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(for more information click here)
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The items below are in my collection and are believed to be prototypes or extremely rare items, i.e. not generally released.
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Aquarius Quick Disk Drive
This item was manufactured during the
Radofin era. I am guessing it became available in 1985.
Unfortunately, my Quick Disk drive is not functioning properly. I
receive a "time out error" whenever I
The serial number for my unit is: RH0100107 I will post more here as I learn about this marvel. See my "Vapor Ware" page to see different versions of disk drives that were planned during the Mattel Electronics era. |
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4-Color Printer
This printer was announced by Mattel in
catalogues, but only saw production later by Radofin. I can't imagine
that there would have been great demand for it even if the Aquarius didn't
bomb under Mattel's reign. While the text would be letter quality
(because it "draws" the letters like a plotter), and you do have the
option for
See a sample print out here. The serial # on my unit is a VERY low: RH 0500002 |
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Aquarius II
I have 2 of these extremely rare units and they are the highlights of my collection. I recall seeing pictures of the Aquarius II in computer magazines way back in '83 as Mattel was announcing them. To have a "real" keyboard, ahh that would be grand. I never liked the chiclet keys on my Aquarius. Not then and definitely not now. It's too bad that this machine was not the first released by Mattel. Things probably would have fared a little better. The units I have are not quite the same as the ones Mattel announced, however. It is more of a hybrid between the planned AQ2 and the original Aquarius. The real AQ2, Mattel said, was to have programmable graphics of 320x192 resolution, extended Microsoft Basic built in, and 20k Ram. Judging by the box and manuals (I have not powered them, because I do not have a Pal TV) the only things that made it into these post-Mattel units are the keyboard and extended basic. The manual is nothing but the old Aquarius manual with a new cover picturing the AQ2. There is a short disclaimer in the front of the manual which instructs the user to only read chapters 1-6, and then read the accompanying "Extended Basic" manual. This is the same manual Mattel planned to pack with the Extended Basic cartridge. (does anyone have one?) The box and manuals make no mention of any additional ram or programmable graphics. It does, however, mention CP/M capability (which the original Aquarius has also) and shows an interesting picture of a dual disc drive (available late 1984). The only commands added by extended basic are: CLS, EDIT, LINE, CIRCLE, DRAW, LOCATE, GET, PUT, MENU, DEF, and ATN. I was surprised that there is no command to read the joysticks. (see my next prototype item for that) The serial #'s for my two units are: RH 0500010 RH 0500056 Extended Basic Manual 1 Extended Basic Manual 2 Cover of Aquarius II manual |
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C64 Disk Drive Interface
These items are both designed to allow the
user to use a Commodore 64 1541 disk drive with the Aquarius Computer.
The one in the background has no software rom, so I assume the
driver was to be loaded in via cassette (?) However, the foreground
cart is a gem indeed. It boots up with a super-set of Extended
basic,
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VideoTex Terminal
I do not know much about this item other than that it is definitely a prototype. The case is a modified mini-expander box with the videotex hardware inside. When I power it up, a simple dial-up screen comes up. Everything seems to work fine. I have been able to enter phone numbers and it attempts to dial. It was being developed in Australia, so the phone plug is of the Australian variety (unusual!). You can tell Radofin had big plans for making Videotex the killer application to sell their Aquariuses. I don't believe it ever made it to full production. (?) Check out the interesting brochure which was made for this item: |
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The Infamous Aquarius Modem
I had one of these as a kid. I purchased it
directly from Mattel when they were trying to sell off their stock. I
called them up and asked if they had any modems, because it wasn't listed
on the price list I received from them earlier. I remember the man
telling me that he had to "go check." When he returned to the phone he
said there were 4 modems "in the back" and the price was (memory fuzzy)
forty or fifty dollars. I immediately coaxed my father into writing
a check and soon found myself "online" sometime in '84 or '85. For some
reason, Radofin never continued to manufacture / distribute the modem. It was
too bad, because it
The two pics are screen shots from within the modem program. The first one (above) is the main menu. The second pic (left) is what happened when I dialled the local access number for my ISP. Wow! They linked up no problem. It still works! The "caocea" in the site name must be short hand for "California Oceanside". (my current residence) These are scans of a shopping service promotional brochure for a company called "CompuStore" which was included with the modem. It seems a lot was put into this, the paper is super glossy and it is Aquarius specific. I called the 1-800 number listed and the woman told me that it was a shopping service, but had never heard the term "CompuStore" before. No doubt she didn't work there in '83. You'll notice that on a couple pages in the brochure it lists "simple" instructions for accessing CompuStore. These may be the only remaining references to the ill fated "Aquarius Online Service" which never materialized. The instructions say "log onto Aquarius and choose CompuStore (item 3) from the Aquarius menu". (see link for page 2 below) This demonstrates how far along the online service was in development before getting canned. Check out the merchandise in all its 80's glory! ;-) I love that orange vacuum cleaner: page 1 page 1 zoom page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5
The next group of scans are from the CompuServe promo-pack also included. Note the account package is still sealed!: |
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32k Ram Cart
I added this item to the protos and rare page although it apparently went to full production under Radofin, because I still have not seen anyone else who has one. Perhaps because it sold for $89.95 when it was available. Most users probably never had a need for that much ram on their Aquarius. That would have been one heck of a spreadsheet on FinForm, or a whole LOT of addresses on FileForm. A user wouldn't be inclined to write a program that large, because it was so unlikely that any other Aquarius owner had that kind of Ram. It is a nice addition to my collection. See the instruction sheet which came in the box. |
Miscellaneous
The below pictured items are in my collection. All modems have no boot screen. I have no info on any of these. If you know anything about them, I would appreciate hearing from you!
Modems or earlier versions of
VideoTex? |
I have no idea what this is. Do you? |
A prototype card reader......... |
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NOTE: This site is now hosted by Retro-Zone.Org
access the disk. Perhaps the head is out of
alignment? However, the disk basic rom loads into memory properly. I am
able to format a disc without an error message. The commands have
changed significantly compared to when the QD cart is not installed. For
instance, the "Run" command does NOT execute a basic program (I still
don't know how to run a basic program with ROM in)
The ability to "connect up to 2 drives" is achieved by use of a
pass-thru expansion port on the rear of the QD interface cartridge. The QD
rom loads when either plugged directly into the computer or the "program"
slot on the mini-expander.
"80 column" prints, the small paper size still makes it a
toy. The paper is the same as the more common 40 column printer,
except that it is not thermal. The device, however is quite capable
despite its small size. This plotter/printer effectively overcomes
the graphics resolution limitations of the Aquarius. You can print
anything that you can plot on an x and y axis with a 1 tenth of a
millimetre resolution in 4 colours (red, green, blue and black). Not
bad. The manual states that it can be hooked up to other computers
using a serial interface. The communications protocol is RS232C,
with DATA and CTS, 8-bit characters, 1 start bit and 1 stop bit, no parity
bit. It runs at 1200 baud.
with many
more commands, including the ability to read joysticks. It has DOS
plus 32k ram on board! I love this cart and use it as a normal part
of my setup. It has made the development of my Tetris game, much
easier. The ability to use a 1541 is something that Mattel or
Radofin should have done from the onset. I don't believe this was
developed until the late 80's however. Check out the
worked quite reliably as I recall. I maintained
a CompuServe account for quite some time. Back in the days when my
user name was a very personable 1662163,432 (or something like that ;-)
The modem was the one item I had as a kid, which I was unable to
replace, until now. I was very lucky to receive all the original
packaging and manuals along with it. Most importantly, the cassette
containing the driver program was included. It would be quite
useless otherwise. The first thing I did upon receiving the modem, was to
dub the cassette. This is due to a vision I had of the tape crackling
and snapping the first time I tried to load it!
I scanned just about everything there is
with the modem. Boxart pics can be found at the 
Monitor adapter. Hmm...
interesting!
