DJOE
DJOE is an acronym for
De Jonge Onderzoekers Eindhoven
(The Young Scientists Eindhoven), a foundation whose
purpose is to support and stimulate young people with an
interest in science and technology. To further this end, the
foundation provides a facility called the Jeugdlaboratorium (Youth laboratory) which is located in the city
of Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
We have a history of DJOE (in Dutch) written by Nico and Jan; a more objective account can be found in an UNESCO publication by Fred Goffree.
You can find more information about the foundation on their website (in Dutch).
Similar foundations exist throughout the Netherlands, although
the Eindhoven one has always been one of the largest and most
active. A yearly competition for young scientists is organized by
a national foundation called De Jonge Onderzoekers Nederland which also has a website (in Dutch).
In 1979 the DJOE foundation acquired an EXIDY Sorcerer computer; one of the more
popular microcomputer machines at the time. Young scientists being what they
are, they wanted to explore the possibilities of this machine. This led
to a series of hardware and software projects, but the most frustrating
aspect of the machine was that there was only one (a second one being
considered too expensive at the time). To attempt to alleviate the
problem, a project was started in early 1983 to build a multi-user
capable computer. This computer was called the ORDINATOR
and the group that designed, built and used it became known as the ORD-GROUP.