"Astrovision Plans Multi-Segment Marketing Thrust for New Zgrass-32 Computer 
System"
By George Moses
1982 or 1983.

Astrovision, the video game oriented computer manufacturer from Columbus, Ohio 
has recently announced that their new Zgrass-32 computer keyboard is nearing 
the prototype production and consumer testing stage. The Zgrass-32 is the long 
awaited "add-on" component to the Bally Professional Arcade, a Z-80 based video 
game machine introduced by Bally Manufacturing in 1978. Astrovision purchased 
the consumer division of Bally in August of 1980 and is aggressively pursuing 
the objective of expanding what had been an extremely sophisticated video 
arcade into what promises to become the most powerful micro-computer available 
within three times of its $898.00 price tag.

The big attraction of the Zgrass-32 is its language, Zgrass. Written by 
Professor Tom DeFanti of the University of Chicago, Zgrass permits the user to 
accomplish complicated video graphics easily by prompting the programmer with 
its built-in self teaching routines. A powerful 24K of ROM containing a 
graphics assembler, the Zgrass language, a math package suitable for scientific 
and business calculations and many other features make this the first home 
computer in history to feature a true graphics language. The power of Zgrass in 
the marketplace promises to be even more diverse than the applications of the 
computer from the time of its introduction to the present day.

The Computer Hobbyist

The first market the Zgrass-32 will be aimed at will be the current owners of 
the Bally Arcade which contains the Z-80 microprocesser and screen RAM that the 
Zgrass-32 plugs into. These are extremely creative computer hobbyists who have 
been waiting over two years for this development and in the meantime have had 
to content themselves with programming in BALLY BASIC, a 1.8K BASIC that plugs 
into the Arcade in cartridge form and allows the user to access all the graphic 
effects, sounds and colors built into the Arcade. Offering a Zgrass-32 to one 
of these hobbyists will be akin to giving a five pound sword to someone who's 
been practicing for two years with one that weighs forty pounds! The software 
that they will be able to create will come forth in an unbelievable volume, and 
will attract professional programmers into the Zgrass group because of its 
growing appeal among enthusiasts.

Hobbyists in Related Areas

The Zgrass-32 is the only system with a keyboard that is fully compatible with 
video equipment. The Bally Arcade has been used by cable TV networks for 
printing messages on the screen over the local origination channels, using 
graphics routines between messages and making a very pleasant impression with 
its extremely accurate color generator. Again, the power of the Z-grass 
graphics language with its 32K of RAM will allow the video hobbyist to do 
titling and video animation to an extent previously impossible without the 
expense of thousands of dollars for professional video equipment. The potential 
of this market is certainly as great as that of the computer hobbyist simply 
because of the larger number of participants in this group. Astrovision's plans 
to cater to their needs is evidenced by the full page ad they placed in the 
February, 1981 issue of Video, a magazine serving the home video aficionado.

The Computer Consumer

From the beginning programmer who wants to become computer-literate to the 
business oriented person who wants to dial into database networks Zgrass will 
allow the programming of picture data for the first time. Astrovision offers a 
machine with superb graphics at a much lower price than computers that are 
still programmed in the text-oriented BASIC. Through an interface the Zgrass-32 
can decode and mix videodisc signals to make excellent animated graphics on the 
screen. This is an exclusive ability to retrieve coded information and make it 
move as well! Thus, the vast consumer market is waiting to be tapped with a 
powerful machine at a bargain price.

The Education Market

While BASIC is limited to trivial computer-assisted instruction remaining at 
the conceptual complexity of flash cards, Zgrass has the text and picture 
handling capabilities to teach in sophisticated ways because it was designed to 
give educators and artists complete control over the video medium. Not just 
text, not just lines and boxes, but complete interactive programming using an 
interlacing of graphics, text and logic to give courseware developers a machine 
that is infinitely applicable to their work.

The Third Party Software Market

Third party software authors heretofore have had to depend on disc systems and 
audiotape to deliver their software which makes it easy to copy and leads to 
much infringement on copyrights. With the Zgrass-32 Astrovision can offer the 
third party software developer the protection of the cartridge form of 
delivery, (very difficult to copy!). A special package is being put together to 
accelerate the development of programming expertise in Zgrass. Encouraging the 
growth in number of Zgrass programmers will lead to a proliferation of software 
vendors and extend the applications of this machine, to more users in all 
occupations.