AT LAST, A HOME COMPUTER THAT IMPROVES WITH AGE.It's surprising how many first-time relationships with a home computers go sour with age. You buy an attractive, discounted little machine so that you and the children can learn about computers. Instead you learn about its limitations. The dull graphics. The plugs that fall out. The cheap power supply. The unalterable "beginners" language. The stiff, fragile keys. No provisions for future developments. If only you'd looked around a bit in the beginning.The CGL M5 is designed and built by Sord, one of Japan's leading computer specialists, with...

AT LAST, A HOME COMPUTER THAT IMPROVES WITH AGE.It's surprising how many first-time relationships with a home computers go sour with age. You buy an attractive, discounted little machine so that you and the children can learn about computers. Instead you learn about its limitations. The dull graphics. The plugs that fall out. The cheap power supply. The unalterable "beginners" language. The stiff, fragile keys. No provisions for future developments. If only you'd looked around a bit in the beginning.The CGL M5 is designed and built by Sord, one of Japan's leading computer specialists, with three ideals in mind.First, to be easy and fun to learn and operate.Second, to be rugged enough to last through hours and hours of operation.And third, to form the basis of a powerful, versatile home computer system that won't need replacing until you're ready for a dedicated business system.Built to learnThe CGL M5 is designed to be easy for non-geniuses to use. If you make a mistake, you can correct it with a simple movement of the cursor. So you only correct that mistake, not a whole line; nor do you have to indulge in complex edit commands. Budding video game designers and computer artists would love to get their hands on the 16 colour graphics and 32 moveable images called "sprites." "The M5 makes professional graphic effects very simple for even the beginner to achieve." (Personal Computer News, Aug '83)Built to last"It works first time, doesn't need a lot of mollycoddling or jiggery-poking to persuade it to continue to do so, and what's even better, it continues to work well. You don't have to balance cold cartons of milk on the top, shove matches in the back to keep the plugs in, or press the keys with several pounds force to make them respond. (Personal Computer News, June '83)Being able to build things that work and carry on working without endless maintenance is something at which the Japanese seem to excel.Built to growTo be truly versatile, a home computer has to understand very different things. So you need different "languages" which the M5 provides by supplying some of its memory in plug-in cartridges. "The M5 eliminates the worst limitations on machines at this level, which is that they tend to be stuck with whatever language is provided by the management." (Personal Computer News, June '83)The computer is supplied complete with a BASIC-I cartridge, a standard integer BASIC language and a simple learning text. Plug in the BASIC-G cartridge, and you can access the M5's incredibly sophisticated graphics and sound capabilities which are far in advance of similarly-priced computers.Move to the BASIC-F cartridge, and you have scientific, technological, and statistical computing power usually available only on big computers with equally big price tags.The FALC cartridge provides a tailor made language for data management, spreadsheet accounts and business problems. Combine the FALC with a disk and you could turn the M5 into a small business machine.Now take a look at the back of the M5, notice the sockets (usually an extra) for a standard Centronics-type printer, the separate video monitor and hi-fi sound output.Even the language cartridge socket has hidden potential: "Unlike most sockets, this one has 56 internal lines connected to it giving it access to just about every function in the computer ranging from a Prestel interface to second processor to use as an intelligent terminal on a timesharing computer." (Electronics - The Maplin Magazine, March '83)Take a look at the computer that will improve with age.