Hardware
Revie.,
Victor Victorious
The Victor 9000 ,Computer
Microcomputers are proliferating
because they
can
do
so
many
tasks so
well. Each time microcomputers take
over
another
task, they threaten some
old technology. As
word
processors,
for
example,
microcomputers
threaten the typewriter. As
number
crunchers, microcomputers threaten
the calculator. Each
company
whose
main
product
is
threatened faces a
hard
choice: perish
or
become a com-
puter
company.
What's
more, such a
company
must
make the right com-
puter
on the first try because the
fierce
competition
in the microcom-
puter
market
gives few entrants a sec-
ond
chance.
The
rules permit only
one roll of the dice in the game called
"You
bet
your
company."
Victor Business
Products
has been
making
calculators for 60 years. Vic-
tor
saw
the need to
make
a computer,
and
the Victor 9000
is
Victor's roll of
the dice. I've been
lucky
enough to
have
the use of a Victor 9000 for a
few
months,
and
I think the machine
is
an
excellent microcomputer with
an
outstanding
array
of
standard
features.
216
November 1982 ©
BYTE
Publications
Inc
Phil
Lemmons
West
Coast
Editor
Of
course, the
microcomputer
business
is
not
really a game of
chance like dice,
but
a competition re-
quiring judgment, expertise,
and
a
variety of resources. Victor comes to
the competition much
better
prepared
than
most
new
entrants. First of all,
Victor
is
a subsidiary of Kidde Inc., a
three-billion
dollar
conglomerate.
Second, Victor has experience in
designing
and
manufacturing micro-
processor-based electronic
products.
Third,
Victor has a great deal of ex-
perience in dealing with business peo-
ple
and
the needs of the contem-
porary
office. Fourth, Victor
is
start-
ing
out
with a
network
of 50
branch
offices in the United States to
distribute
and
support
the machine.
Fifth,
and
perhaps
most
important,
the chief designer of Victor's machine
is
not
a novice
but
Chuck
Peddle, a
founder
of the microcomputer in-
dustry
who
understands as well as
anyone
where the technology
is
going
and
how
to
bring
maximum
perfor-
mance to the
market
at
an affordable
price. (In
an
interview starting
on
page 256 of this issue,
Chuck
Peddle
discusses his goals in designing the
Victor
9000
and
makes some observa-
tions
on
trends in the microcomputer
industry.)
Getting Started
with the Victor
9000
Victor's experience has
shown
them
that business people
want
a machine
they can set on a desk, turn on, and
use. As
photo
1 shows, the Victor
9000 consists of a system unit, a
detached
keyboard
with a coiled
cable,
and
a
monochrome
monitor
that
can rest
atop
or
alongside the
system unit.
The
system unit
and
key-
board
fit
comfortably
on a
standard
typing table,
or
on a cluttered desk
designed
before
microcomputers
came out. While the Apple III oc-
cupies 361
square
inches
and
the IBM
Personal
Computer
420
square
inches, the Victor 9000 takes
up
only
310.
If
you
buy
the machine directly
from
your
local Victor
branch
office,
Victor will deliver the machine, set it
up,
connect the cables,
and
make sure
everything
is
working
. The
Opera-
tors' Reference
Manual
takes it from
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