North Star Advantage personal computer

The North Star Advantage computer may be used for research and exhibitions on early personal computer products and applications and information technology product design.

North Star was an early manufacturer of microcomputers, however because their products were not PC compatible the company never sold commercially viable quantities of their product and went out of business. This redundancy makes the North Star Advantage a rare and unusual piece of early personal computer history and a fine …

Parts of this object

2006/118/1-1 Personal computer, North Star Advantage 8/16, metal / plastic / electronic components, made by North Star Computers Inc, California, United States of America, 1982

North Star Advantage personal computer

1982

Cover for personal computer

1982

Summary

Object No.

2006/118/1

Object Statement

Personal computer, with cover and software, North Star Advantage 8/16, metal / plastic / electronic components / cardboard, made by North Star Computers Inc, California, United States of America, 1982

Physical Description

The North Star Advantage personal computer has a white plastic casing, with a grey interface. The user interface consists of a glass display screen with dual disk drives, one above the other, on its right hand side. Below this is a QWERTY keyboard, with black alphabet and numeric keys and brown function keys. A sticker running horizontally above indicated the various function for each of the brown keys. 'North Star ADVANTAGE 8/16' is found in the top left corner. The device has a black insulated power cord, with a grey socket, plugged into the back as well as a vent and an on/off switch. A green label on the back provides information about the make, model, serial number and specifications.

The soft plastic dust cover is made from a cream coloured plastic and designed and shaped to fit over the computers casing and keyboard.

Accompanying the computer is 34 floppy disks, with cardboard sleeves, containing software. The disks are housed in three separate plastic cases, the first is grey and marked, 'Datalife / by Verbatim / 10 Minidisks', the second is also grey, and marked 'MINIKAS-ETTE/10 / LIBRARY CASE', and the third is blue is marked on a sticker 'Verbatim / 10 Minidisks / Datalife',

Case 1 contains:
North Star Advantage Demo / Diagnostic System
North Star Graphics CP/M
North Star Data Management start up
North Star Data Management mailing system
North Star Data Management mailing data
North Star Data Management gen./ledger system
North Star Data Management gen./ledger data
North Star Data Management gen./ledger archive
North Star Data Management debtors system
North Star Data Management debtors data
North Star Data Management debtors archive

Case 2 contains:
Start up (2)
Graphics CP/M
North Star CP/M (2)
WordStar
Microplan system
Microplan data
Microplan master
Microplan daily back up
CalcStar
DataStar & SuperStar
MS DOS Format & Boot

Case 3 contains:
Debtors system (2)
Div. Gen. ledger data
Div. Gen. ledger system
Newsagents system
Newsagents data
Electricians system
Electricians data
Wholesalers system
Wholesalers data

Short URL

https://ma.as/362042

Source

Credit Line

Gift of Rod Gillespie, 1997

Acquisition Date

24 August 2006

Cite this Object

Harvard

North Star Advantage personal computer 2022, Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, accessed 25 March 2023, <https://ma.as/362042>

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://ma.as/362042 |title=North Star Advantage personal computer |author=Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences |access-date=25 March 2023 |publisher=Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, Australia}}

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