History of video games/Platforms/VTech Socrates

History edit

 
A marble bust of Socrates, the namesake of the system.

The VTech Socrates was preceded by the VTech CreatiVision.

The VTech Socrates was released in 1988 at a cost of $130.[1] Marketing for the system emphasized it's educational value.[2] The system featured a robot mascot named Socrates, who borrowed its name from the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates.[3]

Technology edit

Compute edit

The VTech Socrates uses either a 8-bit TMP Z84C00AP-6 CPU, which is based on the Z80 and is clocked at 3.58 MHz[4] or a similar Zilog Z84C0004PSC.[5]

The VTech Socrates had 64 kilobytes of RAM.[4]

Input edit

The system came with a wireless keyboard, and an optional touchpad and optional wireless mouse and mouse pad were made available.[1]

A voice cartridge add on was available for the system.[1]

Notable games edit

  • Amazing Mazes - Maze game[6]
  • Around the World - World geography software[6]
  • CAD Professor - Uses the mouse add on.[6]
  • Facts 'N Fractions - Math software[6]
  • Game Wizard - Logic[6]
  • Hodge Podge - Word games[6]
  • Memory Mania - Memory game[6]
  • Numbers, Shapes, and Letters - Uses the touchpad add on.[6]
  • State to State - United States geography[6]

Gallery edit

Console edit

Wireless Inferred Controller edit

Internals edit

References edit

  1. a b c "ARCHIVE.ORG Console Library: Socrates : Free Software : Free Download, Borrow and Streaming : Internet Archive". archive.org. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  2. Dines, Gail; Humez, Jean M. Gender, Race and Class in Media: A Text-Reader. SAGE Publications. ISBN 978-0-8039-5163-1. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  3. "ARCHIVE.ORG Console Library: Socrates : Free Software : Free Download, Borrow and Streaming : Internet Archive" (in en). archive.org. https://archive.org/details/socrates_library. 
  4. a b "68k Mentat - VTech Socrates". new.68kmentat.com. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  5. "The motherboard of the Socrates, an educational entertainment ("edutainment") video game console released in 1988 by VTech. Powered by a Zilog Z80 processor, the board has two expansions for a voice cartridge and game cartridge. The system is comparatively weak, due to being designed to run off 6 D batteries". 18 November 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  6. a b c d e f g h i "VTech Socrates". Wikipedia. 17 February 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.