The Nascom 1 was a single-board computer kit officially launched in January 1978 for £197.50 +VAT. It was based on the Zilog Z80 which ran at 1 or 2MHz and included a keyboard, a video interface, a serial port that could be used for storing data on a tape cassette using the Kansas City standard, and two 8-bit parallel ports. The inclusion of a full keyboard and video display interface was uncommon in this era as most microcomputer kits at the time only being delivered with a hexadecimal keypad and 7-seg display. In order to keep the cost down, the purchaser had to assemble their 203-part Nascom by hand-soldering approximately 1,310 joints on the single circuit board.

The Nascom-1 sold over 12,000 units in the first 18 months of being on sale and was the brain child of Kerr Borland and John Marshall.

The Nascom 1 was discontinued in 1979 when the Nascom 2 was released.

Our Nascom 1 kit is in excellent condition and complete with expansion boards, manuals and circuit diagrams. Our Nascom 1 was very kindly donated by Geoff Clark.

Manufacturer: Nascom
Date: January 1978

This exhibit has a reference ID of CH8934. Please quote this reference ID in any communication with the Centre for Computing History.