the 1020 was based on a plotter mechanism manufactured by alps. the same mechanism formed the basis of several other low-cost plotters produced around the same time, including the commodore 1520, the oric mcp40, the tandy/radio shack cgp-115, the texas instruments hx-1000 and the mattel aquarius 4615. however, the 1020 connected via the atari 8-bit's proprietary sio interface, eliminating the need for an 850 serial/parallel interface module, but limiting its use to atari 8-bit computers.