What a weird computer !! Though it has a lot of similarities with other computers of that time, it seems to be however an original Brazilian production, a kind of mix between several popular systems.
Its name MC-1000 is strangely close to MC-10 from Tandy. It uses the same video-controller (Motorola MC-6847) but Sound chipset (GI AY-3-8910) and CPU (Z80A) are different. The character set is almost identical, but keyboard layout and Basic statements are not the same (PLOT vs SET, LOAD vs CLOAD, HOME vs CLS, etc.)
Maybe the closest system would be the Samsung SPC-1000. It has the same CPU, Video processor and Sound processor ! But sadly nearly nothing is known about it... At first sight it doesn't look the same at all, but internaly there are very close.
A former CCE employee reports (Source) that the original design of the MC1000 was Chinese. A Chinese engineer/representative came to Brazil to present the project to CCE. It was not presented as a final product already in production, but as a prototype. Some partnership was effectively established between CCE and the Chinese factory for the production of the MC1000. He was not reverse engineered. There was a lot of development: Hardware adaptations (for PAL-M, for example, or to adapt components), case, keyboard design, visual identity, packaging, software… The engineering staff worked many months to finalize the product. For the ROM, CCE received very little: just the dump and an assembly listing without comments...
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Thanks to Cesar Cardoso for the following information :
BACKGROUND ON HISTORY: from 1976 to 1990-1992, Brazil had a market reserve policy on microcomputers and selected computing items, i.e. only Brazilian companies could manufacture these items. But most companies only copied foreign computers and only a small part of it created their own technology, like Scopus and a MS-DOS clone called SISNE.
This little monster was a genuine Brazilian computer! CCE was a electronics manufacturer known for their low prices and low quality products. They released Apple II and PC compatible machines, but developed their own computer, the MC-1000. Hardware-wise, it's close to a MSX, with some big project problems (the text mode, unsuitable for something more serious, and the printer port, which was external and sold separately).
The most heard word of this computer is "vaporware". CCE made a lot of them for this computer. The biggest of them all: disk drives. Hey, in 1985 disk drives was an essential peripheral of ANY computer - and CCE promised drives. Drives and CP/M - MC-1000 could have been a decent CP/M machine. They promised, promised... and never delivered. So people got tired of waiting and gave up on this computer.
We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system,
please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.
Please consider donating your old computer / videogame system to Old-Computers.com or one of our partners from anywhere in the world (Europe, America, Asia, etc.).
The date is wrong, it was released before 1985. I was gifted that computer in my 11th birthday, which was in november 1984.
Tuesday 13rd October 2020
Cláudio Sampaio (Brazil)
Perhaps Rabbid RX-83 was a prototype project that Rabbid Computer bought from Samsung, but by contract they were unable to sale it on Asia, reason why they shown it on a fair on USA. VDI/GEM was about to make a partnership with Rabbid to produce in Hong Kong to sell it in Belgium in 1984, but CCE possibly appeared with a better offer and bought the entire project to sell it totally remodelled as MC-1000. OK... We have no proof that it occurred this way, but is a very good theory. Why? The dates match, no one knows ANY RX-83 or GEM-1000/Charlemagne user or even exist a ROM dump of these machines anywhere. Only the MC-1000 have good documentation, a software library and groups of users, even with all vaporware.
Saturday 3rd August 2013
Claudio H. Picolo
I have one of these computers. I was gifted it in 1986. It is still operational and inside its original packaging. It is quite a bizarre computer, indeed. It is for sale... anyone interested?
Thx.
Tuesday 4th December 2012
Aldrox (Brazil)
NAME
MC 1000
MANUFACTURER
CCE
TYPE
Home Computer
ORIGIN
Brazil
YEAR
February 1985
BUILT IN LANGUAGE
Basic
KEYBOARD
50 key rubber keyboard
CPU
Zilog Z80A
SPEED
3.54 MHz
CO-PROCESSOR
Motorola MC 6847 (Graphics) + GI AY-3-8910 (Sound)
RAM
16 KB (14618 bytes free under Basic), expandable to 64 KB
VRAM
6 KB
ROM
16 KB
TEXT MODES
32 x 16 (80 columns with an external add-on, really another Motorola graphic chip)
GRAPHIC MODES
128 x 96 (low resolution), 256 x 192 (hi resolution)
COLORS
4 on low resolution, 2 on hi resolution
SOUND
3 voices, 7 octaves + 1 noise channel
I/O PORTS
A expansion bus on the back to plug the RAM expansion, the printer port and, if it was delievered, the drive interface. It works like the Sinclair expansion buses. 2 x controller ports. Tape interface. Video output
