The Epson QX-10 is a microcomputer running CP/M or TPM-III (CP/M-80 compatible) which was introduced in 1983. It was based on a Zilog Z80, running at 4 MHz, provided up to 256K of RAM organized in four switchable banks, and included a separate graphics processor chip manufactured by NEC to provide advanced graphics capabilities. In the USA, two versions were launched; a basic CP/M configuration with 64 K RAM and the HASCI configuration with 256 K RAM and the special HASCI keyboard to be used with Valdocs. The European and Japanese versions were like the CP/M configurations. TPM-III was used for Valdocs and some copy protected programs like Logo Professor.
The machine had internal extension slots, which could be used for extra serial ports, network cards or third party extensions like a Intel 8088 processor, adding MS-DOS compatibility.
Its successor, the dual-processor QX-16, added a 16-bit Intel processor enabling it to also boot MS-DOS 2.11. The case of the QX-16 was enlarged to provide enough physical space for an internal hard-drive in contrast to the QX-10's dual-floppy configuration.
Valdocs
VALuable DOCumentS by Rising Star Industries is an obsolete Pseudo-GUI WYSIWYG framework/OS for document creation and management, written as a set of interactive application and system modules which ran only on Epson's QX-10 and QX-16 computers. A version designed to run on the IBM PC was in development when Rising Star closed in 1986.
Valdocs shipped to beta testers circa late 1982. Beta and initial production releases of Valdocs' application modules were written in the Forth programming language while its system-oriented modules (such as E-Mail and disk utilities) were written in Z-80 Assembly Language. Later releases of Valdocs' applications were written in the C programming language.
The initial release of Valdocs included WYSIWYG word processor and spreadsheet applications (with onscreen fonts, an UNDO key, keyboard macros and multiple screen formats), a cardfile database, an E-Mail/communications module, and a desktop manager with an address book, mailing list manager, notepad, calculator and more.
Switching between programs was done by pressing an associated hotkey on the QX-10's keyboard (which was specifically designed to support Valdocs, including an UNDO key) or by selecting a program from a menu the hotkey invoked. The keyboard was referred to as HASCI (Human Application Standard Computer Interface) after the user interface with the same name pioneered by Rising Star Industries.
External links
- Valdocs Programming Manual contains a chapter on the theory and philosophy of HASCI
- User's Home Page
- QX-10 User Manual from Epson
- Obsolete Computer Museum Entry
- AtariArchives - Test Driving the QX-10
- AtariMagazines - Qx-10, The Friendliest Computer
- Yet another computer museum
- Why someone chose a QX-10 over an IBM PC
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