On December 1975, the coveted inside-front-cover of Byte magazine contained a two-page advertisement for "the world's lowest cost computer system". This was perhaps the first non-MOS Technology 6502 based computer system to come to market, behind only the TIM and possibly KIM-1. The computer was named Jolt, and it was marketed by Microcomputer Associates Inc. as both a kit for $249, or fully assembled and tested for $348 (Dec. 1975 Byte).
Microcomputer Associates also sold add-ons for the basic system. They included 4 kilobytes for $265, an I/O card for $96, and a power supply for $145.
The Jolt is somewhat famous for the part it played in the development of the prototype Atari 2600 VCS, which was assembled using the Jolt computer board.
Jolt was designed and developed by Raymond M. Holt, Founder and Executive Vice-President of Microcomputer Associates. Holt went on to design the SYM-1 single-board computer, a KIM-1 clone. In the late 1990's Holt was finally given government permission to discuss his role in the development of the F-14 Tomcat. Holt claims he designed and developed the worlds first microprocessor one year before Intel.
Manny Lemas was the co-founder of Microcomputer Associates, Inc. Ray Holt was the hardware side and he was the software side of the business. He wrote the DEMON (Debugger/Monitor) software for the JOLT.
This software was actually developed for MOS Technology for use in the
TIM chip and the KIM-1 single board computer. M.A. was granted rights to
its own version of the software for use in the JOLT.
We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system,
please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.
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Hi to all that have commented. I am very sorry I missed some required responses. Please go to my website and you can send a contact message to me from there. Thanks for remembering the JOLT. It was a great little workhorse.
For a long time I have been looking for the JOLT. I already had it in my hands, but the owner sold his whole collection to someone else. If anyone has a JOLT to offer, please contact me through my website.
