Retro Computing: The RCA 1802
My first computer, back in 1978, was a COSMAC Elf, specifically Quest Electronic’s Super Elf, based on RCA’s 1802 CPU.
The COSMAC Elf computer was first described in Popular Electronic magazine in 1976. It was a lot simpler and much less expensive than other computers at the time. Several companies, most notably Netronics & Quest Electronics started selling kits and completed systems based on the design.
Quest’s Super Elf was the nicest, with a hex keypad and LED display in a wooden case. It came with a whopping 4K of RAM and bitmapped video output using RCA’s 1861 chip. An optional expansion unit added more memory, a serial interface, a keyboard interface, Tiny Basic in ROM, and an S-100 slot for industry standard cards including video cards.
RCA also had their own 1802-based system, the COSMAC VIP, as well as a video game system. Both used their CHIP-8 interpreter to write games and the 1861 chip for video output.
