connector. The tape player's output is also routed to the computer's sound output. The keyboard has 58 keys and includes a reset button. The machine used cassette tapes for file storage, played on a proprietary player connected using a 5-pin DIN connector. Expansion A cartridge port was available. A RAM expansion adding extra 64 KB and a "Nanoréseau" network card could be plugged into it, but was incompatible with early MO5 machines. Software Around 200 software titles are known to exist for the MO5. Variants An improved version, named Thomson MO5E ("E" for "Export", a model designed for foreign markets) was presented in 1985. It had a different casing featuring a mechanical keyboard, a parallel port, two joystick ports, an internal PAL modulator and an integrated power supply. Sound was also improved, with four voices and seven octaves. The Thomson MO5NR ("NR" for "Nanoréseau", a network standard - see Computing for All) was introduced in 1986 and added a 58 key AZERTY keyboard and an integrated "Nanoréseau" network controller. Memory was expanded to 128K and the machine came with a new version of BASIC (Microsoft Basic 128 1.0). Graphics were improved by the use of the Thomson EF9369 graphics chip, and the MO5NR could generate 4096 colors, and display up to 16 depending on the resolution used: 320 x 200 with 16 colors (with proximity limitations), 640 x 200 with 2 colors, 320 x 200 with 4 colors, 160 x 200 with 16 colors, 320 x 200 with 3 colors and 1 transparency level, two pages of 320 x 200 with 2 colors, 160 x 200 with 5 colors and 3 transparency levels. Sound was also updated to four voices and five octaves. See also Computing for All, a French government plan to introduce computers to the country's pupils References External links DCMOTO: PC emulator for Thomson MO5, MO5E, MO5NR, MO6, T9000, TO7, TO7/70, TO8, TO8D, TO9, TO9+ and Olivetti Prodest PC128. Comprehensive software and documentation are also available. MO5 at Old-Computers.com 6809-based home computers Thomson computers Computer science education in France Computing for All