This was the first computer I actually bought myself in 1984, when I was 14, it cost $199.00. It’s kind of like the poor mans version of the ZX Spectrum. I have managed to get together a good collection of hardware and books, but not much software yet. I am in the process of scanning all of the documentation, books and things. which will be available for download. I have done seven so far, click to download (they are zipped). Pictures of my collection below.
Dick Smith VZ200
I have bought and sold a few systems to try and get a good box with the inner and all of the bits in.
This is the main system. I have the demo cassette, and power pack, manuals etc (not shown).
One of my more recent acquisitions, a boxed 16k RAM Module. You needed one of these if you were serious, as the original VZ200 only came with 8k.
And it even had the “Instruction Manual” (turn computer off, plug in, turn computer on).
I have had this boxed VZ Data Cassette Recorder for a while.
They are quite rare because they were expensive and most people bought and used a cheaper ‘generic’ variety.
Boxed set of joysticks
They were pretty bad, and expensive, but they were better than using the keyboard, especially for two player games.
Boxed VZ200 parallel printer interface, very rare.
Even with the instructions. With this you could hook your VZ up to any standard printer of the day (no USB back then....)
This is my current VZ200, which runs well. Terrible green they chose for the screen colour.
I managed to get this boxed VZ300 cheaply, from a guy who was throwing out a bunch of PC parts, and this was in the bottom! With manual.
Super Snake - A Tron clone
Ghost Hunter - a Pacman clone
Knights and Dragons, don’t know what this game is, but it needs the Ram expansion so it must be big
Educational software
Invaders, a clone of Space Invaders!
More educational software...
And this is me, circa 1984, with my original VZ200, running through a black and white telly. I spent many, many hours programming and playing games.
