VG 5000

The VG 5000 is a computer created by Philips in 1984. Production ended in 1986.

It was manufactured in Le Mans (France) by Radiotechnique (RTS) and marketed under the Philips, Radiola and Schneider brands. The Philips had a black casing while the Radiola and Schneider had a white casing.

300 000 units were sold in 1984 according to an internal Philips report, with 500 000 predicted for 1985. Very few programs and games were ever released for this machine.

Specifications

• CPU: Zilog Z80A processor running at 4 MHz
• RAM: 24KB, including 16KB of system memory (expandable to 48KB) and 8KB of dedicated memory for the video processor
• ROM: 18KB, including 16KB containing the VG5000 BASIC (derived from Microsoft BASIC-80) and 2KB of character bitmaps built into the video processor
• Video processor: SGS Thomson EF9345P
• Graphics: semigraphics based on 8 × 10 pixel characters (equivalent to 320 × 250 pixels) in 8 colors
• Sound: 1 voice, 5 octave range
• Keyboard: Built-in 63 keys Minitel-like AZERTY keyboard with BASIC keywords
• Ports: DIN5 cassette player connector (1200/2400 baud), DIN8 SCART connector
• Expansion: 2×25 pins bus connector

Peripherals

Several peripherals were developed during its commercial life:

• VY0030: cassette player
• VG5200: joystick interface
• VU0001: joystick
• VU0011: RF modulator
• VU0022: power supply
• VG5216: 16KB RAM memory expansion with joystick and printer ports
• VU0031: 16KB RAM memory expansion
• VW0010: 40 column printer
• VW0020: 80 column printer
• VW0030: 80 column printer

New hardware expansions are built by hobbyists: VG5K New Hardware

Links

• https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Philips_VG5000
• VG5K website web archive
• My VG5000 website
• Internal technical documentation
• SGS-Thomson EF9345 datasheet same graphics processor as in the Minitel
• DCVG5K Emulator for Windows and collection of 55 programs and games