4 ms·

> It's funny how close Brazil was to an eastern bloc country then. > -Foreign computer designs could be copied, beacause their IP did not apply (Unitron Mac wa

> It's funny how close Brazil was to an eastern bloc country then. > -Foreign computer designs could be copied, beacause their IP did not apply (Unitron Mac was a notable example - actually better than the original); Where can I find more information about such Brazilian computer clone designs? (if necessary, I can also read such texts in Portuguese, even though English or German texts are much easier for me)

frozenlettuce 8y ago
here are some stories about these period http://www.schwartzman.org.br/simon/comput.htm http://www.schwartzman.org.br/simon/comput.htm https://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/29/business/brazil-s-prickly-computer-policy.html https://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/29/business/brazil-s-prickly... This video about the game scene that developed because of the politics is also interesting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU29Wqg_BVo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU29Wqg_BVo In the beginning of the 90's our economy opened and our then President cited our slow computers as one the main reasons for doing so (just PR talk, but it is interesting to note this)
- forinti 8y ago
  The reason the IT policy failed in Brazil, IMHO, is because they did not do enough to spread knowledge and make the machines cheaper. The UK had a marvelous project that put micros in every school (BBC Computer Literacy Project). You could see people use 8 bit micros in all sorts of applications (I remember a Master Compact kit being sold to handle magazine and newspaper subscriptions). The Brazilian Sharp MSX (Hotbit) came out in 1985. It cost something like US$400. That same year, the Amiga 1000 came out. It was vastly superior, but it also cost 3 times as much. So I think the real failure was not putting to good use the technology Brazil had.
forinti 8y ago
This site has all or most of them: http://www.old-computers.com/ http://www.old-computers.com/ It seems to be in trouble at the moment. Unitron made Apple clones (I think the Apple II clones were licenced, but they ran into trouble when they tried to setup a joint venture for the Mac clone and decided to just copy it). Gradiente and Sharp made MSX clones (they were licenced). Microdigital made Spectrum clones (and also a very nice Apple II clone called TK3000): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TK90X https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TK90X

frozenlettuce 8y ago

here are some stories about these period http://www.schwartzman.org.br/simon/comput.htm http://www.schwartzman.org.br/simon/comput.htm https://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/29/business/brazil-s-prickly-computer-policy.html https://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/29/business/brazil-s-prickly... This video about the game scene that developed because of the politics is also interesting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU29Wqg_BVo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU29Wqg_BVo In the beginning of the 90's our economy opened and our then President cited our slow computers as one the main reasons for doing so (just PR talk, but it is interesting to note this)

forinti 8y ago
The reason the IT policy failed in Brazil, IMHO, is because they did not do enough to spread knowledge and make the machines cheaper. The UK had a marvelous project that put micros in every school (BBC Computer Literacy Project). You could see people use 8 bit micros in all sorts of applications (I remember a Master Compact kit being sold to handle magazine and newspaper subscriptions). The Brazilian Sharp MSX (Hotbit) came out in 1985. It cost something like US$400. That same year, the Amiga 1000 came out. It was vastly superior, but it also cost 3 times as much. So I think the real failure was not putting to good use the technology Brazil had.

forinti 8y ago

This site has all or most of them: http://www.old-computers.com/ http://www.old-computers.com/ It seems to be in trouble at the moment. Unitron made Apple clones (I think the Apple II clones were licenced, but they ran into trouble when they tried to setup a joint venture for the Mac clone and decided to just copy it). Gradiente and Sharp made MSX clones (they were licenced). Microdigital made Spectrum clones (and also a very nice Apple II clone called TK3000): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TK90X https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TK90X