Sold For $1,378
*Includes Buyers Premium
North Star Horizon 8-bit S-100 bus personal computer manufactured by North Star Computers of Berkeley, California, and released in October 1977. The manufacturing label to the back is marked as “10-05814.” Purchased either in kit form or pre-assembled, the Horizon was one of the first computers to have built-in floppy drives, as well as being one of the first personal computers to have a hard disk drive. Housed in its walnut-stained plywood case, 20˝ x 7.5˝ x 17.5˝, the Horizon was suited for business, education, and software development applications, and ran on a Z-80 microprocessor that ran at 4 MHz. It contained 16 KB of RAM, which could be expanded to 64 KB and 1 KB of ROM. The machine had its own operating system, the North Star Disc Operating System, but it could also run CP/M, an early mass-market operating system. Confirmed and tested to be fully functional and in working condition; the wooden case bears some scuffs, marks, and toning.
Includes an early Xerox 1740 teleprinter (23˝ x 10˝ x 22˝) and a collection of over 100 5.25-inch floppy disks, with myriad annotated titles, such as “North Star to PC,” “CPM Development,” “Data Star,” “Write-Hand-Man,” and many more. Other accompaniments include reference guides for WordStar, Microsoft BASIC-80, and Zenith Data Systems, a SuperCalc reference card, an August 1979 North Star Computers product catalog, and a vintage North Star Computers advertisement.
North Star (later Northstar) developed from a computer store called ‘Kentucky Fried Computer,’ which was ultimately forced to change its name due to impending litigation by Kentucky Fried Chicken. The company's first product, a Floating Point Math Board for S-100 computers, was followed by the development of an inexpensive floppy drive system. This led the way to the Horizon, one of the first computers to offer built-in floppy drives, with customers being given the option to order one or two 90 KB 5 ¼" drives. Northstar was also one of the first machines to offer a hard disk drive, which was called an HD-18, and had 18 megabytes on an 18˝ platter. With one floppy drive, the kit cost $1,599, while an assembled system cost $1,899; with two drives, the kit cost $1,999, while an assembled system cost $2,349.
