Multitech Corporation Advert - November 1983
From Electronics and Computing Monthly
The new MPF1 Plus - The lowest-cost Z80 computer with all these features!
The Microprofessor MPF-1 Plus was a redesigned version of the original MPF-1, released by Multitech Industrial Corporation in the summer of 1982.
The name "Microprofessor" was subject to some litigation in the US, with Apple taking action against a different (unrelated) computer of that name for infringing its copyrights.
The MPF-1 was essentially a stand-alone Z80-based machine code development/educational computer, running at 1.75MHz. It was a little like an integrated version of the Nascom 2 from 1980, although it could take add-ons which made it more-or-less a "full" microcomputer.
Its built-in display was formed of 20 16-segment flourescent characters, and in contrast to the original model it had a full keyboard. It also had two 8255 PIAs, which gave the board 48 I/O lines.
It was very much aimed at the serious hobbyist market, rather than at general consumers, and seemed to revel in its machine-code credentials, charging extra for something as polluting as a high-level language interpreter like BASIC.
Concluding a review of the MFP-1, Ken Alexander wrote:
"the standard of construction was high and coupled with the wealth of documentation provided, the system is indeed a powerful software development tool. the computer is a powerful stand-alone machine and with the range of ad-ons produced for the system can grow in to a very flexible computer. At £165 (£700 in 2024) the Plus version of the system is more expensive than many personal micros but this is a computer that is far more versatile than most of the 'designed down' consumer computers[1]".
Date created: 12 August 2014
Sources
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