Victor 9000
Sirius 1
Released:1982
Price:US $4,995 (128K RAM)
CPU:Intel 8088 @ 5 MHz
RAM:128K - 896K
Display:800 x 400 graphics
 80 x 25 text
Expansion:4 internal slots (nonstandard)
Ports:2 serial, 1 parallel
Storage:2 internal 5 1/4-inch floppies
OS:CP/M-86 on diskette
 MS-DOS on diskette




"I am the Victor 9000, the number one choice in business computers." (MP3 sound sample)

Introduced at COMDEX 81, the Victor 9000 had its first shipment in spring of 1982. The powerful system is based on the Intel 8088 processor and features 128K bytes of main memory (expandable to 896K); floppy storage capacity of 1.2 megabytes on single-sided diskettes and 2.4 megabytes on double-sided diskettes; hard disk storage capacity of 10.6 megabytes (formatted) in either internal or external versions; an 80/132 column display screen with graphics-quality resolution of 800 x 400 pixels, and four input/output ports- two serial and two parallel (one internal).

  • 1980 - Chuck Peddle leaves Commodore, forms Sirius Systems Technology , is named president.
  • 1981 - Kidde, Inc. helps finance Sirius specifically to create the Victor 9000, which was designed in-part by Chuck Peddle.
  • 1982 - Victor is selling two-thousand 9000s a month by the end of the year.
  • 1983 - Struggling financially.
  • 1984 - Bankrupt.
    • Victor had over 50 branch offices in the US, with hope for 1000+ retailers by the end of year 1982.

    Peddle's company, Sirius Systems Technology, changed their name to Victor, primarily because of a merger with Victor Business Products, itself a subsidiary of the conglomerate Kidde, Inc., the chief investor in Sirius.
    But Sirius/Victor had also lost the rights to use the "Sirius" name in US following a suit filed by Sirius Software, Inc, a manufacturer and distributer of games software.

    The Victor 9000 is sold in Europe as the Sirius 1, distributed by ACT. The system is basically the same, but it has a different case. The Sirius 1 became the most popular 16-bit business computer in Europe.
    They both run either the CP/M-86 or MS-DOS operating system, but neither is IBM compatible - that is, software written specifically for the IBM PC probably will not run on the Victor. Additionally, the hardware specs, floppy drives, and expansion slots are dissimilar.

    Peddle believed they could become third-largest computer company in world, behind IBM & DEC.

    Quite an optimistic outlook, but the Victor 9000 really was an excellent business machine, probably superior to the competition, mainly the IBM PC, in many ways.

    On March 8, 1983, IBM announced the IBM XT. The XT is an extension of the IBM PC targeted at the business market.

    Many people in the industry feel that the XT was introduced to compete directly with the Victor 9000 hard disk system.

    Source: Victor dealer newsletter.


    Related Links

  • ACT Sirius 1 and Victor Website (archive)
  • old-computers.com
  • Victor documents from bitsavers.org




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