Stratos (computer)

The Stratos was designed by Stewart Earnest and Ray McKaig of Symbiotic Systems, Inc., a company originally based out of Woodland, California, and later relocated to Santa Cruz, California.{{sfnm|1a1=Staff writer|1y=1982|1p=62|2a1=Towers|2y=1982|2p=228}} Symbiotic Systems previously released the Syncron 8, a S-100 bus–based computer running the Intel 8080 microprocessor and featuring a backplane motherboard with twenty card slots. The 8080 is housed on a card that features PROMs, one of which has a bootstrap loader allowing the user to load software via floppy disk or data cassette, while the other has a 512-KB PROM flashable by the user.{{sfn|Symbiotic Systems|1977}} The Syncron 8 can take up to 12 KB of RAM and has a keyboard interface allowing users to directly interact with the computer without the need for a terminal.{{sfn|Towers|1982|p=228}} A television could be used as a display for the computer with the use of a composite cable.{{sfn|Rao|1982|p=498}} The Syncron 8 was regarded as a hobbyist or industrial computer.{{sfn|Rao|1982|p=497}}

The Stratos by contrast is a general-purpose, turnkey,{{sfn|Stephenson|1981|p=214}} single-board computer, built from a six-layer printed circuit board and powered by a Zilog Z80 microprocessor clocked at 4 MHz. The computer comes with 64 KB of conventional RAM and 16 KB of additional RAM, the latter programmable as either disk-cache memory, as conventional memory (as the zero page in CP/M), as video memory, or as a RAM disk. The computer also comes with a 2-KB EPROM.{{sfn|Staff writer|1981a|p=70}} The computer's BIOS chip was custom written by Symbiotic Systems.{{sfn|Ouverson|1981|p=3}}

The included software package comprises CP/M version 2.2, the Spellbinder word processor, either CBASIC or a Pascal compiler,{{sfn|Staff writer|1981b|p=441}} Reminder, Autophone, a personal financing application, and a medley of bespoke programs.{{sfn|Staff writer|1981a|p=70}} Reminder is a task-scheduling utility that took advantage of the computer's built-in real-time clock to executive certain programs and directives based on a 99-year calendar.{{sfnm|1a1=Staff writer|1y=1981a|1p=70|2a1=Staff writer|2y=1981c|2p=41}} Autophone is an auto-dialer/answering utility that can issue DTMF signals or pulses through a telephone line to automatically (and repeatedly, if desired) place phone calls; it can also automatically answer incoming calls if it detects one on the line. One of the Stratos' bespoke programs is Font, a bitmapped font editor that can redefine any of the 256 memory-mapped 8-by-9-matrix characters of the on-screen font to any shape, either with a keyboard or with an optional light pen.{{sfn|Staff writer|1981a|p=70}}

The Stratos was optioned with either one or more 5.25-inch or 8-inch floppy disk drives.{{sfn|Staff writer|1981c|p=41}} It can address up to 5 MB of floppy storage.{{sfn|Staff writer|1981b|p=441}} The computer's power supply unit is switched-mode and was reported to run at 80 percent efficiency in 1981, negating the need for internal fans.{{sfnm|1a1=Staff writer|1y=1981a|1p=70|2a1=Staff writer|2y=1981c|2p=41}} The system unit and included keyboard are housed in a teak enclosure.{{sfn|Stephenson|1981|p=214}} The computer's lack of electromagnetic shielding reportedly made the computer prone to radio-frequency interference.{{sfn|Nadeau|2002|p=132}}

The Stratos was released in September 1981 for at least $6350; the price was higher depending on the configuration.{{sfn|Staff writer|1981c|p=41}} The computer was previously previewed at the 6th West Coast Computer Faire in June 1981, where Marlin Ouverson, editor of Dr. Dobb's Journal, wrote that its real-time clock and 16 KB of programmable RAM "set it apart from other CP/M compatible systems".{{sfn|Ouverson|1981|p=3}} The computer saw modest industrial use, with a real estate company in Santa Cruz using it to generate income analysis reports of their clientele,{{sfn|Staff writer|1982|p=62}} while a book publisher and printing broker out of San Francisco used the Stratos to compose and design brochures.{{sfn|Fitzgerald|1982|pp=48–49}} The computer continued to be sold until 1983, when Symbiotic went out of business.{{sfn|OpenCorporates|n.d.}}

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• {{cite journal | last=Fitzgerald | first=Mark | date=July 1982 | url=https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputing198207/page/n49/ | title=Clients, Accountants Combine to Customize Number Crunching | journal=Personal Computing | publisher=Hayden Publishing Company | volume=6 | issue=7 | pages=48–50 | via=the Internet Archive}}
• {{cite book | last=Nadeau | first=Michael | date=2002 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WXZNAAAACAAJ | title=Collectible Microcomputers | edition=Illustrated | series=Schiffer Book for Collectors | page=122 | publisher=Schiffer Publishing | isbn=9780764316005 | via=Google Books}}
• {{cite journal | last=Ouverson | first=Marlin | date=June 1981 | url=https://archive.org/details/dr_dobbs_journal_vol_06/page/226/ | title=Editorial | journal=Dr. Dobb's Journal | publisher=People's Computer Company | volume=6 | page=3 | via=the Internet Archive}}
• {{cite book | last=Rao | first=Guthikonda V. | date=1982 | url=https://archive.org/details/microprocessorsm0000raog/ | title=Microprocessors and Microcomputer Systems | publisher=Van Nostrand Reinhold | isbn=9780442256265 | via=the Internet Archive}}
• {{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=September 1981a | url=https://archive.org/details/bitsavers_computerDe_175475116/page/n71/ | title=Single-board microcomputer supplies fast video and disc | journal=Computer Design | publisher=PennWell Publishing | volume=20 | issue=9 | page=70 | via=the Internet Archive}}
• {{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=September 1981b | url=https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1981-09/page/n442/ | title=The Stratos | journal=Byte | publisher=McGraw-Hill | volume=6 | issue=9 | page=441 | via=the Internet Archive}}
• {{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=October 5, 1981c | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JT0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA41 | title=InfoWorld Hardware Review: Systems | journal=InfoWorld | publisher=CW Communications | volume=3 | issue=20 | page=41 | via=Google Books}}
• {{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=March 14, 1982 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116126617/real-estate-investment-corporation-opens/ | title=Real Estate Investment Corporation Opens | journal=Santa Cruz Sentinel | page=62 | via=Newspapers.com}}
• {{cite journal | last=Stephenson | first=Linda | date=September 1981 | url=https://archive.org/details/Kilobaud198109/page/n212/ | title=80K Stratos System, Typewriter/Printer, MiniFrame from MicroDaSys, 68,000 Micros | journal=Kilobaud Microcomputing | publisher=Wayne Green, Inc. | volume=V | issue=9 | pages=214–216 | via=the Internet Archive}}
• {{cite book | last= | first= | date=March 1977 | url=https://archive.org/details/TNM_Syncron_8_microcomputer_system_-_Symbiotic_Sy_20170915_0563/ | title=Syncron 8: The Advanced Microcomputer System | publisher=Symboitic Systems | page= | isbn= | via=the Internet Archive | ref={{sfnRef|Symbiotic Systems|1977}} }}
• {{cite web | last= | first= | date=n.d. | url=https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/1020061 | title=Symbiotic Systems, Inc. | publisher=OpenCorporates | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221215022927/https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/1020061 | archivedate=December 15, 2022 | ref={{sfnRef|OpenCorporates|n.d.}} }}
• {{cite book | last=Towers | first=T. D. | date=1982 | url=https://archive.org/details/Towers_International_Microprocessor_Selector/page/n242/ | title=Towers' International Microprocessor Selector | publisher=Tab Books | isbn=0830617167 | via=the Internet Archive}}

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Category:Computer-related introductions in 1981

Category:Z80-based computers