to work with it. They also promised larger memory cards and a color video card. Additionally, dealers could now order 30 days net, as opposed to cash-on-delivery, although to do so they had to put in orders at least once a quarter. Collapse These plans quickly fell apart. The Helios was initially based on a new mechanism from Diablo Data Systems. Diablo had been purchased by Xerox in 1972, and shortly after the Helios was announced, Xerox canceled development of the floppy line. Processor Technology selected the new Persci 270 in its place. The 270 had two drive bays operated by a single drive and voice coil head positioner, which meant a two-drive system was only slightly more complex than a single drive. This was released as the Helios II, at for the kit or assembled. Processor Technology moved to a much larger factory in Pleasanton, California. It was at about this point that Radio Shack introduced the TRS-80. Like the Sol, it was a complete all-in-one machine but came with its own monitor and sold for about half the price. Moreover, it was available at hundreds of Radio Shack stores across North America. Sales of the Sol plummeted. Meanwhile, the company failed to introduce any of the other new products it mentioned, notably the color graphics card. When the Apple II appeared with color graphics, it quickly became a best seller. To add to their woes, Processor Technology had contracted North Star Computers to write a new version of the BASIC for the Sol machines. North Star then began selling the resulting North Star BASIC to other vendors as well. Processor Technology sued North Star, claiming the contract had been exclusive. The suit dragged on, hurting both companies before Processor Technology ultimately lost. To add to the injury, North Star then released a new 5.25-inch drive for the system that sold at half the cost of the Helios. A patch that allowed CP/M to run on the new drives killed off any interest in alternatives like PTDOS, and new business applications like WordStar and Electric Pencil soon cemented CP/M as the standard operating system for all S-100 machines. Processor Technology continued selling the Helios system and refused to consider replacing PTDOS with CP/M. Helios proved to be highly unreliable and resulted in a lawsuit by those owners that had purchased them. Meanwhile, the company introduced one of its few