Editing SWTPC (section)

==Microcomputer pioneers==
{{Main|SWTPC 6800}}
When [[microprocessor]]s ([[central processing unit|CPU]] [[integrated circuit|chips]]) became available, SWTPC became one of the first suppliers of [[microcomputer]]s to the general public, focusing on designs using the [[Motorola 6800]] and, later, the [[Motorola 6809|6809]] CPUs. The first such microcomputer introduced by the company, in November 1975, was the [[SWTPC 6800]], which is also the progenitor of the widely used [[SS-50 bus]].

Many of SWTPC's products, including the 6800 microcomputer, were available in kit form. SWTPC also designed and supplied computer terminals, chassis, processor cards, memory cards, motherboards, I/O cards, disk drive systems, and tape storage systems. From the older "TV Typewriter" design a video terminal had evolved the CT-64 terminal system, which was an essential part of many early SWTPC systems. Later a more intelligent version of this terminal, the CT-82, was introduced, and a graphical terminal the GT-6144 Graphics Terminal. Still later a SS-50 bus plug-in board, the "Data Systems 68 [[Motorola 6845|6845]] [[Video card|Video Display Board]]" was introduced, and a keyboard could be connected to this board. With this solution an external terminal was no longer needed.

SWTPC's SS-50 [[backplane]] [[computer bus|bus]] was also supported or used by other manufacturers: ([[Midwest Scientific]], [[Smoke Signal Broadcasting]], [[Gimix]], Helix, [[Tano (computer)|Tano]], [[Percom Data]], [[Safetran]]), etc. It was extended to the SS-64 (for the 68000 CPU) by Helix. SWTPC also designed one of the first affordable printers available for microcomputer users; it was based on a receipt printer mechanism.

[[Technical Systems Consultants]], first of West Lafayette, Indiana (ex Purdue University) and later of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was the foremost supplier of software for SWTPC compatible hardware. Their software included operating systems ([[FLEX (operating system)|Flex]], [[mini-FLEX]], [[FLEX09]], and [[UniFLEX]]) and various languages (several BASIC variants, FORTRAN, Pascal, C, assemblers, etc.) and other applications. Other software, from third parties, included Introl's [[C (programming language)|C]] [[compiler]],  Omegasoft's [[Pascal programming language|Pascal]] compiler, the Lucidata Pascal system (from Cambridge, UK), and assorted spread sheets and text processors. By about 1980, TSC had developed a Unix-like multi-user, multi-programming operating system (UniFlex), for 6809 systems with DMA 8" floppy disks and extended memory. Several of TSC's languages were ported to the UniFlex, as was the Lucidata Pascal system.

SWTPC's software catalog included the TSC software, and software from many other sources (including SWTPC itself). Much of it was also available in source code, at a higher price.

Inspired by [[People's Computer Company]]'s call for [[Tiny BASIC]]s, Robert Uiterwyk wrote the MICRO BASIC 1.3 [[BASIC interpreter|interpreter]] for the [[SWTPC 6800]], which SWTPC published in the June 1976 issue of the SWTPC newsletter. Uiterwyk had handwritten the language on a legal tablet. He later expanded the language to 4K, adding support for [[floating-point arithmetic]]; this implementation was unique among BASIC interpreters by using [[Binary Coded Decimal]] to nine digits of precision, with a range up to 10<sup>99</sup>. An 8K version added string variables and [[trigonometry]] functions. Both the 4K and 8K versions were sold by SWTPC. In January 1978, Uiterwyk sold the rights of the source code to [[Motorola]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://deramp.com/swtpc.com/BASIC_2/Uiterwyk.htm | title = Robert Uiterwyk's BASIC}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://deramp.com/swtpc.com/NewsLetter1/MicroBasic.htm | title = Robert Uiterwyk's Micro Basic}}</ref>