Enterprise 64-128

In this article we know this 8-bit computer that was not very successful but had all the credentials to be a good computer.
This computer was designed by Intelligent Software, a British company, in 1983 but for internal management it was born in 1984-85.
This company was famous for the Cyrus software (a famous chess program at the time) and was commissioned to create a computer in 1982, so Nick Toop (formerly of Acorn) goes to work and together with David Woodfield they make the custom chips video and audio for what was supposed to be a top-of-the-range computer at the time !. The features for the time were really interesting, based on the 4Mhz Z80 and with 4-channel audio (3 sounds and 1 noise) video with a palette of 256 colors and maximum resolution 672 × 512 (only 2 colors) or 320 × 200 ( 4 colors) and other 2 resolutions to scale from 16 and 256 colors, 64 / 128Kb of ram.

Why was such a computer unsuccessful?
Well, design problems and the realization of a basic owner slowed down the development and also frightened by the figure of the Sinclair QL that when it came out had many problems, they decided to present it when everything was perfectly working and so we arrived in April 1984.
In addition to the delayed launch when now other computers also had features closer to this model and the fact that when it came out there was no software available, all this affected sales. Unfortunately the company went bankrupt in 1986 about a year after its launch and many unsold machines were marketed at a reduced price in Germany and Hungary, where it found a very active community in the latter country and still today there is updated software. expansion cards etc ..

A flaw of this computer is the fact of having all the non-standard expansion ports (video, printer, joystisck) and the use of a membrane for the keyboard, which makes typing uncomfortable in addition to the known problem on the breaking of the membrane that plagues the Spectrum and QL.
Another strange thing is that in the keyboard we do not have the cursor keys and to move it during programming or writing we must necessarily use the joystick, which is not convenient.

The computer, unlike the others of the time, did not have an integrated basic interpreter, in fact when it is switched on it starts with a wor processor and to work in basic it is necessary to insert a special cartridge.

The package provided the basic cartridge, software on cassette, power transformer and cables for connecting a recorder and TV. This machine already has the main RF output even if it has the RGB output on the connector but the cable is not supplied.

Fortunately I got this machine at a low price for what it usually sells and since it is quite rare, the problem with these low cost "untested" auctions is that they most likely don't work, I say this because I know for sure that the seller had the opportunity to test it as he was selling other working and tested ones

The problem I encountered was the absence of sengale both on the RGB connector and on the RF, so I refer you to the repair article !!:

Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn2BjG6OtpQ

Video fix article: https://retrofixes.it/enterprise-64-video-fix/