The SYM-1 SBC, designed by Ray Holt and Manny Lomas, after Microcomputer Associates when they became Synertek Systems.
Originally called VIM-1, this was a 6502 SBC meant to be a better KIM-1. The design shared the same application connector, so it was possible to produce expansions (the ASK family as Robert Tripp of The Computerist called it).
More I/O (6522’s and the 6532 for the same 6 7 segment LEDs and larger keypad), more RAM (4K), more empty ROM slots, a better monitor (vectored, so easy to interface to new hardware), optional Basic or Resident Assembler Editor.
On these pages a collection of available SYM-1 hardware and software.
Synertek, Inc. was an American semiconductor manufacturer founded in 1973. The initial founding group consisted of Bob Schreiner (from Fairchild), Dan Floyd, Zvi Grinfas, Jack Balletto, and Gunnar Wetlesen. The manufacturing technology was MOS/LSI.
Initial products included custom designed devices, as well as a line of standard products (static RAMs, ROMs, dynamic and static shift registers) and then, sometime before 1979, second sourced versions of MOS Technology’s successful 6502 8-bit microprocessor, and the (less successful) Philips/Signetics 2650 processor and Zilog Z8 microcomputer.
Major customers included Atari (for its video game product line their biggest customer at a certain point of time) and Apple Computer (for its Apple II computer).
In the days leading up to the 1977 West Coast Computer Faire, Steve Wozniak chose to use a Synertek ROM chip for the Apple II, which was revealed at the event, after a chip from American Megatrends didn’t arrive on time.
Here some pages with information on Synertek, Micro Associates and my SYM-1 systems.
Synertek acquired Microcomputer Associates, Incorporated, consisting of engineers Manny Lemas and Ray Holt, after which it was renamed Synertek Systems, Inc. and established as a subsidiary. In 1978, Synertek Systems released a 6502-based single board computer/evaluation kit called the SYM-1, a derivative of MOS Technology/Commodore Semiconductor Group’s KIM-1.
Synertek’s semiconductor fabrication plant in Santa Clara, California operated from 1974 to 1985. Sometime after 1979, Synertek was acquired by Honeywell and set up as a subsidiary. Later, around 1983, construction began for an additional manufacturing facility in Santa Cruz, California. There was Superfund attention to pollution at the Synertek factory site. When market conditions deteriorated, primarily because of business downturns at Atari, work was stopped at the Santa Cruz facility and it was later sold. Honeywell shut down operations at Synertek in 1985 and assets were sold off (from Wikipedia).
Part of Chapter 5, systems, of the Synertek Databook 1983, note the Jolt was still available.
On these pages some information on the Jolt and Super Jolt and Microcomputer Associates.
Microcomputer Associates company played an important role in the 6502 SBCs, TIM, KIM-1 and SYM-1 all contain results of their work.
The company continued as Synertek Systems with the Superjolt, SYM-1 and more.
One of the first 6502 systems was the Jolt. Built around the 6502 and the TIM 6530-004 RRIOT. The TIM software is developed by Micro Associates for MOS Technology.
The Jolt was superceded by the Superjolt, Micro Associates became Synertek Systems.
A KIM-1 clone build by Bob Applegate of Corsham technologies.
Somewhat inspired by the microKIM by Vince Briel, who was inpired by Ruud Baltissen! The idea is replace the 6530’s with 6532 and by carefull memory decoding have the I/O, timer and RAM of the 6532s appear at the same locations as the 6530-002 and -003. ROM is added with an EPROM.
Not an exact copy, the ROM has been changed/enhanced with a KIM Monitor by Bob, though the original KIM-1 ROM should work also.
The short-lived 6501 by MOS Technology appeared as far as I know only in a board made by The Digital Group.
Around 1975 The Digital Group created their new, reasonably priced, multiple-board computer system with these advanced features:
– Intel 8080, Motorola 6800, or MOS 6500 CPU card
– video display/cassette interface card
– 8-bit parallel input/output ports
– 2KB dynamic memory
– The 3-board Intel or Motorola CPU kit cost $425, while the MOS 6500 CPU kit cost $375. Later, the Zilog Z-80 CPU was added to the selection for $475.
The Digital Group didn’t just copy the MITS Altair design as others did, they improved upon it, with features not available in other systems. For one, the DG system loads the Operating System from the cassette drive automatically with little user interaction. Additionally, the DG system was available with four different CPU cards – the rest of the system remains fully compatible, no matter what CPU card was installed. Technically, the DG system has three different buses for CPU, memory, and I/O. Because of this, the card slots are different sizes and dedicated to each card type: