Jupiter Cantab

Jupiter Cantab Limited was a Cambridge based home computer company. Its main product was the 1983 Forth based Jupiter Ace. The company was founded in 1982 by two ex-Sinclair Research staffers, Richard Altwasser and Steven Vickers. Their machine was, externally, remarkably similar to the ZX Spectrum, with a copycat rubber keyboard. It also used the same Z80 processor. However, the Ace's video output was limited to monochrome, unlike the Spectrum's 8 colour capability. The £90 Ace was a flop in both the UK and US markets: the Forth language, although considered powerful, was not as popular or accessible as the already well-established BASIC language featured in competing microcomputers. In the US it was sold as the Ace 4000. The company...