The North Star Horizon was a popular 8-bit S-100 bus computer introduced in October 1977. Like most S-100 machines of the era, it was built around the Zilog Z80A microprocessor, and typically ran the CP/M operating system. It was produced by North Star Computers, and it could be purchased either in kit form or pre-assembled. The North Star Horizon was one of the first computers to have built in floppy drives as well as being one of the first personal computers to have a hard disk drive.
thumb|upright=1.4|A Z80 processor board for the NorthStar Horizon
thumb|upright=1.4|An inside view of the NorthStar Horizon
Specifications
The computer consists of a thick aluminum chassis separated into left and right compartments with a plywood cover which sat on the top and draped over the left and right sides. (It is one of only a handful of computers to be sold in a wooden cabinet. Later versions featured an all-metal case which met safety standards. The Horizon found a niche in University environments where its inbuilt S-100 bus could be used to interface it to a variety of control systems.
North Star released a hard disk version, with an internal full height 5MB MFM drive. They also released an S-100 card with integrated memory and two serial ports which allowed up to eight users on one Horizon, each with their own CPU sharing the disk and other resources. This operated under TurboDOS, a multi user CP/M variant with some Unix-like features.
Software
There are 35 commercial games for North Star Horizon
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|Game
| align="right" |Year
|Publisher
|-
|Adventure
| align="right" |1979
|Creative Computing Soft.
|-
|Adventures #1~#3
| align="right" |1982
|Adventure International
|-
|Adventures #10~#12
| align="right" |1982
|Adventure International
|-
|Adventures #4~#6
|198?
|Adventure International
|-
|Adventures #7~#9
| align="right" |1982
|Adventure International
|-
|Backgammon 2.0
| align="right" |1981
|DynaComp, Inc.
|-
|Blackjack Coach
| align="right" |1983
|DynaComp, Inc.
|-
|Bridge 2.0
| align="right" |1979
|DynaComp, Inc.
|-
|Bridge Master
| align="right" |1982
|DynaComp, Inc.
|-
|Chess Master
| align="right" |1981
|DynaComp, Inc.
|-
|Cranston Manor Adventure
| align="right" |1981
|DynaComp, Inc.
|-
|Evilk
| align="right" |1978
|Creative Computing Soft.
|-
|Game Pak I
| align="right" |1981
|DynaComp, Inc.
|-
|Game Pak II
| align="right" |1981
|DynaComp, Inc.
|-
|Games. Vol. 1
| align="right" |1978
|MicroAge
|-
|Games. Vol. 2
| align="right" |1978
|MicroAge
|-
|Gigatrek
| align="right" |1982
|Artworx Soft. Co., Inc.
|-
|Hearts
| align="right" |1980
|DynaComp, Inc.
|-
|Management Simulator
| align="right" |1981
|DynaComp, Inc.
|-
|Mensa Master
| align="right" |1982
|DynaComp, Inc.
|-
|Monarch
|198?
|DynaComp, Inc.
|-
|North Star Software Exchange #1: Games
| align="right" |1979
|North Star Computers
|-
|North Star Software Exchange #11: Life Expectancies & Capitals Quiz
| align="right" |1979
|North Star Computers
|-
|North Star Software Exchange #13: Games
| align="right" |1979
|North Star Computers
|-
|North Star Software Exchange #18: Video Games
| align="right" |1979
|North Star Computers
|-
|North Star Software Exchange #3: Guess Game System
| align="right" |1979
|North Star Computers
|-
|North Star Software Exchange #7: SOL/VDM Video Games
| align="right" |1979
|North Star Computers
|-
|North Star Software Exchange #8: Simulation-type Games
| align="right" |1979
|North Star Computers
|-
|Poker Party
| align="right" |1980
|DynaComp, Inc.
|-
|Poker Tourney
| align="right" |1982
|Artworx Soft. Co., Inc.
|-
|Qubic
| align="right" |1978
|1001001, Inc.
|-
|Space Lanes
|198?
|DynaComp, Inc.
|-
|Uncle Harry's Will
| align="right" |1982
|DynaComp, Inc.
|-
|Valdez
| align="right" |1979
|DynaComp, Inc.
|-
|Windmere Estates Adventure
| align="right" |1982
|DynaComp, Inc.
|}
References
External links
- NorthStar Horizon at Obsolete Technology
- NorthStar Horizon at Old Computer Museum
- North Star Computers Manuals from Harte Technologies
- NorthStar documentation from Rich's classic computing lab