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OLD-COMPUTERS RESTORATION SITE
A reuploaded version of all that which was once hosted at old-computers.com, which is now inaccessible.
Archive by Hal at Holopleather.
QUAY 500 SERIES
The QUAY 500 was a clone of the North Star Horizon offering some technical improvements compared to its competitor: a standalone single-board instead of a backplane and several S-100 boards, Direct Memory Access for better disk access performance, on-board expansion capabilities for additional parallel and serial port and higher disk capacity. The 500 model was sold with two 200 KB double density 5"1/4 floppy drives, the 520 model with two quad density 400 KB drives. In spite of these technical advantages and a price 20% lower than North Star's similar models, the Quay 500 series do not seem to have been marketed for long.
EXXON 500 SERIES
Exxon Computer Division, a branch of the Exxon Oil Company, sold this computer in the U.S.A and Europe. This computer was built in 1982. The system is composed of CPU box, monitor, dual disk drives and a keyboard. It was delivered withe software on 5.2 disks, manuals, training materials. This office computer was primarily a word processor with calenders, ticklers and file sharing capabilities. It ran on the Z-80 chipset with a 64 KB architecture running a CPM like OS. In some regards it is a monument to the arrogance of Senior Exxon management who felt that they were so good at managing an oil company, that surely they could manage a successful computer company. Exxon owned Zilog, the creators of the Z80, which they purchased in 1980. The Z80 based Exxon 510 was the first system to grow out of that purchase. It has been argued by some the if Exxon had not purchased Zilog, that Zilog left alone would have rivaled Intel today. Exxon Office Systems was based on the purchase of Vydec and Zilog with the machines being developed by Compucorp and the printers being built by Qume. Unfortunately, Exxon really mismanaged the companies and they sold off the business in 1985. The 510 version was the basic 64 KB system. The 520 version offered 128 KB of RAM expandable up to 256 KB. The 530 version featured a 5 MB or 10 MB HDD.
I.S.T.C. (INFORMATIC SYSTÈMES TÉLÉCOM)
Little is known about this system. Help welcomed ! I.S.T.C. (Informatic Systèmes TéléCom) was a french company which was selling imported computers from USA, like the Apple II or the Compucolor. So it wouldn't be surprising if the ISTC 5000 was also an imported system. But which one ? We have not found the answer yet... It is a big system with a built-in 10'' amber display (80 x 25 characters) and one or two integrated 5.25'' disk-drives (143 KB or 403 KB formated). Following software was available : Basic (delivered with the system), Macro Assembler, Extended Basic, Fortran IV ANSI, CP/M, Cobol, Pascal... A 5500 model was also released a bit later (1980), with slightly better features (disk drives capacity : 1 MB each)...
IBM 5100
In September 1975, IBM announced its smallest and first portable computer (If you consider a 28 Kgs. computer portable, that is), the IBM 5100, no bigger than one of IBM's typewriters. Developed in Rochester, it used the same operating system as IBM's /370 line of main frames. Thus it could accommodate the same APL interpreter, permitting the use of APL programs. A BASIC interpreter was also available, depending of the 5100 version chosen. This was the first widely marketed and supported personal computer, and definitely the first useful all-in-one, portable computer system. However, it was a very primitive machine that was largely unsuccessful due to its high price tag (basic version costed $8,975) and limited expansion capabilities. It had a built-in tape drive and a small 5" 64 character display. A special display mode allowed the user to select right or left bigger 32 chars. of each line. The tape drive used a 1/4 inch DC300 tape cartridge and stored 204 KB of data. The 5100 didn't feature a microprocessor chip, but a card called PALM (Put All Logic in Microcode) which acted as a 16-bit microprocessor. Notice that the 5100 is the first serial number of IBM "Personal Computer" range that will later include the 5110, 5120, 5150 (IBM-PC) and 5160 (PC-XT).
IBM 5120
The 5120 integrated system was the last evolution of the 5100 and 5110 portable series, and the last 'heavy desktop' computer made by IBM. The 5120 was an intermediate system between the IBM mainframes and the future 5150 PC. Actually, it was the first desktop Personal Computer made by IBM. Basically, The 5120 technology remained the same as the 5100 model: same custom processor and same IBM typical hardware profile inspired by the mainframes technology. The system featured a 9-inch monochrome moniteur (many 5100 users asked for a larger display) and two 8" floppy drives. The system was sold with both APL and BASIC languages in ROM. APL allowed numerous business software written on IBM minicomputers to run on the 5120.
IBM 5140 CONVERTIBLE
IBM had little luck with it's portable models, and realized to keep up, they needed a laptop. IBM came up with the 5140, it was a laptop that could be converted into a main desktop in seconds. The LCD screen detaches for a color CRT to be attached. IBM didn't sell many of these due to the fact the LCD was not backlit, and conpetition was less expensive. The IBM 5140 was available in two models, the 2 and the 22; the only difference being the 22 came with diagnostics software. IBM saw little success from this machine due to high costs, slow processor at 4.77 MHz, hard to read screen, and cumbersome size. Both models were expandable to 640KB RAM with third party upgrades. This laptop is unique however because it used static memory, instead of dynamic memory. The static memory was more reliable, and gave the CPU 7% more processing power. There were three distinct display models for the IBM 5140. One was the standard 10” monochrome LCD, which was hard to read. Later on IBM changed this to a super twist LCD, which was much easier to read. The first CRT option was an IBM 5144 monochrome display, which was easy to read, it came with a stand, ac power cord, and CRT adaptor for the 5140. The second and final option was an IBM 5145 color display, which was easy to read as well, it came with a stand, ac power cord, and CRT adaptor for the 5140. The CRT monitors sat atop a stand which was placed over the 5140, the 5140 then could be slid in and out from under the monitor stand for easy conversion. The LCD screen that attaches via proprietary connection could be disconnected and removed easily with the push of a button. There is a 72 pin port on the back of the unit for several expansions; serial, parallel, and CRT interfaces were available. These computers also came with a small, direct-attach thermal printer that was same width, height, etc as the computer so you could carry computer, printer and all by the one handle.
ATARI 520/1040 STe
The Atari STe is the successor of the Atari STf (The 'e' stands for 'enhanced') and is almost fully compatible with the STf. In september 1986, Atari decided to make a successor to the STf. They planned to equip it with enhanced video features : Atari said then that the STe will have a 640 x 400 with 16 colors among 4096 and a 320 x 200 with 256 colors among 4096 graphic modes. Unfortunately, eventually, the STe will have none of these graphic modes. The new features are : - a new version of the OS ("Rainbow" TOS 1.6 and later, 1.62), - a Blitter chip to quick perform memory moves (it is the the Mega STf one), - the video chip (Shifter) has been enhanced: the STe can perform, as the Amiga, hardware scrolling in all directions and it is possible to write into the video counters. It also handle 4096 colors instead of 512, unfortunately, it can only display a maximum of 16 of them (without trick). - 'phase lock' of the video output to an external video source permitting direct linking to genlocking device. - It has enhanced sound features too: two 8 bit PCM (Pulse Coded Modulation) channels which can replay stereo sound at 6.25, 12.5, 25, or 50 KHz and which can be mixed with the 3 FM channels. Despite its new and interesting features, the Atari STe was a flop in the marketplace. The STf market was too important and the software editors (especially game editors) didn't sell STe versions of their products. Not long after this, Atari launched the Mega STe to replace the Mega STf. There was an interesting variation on the STe in the R&D; labs of Atari, called the STe+, which had an AMD 286 chip and a small IDE hard drive built in. Quite why this was abandoned nobody really knows, but a number of working prototypes were found in Atari's Mexico office when Atari finally blinked out of existence and have appeared on ebay from time to time.
ATARI 520/1040 STe
The Atari 520 and 1040 STf were the direct successors of the Atari 260 ST and Atari 520 ST. In fact, they had the same technical characteristics except from built-in floppy drive (hence the f of STf). The 3.5" floppy disk drive has been integrated with the power supply into the computer. The early first versions of the Atari 520 STf had a RAM based Operating System (they have a 32 KB ROM), this ROM will be quiclky replaced by a 192 KB ROM which holds all the operating system (called TOS 1.0). An enhanced version of the Atari 520 STf was launched a few months later : the Atari 1040 STf to replace the Atari 520+ : It also had the same characteristics as the 520 STf except its memory (1 MB instead of the 512 KB) and the floppy disk drive : it used 3.5" double side disks (720 KB). Not long after the launch of the 1040 STf, the 520 STf would be "unofficially" equipped with 720 KB floppy disk drives. There was also a STfM model with a built-in floppy (the f) and an RF Modulator (the M).
ATARI 520 ST / ST+ / STM
The 520 ST featured same hardware basis and same amount of memory as the 260 ST. The main difference between them was the built-in ROM TOS operating system and GEM Graphics Interface. In fact, the Atari 520ST originaly came with the OS on floppy as the OS was not completly finished. Very shortly afterward they came with the OS on 6 ROM chips (TOS 1.0). It was first sold in Germany where it met a great success then released in the United States about six monts later. Colour and monochrome version were available. Sadly, users of the colour version couldn't expect programs written for the monochrome version to work until someone wrote an emulator allowing the software written for the monochrome version to run on a colour monitor. Atari was the first company to offer built-in MIDI ports. This made the computer very popular with musicians. One game even used the MIDI conectors (Midi Maze) to connect up to 16 computers together in a MIDI network. The 520 ST+ offered 1 MB of RAM instead of 512 KB. As the main board was designed to provide space for only 512 KB of RAM (16 x 41256 type chips), the second 512 KB bank chips were soldered on top of the original chips. Apparently, 1 Mb versions were sold as Atari 1040s in Australia... The model 520 STM came with a built-in TV modulator allowing a direct connection with the TV-set. The original Atari 520 ST came with an external 360K single sided 3.5 floppy drive, the SF354. Most dealers either bundled it with separate power supply, or a much neater Cumana or Triangle branded drive at lower cost.