JUPITER ACE (1982)
the home computer that refused to speak BASIC
Every single home computer in 1982 ran BASIC. Every single one except this little white box from Cambridge.
the origin story
Two engineers walk out of Sinclair Research and decide to build their own machine. Steve Vickers wrote the ZX Spectrum's BASIC. Richard Altwasser designed its motherboard. Their verdict on BASIC? They weren't fans.
"Comparing Forth to Basic is like comparing a Gothic cathedral to a mud hut." — Steve Vickers, 1982
They named their company Jupiter Cantab, rented a spare room in Altwasser's house in Cambridge, and got to work.
what made it weird
The Ace ran FORTH — a language where you stack tiny building blocks called "words" on top of each other. Alien syntax, steep learning curve, and absolutely beautiful to the right kind of mind. It ran 10× faster than BASIC on identical hardware. The machine had a Z80A chip, 3KB of RAM, and cost £89.95.
No colour graphics. No software library to speak of. Just raw, elegant speed.
the rise and fall
April 1982 ZX-Spectrum launches. Vickers & Altwasser quietly start planning their exit.
September 1982 Jupiter Ace goes on sale. Built in a spare room.
December 1982 Stocked by Laskys and Debenhams. Christmas boom. Optimism.
July 1983 Altwasser quits to be with his newborn. The writing is on the wall.
November 1983 Jupiter Cantab folds. 14 months of existence. £140K in debt.
why it failed (and why that's sad)
The market wanted games. Kids wanted BASIC. The Ace had monochrome graphics, almost no third-party software, and a language that required you to think differently. It wasn't a bad machine — it was a machine built for a world that didn't exist yet.
"We sold a lot of machines to the few hundred Forth enthusiasts — and that was it." — Steve Vickers, looking back
Around 5,000 units were ever made. Today they're collector's items. The people who own one treat it like a relic — and honestly, they're right to.
