54-494: The CyberVision 2001 (commonly referred to as CyberVision Home Computer ) was an early 8-bit home computer , distributed by Montgomery Ward in the late 1970s. Software was contained on stereo cassettes , allowing synchronized transmission of narrated audio recordings and sound effects from one channel and program data from the other. Home television sets were used for its display using an RF connector . The Spring/Summer 1978 Montgomery Ward catalog featured CyberVision 2001 in
108-535: A 1.25-million-square-foot (116,000 m ) building stretching along nearly one-quarter mile of the Chicago River , north of downtown Chicago. The building, known as the Montgomery Ward & Co. Catalog House , served as the company headquarters until 1974, when the offices moved across the street to a new tower designed by Minoru Yamasaki . The catalog house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978 and
162-514: A Chicago historic landmark in May 2000. In the decades before 1930, Montgomery Ward built a network of large distribution centers across the country in Baltimore , Fort Worth , Kansas City , Oakland , Portland , and St. Paul . In most cases, these reinforced concrete structures were the largest industrial structures in their respective locations. The Baltimore Montgomery Ward Warehouse and Retail Store
216-685: A closed store in Panorama City , California, 2010 demolished In November 2024 /gallery> By the 1990s even its rivals began to lose ground to low-price competition from the likes of Target and Walmart , which eroded even more of Montgomery Ward's traditional customer base. In 1997, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy , emerging from protection by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois in August 1999 as
270-645: A collective bargaining agreement. Eight months later, with Montgomery Ward continuing to refuse to recognize the unions, President Roosevelt issued an executive order seizing all of Montgomery Ward's property nationwide, citing the War Labor Disputes Act as well as his power under the Constitution as commander-in-chief . In 1945, Truman ended the seizure and the Supreme Court dismissed the pending appeal as moot. After World War II, Sewell Avery believed
324-422: A mathematical function In economics, a factor of production , a resource employed to produce goods and services Advice (opinion) Impute (disambiguation) Output (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Input . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to
378-459: A nationwide strike by the company's 12,000 workers, U.S. Army troops seized the company's Chicago offices. The action was ordered due to Avery's refusal to settle the strike as requested by the Roosevelt administration, concerned about the adverse effect on the delivery of goods in wartime. Avery had refused to comply with a War Labor Board order to recognize the unions and institute the terms of
432-604: A small moneymaker into a large drain on profits. The company sold the chain's 18-store northern division to Bradlees , a division of Stop & Shop , in 1985. The remaining stores closed. In 1985, the company closed its catalog business after 113 years and began an aggressive policy of renovating its remaining stores. It restructured many of the store layouts in the downtown areas of larger cities and affluent neighborhoods into boutique -like specialty stores, as these were drawing business from traditional department stores. In 1986, fellow MARCOR firm, Container Corporation of America,
486-432: A stereo cassette head to achieve similar effects. As part of pre-release promotions, a six-minute concept tape was produced for tradeshow demonstration. The cassette showcases the audiovisual capabilities of CyberVision and includes previews of several anticipated software programs, keypad interaction, animations and coloring effects. The process of creating these demo cassettes helped refine the tape mastering process, which
540-476: A two-page opening spread, with a retail launch price of $ 399. Accompanying literature described the RCA 1802 -powered system as "the revolutionary home computer... Programmed to talk... play games, teach math, or help with your tax return." Although a reported 10,000 units were shipped, limited traction coupled with manufacturing problems and rising competition resulted in discontinuation by the early 1980s and cancelation of
594-470: A unique dual-channel, hybrid analog and digital data cassette format, dubbed Cybersettes . In this scheme, an internal speaker outputs sound from the left audio channel, while the logic board parses the right channel's data using a 2000-baud interface. When reading tape data, the ROM initially checks for a sequence of A5 bytes as a rudimentary check for valid data. The tape motor can be programmatically toggled using
SECTION 10
#1732851532540648-561: A wholly owned subsidiary of GE Capital , which was by then its largest shareholder. As part of a last-ditch effort to remain competitive, the company closed over 100 retail locations in 30 U.S. states, abandoned the specialty store strategy, rebranded the chain as simply Wards , and spent millions of dollars to renovate its remaining outlets to be flashier and more consumer-friendly. GE Capital reneged on promises of further financial support of Montgomery Ward's restructuring plans. On December 28, 2000, after lower-than-expected sales during
702-554: Is an online shopping and mail-order catalog retailer that started several years after the original Montgomery Ward shut down. Aaron Montgomery Ward started his business in Chicago; conflicting reports place his first office either in a single room at 825 North Clark Street or in a loft above a livery stable on Kinzie Street, between Rush and State Streets. In 1883, the company's catalog had grown to 240 pages and 10,000 items. In 1896, Ward encountered its first serious competition in
756-635: Is backward compatible with the 2001 and contains the same general hardware, internally. Depending on literature, the 3001 was often still branded as a 2001 or more broadly as the CyberVision Home Computer. One substantial enhancement of the 3001 was the availability of an external expansion port that accommodated ROM cartridges in addition to cassette tape data. A version of Tiny BASIC was supplied on one such cartridge, allowing users to program their own Cybersettes using 22 different integer BASIC commands. According to Interface Age datasheets,
810-403: Is constructed using a TI SN76430N video and sync generator. No dedicated sound chip exists, but simple tones can be generated programmatically to output to an internal speaker. An internal ROM/CPU edge connector is present on the logic board, which would become a dedicated expansion slot in the 3001 model and the 4001 prototype. Two replaceable 40-button plastic controller keypads are supplied for
864-654: The 1802 CPU 's Q output port, as a means of controlling data flow. The use of stereo cassette media allows software titles to integrate studio-quality audio recordings alongside on-screen data. Interactive storybooks for children were prominently displayed at tradeshows to demonstrate the innovation of this media format, which Creative Computing referred to as "the dawn of a new era in storytelling." Some programs play musical sound effects reminiscent of computer tones during data load sequences, while others narrate stories or provide usage instructions to help mask load times. The APF Imagination Machine from 1979 likewise uses
918-576: The Delaware Valley and Richmond metropolitan areas, and planned to convert one-third of Montgomery Ward's existing stores to the Jefferson Ward model. The burden of servicing the new stores fell to the tiny Jefferson staff, who were overwhelmed by the increased store count, had no experience in dealing with some of the product lines they now carried, and were unfamiliar with buying for northern markets. Almost immediately, Jefferson had turned from
972-563: The intellectual property assets of the former Wards, including the "Montgomery Ward" and "Wards" trademarks, for an undisclosed amount. DMSI applied the brand to a new online and catalog-based retailing operation, with no physical stores, headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa . DMSI then began operating under the Montgomery Ward branding in June 2004, selling many of the same kinds of products as
1026-517: The 1970s. The prototyped CyberVision 4001 demonstrated a full mechanical keyboard accompaniment but was discontinued before production. Construction of the CyberVision 2001 changed subtly over the course of its release. The system photographed for inclusion in Montgomery Ward and other advertisements had reversed arrangement of the logo and reset/LED mounts, as well as a top-mounted cassette deck with its own volume control. A more integral cassette player
1080-611: The Christmas season, the company announced it would cease operating, close its remaining 250 retail outlets, and lay off its 37,000 employees. At its height, the original Montgomery Ward was one of the biggest retailers in the United States. After its demise, the familiarity of its brand meant its name, corporate logo, and advertising were considered valuable intangible assets. In 2004, catalog marketer Direct Marketing Services Inc. (DMSI), an Iowa direct marketing company, purchased much of
1134-401: The CyberVision operating system on July 16, 1977, and had completed a functional version of the ROM by July 18 after an all-weekend development crunch . ARI assembled a close team of additional designers and developers including Brenda Laurel , Ken Balthaser, Jeff Schwamberger and Janey Powers to produce additional software programs and demonstration tapes. On August 10, 1977, Miller conceived
SECTION 20
#17328515325401188-657: The act of entering data into a computer or data processing system Information , any data entered into a computer or data processing system Input device Input method Input port (disambiguation) Input/output (I/O), in computing Other [ edit ] Input (talk show) Input (typeface) International Public Television Screening Conference (INPUT), an international public television organization Input (online magazine) , an online technology and culture magazine owned by Bustle Digital Group See also [ edit ] All pages with titles containing Input Independent variable in
1242-428: The cassette data's left channel. Internally, 91 integrated circuits power the system. An RCA 1802 CPU running at approximately 2.52 MHz drives the 1 KB system ROM alongside four distinct CDP1852 input/output chips and a CD4034B bidirectional parallel bus, to handle peripheral interfacing. 4 KB of SRAM is contained across 32 P2101 chips, allocating 2 KB for video display and 2 KB for program data. The video signal
1296-703: The company in the near future. In March 1988, the company management undertook a successful $ 3.8 billion (~$ 8.45 billion in 2023) leveraged buyout , making Montgomery Ward a privately held company. <gallery> File:Montgomery Ward Bluefield, WV.jpg|A Montgomery Ward Building in Bluefield, West Virginia File:Abandoned Montgomery Ward.jpg|A vacant Montgomery Ward store, Regency Mall , Augusta, Georgia File:Vacant Montgomery Ward Huntington Beach.JPG|A former Montgomery Ward store, Huntington Center , Huntington Beach, California , demolished in 2010 File:Electric Ave Logo - Montgomery Wards.JPG|An "Electric Avenue" logo on
1350-416: The company to become profitable before the end of the 1930s. Ward was very successful in its retail business. "Green awning" stores dotted hundreds of small towns across the country. Larger stores were built in the major cities. By the end of the 1930s, Montgomery Ward had become the country's largest retailer, and Sewell Avery became the company's chief executive officer. In April 1944, four months into
1404-447: The conservative decisions of Avery, who seemed not to understand the postwar years' changing economy. As new shopping centers were built after the war, Sears was perceived to have better locations than Ward. Nonetheless, for many years Ward was still the nation's third-largest department store chain. In 1955, investor Louis Wolfson waged a high-profile proxy fight to obtain control of the board of Montgomery Ward. The new board forced
1458-535: The copy prominently advertising it as a " home computer ". With this, according to Kilobaud , the CyberVision 2001 was the first home computer available to the American public through a major mail order catalog. CyberVision 2001 appeared in select Montgomery Ward stores starting on June 2, 1978. Since the facilities did not have dedicated electronic areas, the units were sold within the sporting goods department instead. According to Miller, an order for 10,000 units
1512-468: The country would fall back into a recession or even a depression. He decided to not open any new stores, and did not even permit expenditure for paint to freshen the existing stores. His plan was to bank profits to preserve liquidity when the recession or depression he anticipated hit, and then buy up his retail competition. Without new stores or any investment back into the business, Montgomery Ward declined in sales volume compared to Sears. Many have blamed
1566-454: The discontinuation of CyberVision. The physical enclosure is made out of structural foam. It includes an embedded stereo cassette deck and inset storage space for housing up to twelve caseless data cassette tapes. A power toggle switch, reset button, power LED and volume control are integrated into the cabinet. Two 24-pin joystick input ports and an RF output port complete the exterior. An enclosed speaker and amplifier provide audio output from
1620-527: The following month. On August 5, 2008, the catalog retailer Swiss Colony purchased DMSI. Swiss Colony—which changed its name to Colony Brands Inc. June 1, 2010—kept Montgomery Ward alive and relaunched the Wards website September 10, 2008, with new catalogs mailing in February 2009. A month before the catalog's launch, Swiss Colony President John Baumann told United Press International the retailer might also resurrect
1674-407: The general manager of Chem-Con's computer division estimated that there were "about 30 program tapes" available for CyberVision. The table below represents known titles from various sources, including Montgomery Ward advertisements. As part of a second order request from Montgomery Ward in 1979 and 1980, the CyberVision 3001 model was released and sported a new injection molded form-factor. The 3001
CyberVision 2001 - Misplaced Pages Continue
1728-405: The mail order business, when Richard Warren Sears introduced his first general catalog. In 1900, Ward had total sales of $ 8.7 million, compared to $ 10 million for Sears , and both companies struggled for dominance during much of the 20th century. By 1904, Ward had expanded such that it mailed three million catalogs, weighing 4 lb (1.8 kg) each, to customers. In 1908, the company opened
1782-419: The name CyberVision as a juxtaposition of cybernetics and television and two days later the computer concept was presented in Chicago. On August 19, 1977, Montgomery Ward confirmed the computer would be the lead-in product for their 1978 Spring General catalog and expressed intent on ordering thousands of units for $ 250 wholesale. The CyberVision 2001 received a two-page opening spread in the 1978 Spring General,
1836-425: The original 40-button alphanumeric keypads. The base 4001 system includes 9 KB of RAM (6 KB for program data, 2 KB for video display and 1 KB alpha RAM) and dual 1802 microprocessors for multiprocessing capabilities. Internally, the 16 KB ROM incorporates integer BASIC, with floating point BASIC available as an external ROM (an extension of Ron Cenker's 1802 BASIC). According to Joe Miller, only one of these prototypes
1890-556: The original Montgomery Ward's Signature and Powr-Kraft store brands . Among the new store brands Wards started under Colony was a home and kitchen brand called Chef Tested. By 2020, some Chef Tested and Montgomery Ward–brand home and kitchen items were being sold on Amazon.com . Input [REDACTED] Look up input in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Input may refer to: Computing [ edit ] Input (computer science) ,
1944-564: The original company. The new company does not honor its predecessor's obligations, such as gift cards and items sold with a lifetime guarantee. David Milgrom, then president of the DMSI-owned firm, told the Associated Press , "We're rebuilding the brand, and we want to do it right." Four years later, in July 2008, DMSI announced it was on the auction block, with the sale of its assets scheduled for
1998-635: The prototyped CyberVision 4001. The Authorship Resource, Inc. ("ARI") was founded in April 1977 by John Powers and Joe Miller in Franklin, Ohio . As part of contractual work on the QUBE project for Warner Media , the two drove to a local computer shop to purchase a Compucolor 8001 . On arrival, they met hardware engineers Jim McConnell and John McMullin who were actively working on a computer prototype to pitch to Montgomery Ward. Powers and Miller were formally hired to develop
2052-582: The recent rise in oil prices and looking to diversify, bought a controlling share of MARCOR in 1974, only to acquire the company outright in 1976. The company was an early entrant in the home computer market with the CyberVision 2001 in 1978, developed by the Authorship Resource, Inc., of Franklin, Ohio , and primarily manufactured by United Chem-Con. However, mounting competition from other computer companies as well as manufacturing problems compelled
2106-449: The resignation of Avery. This fight led to a state court decision that Illinois corporations were not entitled to stagger elections of board members." In 1961, company president John Barr hired Robert Elton Brooker to lead Montgomery Ward as president in its turnaround. Brooker brought with him a number of key new management people, including Edward Donnell, former manager of Sears' Los Angeles stores. The new management team achieved
2160-491: The system, CyberVision 4001, was demonstrated at various tradeshows in 1979 as a functional prototype. This incarnation of the CyberVision was manufactured and resold by Broadrein Instruments of Columbus, Ohio . The refined unit has a similar form factor to the 3001 and remains compatible with all existing software. The planned retail price was $ 550, and the system was to offer an optional $ 100 QWERTY keyboard accessory alongside
2214-689: The system, only a small batch of titles were released before the product line was discontinued. At launch, each cassette tape cost between $ 9.95 and $ 18.95 and often included bundle deals, such as buy four, get one free . Montgomery Ward encouraged users to " Join Wards' Cybersette Club and receive advance notice on all new Cybersettes. " The programs were organized into several different color-coordinated series including game , education , home and story . Some software titles, including Designer II and Trivia II, were promoted as games but released under an unadvertised party series. Not all tapes promoted in advertisements are known to have been released. In 1980,
CyberVision 2001 - Misplaced Pages Continue
2268-511: The three companies to pull the plug on the CyberVision product by the early 1980s. By 1980, Mobil realized that the Montgomery Ward stores were doing poorly in comparison to the Jefferson stores, and decided that high quality discount units, along the lines of Dayton Hudson Company's Target stores, would be the retailer's future. Within 18 months, management quintupled the size of the operation, now called Jefferson Ward, to more than 40 units in
2322-637: The total usable RAM for BASIC was 1.753 KB, but it was promoted as upgradable to 32 KB of RAM. By late 1979, the exclusivity agreement between the developers of the CyberVision and Montgomery Ward had expired. This allowed the revamped version of the CyberVision to be resold by other companies, and on December 13, 1980, it debuted locally in Pennsylvania through United Chem-Con for $ 329. It was promoted and displayed at regional electronic shops including Gallagher's TV in Lancaster, Pennsylvania . A second iteration of
2376-449: The turnaround reducing the number of suppliers from 15,000 to 7,000 and the number of brands being carried dropped from 168 to 16. Ward's private brands were given 95 percent of the volume compared with 40 percent in 1960. The results of these changes were lower handling costs and higher quality standards. Buying was centralized but store operations were decentralized, under a new territory system modeled after Sears. In 1966, Ed Donnell
2430-425: The unit, as the only means of accepting user input. These hand controllers lack any joystick or navigation keys common in other systems, but feature the full uppercase English alphanumeric character set along with four action buttons (On, Off, Clear, Enter). The membranes used inside of these controllers are provided by Texas Instruments , and match the ones used in their 40-key scientific calculators popularized in
2484-612: Was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. In 1926, the company broke with its mail-order-only tradition when it opened its first retail outlet store in Plymouth, Indiana . It continued to operate its catalog business while pursuing an aggressive campaign to build retail outlets in the late 1920s. In 1928, two years after opening its first outlet, it had opened 244 stores. By 1929, it had more than doubled its number of outlets to 531. Its flagship retail store in Chicago
2538-494: Was built. As of April 2023, Emma 02 has added beta emulation support for CyberVision 2001 among its large variety of 1802-based platforms. Many software titles remain unavailable, pending discovery and digitization. Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a mail-order business and later a department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001. The current Montgomery Ward Inc.
2592-601: Was divested by Mobil. This effectively dissolved the MARCOR division and left Montgomery Ward as a direct subsidiary of Mobil. Analysts saw the CCA sale as an effort to go back on their diversification efforts, as the debts incurred since MARCOR’s acquisition began to weigh the oil giant down, and many predicted Montgomery Ward was next to be sold. These theories were confirmed in January 1987, when Mobil stated they would be looking into spinning off
2646-426: Was furnished for the consumer product with a separate volume control mounted to the cabinet. The CyberVision 2001 contains rudimentary bootloader code in the computer's 1 KB ROM. All programs are distributed on specially formatted stereo cassettes, marketed as Cybersettes , for playback within the embedded cassette deck. These commercially released cassettes were programmed in 1802 assembly. The CyberVision 2001 uses
2700-538: Was later used to more efficiently produce retail tapes in bulk. A 60-minute cassette tape, titled Introduction Series 1 Sampler Tape , shipped with every CyberVision 2001 to showcase a range of nine applications, with four to five complete programs per side. An on-screen menu is provided at the tape start to allow direct program selection, whereby the system will fast-forward to the approximate program data location automatically. While initial marketing indicated that there would be hundreds of software programs available for
2754-548: Was located on Michigan Avenue between Madison and Washington streets. In 1930, the company declined a merger offer from rival chain Sears. Losing money during the Great Depression , Ward alarmed its major investors, including J. P. Morgan, Jr . In 1931, Morgan hired a new president, Sewell Avery , who cut staff levels and stores, changed lines, hired store rather than catalog managers, and refurbished stores. These actions caused
SECTION 50
#17328515325402808-543: Was named company president. Brooker continued as chairman and chief executive officer until 1976. In 1968, Brooker helped engineer a friendly merger with Container Corporation of America , the new parent company being named MARCOR. Despite the merger, the company continued to struggle into the 1970s. In 1973, its 102nd year in business, it purchased a small discount store chain, the Miami -based Jefferson Stores, renaming these locations Jefferson Ward. Mobil , flush with cash from
2862-493: Was placed for the CyberVision 2001 and a second round of orders arrived for the 3001 variant. By July 1980, the system had been largely liquidated, with its catalog price diminishing to $ 88 for the computer and $ 1 per data tape. United Chem-Con Corp. was tasked with manufacturing the computer and subsequently began marketing the 3001 edition as an attempted reboot in Pennsylvania in December 1980. According to Ken Balthaser, production
2916-562: Was plagued from the beginning by manufacturing problems and lack of experience by Chem-Con, which at the time specialized in military equipment. In 1983, James Christian of Chem-Con was asked what happened to CyberVision and remarked: "We ranked in the top 20 in a survey conducted by Popular Mechanics magazine, but sales have diminished quite a bit...We built specifically to purchase orders and not to speculation." Powers, Miller, Laurel and other core members of ARI ultimately moved to California to work at Atari and other technical ventures following
#539460