Verdadeiros Dinossáurios

Dificilmente nos conseguimos recordar ainda do que foram os primeiros modelos de computadores pessoais. Referimos nesta página alguns dos principais modelos com que fomos contactando. Um deles é o Sord M23 que foi precisamente o primeiro computador que a Pluridata vendeu ao seu primeiro Cliente – a Oenol.

DINOSSAUROS

De Utilização Pessoal

Sinclair ZX80

Sinclair ZX81

Sinclair ZX Spectrum

Comodore C64

De Utilização Profissional

Antes do Microsoft DOS

TRS 80 MODEL II

Sord M23 MKIII

Microsoft DOS

Olivetti M20

IBM PC XT

Olivetti M24

Multiposto

ICL PC Quattro

Portáteis

Osborne 1

Kaypro 2

Utilização Pessoal

1980

SINCLAIR ZX 80

After the modest but encouraging success of the MK-14 (initiation board with hexadecimal keyboard), Sinclair (at the time Sciences of Cambridge) decided to develop a slightly more advanced computer.

The ZX-80 is regarded as a pioneer system in micro-computing as at the time the only available computers were kits for hobbyists like the MK-14 or more expensive systems intended for education or research such as the Tandy TRS-80 or the Commodore PET.

The ZX-80 inaugurated the transition between the hobbyist world and the consumer electronics by proposing a true computer in its case for less than £100.

Technically, the ZX-80 is not a revolutionary system but is rather the result of a search for economy through the choice of the components, starting with the membrane keyboard, or the RAM memory limited to 1kb. The operating system, the editor and the Basic interpreter fit into the 4kb of the ROM !

The ZX-80 met some success with nearly 70.000 machines sold in less than one year, announcing the future success of the ZX-81 and at the same time the birth of a new major actor in the micro-computers world : Sinclair Computers Ltd.

NAME	ZX 80
MANUFACTURER	Sinclair
TYPE	Home Computer
ORIGIN	United Kingdom
YEAR	February 1980
END OF PRODUCTION	1981
BUILT IN LANGUAGE	Sinclair Basic
KEYBOARD	Membrane keyboard, 40 keys, 1 SHIFT key
CPU	NEC 780C-1 (Z80 compatible)
SPEED	3.25 MHz
RAM	1 KB, 901 bytes available (upgradable to 64 KB)
ROM	4 KB. Can be expended to 8 KB, thereby making it almost a ZX81
TEXT MODES	32 chars. x 22 lines
GRAPHIC MODES	64 x 44 dots
COLORS	Monochrome
SOUND	None
SIZE / WEIGHT	21,9 (W) x 17,5 (D) x 4 (H) cm / 375 gr
I/O PORTS	Z80 Bus, tape, TV/RF video
POWER SUPPLY	9v DC, external PSU
PERIPHERALS	16 KB RAM extension
PRICE	Kit model: £79.95 (UK, 1980) 255 (Germany, 1980) Assembled model : £99.95 (UK, 1980), 190 (France, 1980) 16K RAM module: 127 (Germany)

1981

SINCLAIR ZX 81

ZX 81

The Sinclair ZX 81 was the successor of the ZX 80, and can be regarded as an evolution of it.

The ZX80 could not handle floating point numbers or cassette data files, but the ZX-81 could. The ZX-80 had 4k ROM : the ZX-81 had 8K ROM with 30 additional functions and some instructions to drive the printer. Thanks to a higher level of integrations (the total number of chips in the basic system was 4, against the ZX80's 21), the ZX-81 cost £30 less than the ZX-80. The plastic case was also different. Whereas the ZX-80 looked cheap in it lightweight white case, the ZX-81 was beautifully designed in its black ABS plastic case.

The keyboard was still formed by an underprinted plastic, but this one was made of non-reflective material. Even with this slight improvement it was quite horrible to use, that's why a lot of additional keyboards appeared quickly on the market. Some of the keys sported up to 5 functions, right in the Sinclair tradition, accessible through the "GRAPHICS", "SHIFT" and "FUNCTION" keys.

Here are the functions added over the ZX-80 : ASN, ACS, ATN COS, EXP, INKEY$, PI, SGN, SIN SQR, INT, LEN, LN, TAN, VAL, <=, >=, < >, COPY, DIM A$, FAST, FOR ... TO ... STEP, LLIST, LLIST n, LPRINT, PAUSE, PLOT, PRINT AT, PRINT TAB, SCROLL, SLOW, UNPLOT. Some are quite useful and make you wonder how it was possible to make anything on the ZX-80 !? However, one function disappeared: TL$ which was used to return a string minus its first character.

The ZX-81 could be operated in two modes, SLOW and FAST. The FAST mode which was the only mode available on the ZX-80, only refreshed the display when the system had completed computing, resulting in a painful screen flicker! It was a useful mode when you had to do a lot of calculation without the need to see what's going on all the time on the screen. The SLOW mode, which was indeed quite slooooowwww, behaved like all other computers did, refreshing the screen all the time.

The ZX81 contained only four main chips : the ROM, Z80A CPU, 1K RAM and the Ferranti custom-made chip! It is as simple as that. The machine was assembled by Timex Corporation in their Scottish plant.

This computer was a very great success in Europe in the beginning of the 80's. It was very cheap and a lot of people who now are working on modern PCs or Macs, made their first move on a ZX 81 even though its performance was actually poor!

A very great range of peripherals were developed for this computer, among them : 3.5" floppy disk units, keyboards, high resolution graphic cards, RS232 or Centronics interfaces, RAM expansions, etc... In fact, it was possible to make a pretty good computer from the ZX 81!

It was followed by the ZX-Spectrum and was also sold as the Timex Sinclair 1000 in the USA.

NAME	ZX 81
MANUFACTURER	Sinclair
TYPE	Home Computer
ORIGIN	United Kingdom
YEAR	march1981
BUILTINLANGUAGE	Sinclair Basic
KEYBOARD	Touch-sensitive keyboard, 40 keys
CPU	Zilog Z80A
SPEED	3.5 MHz
RAM	1 KB (901 bytes available, up to 64 KB)
ROM	8 KB
TEXTMODES	32 x 24 (but 2 lines are reserved for system messages and commands)
GRAPHICMODES	64 x 44
COLORS	Black and white
SOUND	None
SIZE/WEIGHT	167 x 175 x 40 mm / 350gr
I/OPORTS	Z80 Bus, tape, video
POWERSUPPLY	9V DC , 600 mA (centre polarity = +ve)
PRICE	Kit :£50 (UK, june 1981) / Ready-built : £70 (UK, june 1981)

1982

SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM

ZX SPECTRUM

The Sinclair ZX Spectrum was one of the most popular European computers of the 80's. Two models were launched: one with 16 kb RAM and one with 48 kb RAM.

One of its most "interesting" characteristics is its keyboard! Some keys have more than five (!) functions! It is impossible to type BASIC keywords letter by letter, instead you have to use function keys. A lot of peripherals and programs were developed for this computer. It seems that several models of this computers were launched (at least 3), but I've no technical details about them. It was replaced in 1984 by the Spectrum + and in 1985 by the Spectrum 128.

Alan Wilson reports to us :

The 16K version of the computer had only the 16K ram chips loaded, while the 48K version had both banks full.

To keep the prices down Sinclair used faulty 64K chips (internally 2 X 32K). All the chips in the 32K bank of RAM had to have the same half of the 64K chips working. A link was fitted on the pcb in order to choose the first half or the second half.

It was possible with a few logic chips for the experimenter to have access to the faulty 32K bank.

NAME	ZX SPECTRUM
MANUFACTURER	Sinclair
TYPE	Home Computer
ORIGIN	United Kingdom
YEAR	April1982
ENDOFPRODUCTION	1984
BUILTINLANGUAGE	Sinclair Basic
KEYBOARD	QWERTY rubber keyboard (40 keys) with up to 6 functions by keys !
CPU	Zilog Z80 A
SPEED	3.5 MHz
RAM	16k or 48k (42k left for programming)
ROM	16k (Basic & OS)
TEXTMODES	32 x 24
GRAPHICMODES	256 x 192
COLORS	8 with two tones each (normal and bright)
SOUND	1 voice / 10 octaves (Beeper)
SIZE/WEIGHT	23 x 14,4 x 3 cm / 550g
I/OPORTS	Expansion port, tape-recorder (1200 bauds), RF video out
POWERSUPPLY	External PSU, 9v DC, 1.4A (centre polarity = -ve)
PERIPHERALS	ZX printer, ZX microdrives
PRICE	16k: 282 (France, 1983) - 48k: 365 (France, 1983) 16k: £99 (U.K. 1984) - 48k: £125 (U.K. 1984)

1987

COMMODORE C 64C

C 64C

The Commodore 64C was simply the original C-64 repackaged in in a beige C-128 style case. Internally, Commodore integrated most of the hardware onto a single VLSI chip.

The new model did not differ much from its predecessor, the only innovation was the flatter case, which made the keyboard (which had off-white keys) more ergonomic (it looked like the C128 case), not as high as than the old one. But the new case did not only have advantages: due to its low profile and additional metal screening, some of the numerous hardware expansions did not fit anymore. This was changed with the C64G.

The official name for this model was "C=64 C", but nevertheless the German 64'er magazine decided to call it "C64-II" (because the first units didn't have the new name on the label at the bottom), the badges on most of the 64 C's just says "Commodore 64". They pointed out that this name was only valid for the 64'er magazine, but since the 64'er was the magazine for the C64 for a long time, the name was widely accepted and so this model is mostly known as "C64-II" in Germany.

Commodore took advantage of the launch of the 64C to improve its range of peripherals. The machine could be delivered with:
• the 1541C disk drive, internally the same as the previous 1541, but with a beige case,
• the 1541-II disk drive, a smaller 1541 with external power supply and a beige case
• The 1351 two-button mouse which could operate in either proportional or joystick mode,
• The 1802 color monitor which accepted both composite and RGB video signals,
• The 1764 RAM expander which plugged into the expansion port and boosted the system RAM to 256 KB.

First 64C were bundled with GEOS, developed by Berkeley Software, a good window and icon opating system, considering that it ran on a 8-bit processors and 64 KB of RAM.

Sadly, the 64C was launched at the wrong time, at a wrong price (about $80 more than the C64). At that time the competition was hard with the new Atari and Amiga 32-bit computers. The 64C thus didn't meet a large success, except in some European countries.

NAME	C 64C
MANUFACTURER	Commodore
TYPE	Home Computer
ORIGIN	U.S.A.
YEAR	March1987
ENDOFPRODUCTION	Unknown
BUILTINLANGUAGE	Commodore Basic V.2.0
KEYBOARD	Full-stroke 65 keys with 4 function keys
CPU	6510A
SPEED	0.985 MHz (PAL) / 1.023 MHz (NTSC)
CO-PROCESSOR	VIC II (Video), SID (Sound)
RAM	64 KB
ROM	20 KB
TEXTMODES	40 columns x 25 lines
GRAPHICMODES	several, most used : 320 x 200
COLORS	16 + 16 border colours
SOUND	3 voices / 9 octaves, 4 waveforms (sound output through TV)
SIZE/WEIGHT	41.4 (W) x 24.3 (D) x 5.9 (H) cm / 1710 g
I/OPORTS	RGB (composite, chroma/luma and sound in/out), 2 x Joystick plugs, Cardridge slot, Tape interfarce (300 bps), Serial, User Port, TV RF output
BUILTINMEDIA	Cassette unit. Provision for 170 KB 5.25'' floppy disc unit (1541C)
OS	GEOS
POWERSUPPLY	External power supply unit
PRICE	$229

Utilização Profissionall

1979

TANDY RADIO SHACK TRS 80 MODEL II

TRS 80 MODEL II

The TRS-80 model II, is the obscure brother of the TRS-80 family. Many internet pages deal with the models 1,3 and 4 but omit the model 2... This is maybe because the TRS-80 Model 2 was intended to be a business computer for use in offices and labs. Thus it is equiped with a full height Shugart 8'' drive with a capacity of 500k which is a lot compared to the 87k offered by the TRS-80 Model 1 system disk.
It is also possible to connect up to 4 floppy disk units, so you could have 2MB disk space online !

It runs under TRSDOS, but can also achieve CP/M compatibility.

Options for the machine included a hard disk controller, an arcnet network card, a graphics card and a 6 MHz 68000 board set with extra memory (up to 512K) so it could run XENIX.

NAME	TRS 80 MODEL II
MANUFACTURER	Tandy Radio Shack
TYPE	Professional Computer
ORIGIN	U.S.A.
YEAR	May1979
BUILTINLANGUAGE	Basic delivered on disk
KEYBOARD	Full-stroke keyboard with separated numeric keypad
CPU	Zilog Z80 A
SPEED	4 MHz
RAM	32 / 64 KB depending on models
ROM	Unkown
TEXTMODES	40 x 24 / 80 x 24
GRAPHICMODES	None, but 32 graphical symbols are available to simulate graphics
COLORS	monochrome built-in monitor
SIZE/WEIGHT	Heavy !
I/OPORTS	Centronics/Parallel port, 2 x serial/RS232 ports
BUILTINMEDIA	One full height Shugart 8'' drive, single sided floppies with a capacity of 500K
OS	TRS-DOS
POWERSUPPLY	Built-in PSU
PRICE	$3,450 (USA, october 1979)

1982

SORD M23 Mark III

M23 Mark III

The Sord M23 Mark III was available with 12" green monitor or a 14" color monitor.

Despite the M23 featured a cartridge port, all of its important software came on floppies, including the ground-breaking PIPS-III and several BASIC compiler variants developed by Sord and running on their own OS. A lot of good business software and games were written with these.

There were later Mark's, including a Mark I with the world's first 3.5 inch floppies deployed, and the Mark V with eight inch drives -- the Mark III had 5.25 inch. There was also the Mark X with a 10MB hard drive.

Observações: Foi o primeiro computador vendido em 1984, pela Pluridata, ao nosso primeiro Cliente. Um PC destes custava na altura custava cerca de 500.000 Esc, o que com o software de gestão e a impressora significaba uma solução de quase 1.000.000.00ESc.

NAME	M23 Mark III
MANUFACTURER	Sord
TYPE	Professional Computer
ORIGIN	Japan
YEAR	1982
BUILTINLANGUAGE	Standard ASCII full-stroke keyboard + 7 function keys + separated numeric keypad
KEYBOARD	Full-stroke keyboard with numeric keypad, function keys and arrow keys
CPU	Z80A
SPEED	4 Mhz
CO-PROCESSOR	APU (Am9511) arithmetic processor
RAM	128 KB
ROM	Unknown
TEXTMODES	80 x 25
GRAPHICMODES	640 x 256
COLORS	8 colors
SOUND	Unknown
SIZE/WEIGHT	420 x 107 x 300 / 3.8 Kg
I/OPORTS	2 x RS232c ports (75 - 19200 baud), Centronics/Parallel port, 3 x bus slots
BUILTINMEDIA	Two optional 5.25'' disk-drives (330 KB)
OS	Sord DOS, CP/M, UCSD Pascal
POWERSUPPLY	110, 230 V AC +/- 15%
PRICE	Unknown

1982

OLIVETTI M20

M20

In 1972, Olivetti established in the U.S.A. (Cupertino), the Advanced Technology Centre (ATC), a research centre specialized in new technologies and office automation equipment design. During ten years the centre designed Olivetti typewriters, calculators, photocopiers, etc.... In 1980, the first Olivetti computer took form in Cupertino, and the M-20 computer was launched in March 1982. More than 50,000 units are estimated to have been shipped in the first year.

The M20 was one of the very rare computers based on the Zilog Z8000, a 16 bits microprocessor very close to its 8 bits big brother the Z80. Like most of the computers designed before the IBM PC era, the M20 offered technical choices which made it totally incompatible with the rest of the micro world.

The first proprietary M20 operating system, called PCOS (Professional Computer Operating System) was also very particular and didn't allowed files to be exchanged with other systems. Hopefully, MS-DOS V2.0, CP/M-86 and CP/M-80 would be later adapted to the specific M-20 hardware. Moreover, front of this compatibility problem, Olivetti developped a coprocessor board based on the 8086 chip, which offered M20 owners access to IBM PC software.

The M20 came with a 12'' monochrome or colour custom built monitor. The international version had a grey plastic case, the Italian version had a brown one.

NAME	M20
MANUFACTURER	Olivetti
TYPE	Professional Computer
ORIGIN	Italy
YEAR	March1982
BUILTINLANGUAGE	None
KEYBOARD	Full-Stroke 120 keys with numeric keypad
CPU	Zilog Z8001
SPEED	4 Mhz
CO-PROCESSOR	None
RAM	128 KB expandable to 512 KB
ROM	12 KB (BIOS)
TEXTMODES	80 columns x 25 lines
GRAPHICMODES	512 x 256 pixels in 4 colours maximum
COLORS	4 or 8 with RAM extension board
SOUND	Beeper
SIZE/WEIGHT	42.5(W) x 51.4(D) x 15(H) cm. Weight: 10.5 Kg.
I/OPORTS	1 x RS-232 port, 1 x RS-1232C enhanced serial port, 1 x custom monitor connector, 1 x Parallel printer port
BUILTINMEDIA	2 x 160, 320 or 640 KB 5.25'' F.D. drives or 1 x F.D. drive + 1 x 11.25 MB Hard disk
OS	PCOS, CP/M8000, MS-DOS (with the APB 8086 card)
POWERSUPPLY	Built-in power supply
PERIPHERALS	128 KB memory card, Intel 8086 microprocessor card, IEEE-488 card
PRICE	$5400 (2 x F.D. version)

1983

IBM PC XT - Model 5160

PC XT - Model 5160

The IBM PC XT is the successor of the IBM PC. The XT stands for EXtended Technology and was introduced in early 1983. It has enhanced features: CGA graphic card, hard disk, more memory, and no more tape port (!). But it wasn't very innovative.

There are in fact two versions of the XT motherboard. The first one can accept from 64k to 256k RAM, whereas the later one has support for 640K RAM max, the 101-key keyboard, a 3.5'' FDD and a few other details...

In addiditon to the removal of the cassette port, the XT also had eight 8-bit ISA expansion slots VS the PC's five. The XT's slots were also positioned closer together, the same spacing all PCs still use today. This made old PC's totally worthless because you couldn't buy an XT clone board and drop it into a PC case. Eight slots was a huge boon to the "power user" who had previously found himself having to pick and choose what upgrades to install in the paltry five slots of the PC.

The 5160 was replaced with the PC XT S (20 MB Hard disk, slim size floppy disk unit, 640 KB RAM), then with the PC XT 286.

NAME	PC XT - Model 5160
MANUFACTURER	IBM
TYPE	Professional Computer
ORIGIN	U.S.A.
YEAR	1983
ENDOFPRODUCTION	Unknown
BUILTINLANGUAGE	Microsoft BASIC
KEYBOARD	Full-stroke keyboard with numeric keypad and function keys 84 or 101 keys
CPU	Intel 8088
SPEED	4.77 MHz
CO-PROCESSOR	Socket for a 8087 math co-processor
RAM	From 64k to 640k, depending on models
ROM	64 kb
TEXTMODES	80 x 24 / 40 x 24
GRAPHICMODES	CGA modes : 320 x 200 / 640 x 200
COLORS	16
SOUND	Tone Generator
I/OPORTS	eight internal slots (five 8 bit ISA), RS232c, Centronics
BUILTINMEDIA	One 5.25'' FDD, 360k (3.5'' on later models) 10Mb or 20Mb hard-disk
OS	MS DOS
POWERSUPPLY	PSU built-in
PERIPHERALS	Numerous IBM and third-parties expansion cards, i.e. the QuadRam 512 KB RAM card
PRICE	$8000 (Complete version with 640 KB RAM, 10 MB HDD, colour display)

1984

OLIVETTI M24

M24

This is a highly IBM PC compatible system. It means that it is truely hardware and sotfware compatible with the IBM PC of that time. Back then, all "PC compatible" systems were not exactly 100% compatible... so it was a real marketing argument for the Olivetti M24.
There were two true tests to know if a system was really IBM PC compatible : Lotus 1-2-3 and Microsoft Flight Simulator, and the M-24 was running both with no problem.

But in addition to its good compatibility, the Olivetti M24 was offering more than the IBM PC itself : RS232c and Centronics interface built-in, more complete keyboard, better graphic possibilities (640 x 400) and 7 free expansion slots (instead of 3 for the IBM PC). Even the CPU (8086, real 16-bit) was faster than the 8088 (16-bit with an 8-bit bus) used by the IBM PC.

It runs under MS-DOS 2.11, CP/M 86, UCSD P-System and even PCOS, the Olivetti OS used on the M20.
The 128k RAM can be expanded to 256k or 640k by adding memory directly onboard. It is also possible to connect two optional 10 Mb hard disks (one internal and one external).
The Olivetti M24 was sold with a green or yellow phosphore 12" monochrome monitor, or with a color monitor (more expensive, of course). Two keyboards were available : one absolutly identical to the IBM PC's, and an Olivetti with more keys (102 instead of 83) including 18 functions keys and a complete editing keypad.

In September 85 appears a new model, the M24 SP. It is based on a M24 but its Intel 8086 is running at 10 Mhz, it has 512k RAM (still upgradable to 640k) and a 20Mb hard-disk.

Conclusion : the Olivetti M24 was the first computer to be fully compatible with the IBM PC and to offer more features than original PC, for a cheaper price !

The Olivetti M24 was also sold as the Logabax 1600 in France (Olivetti owned Logabax) and the ATT PC-6300in the USA (Olivetti signed a distribution deal with ATT). As Olivetti was not entirely satisfied with the ATT deal, it also approached Xerox to distribute its computers in the USA.

NAME	M24
MANUFACTURER	Olivetti
TYPE	Professional Computer
ORIGIN	Italy
YEAR	1984
BUILTINLANGUAGE	MS-DOS and GW-Basic delivered on disks
KEYBOARD	Separated full-stroke keyboard, 102 keys, numeric keypad, 18 function keys A standard IBM keyboard (83 keys) was also proposed
CPU	Intel 8086
SPEED	8 MHz
CO-PROCESSOR	optional 8087 arithmetic co-processor, NEC 6845 video generator
RAM	128 Kb (up to 640 Kb)
VRAM	40 / 80 x 25
ROM	16 Kb
TEXTMODES	40 x 25, 80 x 25
GRAPHICMODES	320 x 200 with 4 colors / 640 x 200 monochrom / 640 x 400 monochrom
COLORS	16
SOUND	Tone Generator
SIZE/WEIGHT	16 x 38 x 37 cm
I/OPORTS	Centronics, RS232c, mouse, keyboard
BUILTINMEDIA	One or Two 5.25'' disk-drives (360k or 720k), optional 10 Mb hard-disks
OS	MS DOS 2.1, Concurrent CP/M 86, UCSD-P, PCOS
POWERSUPPLY	Built-in PSU, 135w
PERIPHERALS	Hard-disk, IEEE 488, RS 422, RS 232, PC Net boards, IBM 3278 coaxial network board, mouse
PRICE	2 disk-drives system : 3535 (France, 84) color monitor, 10 Mb hard-disk : 8250 (France, 85)

1985

ICL PC Quattro

Quattro

With the Quattro, ICL attempted to tackle the multi-user market which was still opened with neither definitive system nor operating system.

The Quattro was a development of earlier ICL Personal Computer which in turn was a development of the Rair Black Box

The machine was named Quattro as it supported up to four users, each user running up to four programs simultaneously.

Internal hardware design was quite similar as the Personal Computer's. An eight connector backplane supporting logic boards. However, the CPU board featured a 16 bit 8086-2 and up to 1 MB of RAM could be installed.

Thre models were available:
Model 19 with 256 KB RAM and 2 x 5" 800 KB floppy drive,
Model 39 with 512 KB of RAM, one floppy drive and one 10 MB hard disk,
Model 49 same as Model 39 but with a 20 MB hard disk.

The Quattro could work with wirtually any video terminal. ICL supplied its own monochrome (6402G) and colour (6404G) graphic versions along with a 102 key keyboard.

It was delivered with Concurrent CP/M Operating System, later called Concurrent DOS, a true multi-tasking, multi-user O.S. which offered a very limited compatibility with MS-DOS.
Sadly, few major software of the time, running on the first IBM PC and clones, were adapted to the specific features of the ICL. This is the main reason why the Quattro didn't meet any success, except near some corporate customers who already used ICL mainframes.

NAME	Quattro
MANUFACTURER	ICL
TYPE	Professional Computer
ORIGIN	United Kingdom
YEAR	1985
BUILTINLANGUAGE	None
KEYBOARD	Full stroke 102 key with function and arrow keys and numeric keypad
CPU	8086-2
SPEED	8 MHz
CO-PROCESSOR	Socket for 8087 math coprocessor
RAM	From 128 KB to 1 MB
ROM	40 KB
TEXTMODES	80 chars x 25 lines
GRAPHICMODES	640 x 400 dots (ICL terminals)
COLORS	Monochrome or 8 colours
SOUND	Beeper
SIZE/WEIGHT	Unknown
I/OPORTS	6 x serial RS232 ports, custom serial port, RS422 port, RGB port
BUILTINMEDIA	1 or 2 x 5.25'' 800 KB floppy drives, 10 or 20 MB hard disk
OS	Concurrent CP/M V.3.1
POWERSUPPLY	Built in switching power supply unit
PERIPHERALS	RAM expansion, 2nd 20 MB hard disk, ICL monitors and printers
PRICE	Model 19: £2195 - Model 39: £4395 - Model 49: £4995 Monochrome terminal: £899 - Colour: £1399

Portáteis

1981

OSBORNE CORP. OSBORNE 1

OSBORNE 1

The Osborne 1 is one of the first portable computers but needs external power source. Its name comes from Adam Osborne, the man who made this computer a reality (not quite true, see end of the text).

It has a very small built-in screen (8.75 x 6.6 cm, which can display 128 columns!!) and weighs more than 10 Kg.
The first models couldn't display more than 52 columns by line, so to access to the 76 other columns, the user had to scroll among the screen thanks to the cursor keys.

It works under CP/M and was sold with Digital Research CBASIC (compiled BASIC), SuperCalc (spreadsheet), WordStar (word processor), MailMerge (mailing) and Microsoft's MBasic (MBasic source code was 100% upwards compatible with IBM PC's BASICA, source code only).

This machine would be succeeded in 1983 by the Osborne Executive, which featured a larger screen (YAHOO!) and lower-profile disk drives.

Despite its interesting characteristics, Osborne Computer Corporation suffered the competition of the first IBM PC compatibles and went bankrupt in 1983. One casualty was a planned portable computer called the Osborne PC (which, interestingly, was an MS-DOS clone). It was never released (even though prototypes exist).

NAME	OSBORNE 1
MANUFACTURER	Osborne Corp.
TYPE	Transportable
ORIGIN	U.S.A.
YEAR	1981
BUILTINLANGUAGE	None
KEYBOARD	Full-stroke keyboard with separated numeric keypad
CPU	Zilog Z80 A
SPEED	4 MHz
RAM	64 KB
ROM	4 KB
TEXTMODES	52 / 80 / 104 char. x 24 lines
GRAPHICMODES	Only graphic characters
COLORS	Monochrome
SOUND	Beeper
SIZE/WEIGHT	51(W) x 32,5 (D) x 22,5(H) cm. Weight : 10,2 Kg.
I/OPORTS	RS232, IEEE 488, Modem port, Composite Video
BUILTINMEDIA	2 x 5.25'' FDD
OS	CP/M
POWERSUPPLY	Built-in power supply unit
PERIPHERALS	Supplied with : CBasic, WordStar, SuperCalc, MailMerge, DBase II
PRICE	3201

1984

KAYPRO Kaypro 2x

Kaypro 2x

The Kaypro 2x was one of the last models Kaypro produced. Size and appearence were the same as the first Kaypro II, but Internal hardware was inspired by the Kaypro 10.

It came with a 4 MHz Z80A processor, dual slimline 400 KB floppy drives, a built-in 300 baud modem, two serial ports and a full set of Micropro software (WordStar, CalcStar, DataStar)

It is said that Arthur C. Clarke worked in the movie version of "2010: Odyssey Two", a sequel of "2001", using a Kaypro 2x and its built-in modem for transfering texts from Sri Lanka, where he lived, to Los Angeles.

NAME	Kaypro 2x
MANUFACTURER	Kaypro
TYPE	Transportable
ORIGIN	U.S.A.
YEAR	1984
ENDOFPRODUCTION	Unknown
BUILTINLANGUAGE	None (M-BASIC and O-BASIC on diskette)
KEYBOARD	Full-stroke 78 keys, arrow keys and numeric keypad
CPU	Z80A
SPEED	4 MHz
RAM	64 KB
VRAM	2 KB
ROM	Unknown
TEXTMODES	80 chars x 24 lines (ADM-3A compatible)
GRAPHICMODES	160 x 100 text squares
COLORS	built-in 9'' monochrome green monitor
SOUND	Beep only
SIZE/WEIGHT	45 (W) x 38.5 (D) x 21 (H) cm / 11.5 Kg
I/OPORTS	2 serial ports, parallel port, keyboard, built-in 300-baud modem
BUILTINMEDIA	2 x 5.25'' DS/DD 400 KB half-size floppy drives
OS	CP/M 2.2
POWERSUPPLY	Built-in switching power supply unit
PERIPHERALS	10 MB hard disc, battery pack/charger
PRICE	$1595 (in 1986)

PLUWEBDINOS