'''Thomson''' is a French High-Tech corporation who produce Weapons or HI-FI Electronic devices[[File:MO5 Platini advert.jpg|thumb|right|Thomson MO5 Michel Platini Limited Edition]]
It used to produce 8-bit home computers in the 80's though sub-companies : ''Thomson'SIMMIV''' (Société Internationale de Microis a French High-Informatique et de Vidéo) also known as '''Thomson MicroTech corporation who produced Weapons or HI-FI Electronic devices.''' (1983-1989)
It used to produce 8-bit home computers in the 80's though sub-companies : '''SIMIV''' (Société Internationale de Micro-Informatique et de Vidéo) also known as '''Thomson Micro.''' (1983-1989)
Despite those machines were literally When the Amstrad arrived they whipped them out by Amstrad in of the French market, they remains remain a well known fail in France, and is are still quite beloved in this country by those who knew them at school. As we say : '''Proudly Merde in France.'''
=History : a French phenomenon=
It was decided to favour French industry and Thomson had to hastily produce a full range of adequate computers, '''based on the MOS 6809E CPU clocked at 1mhz''' design of their 1982's computer the TO7.
This gave a first generation which, while still being "real" computers, were not especially designed to perform well on domestic market, nor be a good gaming platform. As a result, a lot of Thomson computers were almost only sold to schools, apart from the few unfortunates who got one instead of an Amstrad CPC.
While French National Education had to choose those French computers (hastily developed in a rush) the general public rarely got those as they were not as well rounded as an Amstrad CPC for example.
The Thomson 8bit computers are '''6809E CPU based (1mhz)'''
They were released in a lot of models variations (mostly concerning the keyboard or colour of the casing) from late1982late 1982-1983 to 1989.
While MO and TO models are incompatible in software, most of the peripherals and Hardware were compatible.
2nd generation was almost fully retro-compatible with 1st generation but specific 2nd generation softwares software couldn't run on 1st generation computers.
Those compatibilities issues were fatal to the range alongside the success of the Amstrad CPC in France.
As a result, peoples were shy and reluctant to get into this because those computers were not the best for the same price on the market, to begin with, and because it is always a shame to see that if you waited a bit more, you would have had a far better product.
Amstrad customers had this with the CPC664(with the Amstrad the CPC6128 was released only a few months later than the CPC664, having more memory for similar price).
A typical example is the TO9, which was supplied with no Monitor first, then was supplied with a colour monitor for the exact same price a 4-6 months later.
And with a lot of additional stuff 1 year after being first released (TO9+...). And TO9 keyboard was no more compatible with TO9+...
MO5 was first released with rubber keyboard. Then it had a more proper hard plastic mechanical keyboard, which was also supplied in a collector "Michel Platini" white casing..
*'''MO5E''': had a different casing and was aimed at Export, but was also sold on French market as the MO5Etentu (extended), with a AZERTY keyboard though. It features and an in-build Joystick built joystick and (slightly) upgraded beeper.
The casing would later be re-used with MO6 hardware as Network terminals renamed MO5NR.
*'''TO7''' : produced from 1982 to 1984. Supplied with only 24K RAM (16K used by the video)... so actually 8K usable, upgradable into 48K (so actually 32k because of the 16k video). It can display only 8 colours. Probably the worst keyboard ever.
* '''TO7/70''' : in 1984, this one replaced the "faulty" TO7.
It was developed by the '''Science and Technology University of Lille''' (city in northern France).
it could enable to connect up to 31 Thomson (OMO/TO) computers called "Nanomachines" with a more powerful powerfull computer "head network".
It was largely supplied to various levels of schools by 1985.
Thomson computers also got their share of '''[[Speccy Ports''' Port]] due to the Attribute based Video mode of the 1st generation.
'''MO5 was basically a 6809E based ZX Spectrum.'''
=Examples of games co-developped developed on Thomson and CPC=
* [[Bivouac]] (TO8) (also known as Chamonix Challenge)
* [[Sapiens]] (MO5/TO7) : originally an MO5 game.
* [[Le 5ème 5eme Axe]] (french name) from Loriciels, was originally a MO5 game.
* [[Captain Blood]] : the TO8 version is exactly the same as the CPC version, minus the sounds.
=DemoScene=
*Don't laught, there is an actual Demoscene on Thomson computers. *[[Shinra team]] produces and releases both on Amstrad CPC/PLUS and '''Thomson''' computers. {{#ev:youtube|g3ccVWRQkWE|300}}
Most of those use the superior TO8 specifications and are visually not that different from Amstrad PLUS productions.
http://www.pulsdemos.com/truc/truc216i.gif
http://www.pulsdemos.com/images/hcl.png
*[http://exo.chez.com/indexe.html Thomson demoscene page] (French and English)
=NanoRéseau=
The nanoréseau is a system that connects up to 31 Thomson MO-TO microcomputers (TO7, TO7/70, MO5, etc.), called "nanomachines," to a more powerful machine known as the "network head."
This allows the nanomachines to leverage the superior capabilities of the network head, particularly access to floppy disks and a printer.
*[https://www.nanoreseau.net Wiki Nanoréseau Léanord-Thomson (FR)] Local network used in French schools in the 1980s
*[http://dcnano.free.fr/ DCnanoréseau] Emulates the server of the Léanord-Thomson local network
*[https://youtu.be/aXqMUJxWWWY La résurrection du Nanoréseau Thomson/Léanord] by [[Rodrik Studio]]
*[https://youtu.be/FVJ6UV3lu-k Goupil G3 PC, restauration et découverte] by [[Rodrik Studio]]
=Links=
*[httphttps://wwwfr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomson_TO7 TO7] and [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomson_MO5 MO5 ] on Wikipedia (frenchFR) *[https://youtu.be/HQyckYYT3_8 Le tout premier ordinateur Thomson : Le TO7] by [[Rodrik Studio]] *[https://youtu.be/9LbyIPBmgE8 Le plus évolué des Thomson : Le TO9+] by [[Rodrik Studio]] *[https://youtu.be/4FAv1d632Yw Thomson TO7] [https://youtu.be/xJbzRDLq1gs Thomson MO5] [https://youtu.be/Psb-8LBkLYo Thomson MO6] TV advertisements *[https://youtu.be/UPxQR2r6iVA The French Apple | The Story of Thomson Computers] by [[RMC - The Cave]] *[https://youtu.be/YTM1XXCFYxM 50 Thomson MO5 games] *[http://www.logicielsmoto.com/home.php Logicielsmoto.com] a complete French site with software and stuff on Thomson computers. *[http://nostalgies.thomsonistes.org French site "Nostalgie Thomsonistes"] *[http://nostalgies.thomsonistes.org/thomson_saga.pdf an interesting pdf file in French to explain all of this.] *[[Media:MC6809 HMOS 8 Bit Microprocessor (Motorola).pdf|Motorola MC6809 CPU datasheet]] (only on first generation TO7) *[[Media:6809E CPU datasheet.pdf|Motorola MC6809E CPU datasheet]] *[https://colorcomputerarchive.com/repo/Documents/Books/Motorola%206809%20and%20Hitachi%206309%20Programming%20Reference%20(Darren%20Atkinson).pdf 6809/6309 Programmer's Reference] *[[Media:MC6821 datasheet.pdf|Motorola MC6821 PIA datasheet]]
*[http[Media://wwwMC6846 datasheet.fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIMIV More Thomson Computers on Wikipedia (french too)pdf|Motorola MC6846 Timer+PIA datasheet]]
*[http://wwwdcmoto.logicielsmotofree.comfr/homedocumentation/technique.php Logicielsmoto.comhtml Technical documentation and datasheets] a complete French site with softwares and stuff on Thomson computers.
*[http://nostalgiesdcmoto.thomsonistesfree.orgfr/index.html| French site "Nostalgie Thomsonistes"DCMOTO]Emulator for Windows and collection of 1219 programs and games
*[httphttps://nostalgieswww.thomsonistesmythomson.orgcom/thomson_saga.pdf| an interesting pdf file in French to explain all of this.us_en/computers-155-us-en Thomson computers]Thomson is one of the few brands of the 8bit era that still creates new computers today
[[Category:Non CPC Computers]]