Compis: Difference between revisions

Compis
	An example Compis system, showing two 5.25-inch floppy disk drives, keyboard, monitor and external hard disk drive
Also known as	Scandis (Norway, Denmark and Finland)
Manufacturer	Svenska Datorer, TeleNova
Release date	1984
Discontinued	1988
Operating system	CP/M-86, MS-DOS
CPU	Intel 80186

Browse history interactively

← Previous edit Next edit →

Content deleted Content added

VisualWikitext

Inline

Revision as of 08:46, 25 April 2024

Compis (COMPuter I Skolan) was a computer system intended for the general educational system in Sweden and sold to Swedish schools beginning in 1984 through the distributor Esselte Studium, who also was responsible for the software packages.

The computers were also used in Danish, Finnish and Norwegian schools under the name Scandis.

History

In 1980, the ABC 80 used in the schools was regarded as becoming obsolete, and the National Swedish Board for Technical Development (Styrelsen för teknisk utveckling) was tasked to find a replacement. In 1981, the procurement Tudis (Teknikupphandlingsprojekt Datorn i Skolan) was launched, and while the decision was controversial, Svenska Datorer AB was awarded the contract with development beginning in 1982. After Svenska Datorer went bankrupt, production was transferred to TeliDatorer/Telenova under Televerket (Sweden).

The computer was distributed by Esselte and exclusively marketed towards, and sold to, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish schools, mainly high stage (year 7-9) and gymnasium-level.

The computer was based on the Intel 80186 CPU and with CP/M-86 as the operating system in ROM (although it could also run MS-DOS from disk). The computer had a wide selection of ports, including one for a light pen. The Compis project was criticized from the start, and as the move to IBM PC compatibility came it was left behind and finally cancelled in 1988 although it was in use well into the 1990s.

Applications

Notable applications being run on the Compis in an educational environment was:

COMAL interpreter
Turbo Pascal 3.0 compiler, under the name Scandis-Pascal
WordStar word processor
Harmony software: word processing, spreadsheet and database. The name was a pun on Lotus Symphony, the dominant productivity software at the time.

Some schools had simple local area networks of Compis/Scandis computers, in which 10–20 machines shared one hard disk with a typical capacity of 10MB.

External links

Compis Info: A site dedicated to the Compis
Telenova Compis: some documentation available here (page in Swedish).

References

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Multiple issues|
-'''Compis''' ([[Sweden|Swedish]] name), '''Scandis''' ([[Norway|Norwegian]] name) was a computer system designed and sold to schools beginning 1984. Since it was intended for educational use, it received the name ''Compis'', which is short for ''COMPuter In School''. The name can also be interpreted as a pun on the Swedish word ''kompis'', meaning friend or pal. The development was started by [[Svenska Datorer]] in 1982 and was overtaken by [[TeleNova]] when the former went bankrupt. The computer was distributed by [[Esselte]] and mostly marketed towards, and sold to, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish [[secondary education|gymnasium-level]] schools.
+{{More citations needed|date=November 2023}}
+{{No footnotes|date=November 2023}}
+}}
+{{Infobox computer
+| aka          = Scandis (Norway, Denmark and Finland)
+| logo         =
+| image        = Telenova Compis.jpg
+| caption      = An example Compis system, showing two 5.25-inch floppy disk drives, keyboard, monitor and external hard disk drive
+| developer    =
+| manufacturer = [[Svenska Datorer]], [[TeleNova]]
+| type         =
+| generation   =
+| release date = 1984
+| lifespan     =
+| price        =
+| discontinued = 1988
+| units sold   =
+| media        =
+| os           = [[CP/M-86]], [[MS-DOS]]
+| power        =
+| cpu          = [[Intel 80186]]
+| memory       =
+| storage      =
+| display      =
+| graphics     =
+| sound        =
+| input        =
+| connectivity =
+| dimensions   =
+| weight       =
+| related      =
+}}
+'''Compis''' (''COMPuter I Skolan'') was a computer system intended for the general educational system in [[Sweden]] and sold to Swedish schools beginning in 1984 through the distributor [[Esselte]] Studium, who also was responsible for the software packages.
-The computer was based on the [[Intel 80186]] [[central processing unit|CPU]] and with [[CP/M-86]] as the operating system in [[Read-only memory|ROM]] (although it could also run [[MS-DOS]] from disk). The computer had a wide selection of ports, including one for a [[light pen]]. The Compis project was criticized from the start, and as the move to [[IBM PC]] compability came it was left behind and finally cancelled in [[1988]] although it was in use well into the 1990s.
+The computers were also used in Danish, Finnish and Norwegian schools under the name '''Scandis'''.
+== History ==
+In 1980, the [[ABC 80]] used in the schools was regarded as becoming obsolete, and the National Swedish Board for Technical Development (''Styrelsen för teknisk utveckling'') was tasked to find a replacement. In 1981, the procurement ''Tudis (Teknikupphandlingsprojekt Datorn i Skolan) '' was launched, and while the decision was controversial, [[Svenska Datorer AB]]  was awarded the contract with development beginning in 1982. After Svenska Datorer went bankrupt, production was transferred to TeliDatorer/Telenova under [[Televerket (Sweden)]].
+The computer was distributed by [[Esselte]] and exclusively marketed towards, and sold to, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish schools, mainly high stage (year 7-9) and [[Gymnasium (school)|gymnasium-level]].
+The computer was based on the [[Intel 80186]] [[central processing unit|CPU]] and with [[CP/M-86]] as the operating system in [[Read-only memory|ROM]] (although it could also run [[MS-DOS]] from disk). The computer had a wide selection of ports, including one for a [[light pen]]. The Compis project was criticized from the start, and as the move to [[IBM PC]] compatibility came it was left behind and finally cancelled in 1988 although it was in use well into the 1990s.
+== Applications ==
 Notable applications being run on the Compis in an educational environment was:
-*[[COMAL]] interpreter
-*[[Turbo Pascal|Turbo Pascal 3.0]] compiler, under the name Scandis-Pascal
-*[[WordStar]] word processor
-*'''Harmony''' software: word processing, spreadsheet, database(?), name was a pun (Lotus Symphony was the flaship of the time)
+* [[COMAL]] interpreter
-Some schools had simple [[local area network]]s of Scandis computers, where 10&ndash;20 machines shared one [[hard disk]] of typically 10[[megabyte|MB]] capacity.
+* [[Turbo Pascal|Turbo Pascal 3.0]] compiler, under the name Scandis-Pascal
+* [[WordStar]] word processor
+* ''Harmony'' software: word processing, spreadsheet and database. The name was a pun on [[Lotus Symphony for DOS|Lotus Symphony]], the dominant [[productivity software]] at the time.
+Some schools had simple [[local area network]]s of Compis/Scandis computers, in which 10–20 machines shared one [[hard disk]] with a typical capacity of 10[[megabyte|MB]].
+== See also ==
+* [[Education in Sweden]]
+* [[Unisys ICON]]
+== External links ==
-'''Skoda Compis''' was also a special edition of the car [[Skoda Fabia]] for [[Sweden]] only.
-Škoda Auto presented Compis in 2001, to celebrate 5 years of presence on the Swedish market.
+* [http://compisinfo.googlepages.com/ Compis Info]: A site dedicated to the Compis
-==See also==
+* [http://www.df.lth.se/~pi/compis/ Telenova Compis]: some documentation available here (page in Swedish).
-*[[Education in Sweden]]
-==External links==
+== References ==
+* [https://www.ne.se/uppslagsverk/encyklopedi/lång/compis Nationalencyclopedins nätupplaga, "Compis"]
-*[http://compis.nu/ Compis] - a nostalgia site
+* [https://www.internetmuseum.se/tidslinjen/compis-introducerar-datorn-i-skolan/ Swedish Internet museum]
 [[Category:Personal computers]]
-[[Category:Products of Sweden]]
+[[Category:Goods manufactured in Sweden]]
+[[Category:Computer-related introductions in 1984]]