Keyboard Builders' Digest / Keyboard Spotting
Dick Smith Cat
A Dick Smith Cat a.k.a. VTech Laser 3000 repaired and posted by u/lizardb0y.
Published March 27, 2022
It seems the Dick Smith Cat is a rebranded VTech Laser 3000.
In 1983, Hong Kong based Video Technology Company (VTech) introduced the Laser 3000 personal microcomputer, an Apple II clone.
The Laser 3000 computer was said to be 96% compatible with the Apple IIe for half the price (don't ask me how to calculate that compatibility percentage).
And what about Dick Smith? I wasn't familiar with the name but it's apparently my fault. Dick Smith is a well-known Australian businessman and national hero who, among other things, managed to circumnavigate the Earth a few times and still holds a lot of aviation world records.
With respect to computers and keyboards he is the founder of Dick Smith Electronics (DSE), originally a car radio repair shop.
Being a staunch supporter of Australian enterprise, Mr. Smith started his own supermarket chain selling only Australian made and produced goods.
And it seems he couldn't find an appropriate local Apple II alternative either – thus the Dick Smith Cat? Maybe. Click the image below to enlarge it:
By the way he must be a funny chap because dubbing his power supply the "big dick".
In addition, unable to find a local Australian manufacturer of matches he imported and packaged his own brand, which he called Dickheads.
Finally, here is a video with Dick Smith talking about his adventures and life in 2014, referencing even more dicky stuff:
Published on Sun 27th Mar 2022. Featured in KBD #71 (source).
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