{
    "id": "NorthStar Advantage - Applications",
    "name": "NorthStar Advantage - Applications",
    "altNames": [
        "NorthStar Advantage"
    ]
}

{
    "id": "NorthStar Advantage - Collections - North Star Computer Society",
    "name": "NorthStar Advantage - Collections - North Star Computer Society",
    "altNames": [
        "NorthStar Advantage"
    ]
}

{
    "id": "NorthStar Advantage - Operating Systems",
    "name": "NorthStar Advantage - Operating Systems",
    "altNames": [
        "NorthStar Advantage"
    ]
}

{
    "type_id": 1,
    "id": 652,
    "pages": {
        "photos": "photos.asp?t=1&c=652&st=1",
        "adverts": "photos.asp?t=2&c=652&st=1",
        "hardware": "hardware.asp?t=1&c=652&st=1",
        "docs": "docs.asp?c=652&st=1",
        "comments": "forum.asp?c=652&st=1"
    },
    "image": "https://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/NorthStar_Advantage_System_2.jpg",
    "company_link": "company.asp?st=1&m=93",
    "company_name": "Northstar",
    "company_logo": "https://www.old-computers.com/museum/logos/northstar_logo.gif",
    "description": "NorthStar launched this indestructible all-in-one system in 1982.\nThe Advantage combined the well known (at the time) NorthStar 5.25 floppy disc sub-system with a high-resolution display and a durable keyboard. The Advantage also had it's own bus with it's own set of optional I/O card and a 8088 co-processor card for comparability with the newly released IBM PC software. Sadly, the card was delivered with MS-DOS ver.1 which wasn't compatible with the IBM-PC PC-DOS and very few programs were developed for this OS.\nDespite some interesting features - High resolution graphics display, 8 and 16-bit software compatibility - and a proven reliability, the Advantage never really competed with Apple and IBM-PC systems",
    "name": "Advantage",
    "manufacturer": "Northstar",
    "type": "Professional Computer",
    "origin": "U.S.A.",
    "year": "1982",
    "built_in_language": "None",
    "keyboard": "Full-stroke 79 keys with function keys and numeric keypad",
    "cpu": "Z80 or 8088",
    "speed": "3.5 Mhz. (Z80)",
    "co_processor": "8084 for display and disk management",
    "ram": "64 KB expandable to 256 KB",
    "vram": "32 KB - 20 KB actually used - Extra 12 KB was reserved for",
    "rom": "2 KB (Boot ROM)",
    "text_modes": "40/80 chars x 25 lines",
    "graphic_modes": "640 x 240 dots",
    "colors": "Monochrome",
    "sound": "Beeper",
    "io_ports": "Serial and Parallel ports (expansion cards)",
    "built_in_media": "1/2 x 5.25 F.D. drives, 5 to 20 MB hard-disk",
    "os": "CP/M, NDOS",
    "power_supply": "Built-in power supply",
    "peripherals": "Proprietary extension cards",
    "price": "$3990",
    "photos": [
        {
            "name": "Side view ",
            "image": "https://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/NorthStar_Advantage_SideView_1.jpg",
            "description": ""
        },
        {
            "name": "NorthStar logo ",
            "image": "https://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/NorthStar_Advantage_Logo_1.jpg",
            "description": ""
        },
        {
            "name": "Back ",
            "image": "https://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/NorthStar_Advantage_Back_2.jpg",
            "description": "<b>(1)</b> Brightness adjustment<br>\r\n<b>(2)</b> Serial card connector<br>\r\n<b>(3)</b> Reset switch<br>\r\n<b>(4)</b> Mains plug"
        },
        {
            "name": "Uncovered system ",
            "image": "https://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/NorthStar_Advantage_Uncovered_1.jpg",
            "description": ""
        },
        {
            "name": "Uncovered #2 ",
            "image": "https://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/NorthStar_Advantage_Back_1.jpg",
            "description": "Power transformer and Tandon disk drives."
        },
        {
            "name": "Z80 motherboard ",
            "image": "https://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/NorthStar_Advantage_Motherboard_1.jpg",
            "description": "The Advantage could also feature a 16-bit Intel 8088 motherboard.<br><br>\r\n<b>(1)</b> 8-bit expansion slots<br>\r\n<b>(2)</b> 2 KB BIOS and BOOT EPROM (2716)<br>\r\n<b>(3)</b> Z80-A microprocessor. Here an Italian  SGS version<br>\r\n<b>(4)</b> Keyboard connector<br>\r\n<b>(5)</b> Intel 8035 micro-controller in charge of I/O management<br>\r\n<b>(6)</b> 2 KB Character generator EPROM (2716)<br>\r\n<b>(7)</b> Beeper<br>\r\n<b>(8)</b> Power regulation area<br>\r\n<b>(9)</b> 32 KB video RAM area<br>\r\n<b>(10)</b> 64 KB user RAM area\r\n"
        },
        {
            "name": "Motherboard close up ",
            "image": "https://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/NorthStar_Advantage_BoardCloseUp_2.jpg",
            "description": "the serial card is installed in the expansion slot."
        },
        {
            "name": "Case cover ",
            "image": "https://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/NorthStar_Advantage_Cover_1.jpg",
            "description": "The CRT, its electronic card, and the fan are  fixed into the case cover. "
        },
        {
            "name": "Working system ",
            "image": "https://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/NorthStar_Advantage_Working_1.jpg",
            "description": ""
        },
        {
            "name": "Graphic demo ",
            "image": "https://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/NorthStar_Advantage_GraphDem_1.jpg",
            "description": "In its price level, the Advantage featured the higher graphic display resolution (640 x 240 dots)"
        },
        {
            "name": "Advantage manuals ",
            "image": "https://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/NorthStar_Advantage_Manuals_s1.jpg",
            "description": ""
        },
        {
            "name": "Original invoice ",
            "image": "https://www.old-computers.com/museum/photos/NorthStar_Advantage_invoice_s1.jpg",
            "description": "Oririnal invoice of the pictured Advantage.<br><br>\r\n'Xerox' is a Xerox daysywheel printer."
        }
    ],
    "adverts": [
        {
            "image": "https://www.old-computers.com/museum/adverts/NorthStar_Advantage_Advert_1.jpg",
            "name": "U.S. ad #1 (1982)"
        },
        {
            "image": "https://www.old-computers.com/museum/adverts/NorthStar_Advantage_Advert_2.jpg",
            "name": "U.S. ad #2 (1982)"
        },
        {
            "image": "https://www.old-computers.com/museum/adverts/NorthStar_Advantage_Advert_3.jpg",
            "name": "U.S. ad #3 (1983) "
        }
    ],
    "hardware": [
        {
            "name": "Serial card",
            "image": "https://www.old-computers.com/museum/hardware/NorthStar_Advantage_SerialCard_1.jpg",
            "description": "This card is based on the AMD 8251 serial chip."
        }
    ]
}