By the end of 1986, Acorn had been taken over by Olivetti. They had already built the BBC Master and Olivetti decided it needed to be remodeled to try and make Acorn profitable again. They took the BBC Master, reduced the computer down to the size of a keyboard, and Read more
The BBC Master was an upgraded version of the BBC Micro, with additional memory card slots, a MOS 65C102 CPU running at 2MHz and 128k of RAM. It was brought out in 1986. Its price was ยฃ499 which is ยฃ1,400 ($1,800) adjusted to 2019.
The BBC Micro was designed and built by Acorn. It was a UK Government funded project to put computers into schools in the early 80’s. I remember using one myself at 5 years old back in 1989. The Micro has many names, BBC Microcomputer, just “BBC”, BBC Model A/B/B+. The Read more
The Amstrad PCW9512 started life in 1987 as a Personal Computer aimed largely at word processing at home. It uses a Zilog 80 CPU running at 4MHz, 512k RAM. It was designed to run CP/M or CP/M+, booting from Amstrads standard 3″ 720k floppy drive. They sold for ยฃ499, which Read more
Digital pdp11/23 (two of). These pdp11’s use a single-chip CPU. Nearly all other pdp11 computers use 3rd generation logic boards to form the processors. The F-11 CPU is based on the same archetecture as the KB11 Processor module as used in most pdp11’s. The pdp11/23 uses a Q-Bus system, designed Read more
The Osborne 1, built by the Osborne Computer Corporation, is considered to be the worlds first portable computer. It features a 5″ monitor, two 5 1/2″ floppy drives, Zilog 80 CPU and 64k RAM. It was designed to be rugged and compact. The first Osborne 1 was shipped in July Read more
The Synertek SYM Model 1 is a single board computer, and designed to be very versatile, allowing the user to make use of its IO and expansion ports. The SYM has 1k RAM standard, but is expandable to 4k. It can use 8k of ROM. The SYM is very similar Read more
The Kaypro 2X is a portable computer from 1984. It uses a 4MHz Zilog 80 CPU and is was built to be reasonably rugged with its all-metal case. Its 9″ screen was a reasonable size for a portable machine, though all this made the computer suprisingly heavy, weighing 26lb (12kg). Read more
This IBM AT Model 5170 was built in 1985. It was bought new by Appleby Castle. Along with software it cost ยฃ8000. That is ยฃ34,000 in 2018 money ($43,680). It was used in the accounting department. It has 2x floppy drives, 1.2Mb and 360kb. This allowed both newer and older Read more
The Sharp MZ-80K was one of the earliest attempts at combining the Computer, Monitor, Keyboard and Tape Cassette all into one unit. It uses a Zilog 80 CPU and has 48k RAM (~32k useable). It was popular in businesses but its high price kept it away from home users. The Read more