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(Article by Daniel Campos, translated by Paulo Garcia)

I believe this article doesn’t bring a lot of new information for those who follow my articles because I’d been promising an article talking about the computer that originates the history of the CoCo clones in Brazil for almost a year.

The history

The CD-6809 was the first CoCo clone produced in Brazil by a company called Codimex. The 32KB RAM computer was based on the original design of the TRS-80 Color Computer and was released in 1983. During its life, the company built around 350 units. In 1985, with the launch of the Prologica CP400 with its aggressive margin and low price, all the other CoCo clones manufacturers couldn’t keep it up and had to stop selling their CoCos, including Codimex.

Back in March of 2015, I got a message from Mr. Davi Menda, co-founder of Codimex, telling me that, for personal reasons, he decided to let go the original prototype of the Codimex CD-6809, which had been stored since the company went out of business, 30 years ago.

I already own a Codimex CD-6809, but Menda’s computer is not like any unit that left the production line, but the prototype of the first CoCo clone ever made in Brazil, which makes it an iconic representation of the dawn the Brazilian computer industry. As a CoCo collector and enthusiast, that reason alone would make it the most precious item in my collection.

Since Mr. Davi lives in Porto Alegre (capital of the southern State in Brazil), I asked my friend Professor Luis Fernando Fortes Garcia to pick up the computer in person.

With the computer, Mr. Davi was kind enough to send ALL the material he had from when Codimex was still in business. The precious package included Newspapers adverts, promotional brochures and the original project of the CD-6809 as it was presented to SEI (a government agency that was responsible for approving all computer projects before they could reach the market).

The Computer Condition

As Mr. Davi warned me, the computer was in a “not so good” condition due to its exposure to humidity for the past 30 years.

Restoration

Note of the translator: We are posting some of the pictures. You can see them all in the original article here.

Everything has to start with the already traditional bath with water and coconut soap😀

Conclusion

It was with great pleasure to restore this historical item of the Brazilian computer industry, and I thank Mr. Davi immensely for that unique opportunity.

The prototype was already presented to the general public during the event Clube Color Rio that happened on April 2015.

(*) This article was originally written in Portuguese by Daniel Campos on his blog AMX Project. There you can find lots of details about many of his projects related to the CoCo, MSX, Amiga and Apple computers.