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NAME  

Micro 4/40

MANUFACTURER

Compu-Sultants, Inc.

TYPE

Home Computer

ORIGIN

U.S.A.

YEAR

December 1975

BUILT-IN LANGUAGE

None

KEYBOARD

22 switches on the front panel

CPU

Intel 4040

SPEED

0.5 MHz

COPROCESSOR

None

RAM

256 Bytes (8KB max)

ROM

None

TEXT MODES

No display interface

SOUND

No Sound Interface

I/O PORTS

1 I/O port and TTY interface

BUILT-IN MEDIA

None

POWER SUPPLY

Built-in Power Supply

PRICE

$275 for a partial kit, $375 assembled

 

Micro 4/40

Compu-Sultants’ Micro 4/40 might have been first 4040-based kit. An entry-level system for hobbyists, its processor had only a 4-bit word length, as opposed to the Intel 8080 8-bit length, so the system was limited even by the day’s standards. Partial kits were sold, so it’s possible to find Micro 440 components in other home-made systems.

Having very limited capabilities, Micro 4/40 had a tuff time competing agains other "more powerfull" 8-bit systems. In 1976 Compu-Sultants dropped the prices for the kit. Microcomputer Digest,Vol 2, #7 Jan, 1976 placed a following add:

"$90 4-BIT MICROCOMPUTER KIT Compu-Sultants, Inc. is now offering their MICRO 440 4-bit computer kit (PC board, Intel 4040, clock interface, 256 bytes of RAM and an 87 page manual) for only $90 in single units; $75 in quantities greater than ten. All other parts needed to complete the microcomputer kit are standard and can be purchased elsewhere. The PC boards are early-run versions without plate-through holes. This represents a significant savings in cost, at the expense of having to solder the components on both sides. For an additional $20, Comp-Sultants will throw in the major components of the power supply/TTY interface (PC board, transformer, and regulators)."

However, the price reduction did not help and Compu-Sultants went out of business a year later. Only about 10 kits were sold out of 200 built.


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