- UNITRONICS EXPANDER -

Unitronics Expander Pic 1

  • Like the Starpath Supercharger, the Expander was to be a video game add-on peripheral. 2600 cartridges were to be played through the Expander just as they had always played, but games specifically designed for the Expander were to take advantage of the additional memory (16K compared to 4K for the 2600) to produce better graphics and enhanced game play. The video games were to be sold in cassette format and retail for under $15.

    Unitronics Expander Pic 2

  • The Expander was a system of products that included an alpha-numeric keyboard. The Expander was to come in two versions: the Expander I basic system is used only for playing 16K video games loaded into the system through its built-in tape deck system. The Expander II, in addition to playing 16K video games, can interface with the Expander Keyboard, turning the Atari 2600 into a 16K home computer with read and write capabilities. BASIC was also built-into the keyboard as well. Unitronics also planned to support the keyboard with peripherals such as a printer and modem. In addition, they had plans for optional equipment like a Speech Text Synthesizer.

      EXPANDER SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS
      * One 16K game included.
      * 16K RAM, expandable to 32K RAM/ROM.
      * 20K Bits/sec tape transport w/Load/Save/FF/Rewind/Stop/Eject.
      * 8K ROM Expander BASIC w/16K RAM.
      * 14 X 10 characters, w/Expansion Module 40 X 24 display.

      KEYBOARD SPECIFICATIONS
      * Includes 8K BASIC cassette.
      * 64 full travel keys.
      * 4 cursor keys.
      * 10 special control keys.
      * Spech/audio capable.
      * Accessory I/O ports: printer, modem and VideoComp joysticks.

    Unitronics Expander and Keyboard

  • Unitronics planned to support its line of peripherals with a large repetoire of game cassettes. Several of the games were to be developed in a joint venture with ET Marketing, a coin-op manufacturer in Arizona.

      EXPANDER SOFTWARE TITLES
      * Buggers
      * Tugboat
      * Dazzler
      * Uni-calc
      * Desert Race
      * Leprechaun
      * Pirates Treasure
      * Kaleidosketch

  • As if you haved't figured it out by now, the Expander was never released. It's probably just as well, since the last thing the videogame market needed was a small outfit trying to compete with the big boys with peripherals that were doomed to failure from the start.

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