> Back in 1991, IBM and Sega Enterprises announced a joint project to create
and market a low cost family computer complete with Genesis/Mega Drive
compatibility. Taking a page from the Atari PC/game combo unit book,
the Tera is the first such unit from Sega.
> IBM supplied the necessary computer technology while Sega manufactured
the system. The Tera is fully PC/AT compatible and came packed with
a Genesis 68000 chip, IBM 80286 CPU, and IBM DOS 4.0, which was the standard
at the time. Three models were sold with the on board memory being
the difference as it ranged from 512k to 2.5MB. Some of the options
available were a word processing and spreadsheet package, mouse, and monitor.
To top it off, the Genesis/computer also supposedly had a Sega CD interface!
> The unit's base retail price was $750, which was pretty good considering
all the Tera had to offer. As a matter of fact, PCs alone were at
least that much! As it turned out, the Tera never did reach the USA
because Sega and IBM sought to penetrate Japanese households with a PC
system. More combo systems would arrive though.
> Later on, Pioneer released a Laser Disc/Sega CD/Turbo Grafx combo system
in America which saw limited success. In Europe, there was at least
one Genesis/PC combo system, but I believe it was Amiga compatible.
I like the idea behind the Tera and hopefully Sega will release a console/PC
unit in America some time soon.
~Shinobi |
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