New to the Tatung Einstein? This page is the map. It explains what the machine is, how to run its software today on a modern computer or on real hardware, and where to go next depending on what you want to do. Every link points to a guide, course or download on this site.
The Tatung Einstein TC01 was launched in 1984 by the British arm of Tatung, a Taiwanese electronics company. It was unusual for a home computer of its time: a Z80 processor, a built in 3 inch floppy disc drive, a TMS9929 video chip with hardware sprites, and a disc operating system in ROM, all in one case. Games looked and moved like MSX titles, while the disc system made it a credible small business machine. A later model, the Einstein 256, added more memory and a different video chip and is not fully compatible with the TC01, so it helps to know which one you have or are emulating. The Introduction Manual and the Tatung 256 Manual are both in the Downloads library.
Tatung and a handful of publishers wrote good introductions at the time, and the library has them as PDFs. The Einstein Primer is the gentlest start, an illustrated beginner's guide to the hardware, the peripherals and BASIC. The DOS/MOS Introduction is Tatung's own explanation of the disc system and its commands, which you will meet the moment a disc boots. The Einstein Reference Card is the one page cheat sheet to keep beside you. When you want to go deeper, The Source is a complete programming manual covering BASIC, Z80 assembly, graphics, sound and sprites, and the Einstein Compendium collects programs, utilities and technical notes from the machine's user community. Everything else in the Downloads library under Book and Manual is there when you need it.
The quickest way in is emulation. MAME emulates both the TC01 and the 256, and our Setting Up MAME guide walks through installing it on macOS, Windows and Linux. MAME also needs the machine's ROM, which you can get from the Einstein System ROM download. Windows users have a second option in Albert, a dedicated Einstein emulator with a simpler interface and a built in debugger.
Once MAME is running, you need something to load. Einstein software is distributed as disc images, files that end in .dsk and hold the contents of one floppy disc. Every game, application and utility in the Downloads library comes as one of these. Mount the .dsk in MAME as the first floppy drive, press Ctrl and Break at the prompt, and the disc boots.
The Einstein's disc format is a close relative of CP/M, and the guide Discs, DOS and CP/M on the Einstein explains how a disc is organised and what the built in DOS commands do. When you want to move your own files onto a disc image, or get files off one, our Einstein Disc Tools are a set of Python scripts that create, fill, extract and check .dsk images on any modern computer. The MOS DOS Reference Manual is the original documentation for the operating system itself.
If you own a machine, the same disc images work on real hardware. Most Einsteins still in use have had the original 3 inch drive replaced with a Gotek, a small unit that reads disc images from a USB stick. Copy the .dsk files onto the stick, select one on the Gotek's display, and the Einstein boots it exactly as it would a real floppy. If you still have working drives, How to Load a Disk into the Disk Drive covers the basics, and How to Add a Second Disk Drive takes it further. For getting the picture onto a modern screen, see Connecting the Einstein to a TV.
The hardware guides also cover the community's modern add ons: the EinsDein SD card interface, a PS/2 keyboard adapter, and a remade TC01 motherboard for machines beyond repair.
If you want to program the Einstein, start with the Z80 Assembly for the Tatung Einstein course. It assumes no prior assembly knowledge and takes you from your first instruction to a complete game running on real hardware, with every fact verified on the machine rather than copied from an old manual. Its second lesson sets up the toolchain, built around our VS Code extension, which assembles your code and loads it straight into a running MAME with one click.
Prefer BASIC? The Einstein shipped with Xtal BASIC, and the BASIC manual is in the library. CVBasic is a modern BASIC compiler that also targets the machine.
Original Einstein discs are forty years old and will not last forever. If you have some, a Greaseweazle or SuperCard Pro can read them at the flux level, and the Einstein Disc Tools turn those dumps into images MAME can boot and files you can extract. If you find software that is not in the library yet, we would like to hear about it.
The Community page introduces the people who write for the site and lists other places Einstein owners gather. The News section carries new releases, ports and finds. And if you have a question, a disc, or a correction, the Contact page reaches us directly.
