Technology - Systems

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Classic Computing - Seequa Chameleon Plus

The Seequa Chameleon Plus was my second computer. It was purchased on March 5^th, 1984 for $2,645.00 plus sales tax. I still have it and unbelievably it still boots! Regrettably, I have yet to be able to find my first computer, a TRS-80, at my mother's house. She does not remember throwing it away (Ughhh!), so I guess that there is still hope.

There were two characteristics of the Chameleon that made it unique. First, it was transportable, or more accurately, it was "luggable". Weighing in at 28 pounds (12.7 Kg) with dimensions of 8"H x 18" W x 15½" D, it was not exactly ideal for sitting on your lap in an airplane seat.

Secondly, it had dual processor's. The Z80A processor ran at 2.5 MHz allowing you to run CP/M-80 programs. I can even still get CP/M software The second processor was an 8088 clocking in at 5 MHz to run IBM PC compatible software.

Below is a table of its technical features from the original documentation (image courtesy of old-computers.com):

The Chameleon Plus at a glance

Technical Features
CPU	Zilog Z80A + Intel 8088
Speed	2.5 MHz (Z80A) + 5 MHz (8088)
Coprocessor	8087 Math
FDD	Two 5¼ (double density/double sided)
HDD	10 Megabytes, fixed, externally attached
Memory	256 K of RAM - with parity checking, expandable to 704 K externally
Monitor	9 inch Green Phosphor Monitor - displaying 80 x 25 or 40 x 25 characters
Keyboard	IBM PC Style - 83 keys with 10 programmable function keys
Graphics	640 x 200 monochrome; 320 x 200 color
Serial Port	1 RS232C; up to 76,800 baud (asynchronous)
Parallel	1 Centronics compatible
Software	MS-DOS for the 8088 and CP/M-80 (8 bit OS), CP/M-86 (16 bit OS)
	M Basic-86 for 8088
	G W Basic - Microsoft's Advanced BASIC including graphics
	Perfect Writer - Word Processing for 8088
	Perfect Calc - Spreadsheet Software for 8088
	Perfect Speller - 50,000 word spelling checker for 8088
	Condor I - database management system for 8088