The Mattel Aquarius II had exactly the same characteristics as its predecessor, the Mattel Aquarius.

Its only enhancements were the RAM (20 KB instead of 4 KB) and the mechanical keyboard. In fact, the Aquarius II only had 4 KB of built-in RAM but was supplied with a 16 KB RAM cartridge extension.

Another difference is that the Aquarius II came with Extended Basic built-in.

Mattel gave up the computer market and sold all the rights and computer stocks to their manufacturer, Radofin, before the Aquarius II was even launched. All the Aquarius II were thus manufactured and sold by Radofin.

A special version of Logo, called Aquarius Logo was developped for this computer.

An Aquarius III was planed, but never saw the light.

NAME   AQUARIUS 2
MANUFACTURER   Radofin Electronics Limited
TYPE   Home Computer
ORIGIN   U.S.A.
YEAR   1984
BUILT IN LANGUAGE   Microsoft BASIC interpreter
KEYBOARD   Mechanical, 49 key
CPU   Zilog Z80A
SPEED   3.5 mHz
CO-PROCESSOR   2 custom chips
RAM   20 KB (4 KB & extension 16 KB, up to 52 KB)
VRAM   2 KB
ROM   12 KB
TEXT MODES   40 columns x 25 lines
GRAPHIC MODES   80 x 72 / 320 x 192 dots
COLORS   16
SOUND   1 voice (3 voices with the mini-expander)
SIZE / WEIGHT   35 (W) x 20.5 (D) x 5.8 (H) cm
I/O PORTS   Tape, Printer, Expansion bus
BUILT IN MEDIA   None
POWER SUPPLY   External AC adaptor
PERIPHERALS   Mini Expander (2 cartridge ports, 2 joysticks, 2 additional sound chanels), printer, 300 baud modem
PRICE   Unknown

About Author