Xetec
Encyclopedia
Xetec was founded in 1983 by Jon Flickinger, and was located in Salina, Kansas
, United States
. Before closing in 1995, the company produced many third-party products for the Commodore 64
, Commodore 128
, Amiga
, Macintosh
, Atari ST
and PC
computers.
The Lt. Kernal
was the first third-party hard drive peripheral for Commodore computers. Originally developed by Fiscal Information in 1985, it was turned over to Xetec for manufacturing and customer support.http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/ltk/history.htm
Xetec's best selling product was its line of printer interfaces, which were required for people wanting to use "standard" (that is, parallel) printers with their Commodore computer.
The Fontmaster line of word processing software provided Commodore users the ability to exploit the graphics capabilities just emerging in printers of the day in order to produce documents containing a mixture of font styles, sizes and effects as well as embedded pictures. Although lacking the power and flexibility of word processors available today, it was ground-breaking in its day, winning an Outstanding Original Programming award at the 1985 Consumer Electronics Show
. Fontmaster 128 was featured in the 1987 Consumer Electronics Show
Software Showcase.
Xetec's offerings for the Amiga included SCSI interfaces, hard drives, CD-ROM drives, streaming tape drives, and RAM expansion. Xetec was the first to offer the immensely popular Fish disks collection on CD-ROM with their three-volume set of Fish & More discs.
Xetec also developed a few products for Macintosh
and PC
computers, products for the RC hobby market, and spent a number of years in research and development of solid-state fluorescent lighting ballasts, for which Jon holds two patents.
Some of the products which Xetec produced: Lt. Kernal
, Serial Printer Interface, Graphics Printer Interface, Super Graphix, Super Graphix Jr, Super Graphix Gold, Fontmaster, Fontmaster II, Fontmaster 128, Printer Enhancer, FastTape, FastTrak, FastCard, FastCard Plus, MiniFastCard, FastRAM, Fish & More (vols. I, II, III), CDx CD-ROM Filesystem, CDx 650, Beeping Tomm, SuperWriter 924, SCAD.
Salina, Kansas
Salina is a city in and the county seat of Saline County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 47,707. Located in one of the world's largest wheat-producing areas, Salina is a regional trade center for north-central Kansas...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Before closing in 1995, the company produced many third-party products for the Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
, Commodore 128
Commodore 128
The Commodore 128 home/personal computer was the last 8-bit machine commercially released by Commodore Business Machines...
, Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
, Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
, Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
and PC
IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
computers.
The Lt. Kernal
Lt. Kernal
Lt. Kernal was the name given to a SCSI hard drive subsystem developed for the Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 home computers. The original design of both the technically complicated hardware interface and equally complex disk operating system came from Lloyd Sponenburgh and Roy Southwick of Fiscal...
was the first third-party hard drive peripheral for Commodore computers. Originally developed by Fiscal Information in 1985, it was turned over to Xetec for manufacturing and customer support.http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/ckb/ltk/history.htm
Xetec's best selling product was its line of printer interfaces, which were required for people wanting to use "standard" (that is, parallel) printers with their Commodore computer.
The Fontmaster line of word processing software provided Commodore users the ability to exploit the graphics capabilities just emerging in printers of the day in order to produce documents containing a mixture of font styles, sizes and effects as well as embedded pictures. Although lacking the power and flexibility of word processors available today, it was ground-breaking in its day, winning an Outstanding Original Programming award at the 1985 Consumer Electronics Show
Consumer Electronics Show
The International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...
. Fontmaster 128 was featured in the 1987 Consumer Electronics Show
Consumer Electronics Show
The International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...
Software Showcase.
Xetec's offerings for the Amiga included SCSI interfaces, hard drives, CD-ROM drives, streaming tape drives, and RAM expansion. Xetec was the first to offer the immensely popular Fish disks collection on CD-ROM with their three-volume set of Fish & More discs.
Xetec also developed a few products for Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
and PC
IBM PC compatible
IBM PC compatible computers are those generally similar to the original IBM PC, XT, and AT. Such computers used to be referred to as PC clones, or IBM clones since they almost exactly duplicated all the significant features of the PC architecture, facilitated by various manufacturers' ability to...
computers, products for the RC hobby market, and spent a number of years in research and development of solid-state fluorescent lighting ballasts, for which Jon holds two patents.
Some of the products which Xetec produced: Lt. Kernal
Lt. Kernal
Lt. Kernal was the name given to a SCSI hard drive subsystem developed for the Commodore 64 and Commodore 128 home computers. The original design of both the technically complicated hardware interface and equally complex disk operating system came from Lloyd Sponenburgh and Roy Southwick of Fiscal...
, Serial Printer Interface, Graphics Printer Interface, Super Graphix, Super Graphix Jr, Super Graphix Gold, Fontmaster, Fontmaster II, Fontmaster 128, Printer Enhancer, FastTape, FastTrak, FastCard, FastCard Plus, MiniFastCard, FastRAM, Fish & More (vols. I, II, III), CDx CD-ROM Filesystem, CDx 650, Beeping Tomm, SuperWriter 924, SCAD.
External links
- Lt. Kernal support site
- Amiga Hardware Database - Xetec Amiga expansion cards
- The Big Book of Amiga Hardware - Photos of FastCard
- The Big Book of Amiga Hardware - Photos of FastTrak
- Review of CDx CD-ROM FileSystem
- ANTIC VOL. 6, NO. 8 / DECEMBER 1987 / PAGE 54 - ANTIC's mention of SCAD