Colour Genie

EACA EG2000 Colour Genie
EG2000 Colour Genie computer
ManufacturerEACA
Release dateAugust 1982; 42 years ago (1982-08)
Introductory price£200 (equivalent to £892 in 2023)
Discontinued1983
Operating system16 KB ROM containing LEVEL II BASIC
CPUZilog Z80, 2 MHz
Memory16 KB RAM, expandable to 32 KB
DisplayPAL composite or RF out; 40×24 text, 16 colours; 160×96 graphics, 4 colours
GraphicsMotorola 6845
SoundAY-3-8910
Input63-key typewriter style Keyboard with 4 programmable function keys
Power5V DC, +12V DC and -12V DC
PredecessorVideo Genie

The EACA EG2000 Colour Genie was a computer produced by Hong Kong–based manufacturer EACA, and introduced in Germany in August 1982 by Trommeschläger Computer Service and Schmidtke Electronic.[1][2][3][4]

It followed their earlier Video Genie I and II computers and was released around the same time as the business-oriented Video Genie.[5]

The LEVEL II BASIC was compatible with the Video Genie I and II and the TRS-80, except for graphic and sound commands; most of the routines for Video Genie I BASIC commands were left over in the Colour Genie's BASIC ROM.[6][3] Programs were provided to load TRS-80 programs into the Colour Genie. Colour Genie disks could be read in a TRS-80 floppy disk drive and vice versa, editing the pdrive commands.

The original Video Genies had been based upon (and broadly compatible with) the then-current TRS-80 Model I. As the Colour Genie was descended from this architecture, it was incompatible with Tandy's newer TRS-80 Color Computer which – despite its name – was an entirely new and unrelated design based on an entirely different CPU, and thus incompatible with the TRS-80 Model I and derivatives such as the Color Genie.[7]

About 190 games were published for the system in English and German.[8][3][9]

A 80 column card was produced.

Modern emulators for this system exist.[10][11][12]

A Colour Genie computer
  1. ^ "Hardware-Aktuell - Lexikon - Colour Genie". www.hardware-aktuell.com. Retrieved 2023-06-18.
  2. ^ Bennett, Bill (October 1982). "Review: Colour Genie". Your Computer. pp. 34, 35.
  3. ^ a b c Burton, Maggie (June 1983). "Benchtest: Colour Genie". Personal Computer World. pp. 120–127.
  4. ^ "EG 2000 Colour Genie Homepage". EG 2000 Colour Genie Homepage. 2008. Archived from the original on 2018-03-28. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  5. ^ "COLOUR GENIE / EG-2000 Eaca". www.old-computers.com. Retrieved 2023-06-18.
  6. ^ "Colour Genie Review". www.classic-computers.org.nz. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  7. ^ "EG2000 Colour Genie - Computer - Computing History". www.computinghistory.org.uk. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  8. ^ "List Of Every Colour Genie Game Going - Everygamegoing.com". 2016-03-07. Archived from the original on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2023-06-18.
  9. ^ "Colour Genie Professional Games - Colour Genie World". 2019-01-02. Archived from the original on 2019-01-02. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  10. ^ "Colour Genie Homepage". gansweith.freehostia.com. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  11. ^ "Genieous - EACA Video Genie - Downloads - Emulators". emutopia.com. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
  12. ^ "EACA Colour Genie". www.classic-computers.org.nz. Retrieved 2023-06-20.