The original "COSMAC ELF" was a construction project printed in the August 1976 issue of Popular Electronics.
In 1977, RCA released the RCA COSMAC VIP, their own $275 commercial version
based on the 1802 "COSMAC" CPU, which they themselves produced.
In 1978, the Netronics ELF II was released - a cheaper and improved version - with all the parts required to build your own
"world's most practical computer" for just $99.95.
Improvements over the original COSMAC ELF project include:
Pre-built double-sided PC board
Hexadecimal keypad with associated logic
An 86-line bus for system expansion
CDP1861 "Pixie" video graphics
The Netronics ELF II comes with very simple operating instructions that soon make you an expert,
even if you've never had your hands on a computer before, whether for complex business, industrial, scientific,
or hobby applications.
Once you've mastered each of the commands an RCA 1802 will execute, these expansion boards
let you run circles around "big name" personal computers that sell for a lot more money:
"giant board" ($59.95 / $39.95 kit) - cassette I/O, serial port, parallel port, a monitor ROM
Improvements over the original COSMAC ELF project include:
