Ramtek (company)

Ramtek was an American manufacturer of computers, computer graphics displays, and coin-operated video games founded in 1971. It became a publicly held corporation in 1978.[1] In 1981 it was generally regarded as the No. 1 company in the area of raster-scan color graphics display, printer/plotter or large screen projector.[1] Its business was split among general-purpose graphics, applications in government, applications in the medical field and process control.[1]

History
  • 1979 – Ramtek bought Omron's CRT manufacturing division for $1.6 million.[2]

Products

6000 series graphics computer family
  • 6114 Color-graphic Computer (1979)[3]
  • 6214 Color-graphic Computer (1980) with 16 displayable colors from a palette of 64 and using UCSD Pascal. It uses 4 MHz Zilog Z80 CPU, 64 kB RAM and a floppy disk drive, with a base price of $19,250[4]
  • 2020-4228 CAD workstation (1985) with 750 kB RAM (expandable to 5 MB)[5] and a base price of $10,995[6]

Terminals
  • Ramtek 8210/UET interactive data entry terminal – compatible with UNIVAC computers[7]

Arcade video games
Trade advertisement from Cashbox for Clean Sweep.
  • Clean Sweep (June 1974)[8] – Genre: Ball and Paddle – It is considered to be a primitive predecessor to Atari's Breakout (1976).[9][10] The player uses a paddle to hit a ball up towards a playfield of dots, which disappear as the ball moves through the dots; the goal is to is to achieve a clean sweep by erasing all the dots.[10] Clean Sweep was one of the top ten best-selling arcade video games of 1974, and sold a total of 3,500 arcade cabinets.[11]
  • Baseball (October 1974)[8] – Genre: Sports
  • Barricade (1976) – Genre: Skill
  • Dark Invader (1978) – Genre: Space
  • Deluxe Baseball (1976) – Genre: Baseball
  • GT Roadster (1979) – Genre: Racing
  • Hit Me (1976) – Genre: Card
  • Hockey (1973) – Genre: Ball and Paddle
  • Horoscope (1976)
  • M-79 Ambush (1977) – Genre: Shooter
  • Sea Battle (1976) – Genre: Shooter
  • Soccer (1973) – Genre: Ball and Paddle
  • Star Cruiser (1977) – Genre: Shooter
  • Trivia (1976)
  • Volly (1973) – Genre: Ball and Paddle – a Pong clone[12]
  • Wipe Out (1974) – Genre: Ball and Paddle

Other products
  • Ramtek 3000[13]
  • Ramtek 9000 Series Display Controller[13]
  • Ramtek 9050 Series Display Controller[13]

Notes
  1. Now Eyeing Graphics, Ramtek Searches for Cash As Loral Deal Collapses, Robert Batt, CW West Coast Bureau, June 8, 1981, Computer World
  2. Ramtek buys Omrom Arm – Division Makes CRTs, 26 March 1979, Computer World
  3. Ask Ramtek. (Nobody knows more about Colorgraphics). Isn't one clear, colorful picture worth a thousand lines of print-out?, March 17, 1980, Computer World
  4. Ramtek Expands 6000 Series Of Color Graphics CPUs, June 16, 1980, Computer World
  5. Ramtek unwraps CAD workstations, Maura McEaney, CW Staff, August 12, 1985, Computer World
  6. Ramtek unwraps CAD workstations – page 2, Maura McEaney, CW Staff, August 12, 1985, Computer World
  7. Four reasons why UNIVAC users are switching to the Ramtek 8210/Uniscope Emulation Terminal, November 12, 1979, Computer World
  8. Akagi, Masumi (13 October 2006). アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971-2005) [Arcade TV Game List: Domestic • Overseas Edition (1971-2005)]. Japan: Amusement News Agency. p. 129. ISBN 978-4990251215.
  9. The Ultimate (So Far) History of Exidy – Part 1, May 19, 2013, allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com
  10. Hunter, William (2015). "PONG and Atari". The Dot Eaters. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  11. Baer, Ralph H. (2005). Videogames: In the Beginning. Rolenta Press. pp. 12–3. ISBN 978-0-9643848-1-1.
  12. Volly, The International Arcade Museum
  13. When you need color graphics, Ramtek has it all, February 12, 1979, Computer World
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