Step2: MO5 – Programmation

I was 12 when I first used a computer. It was at school. The French government decided to equip schools with computers. It was called 'Le plan Informatique pour tous' (IPT) (translated as 'Computing for All'). The idea was to allow every student to have access to computers. France is always a bit late in everything, but they eventually saw the potential of computer science for future jobs. The idea was also to allow each student to be able to use computers, even in families where they did not have enough money to buy one. I was one of these students.

French article about IPT: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_informatique_pour_tous

So I wrote my first program in that classroom. I did not have any programming lessons, sadly. The room had free-access, and students were allowed to use computers. I used THOMSON MO5 and TO7. These are French computers.

They were nice initiation computers with simple basic langage. They had few memory and bad soft keyboard. It was just above the ZX81 which had been one of the first initiation computer I've seen just before (black and white computer). The MO5 have a 8 bit motorola 6809 at 1Mhz. 320×200 in 16 colors with proximity constraints.

On MO5, I remember typing a small BASIC game with a car and a vertical scroll (of course, no save on tape). That was fun, and I knew I wanted to continue with this. This classroom helped me convince my parents later that I needed to have a computer. Thirty years later, I’m still programming, so thanks France for having spent so much money on these computers!

One MO5 from my collection (Improved version with mecanical keyboard)

The other computer in classroom was a TO7. It had an optical pen:

Some games I remember

L’aigle d’or (Golden eagle)

This is surely one of the best game on these machines. A graphical adventure game where you had to find some treasures into room and find exit to escape.

L’intrus

I remember a game that looked like "Alien". After some researches, I found its name: The intruder

Logo

Logo was the name of a visual programming langage. A robot could be programmed and has a tracer included. It was called the Turtle. I do not remember having one at our school. The langage was based on motion move, turn right…

And the robot that was able to draw things

Servers

Some of the school had a server system. The server was based on a Bull Micral 30. I never saw one.

Package

Special pack Michel Platini a famous french soccer player.

Conclusion

Thomson created a full serie of computers: MO5 then MO6. TO7, TO8. But they were not very popular nor powerful. The last ones arrived too late on the market.

The overall outcome of the 'Plan Informatique pour tous' was not satisfactory. Teachers were quickly trained in computer science (one week of training for 110,000 teachers). Many of them did not learn much and were unable to transmit knowledge to students. The choice of computer was also suboptimal (although Apple was an option, the French government preferred Thomson computers). There wasn't much software available for these computers.

Arcade Games of that time

Marble Madness (1984)

16 bits game.

Karate Champ (1984)

The game is played in game BloodSport (1988).

Kung-Fu Master (1984)

Punch-Out!! (1984)

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