Pied Piper - 1983
By Semi-Tech Micro (STM) Electronics
From The Authorized Dealer Manual:
The PIED PIPER introduces a new breed of low cost, high performance computers for both beginners and advanced users
who demand that their system expand with their requirements.
The PIED PIPER is the least expensive, truly portable, fully featured, expandable computer with integral disk drive.
It is compatible with both video monitors and televisions.
Designed so both the beginner and sophisticated user will find it a pleasure to operate, the PIED PIPER
offers an excellent combination of hardware and software at a surprisingly low price.
The Pied Piper (the disillusioned German rat catcher who stole the town's children)
was introduced at the COMDEX
computer-expo in the
fall of 1982,
as well as the January 1983 winter CES show in Las Vegas. Actual shipments began in mid-1983.
The Pied Piper is a portable computer system runnng the
CP/M Operating System, with a built-in floppy drive.
Portable in this case really just means it has a handle to carry it around. There is no built-in monitor -
you are expected to have your own, or use a consumer TV for the display. There is also no place on the system to
store the required cables to plug the system in - it does not run on batteries either.
The single internal floppy drive stores 784K of data - an huge amount in comparison to other systems. But due to this
large amount of data, and the small data buffer (30K) used to copy data from one floppy disk to another, you would have
to go through up to 20 disk exchanges to copy a single floppy disk. Thankfully, an additional floppy drive ($550) can
by plugged to the connector on the back of the Piper, eliminating the slow and tedious floppy disks swapping.
Although not untypical, the Piper floppy disk data format is non-standard - no other manufacturer supports it.
But using the included software, the Pied Piper can read floppy disks from certain other computer systems.
Included with every Pied Piper was a full suite of professional software from "Perfect Software",
valued at $1,700 if purchased separately. This includes:
Perfect Speller
Perfect Writer
Perfect Filer
Perfect Calc
This same (or similar) "Perfect Software" suite was also included for free with the Kaypro line of computers.
The Pied Piper never really found it's niche market - there was little to distinguish it from competing systems,
and the CP/M operating system was going out of style, being replaced by MS-DOS, which the Piper could not run.
Included with every Pied Piper was a full suite of professional software from "Perfect Software",
valued at $1,700 if purchased separately. This includes:
