A Marvelous Footnote in Tech History – the Mindset Computer and the Vyper Game

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Hello everyone, and welcome to yet another Tuesday blog, so that we can fill up the Technology category! 🥳 If you want to have a read at the previous one, The Magic of the Wii Startup Disc, you can find it at this link!

As you might know (or maybe not), I’m extremely fascinated by retro computers and workstations¹, especially the ones that are capable of rendering impressive graphics that you would not normally be able to see on other devices that came out at the same time. Notable examples of these machines are the Silicon Graphics workstations, and while they might not be so mainstream, they do have a decent cult following, and were employed to give life to several movies in the 80s and 90s (such as Jurassic Park, The Lawnmower Man, and Toy Story).

However, despite their outstanding graphics capabilities, unfortunately, they were never really used as a gaming platform, as their aim was clearly professional, and their cost was well beyond what a casual gamer of the time would have agreed to pay for; any games available on those are either ports of more modern projects or games that were compatible with the operative system yet didn’t take full advantage of its graphic capabilities. Personally, I believe this is almost a waste, and that it would have been exceptional to see games that were specially created for such complex and fascinating systems.

Fortunately, though, at long last I have found such a device! Even if it’s not anywhere as famous as Silicon Graphics machines, and there is not so much on it on the surface of the web, it has something that others don’t have; a game entirely developed for it, and only playable on that machine, that fully takes advantage of the so impressive graphics that it could display! Thus, it’s for this reason that I hereby present you the spectacular…

Mindset Computer

This is an MS-DOS PC by Mindset Corporation, released in the spring of 1984, and was Intel 80186-based; while it might look like a normal IBM PC compatible² of its time, it sported outstanding graphics hardware that let it display images with a resolution of 320×200 pixels with 16 colors at a time, and, most importantly, it could draw (create and display in real-time) hardware-accelerated graphics, and had a high refresh rate to make its performance even better. This capability made it incredible in comparison to other devices of the time, as many couldn’t display much other than green text.

The only “problem” was its price, as a decently equipped unit with a single floppy disk drive³ (with 128K user RAM, proprietary keyboard, and custom nylon carrying case) cost US$1,798 (which would be about $5,332.64 in 2023); it might sound like an impressive sum, but I can reveal to you that in 1984 a complete and immensely powerful professional machine from Silicon Graphics, the IRIS 1400 Workstation, was priced at about $59,500, so maybe it wasn’t so terrible, was it? 🙃 Plus, it even came with a two-button mouse, which wasn’t a standard at the time, so you could invest a bit more money in it, don’t you think?

As you can see, the machine looks like it’s made from two separate pieces attached together on top of each other, and that’s exactly how it is, as the top part simply consists of the floppy disk drives and contains additional RAM; it was possible to purchase a Mindset without that top piece, if you wanted to, though it was more convenient and functional to get its upgrade too. The Mindset was still perfectly usable without it, as, while it was probably easier to store your data and purchase programs on floppy diskettes, you had the possibility to use a new type of storage medium, NVRAM cartridges; they could contain a specific amount of stored data, and were sold blank or with programs already written on them. What made them immensely useful was that you could use them even on the base Mindset model, the one that came with no floppy disk drives.

You could also get even more additional parts to enhance the Mindset’s functionality, such as a printer port and a stereo card, which were sold as little modules that you could attach to the back of your PC; fortunately, you didn’t need to open the Mindset to install them, because they were simply plug-and-play (unlike what happened at the time with the other IBM compatibles).

While it is simple to upgrade, it’s not so easy to get ahold of one, though, luckily for us, it is actually possible to emulate the Mindset with the famous MAME emulator, along with its exclusive game, which helps to make it more accessible; despite this, at least to my knowledge, the files needed to run it are extremely hard to find.

Why does it matter to us?

Apart from the fact this immensely powerful machine had its own exclusive videogame (which I will reveal later in the article), this workstation is particularly intriguing for its history, ties to other projects, and the impressive community that gathered around it. Additionally, it is also an example of a formidable “budget” device, that could “almost” be bought by regular people, and not just by important companies with extremely high budgets.

Now, let’s go more in detail and talk about what makes the Mindset truly one of a kind!

History

The backstory of this machine might be a bit unexpected, as the president of Mindset Corporation was none other than Roger Badertscher, the head of Atari, Inc.‘s Home Computer Division until 1982, who employed many ex-Atari engineers to work at his new company, and on the Mindset itself a result. Plus, it was even said that, after its demise, there was someone who wanted to purchase what was left of the Mindset Corporation, and that someone was Jack Tramiel, the Atari CEO at the time, although this acquisition never happened; however, it’s curious to note that the original Atari ST series systems, which were released just a year after the Mindset, sported almost exactly its same graphics modes and color depth⁴. Even so, this machine is not only “Atari-flavored”, as the design of the Mindset was also created by someone important, namely Robert Brunner, who was responsible for the design of Apple devices from 1989 to 1997.

Software-wise, the machine came out before the release of Windows 1.0 and was meant to run standard PC programs similarly to other IBM compatibles, and it was lucky enough to receive help from Bill Gates himself to make sure the Mindset would be able to actually do what it was supposed to be and run both those programs and, thanks to its graphic capabilities, Windows 1.0 itself much faster than other computers. Too bad that the company decided to mark the operative system development as finished when not all the standard PC software was yet compatible, which would have caused many problems in the long run; the list of software that can’t run on the Mindset has many sad inclusions in the form of games (especially for whoever dreamed of gaming on this), as they can’t properly run due to differences in where certain processor data was stored and how some visuals were drawn and displayed on screen. Even so, there were still numerous programs available on the Mindset, be it official ones or fanmade ones.

Moving on, due to its exceptional hardware, the Mindset seemed to have a bright future ahead and was being adored by its affectionate, albeit small, userbase, though it still failed to sell enough units, and its support ended just one year later, in 1985; but let’s look at what happened during that short lifespan.

First Mindset Users Group Newsletter

Something that was extremely fascinating to me when I started researching this machine (especially due to the general lack of information about it) is that it had an actual and proper “fanbase” (which doesn’t sound too weird nowadays, but it’s amazing to see it happen in the 80s), the First Mindset Users Group, who had regular gatherings almost every month, shared fanmade software, and, most importantly, released a monthly newsletter with all sorts of information and program reviews! It started in November 1984 and was published until April 1986, and you can read it at this link.

Through this newsletter, we can see how the first couple of years of the Mindset were, what kind of reception it had among its fans, and the most probable causes for its failure; it was a heartwarming read, and it showed how much effort and appreciation users put in a machine that lasted a couple of years and ended up surviving as almost a footnote in a vintage computer encyclopedia.

A thing that surprised me while I was reading through the 97-page pdf is that the Mindset Users went to a big effort into documenting its hardware (there is a tremendous amount of information in there) and making it more well-known, especially by talking about what made it special; a good example of this is the fact that you could even buy a digitizing tablet for it, which allowed you to freehand draw with a professional program called Lumena (again, doesn’t look surprising in 2023, but this was in 1984), a piece of software that the Users seemed to enjoy despite its shortcomings, and reviewed in the first issue of the Newsletter.

Additionally, for your special filming needs, you could also get a Video Production Package and a Video Capture Module, which allowed you to capture full-color video footage from any NTSC source (even VCRs and laser discs!); then, after you have your footage, you can edit it with software like Lumena. The only drawback is that the Video Production Package was virtually a completely new unit, and the Video Capture Module wasn’t compatible with the regular Mindset system (now you might be starting to understand how they trimmed down the costs somehow), plus they were both quite costly.

However, what if you wanted more software than the one officially available? You would have been in luck, as the Newsletter offered a few collections of both software and fanmade games that you could buy directly from them, and we can see it growing in size as more issues of the newsletter got published; plus, members of the group tried their best to make existing PC software work, and were allowed to write articles in the newsletter itself to share their fixes and experiences!

Sadly, though, as we read the newsletter we can see the struggles of the Mindset, which kept being sold in fewer and fewer places as time went by, and the awareness that the machine was doomed is tangible throughout its pages. Through their connections to retailers and shops, the owners of the newsletter make every effort to allow new customers to buy one, though slowly but surely their dream proves to be impossible, and support officially ends.

At least, though, Mindset Corporation gives something significant to its fanbase; it lets the computer leave behind its status of a “closed system”, by letting hardware and software information about the machine known to its users, so that they can keep using their devices. While it’s not the same situation, it reminds me of what happened at some point in the Atari Jaguar system’s history, when it became legal to sell fanmade games for the console, as it was declared public domain.

Unfortunately, support is not the only thing that ended, as even the newsletter stopped being released at some point; at first, it started missing a few issues, then suddenly, in April 1986, it seemed they wanted to revive it, and had made plans to meet the rest of the group too. This would have been amazing news indeed if only the newsletter hadn’t actually ended with that very page; I thought it was immensely heartbreaking, as if even such supporting fans had given up and had accepted the inevitable demise of the system.

Why did it fail?

As we all know, sadly the system failed to sell enough units and fell into oblivion, though why? Apart from the fact that not everything was compatible and non-professionals didn’t particularly need such a system, whilst professionals could get better machines, there was another saddening reason; PC users didn’t need a special and powerful system that could run a handful of programs in ways they would have never believed possible, they needed a cheap and ordinary machine that could run anything with no problems and tinkering whatsoever. This is similar to how most users now want their operative system to be as compatible and plug-and-play as possible, as they want to be able to use all their programs instantly and without having any previous knowledge (this is why many users prefer to pay for the expected reliability of Windows instead of getting a free but possibly hard to set up and maintain Linux distribution).

Plus, to add insult to injury, the system was even poorly marketed, being often considered to be similar to a Mac, instead of an IBM compatible, thus it was bought by fewer people than expected. It is undoubtedly lamentable, but that’s how life goes, and this, along with bugs and limitations, is what mostly killed the system. They did try to release an updated version of the Mindset, dubbed II, but it didn’t really help the company, which at some point in its brief history had gone bankrupt.

Thus, this is the end of the Mindset Computer, though it is not the end of our journey, as it’s now time to move on with our next topic, the fascinating…

Vyper

This is a flight simulation game, released by Synapse Software in 1984 for the Mindset Computer, originally to be called City (according to John J. Anderson). Unlike other titles of the era, such as Microsoft Flight Simulator for MS-DOS (v2.0 from 1984), which had simple yet effective graphics that regular computers could display, this game does something more extraordinary, taking full advantage of the Mindset capabilities to display far more advanced graphics and allow for some impressive camera movements. In 1984 it cost $50, although you had to factor in the cost of the Mindset Joystick, which was an additional $40 (thus, a grand total of $267 in 2023’s dollars).
For the sake of comparison, in the image below, you can see some screenshots of Vyper (on the left) versus Microsoft Flight Simulator (on the right).

Now, let’s get into the gameplay; in this flight simulation title, we’ll be able to pilot the Vyper, a small and fast plane, flying over a colorful 3-dimensional city. This vivid place isn’t peaceful, though, as Rhyllian Shivfighters, mysterious flying creatures, don’t want you to be there flying alongside them; thus, you’ll have to shoot your lasers to destroy the Shivfighters before they do the same to you (not too dissimilar from Star Fox on the SNES so far).

You’ll be tasked with flying through 9 dimensions, set in the ancient city of Kallithor, and destroy all the enemy ships you encounter, along with their Power Shrouds hidden as buildings in the city. How do you beat them, you might be wondering? If you hit a ship, its Power Shroud in the city will blink, and you’ll have about 40 seconds to switch weapons and destroy the associated Shroud; in case you don’t do it in time, the Shivfighter will be revived, and you’ll have to try and kill it again. If you succeed, your energy supply will be replenished and you’ll be able to fly further.

Once you’ve gotten rid of the enemies in each dimension, a portal to the next one will appear, along with some more Shivfighters who will try and follow you so that they can aid the next squad of enemies, so make sure to slay those before they get in the warp tunnel. It gets more tricky than that, though, as if your Vyper hits the sides of the tunnel its energy supply will be moderately depleted, so you’ll have to be quite cautious (this mechanic reminds me of the transition between a stage and the other in Tempest, mainly found in the arcade version, where you have to avoid rows of the stage that contain hazards; if you hit them you lose a life, and if you lose too many you obviously can’t proceed, even if you initially completed the stage). Once you’re done beating the 9 levels, then congrats, you’ve completed Vyper!

As much as I’d like to do it, unfortunately, I can’t judge its difficulty and any other details, since I wasn’t able to find a way to play the game on the MAME emulator, and I don’t know anyone who owns a Mindset and can lend it to me. 🥹 But who knows, maybe in the future I’ll find a way to do it! For now, though, YouTube gameplay videos will have to be enough to satisfy our curiosity, and you can view some Vyper gameplay down below.

Conclusion

Then, what did you think? Did you, by any chance, already know this system, or are you surprised by the presence of yet another obscure system bound to be no more than a marvelous footnote in tech history? As soon as I randomly watched a video about this (the one by The 8-Bit Guy), I knew I absolutely had to pay respects to it and talk about it here on the Journal, so here you have it!

I wouldn’t mind writing about other more or less obscure systems I find, especially about the ones produced by that same Silicon Graphics company I mentioned before, so I hope you’ll be looking forward to those too!

Thank you for reading, and I hope I’ll be seeing you in the next “Tuesday Blog” or in the next Journal Page, scheduled every Thursday!

1. Workstations used to offer greater performance than conventional PCs, mainly in the areas of CPU, graphics, memory, and multitasking. ↩︎
2. These “clones” allowed you to run the same software that worked on the original IBM PC architectures, as they replicated almost all of the key features of those systems. ↩︎
3. In case you are wondering why no pictures exist, that’s because, apparently, they were never actually sold, and you only found Mindset computers with either no floppy disk drives or two. ↩︎
4. The higher this value, the more different colors a system can display. ↩︎

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References

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1. Mindset Computer (Wikipedia) – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindset_(computer)
2. Mindset Computer (Old-Computers.com) – http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=986&st=1
3. Creative Computing Vol. 11, No. 2 / February 1985 / Page 50 – https://web.archive.org/web/20231009164854/https://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v11n2/50_Mindset_micro_pushing_th.php
4. First Mindset User Group Newsletter – http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/mindset/First_Mindset_Users_Group_Newsletters_1984-1986.pdf
5. Tech Time Traveller: This PC was almost an Atari – https://youtu.be/MRpFqz5dOPA?si=2BDCdhjdmUm5mndj
6. Sterophonick: Vyper (Mindset Personal Computer): Obscure Game – https://youtube.com/watch?v=0Lw61udxsXU
7. The 8-Bit Guy: Mindset: The graphics workstation you’ve never heard of! – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a_qJFD80_c
8. Cover Image – https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fvintagecomputer.net%2Fvcf7%2FExhibits%2FMindset_exhib_Vendel3.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=a822366516c1ba616da3f75fab2773614f81404f098681f3e747e228af96dd08&ipo=images
   more at https://forums.atariage.com/topic/207374-worlds-largest-mindset-computer-corp-collectio
9. Mindset Boxes – https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2Fcd%2F65%2F7a%2Fcd657a4f8c6cea1f33ee88fc967bfb77.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=8cd6b7ded44654d75338345c9b4ff00a28e7c74efcef12ece1ce456ab52af3a2&ipo=images
10. Mindset Computer – https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fbytecellar.com%2Fsiteimages%2Fmindset_425.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=5fc3019c5d1e12f235f83b679a8a5c14478c9fbdf2f7b627b7f7fa86f313b113&ipo=images
11. SGI Desktop – https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.plasm.com%2Frob%2Fportfolio%2FInterfaceDesign%2Fimages%2FSGI.style.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=d52024dd3a89cc8174952cb06cbaaf288944fe9b987e6c1756347e628d18f170&ipo=images 
12. Atari Jaguar – https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Felchapuzasinformatico.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F06%2FAtari-Jaguar.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=98825a26f944363caa1609e2f340f780c0b9f8b7685a177eab6b65abd2a939f0&ipo=images