Alpha Products
Alpha Products produced many hardware products for the TRS-80, including the Green Screen, the Interfacer-80, the Analog-80, the Newclock-80, the A-Bus, and the VS-100 voice synthesizer. They also created the STICK-80, a joystick supported by almost all TRS-80 games.
Although primarily a hardware company, Alpha Products was also a prominent reseller of games from other companies, including Big Five Software, Adventure International, Soft Sector Marketing, and the Cornsoft Group. At the height of the TRS-80 game market, they bought monthly multi-page advertisements in 80 Microcomputing.
The owner of Alpha Products, John Monin, sold the company in 1989. Alpha Products stayed in operation until around 1998, late enough to have a webpage. In its final years, Alpha Products expanded into many different product lines, but continued selling some of their older products, including the A-Bus.
A two-page Alpha Products advertisement from November 1982
If you are curious, the games in the above advertisement are grouped into three categories:
- A: $15.95 for tape, $19.95 for disk
- B: $19.95 for tape, $24.95 for disk
- C: $24.95 for tape, $24.95 for disk
Most of the games are in category A, one game (Penetrator) is in category C, and the rest are in category B. The discount was 10% if you bought two games, 15% if you bought three games, and 20% if you bought four games. The shipping and handling charge was $2.00 per order.
jorge madrowicz says:
How many years past
I buy the a bus systen and the sc-149 smart step motor controller
y biuld me own power fet drivers and develop an xyz motor system to drill ocb and plastic abs
was fantastic,i only buy the commodore interface i lost the oportinity to do with the pc era
see you later
the a-bus esta en mi corazon for ever
buenos aires
argentina