The Smaky's family

The Smaky story

We have developped the line of Smaky's (for Smart Keyboards) since 1974. The objective was to have a low cost minicomputer having an alphanumeric and graphic screen, connected to a disk and printer server. The local network was made up of a small number of IC's and used an original scheme.

The Smaky6 (Z80 processor) was designed at the time of the PET, AppleII and Tandy. It was replaced by the Smaky100 in 1984, in order to make the most of the 68000 architecture. A new 68030-based machine was developped in 1989 and will be in use for many more years. The 68030 has enabled us to add a MMU and a FPU lab. All our machines are diskless; this simplifies maintenance considerably as well as the follow-up of students' activities.

A small local company is producing the Smaky's, mostly for the use of the secondary schools, equipped with Macintoshes or Smakys in the french speaking part of Switzerland.

Smaky1-2-4	1974-76	8080 processor	4-8k memory	64x16 char, 256x160 dots
Smaky6  	1977	Z80 processor	32-64k memory	64x16 char, 256x160 dots
Smaky8  	1982	68000 processor	128k memory	96x24 char, 512x380 dots
Smaky100	1984	68000 processor	128k-3M memory	640x400 dots
Smaky324	1986	68020 processor	4M-16M memory	864x1024 dots
Smaky196	1989	68030 processor	4M-8M memory	640x400 dots
Smaky300	1991	68030 processor	4.5M memory	640x480 4-bit color pixels
Smaky130	1992	68030 processor	4-8M memory	640x480 dots, high res color ext card
Smaky6000 	1995	Student project with a 68060 processor and PCI bus interface
Smaky400        1997    68040/68360 PCI daughter board. To be inserted in a PC, 
                        providing access to all the efficient Smaky software

J.D. Nicoud August 1997. Send me an E-mail for any question or comment.