As the Sinclair ZX-81, the Alice was clearly marketed as an initiation machine.
In 1981, Matra signed a deal with Tandy/RadioShack to develop a MC-10 clone for 1983 : the Alice. Matra then worked with Hachette (both were owned by the Lagardère group) to produce the documentation and to organize the distribution. Last but not least, the well known and excellent french illustrator Moebius drew a beautiful illustration for the docs and the box of the Alice.
Alice is quite limited in its possibilities but is also quite pleasant to use. Its case is whole red and the computer really looks like a toy.
Several educational programs were developed for this computer.
Then in 1984, Matra presents a new version : The Alice 32 with 16 kb RAM and improved graphical possibilities.
But this computer was, like the MC 10, a flop in the marketplace. It was replaced one year later by the Alice 90.
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.).
My first computer also ! I had it for my birthday (I was ten), and asked my parents the manuel one month before ... At the date, I knew it by heart ! small computer but great memories ^^ I remember this car game, I spent hours on it :-)
Wednesday 15th October 2014
Stéphane (France)
My first computer also ! I had it for my birthday (I was ten), and asked my parents the manuel one month before ... At the date, I knew it by heart ! small computer but great memories ^^ I remember this car game, I spent hours on it :-)
Wednesday 15th October 2014
Stéphane
This was my first computer too! It had a very good documentation (I read it all in one night), to learn programming. I bought the 16KB extension.
This gave me the taste for computer science (and thanks to that, I hold a computer science PhD.)
Wednesday 27th October 2010
François Parmentier (Nancy, France)
NAME
ALICE
MANUFACTURER
Matra Hachette
TYPE
Home Computer
ORIGIN
France
YEAR
1983
END OF PRODUCTION
Alice 4k : 1982 Alice 32 : end of 1985
BUILT IN LANGUAGE
Basic Microsoft 1.0 (1982)
KEYBOARD
AZERTY, chicklet keyboard 47 keys (1 SHIFT, 1 CONTROL, BREAK, ENTER) Basic statements written above each key
CPU
Motorola 6803 (a cross between 6800 and 6809)
SPEED
0.89 MHz
CO-PROCESSOR
MC-6847 Video Generator
RAM
Alice 4k : 4 kb, 3 kb left for user Alice 32 : 16 kb, 8 kb left for user
ROM
Alice 4k : 8 kb Alice 32 : 16 kb
TEXT MODES
Alice 4k : 32 x 16 Alice 32 : 32 x 16, 40 x 25, 80 x 25
GRAPHIC MODES
Alice 4k : 64 x 32 Alice 32 : 64 x 32, 160 x 125, 320 x 250
COLORS
Alice 4k : 9 Alice 32 : 9 with Basic, 32 with machine code
SOUND
1 channel
SIZE / WEIGHT
51 x 216 x 178 / 850gt
I/O PORTS
Expansion port (18 pins) Tape-recorder (1500 bauds) TV (7 pins DIN plug) I/O serial port (4 pins DIN plug)
POWER SUPPLY
10v - 1,3A
PERIPHERALS
Printer, 16k RAM expansion
PRICE
182 (France, dec. 83) 118 (France, july 85) 53 (France, april 87)
(France, dec. 83)
