The Thomson TO7, also called Thomson 9000[2] is a home computer introduced by Thomson SA in November 1982,[3] with an original retail price of 3750 Franc.
By 1983 over 40000 units were produced.[4]
The TO7 is built around a 1 MHz Motorola 6809 processor. ROM cartridges, designed as MEMO7, can be introduced through a memory bay.
The user interface uses Microsoft BASIC, included in the kit cartridge. The keyboard features a plastic membrane, and further user input is obtained through a lightpen.
Cooling is provided by a rear radiator.
Standard can be used as output through a SCART (Peritel) connector, with a resolution of 320x200 (with 2 colors for each 8x1 pixels).
The TO7 prototype, called Thomson T9000, was developed in 1980. The differences regarding the production model are a different startup menu and buggier BIOS.[5]
An upgraded version, the Thomson TO7/70, was released in 1984.[2]
Among improvements was an increased RAM of 48KB (64 KB including Video RAM) instead of 8KB (22 KB including video RAM). 70 stands for 64+6 (64KB RAM + 6KB ROM). The 6809 processor was replaced by a 6809E and the color palette was extended from 8 to 16 colors.[6] Graphics were provided by Motorola MCA1300 gate array.[1]
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