Ramtek (company)

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Ramtek was an American manufacturer of computers, computer graphics displays, and coin-operated video games founded in 1971. It became a publicly held corporation in 1978.[1] In 1981 it was generally regarded as the No. 1 company in the area of raster-scan color graphics display, printer/plotter or large screen projector.[1] Its business was split among general-purpose graphics, applications in government, applications in the medical field and process control.[1]

History[]

  • 1979 – Ramtek bought Omron's CRT manufacturing division for $1.6 million.[2]

Products[]

6000 series graphics computer family[]

  • 6114 Color-graphic Computer (1979)[3]
  • 6214 Color-graphic Computer (1980) featuring 16 displayable colors from a palette of 64 and using UCSD Pascal. It featured a 4 MHz Zilog Z80 CPU, 64 kB RAM and a floppy disk drive, with a base price of $19,250[4]
  • 2020-4228 CAD workstation (1985) featuring 750 kB RAM (expandable to 5 MB)[5] and a base price of $10,995[6]

Terminals[]

  • Ramtek 8210/UET interactive data entry terminal – compatible with UNIVAC computers[7]

Arcade video games[]

  • Clean Sweep (June 1974)[8] – Genre: Ball and Paddle – It is considered to be a primitive predecessor to Atari's Breakout (1976).[9][10] The player uses a paddle to hit a ball up towards a playfield of dots, which disappear as the ball moves through the dots; the goal is to is to achieve a clean sweep by erasing all the dots.[10] Clean Sweep was one of the top ten best-selling arcade video games of 1974, and sold a total of 3,500 arcade cabinets.[11]
  • Baseball (October 1974)[8] – Genre: Sports
  • Barricade (1976) – Genre: Skill
  • Dark Invader (1978) – Genre: Space
  • Deluxe Baseball (1976) – Genre: Baseball
  • GT Roadster (1979) – Genre: Racing
  • Hit Me (1976) – Genre: Card
  • Hockey (1973) – Genre: Ball and Paddle
  • Horoscope (1976)
  • M-79 Ambush (1977) – Genre: Shooter
  • Sea Battle (1976) – Genre: Shooter
  • Soccer (1973) – Genre: Ball and Paddle
  • Star Cruiser (1977) – Genre: Shooter
  • Trivia (1976)
  • Volly (1973) – Genre: Ball and Paddle – a Pong clone[12]
  • Wipe Out (1974) – Genre: Ball and Paddle

Other products[]

  • Ramtek 3000[13]
  • Ramtek 9000 Series Display Controller[13]
  • Ramtek 9050 Series Display Controller[13]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Now Eyeing Graphics, Ramtek Searches for Cash As Loral Deal Collapses, Robert Batt, CW West Coast Bureau, June 8, 1981, Computer World
  2. ^ Ramtek buys Omrom Arm – Division Makes CRTs, 26 March 1979, Computer World
  3. ^ Ask Ramtek. (Nobody knows more about Colorgraphics). Isn't one clear, colorful picture worth a thousand lines of print-out?, March 17, 1980, Computer World
  4. ^ Ramtek Expands 6000 Series Of Color Graphics CPUs, June 16, 1980, Computer World
  5. ^ Ramtek unwraps CAD workstations, Maura McEaney, CW Staff, August 12, 1985, Computer World
  6. ^ Ramtek unwraps CAD workstations – page 2, Maura McEaney, CW Staff, August 12, 1985, Computer World
  7. ^ Four reasons why UNIVAC users are switching to the Ramtek 8210/Uniscope Emulation Terminal, November 12, 1979, Computer World
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b Akagi, Masumi (13 October 2006). アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971-2005) [Arcade TV Game List: Domestic • Overseas Edition (1971-2005)]. Japan: Amusement News Agency. p. 129. ISBN 978-4990251215.
  9. ^ The Ultimate (So Far) History of Exidy – Part 1, May 19, 2013, allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Hunter, William (2015). "PONG and Atari". The Dot Eaters. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  11. ^ Baer, Ralph H. (2005). Videogames: In the Beginning. Rolenta Press. pp. 12–3. ISBN 978-0-9643848-1-1.
  12. ^ Volly, The International Arcade Museum
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b c When you need color graphics, Ramtek has it all, February 12, 1979, Computer World

External links[]

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