"Stan Veit's History of the Personal Computer" (Excerpt from Chapter 21, " Dogs and Dinosaurs") Copyright 1993 This condensed "history" of the VideoBrain is from Chapter 21, Dogs and Dinosaurs, of the book "Stan Veit's History of the Personal Computer," by Stan Veit. The history is told very informally, yet it does give us a glimpse of information that I've never read before about the VideoBrain. Stan seems more interested in telling a good story than getting the facts straight, as I've found several errors in the book. Still, Stan is part of the early computer history (he was the first owner of a computer store on the east coast of the United States) and his insight here is first-hand knowledge. Here's the excerpt from the chapter. This is everything that is mentioned about the VideoBrain. One day, a friend told me I would have a visit from a very rich young Chinese-American to tell me about a new computer he was going to market. The young man told me about this great idea for a machine which was being made for him in Taiwan. It was called the Video Brain, and it was a cross between a video game and a computer. It had a alphanumeric keyboard as well as game paddles, and it connected to a home TV. The owner did not have to know anything about computers to use the Video Brain. There would be cartridges for games as well as business, including one that turned the Video Brain into a terminal for a time sharing network. The Video Brain would sell in packaged systems from $300 to $900. The larger systems would have a cartridge containing a language called APL/S which would allow the user to write his own programs and save them on a cassette. The machine used a Fairchild F-8 8-bit CPU and 1K bytes of RAM and 4K of ROM memory. The working memory was contained in the plug-in cartridges. After explaining all about the system, the young man asked me what I thought about it. I told him I sort of liked the idea because it was a transition from video games to computers, but I suggested that he use BASIC in place of his own language. I also told him he would have a hard sell because the hobbyists who were our principal customers wanted a computer they could program, and business people would look on it as a toy. As for home video fans, it was somewhat too complex for them. He would have to create his own market. When I asked him what the dealer's discount was going to be, he told me 15% and I laughed at that. He told me this item was for big retailers, not little people like me, and that was enough margin for them. So I wished him luck and he left. The Video Brain never made it, although it was carried in some department stores for a while. There was no service and few cartridges. The young man's father stopped the funds, and the company went out of business.