Is This 1991 VTech Truly Unlimited?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ย. 2024
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In this video, we celebrate the new year by diving into VTech's rare I.Q. Unlimited machine! Please like, subscribe, and stay tuned for fresh content and all the latest information about the Vintage Geek museum.
Hosted and produced by Aaron Ishmael.
Technical work by Joseph William Lewis.
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I had one of these as a small child and learned a lot from it, very nostalgic for me, thanks for this vid.
I loved anything like this when I was younger! I was born in '78 so anything I could use with even some computer functions and portable was absolutely mind-blowing.... I learned BASIC from a TI-74 Basicalc I got when I was 8 or so.... very nicely done video... keep up the good work!! Have a great day!!
The extra expansion port on the back could possibly have been for a voice synthesizer module, although it is not compatible with the one for the Socrates -- but Socrates game cartridges do work fine with the IQ Unlimited.
I was wondering if it might be for a floppy drive.
Depending on exactly what it exposes on that connector it might be usable for all kinds of stuff.
Most early computers (of which this is an example) exposed some or all of the main system bus on either an external expansion PORT or on the internal expansion SLOT.
Even the ISA slot is essentially just exposing the full system data and address bus on each slot.
It wasn't until PCI/MCA that the expansion bus truly had it's own separate bus controller and was distinctly separated from the CPU and main memory.
looks like it was quite a useful Device to have for being able to print things simply, very interesting thing to learn about
I love my VTech IQ Unlimited, I know what it is and what it's not. It's not a Commodore Amiga 1200, it is not an Atari ST, it's not a Macintosh LC, it is not an IBM PS/1, it's not even a Commodore 64, but for what it is I still love it, except when it randomly loses all my data without warning for some reason. Recently I discovered why the TV output on my unit wouldn't work, so now I can connect it to my TV I can use it. I just love the unit.
I have so many fond memories with this thing.. 😂 my mom only let me hook it up to the tv a few times.. but i played the games i could on the lcd
Mind challenged and word zapper.
Even when I don't watch your videos, I am spiritually with you.
I think that, in principle, a Z80 based system could be considered a discount computer even in 1991. Especially when you consider that the Apple IIe was still technically available in 1992.
Today with our extensive history of the past we can see that it was probably too little, too late as anything more than a fancy toy.
That said, this could have been a half-way decent computer for a kid at the time.
I spent a lot of time using one of these in the early 90s. The trivia was the worst I remember.
Cool! You have a DMP 134? My grandfather had a 132, and I had a 133 that connected to my CoCo2, circa 1991. It was my first printer. I was the only 4th grader who would bring his homework assignments printed out LOL.
Actually, the photo was from the internet on that as I don’t still have the printer unfortunately, but looking back I think mine was actually the DMP133 and I also used it with the CoCo2 originally…those were fun times for sure!
@@vintagegeek I've been looking for one for a while now :( Yeah, that's cool! Like I said before, it's interesting because we are both Southerners, roughly the same age, and cut our teeth on a lot of the same computer equipment LOL!
Surprised how capable it was. Since it uses a Z80, I wonder if they built it from the MSX standard but wasn't compatible?
Wasn't the Z80 also a co processor for the MSX2 and MSX2+?
@vintagegeek Hey VG I remember this computer from TV ads, I think Tom Bosley,( the actor who played the dad in the TV show Happy Days) advertised this PC on a late night infomercial back in the 90's. But, did you know VT released an upgraded version of this machine in 1998 called The IT Unlimited? It had a GUI and came with a mouse. @RetroGamerVX has a video on his channel called "Hardware Review: VTEC I.T Unlimited (1998 Vintage)"
Technically this system has a GUI, it's just keyboard-driven rather than something you can use a mouse with.
I'm honestly not sure why VTech didn't try to push a mouse since the keypad essentially has to serve as one for the 'Art Studio' program... And if the keypad had been designed to be polled separately (probably is treated as part of the keyboard) then substituting a mouse for it could have been viable.
This come out the same year as the Amiga 600(a cost reduced Amiga 500) for the same price. Crazy stuff.
I guess the rational is that the extra cost is the software, but yeah. Probably just liquidating unsold Socrates'.
As neat as the Socrates is, they might have had more success if they had simply released something like the IQ unlimited instead.
They might even have been able to sell the Socrates game cartridges and a pair of dedicated game controllers as a bundled deal.
Without any storage medium, how would you save your letters, spreadsheets and BASIC programs?
It seems to save data to its internal memory which is obviously limited…I also don’t know if that is NVRAM or if it’s actually relying on the backup batteries to retain the storage…this one did not seem to have anything ‘saved’ in it.
@@vintagegeek I have one coming in the mail I bought off eBay. I think the 4 AA batteries are for keeping power to the RAM so you don't lose what is in RAM when you turn it off.
@@capnrob97It actually seems to maintain 'saved' data in ram even with just the main batteries. So it probably uses SRAM (static ram) chips for main memory.
I think the "backup batteries" are only needed when you primarily run it on AC power. Although maybe they can also keep the ram saving function from draining the main batteries.
It looks like this uses a similar technique for color to the Apple 2 series based on the color bleed in the characters.
It's not "color bleed", just another example of using NTSC artifacting to achieve a colored output.
Technically it's a monochrome output where the signal is fudged to get a color display at the loss of significant horizontal resolution.
As background:
Television was originally in black and white (B&W) only and when they added color it was designed in a way that maintained signal compatibility with existing B&W TVs.
Being curious on the graphics chip I did look it up. Its a custom vtech chip also used on the vtech socrates. No other details. Looks like its 8 color. The socrates games are reported to work on this unit.
Interesting! We just picked up a few Socrates games on eBay to try them so there may be an update video on this in the future!
If I recall correctly it's a gate array manufactured by Toshiba. Although I'm sure VTech specified a custom gate-level design.
I bought one of these in 2020 and it works well, sadly though, the video output doesn't work on mine, when I connect it to the TV the video image that appears is very dim and faint and weak, you also can't choose whether you want to use the TV out or LCD. I can't test the RF output because Australian TVs have different antenna connectors to American TVs as I understand it, I live in Australia and my IQ Unlimited is a US NTSC model, I'm not even sure if VTech released this product outside of the US. I think I like the mind challenge game the best on this unit. I also wish for completeness that I had the memory expansion cartridge. I think I'll ask my sister's boyfriend if he can fix the composite video output.
You might actually be able to fix your video output, depending on exactly what the issue is and whether it's primarily the system or your TV.
On the system side, bad capacitors or a weak solder joint/wire connection could be an issue
@@jnharton Thanks, but it turns out there's nothing wrong with the unit or my TV. It turns out the video output only works when you plug the unit into mains power, I'd been using the unit on batteries, and on battery power the video output can't be used. I guess VTech thought that allowing the video output to operate on battery power would put unnecessary strain on the batteries.