Editing Tangerine Computer Systems (section)

==1983 onwards: The Oric family==
{{see also|Oric computers}}<!-- "Seealso" not "main" since this article section includes company history and details less appropriate to other article-->
With the success of the [[ZX Spectrum]] Tangerine's backers suggested a [[home computer]] and Tangerine formed ''Oric Products International Ltd'' to develop and release the [[Oric-1]] in 1983. A series of Oric computers (including the [[Oric Atmos]]) followed through to 1987.

On 13 October 1983 the factory of Kenure Plastics in Berkshire, where the [[Oric-1]] was manufactured, suffered a fire causing "several thousand pounds worth of damage", in which around 7,000 Oric machines were destroyed.<ref name="pcn19831027_oric">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/Personal-Computer-News/PersonalComputerNews034-02Nov1983/page/n6/mode/1up | title=Oric lit up | magazine=Personal Computer News | date=27 October 1983 | access-date=28 June 2024 | pages=5 }}</ref> The factory was rebuilt, minus a considerable stock of bits (including 15,000 old ROMs) that went to make up the Oric-1. In the meantime production was said to have restarted within 24 hours in a new factory.{{citation needed|date=June 2012}} Just a day later, a neighbouring warehouse went up in flames. Police were said at the time to suspect that the arsonist got the wrong place first time round.{{citation needed|date=June 2012}} It was about this time, too, that Tansoft moved to co-exist with Oric Research at the Techno Park, Cambridge.

About 160,000 Oric-1s were sold in the UK in 1983 with another 50,000 sold in France (where it was the top-selling machine that year). Although not the 350,000 predicted, it was enough for Oric International to be bought out by Edenspring and given £4m in funding. This enabled the release of the [[Oric Atmos]], an improved successor to the Oric-1 which added a true keyboard and improved ROM.

Although the Atmos failed to turn around Oric's fortunes, in early 1985 they announced several forthcoming models, including an IBM-compatible and an MSX-compatible. On 1 February they demonstrated the [[Oric Stratos/IQ164]] at the Frankfurt Computer Show; on the 2nd however, Edenspring put Oric International into [[receivership]] with Tansoft, by then a company in its own right, following in May.

French company ''Eureka ''bought the remains of Oric and, after renaming itself, continued to produce the Stratos under that name, followed by the [[Oric Telestrat]] in late 1986.

In December 1987 after announcing the [[Telestrat 2]], Oric International went into receivership for the second and final time.