City of Armadale - History House > Records

PRINTER, DOT MATRIX - COMPUTEC

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COMPUTEC

c. 1987

Overview

A fawn coloured, plastic oblong case with text [COMPUTEC] on the side. It has a rectangular opening containing the black printer mechanism. A knurled wheel, to manually feed the printer paper, protrudes through the left side.
On the right side near the front edge are four small rectangular warning lights with text beside them: three lights are green and the other light is red. From the back to the front they are:-
green light and [POWER], red light and [PAPER OUT], green light and [READY], and green light and [ON LINE]. A black square button is on the left of the [ON LINE] green light. Two other black, square buttons are below it, with [FF] & [LF] beside them respectively.
A black cable, with a six pin plug to connect to the computer, emanates from the left rear of the printer. A grey power cord emanates from the right rear of the printer.
A white sticker on the printer bar provides instructions and cautions on using the printer. A sticker on rear has text [COMPUTEC / ITEM NO. 989-785 / SERIAL NO> 5000947 / 240V 50Hz 1.5A / MADE IN JAPAN].

Historical information

The Commodore 64, also known as C64, was a home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International. The C64 name came from its 64 kilobytes of RAM. Retailing at US$595 (equivalent to $1545 USD in 2018) and selling 17 million units worldwide during its lifetime, it was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as being the highest-selling single computer model of all time. Between 1983 and 1986, the C64 outsold its competitors' products, IBM PC Compatibles, Apple Computers, and Atari 8-bit. This was achieved through selling at regular retail stores, rather than at electronics and computer specialist stores. Aproximately 10,000 software titles were made for the C64, including office productivity applications, development tools and video games. It was discontinued in April 1994, although it remains popular in society today with collectors and computer enthusiasts. In 2018, the C64 mini 'retro' console was announced, introducing a new generation to the wonders of the C64.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-33-COA2010.85A

Themes

People
Social History

Material

Non Ferrous Metal

Plastic

Width

335 mm

Height or length

396 mm

Depth

131 mm

Inscriptions and markings

COMPUTEC

Keywords

Place made

Japan

Year

c. 1987

Statement of significance

This object is part of a collection that represents the types of technology that were used on a daily basis by people who lived in worked in the City of Armadale. The collection represents how technology has influenced how people lived, worked and played within the City of Armadale. The collection also is representative of how technology evolves and can become obsolete which in turn can make pastimes, jobs and skills evolve or become obsolete.

Comparative significance criteria

Rare or representative

Well provenanced

City of Armadale - History House

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