C/WP-Cortex Advert - June 1983
From Personal Computer World
It's not all Greek to Context
The Context was built by C/WP (Computers/Word Processors) of the UK from a design bought from Ontel in the US, where it was known as the Amigo.
It was a dual-CPU machine, with a Zilog Z80A plus 64K RAM for CP/M, and a separate MOS Technology 6502 with its own 32K RAM just to do graphics.
Its graphics appeared to be quite advanced for the time, as it supported a mixture of graphics and text within the same screen area, and could even overwrite multiple glyphs together to do accents, or create Greek or mathematical characters.
The Context is renamed to Cortex. From Personal Computer World, July 1983
At some point, the company decided to rename the machine. It became the Cortex and was still available - in multiple colours - as late as October 1984.
It retailed for £1,895 - or about £8,050 in 2024, or was available in a bundle with dual floppy drives, a Star Micronics 510 dot-matrix printer, and software including Wordstar and dBase II for £2,588, or £11,000 now.
Date created: 27 January 2024
Text and otherwise-uncredited photos © nosher.net 2024. Dollar/GBP conversions, where used, assume $1.50 to £1. "Now" prices are calculated dynamically using average RPI per year.
