Portable Game system with games/overlays. An original grey TRS-80 Color Computer, 2 Coco 2's, a CoCo 3 fully expanded. 512k ram, hi res rgb Color Computer Monitor. Multi-pack interface, mini coco tape deck, orchestra stereo sound pack, modem pack, Hard drive controller/20 Mb Hard Drive. Floppy controller with 2 5 1/4 half height drives, a full size drive, and 3 1/4 Floppy drive. Custom MIDI cables to a Yamaha PSS-680 Keyboard, using Lyra music transcription software. Basic joysticks, hi res joystick and adapter. X10 computer interface & software controlling lights, heat, coffee maker, and radio as an alarm clock, and other items. Also had the mouse, touch pad/tablet. Most software and game cartridge packs. OS-9, Multi-Vue, similar to MS Windows. Also a Tandy , and an IBM wide carrige Pro printer XL, dot matrix printers. Years of Coco Magazine, and many Color Computer related books. I was a member of the Inland Northwest Color Computer Club. My years of thrifting has scored many vintage computers items. TI-99's, Intellevision, the original grey Coco, and one of the CoCo 2's. Many Playstation 2's and a couple PS 3's. A couple Commodores, and many other related items.
The effective graphic resolution of Aquarius prseudographics was 80 X 72. 320 x 192 was the resolution of a display controller for displaying text and prseudographics. Do not copy blindly from the wikipedia.
😊 Good call out. Unfortunately the desire to try to be a "RU-vidr" has created a lot of half azz Googlers whose minimal effort fail to contribute anything origional.
My first Christmas gift computer 1983. 2nd Christmas gift computer commodore 64. 13/14 years of age. Tron was my favorite Aquarius game at this time. But Commodore had several games that I can buy at a discount at computer stores, flea markets and friends. It was an unbelievable time. I like that I could use a tv as a monitor using a converter box switch. But when the 1990s came I had to buy a monitor separate from the computer. (I heard you can hook a computer to a tv? That is good for cost and the fact tv usually have a bigger display). The thing I can say about Aquarius is it packaging. It was a delightful treat when I got it.
My father bought it for us, on some bargain bin price, probably in 84. So I was an 8 year old playing around with computer programing and dungeons and dragons.
When we started this series, it was a 'First Look' of our actual computer as we received it. We have decided to move to doing more detailed videos and cleaning the system as much as possible going forward. Thank you for your feedback.
Maybe the Aquarius (and the Adam) failed because selling computers and selling game consoles required two different methods and Coleco and Mattel didn't get that.
Well, the Adam's main problem was a really, really high defect rate. Otherwise, as a computer, it was on a whole other level from the Aquarius, even though it was also available as an add-on for the ColecoVision console. It was also far more impressive than either of the Intellivision's computer expansions. Except for that defect rate, at least it would have stood a chance in the market.
I had one. It was great to learn BASIC programming and we found that we could buy these computer programming books (Osbourne was the publisher) that had code for multiple systems (TRS-80, C64, VIC-20, ZX Spectrum, etc.), and with some tweaking we could get the games to run on the Aquarius. Lucky we had the data recorder, because it took a lot of effort to work out these game tweaks. One of the games I had was Utopia (like a very early civilisation builder game) and we spent hours playing this thing!
@@younge75 This was indeed the first computer that my.uncle used to program on. But a year later commodore 64 and Aquarius never ever used again. Of course I was still using it to play Tron after school.
The Mattel Aquarius was my first computer ever! It's where I started programming. Unfortunately, I didn't have the tape drive to save my programsa, so they were erased after I shut off the machine.
