ICL Personal computer
In the early 70s, the British government whished an English computer company could compete with the world major manufacturers. Some years later, the ICL company became one of the larger manufacturer of computers in Europe and did really compete with U.S. companies.
In 1980, before the ICL Personal Computer was born, the company met serious financial problems, the English government paid several million pounds and ICL asked the British RAIR CIE to provide the ICL-PC hardware.
This ICL Personal Computer is thus exactly the same machine as the RAIR Black Box system, a backplane 8085 based system using a serial video terminal as video display, and CP/M (single user) or MP/M (multi-user) operating systems.
Two series were released. The PC1 series is the model pictured here. The PC2 series was the same design case as the ICL PC Quattro. This used an Intel or AMD 8085AH-2 CPU at 5MHZ
The model numbers for the PC1 series were:
Model 10 (pictured here) - 64 KB RAM, 2 x 5.25" FDD, CP/M O.S.
Model 30 with a 5 MB hard disc, CP/M O.S.
Model 31 64 KB RAM, three users, 5 MB hard disc, MP/M O.S.
Model 32 256 KB RAM, three users, 10 MB hard disc, MP/M O.S.
Those of the PC2 series were:
Model 15 64 KB RAM, 2 x 5.25" FDD, CP/M O.S.
Model 25 with a 5 MB hard disc, CP/M O.S.
Model 26 64 KB RAM, three users, 5 MB hard disc, MP/M O.S.
Model 35 256 KB RAM, three users, 10 MB hard disc, MP/M O.S.
Agnus WR Gulliver reports us:
There were a few simple games written for it, mostly text based (what do you expect, it uses CP/M), but it's main use was of course as an office machine.
I recall it being a slow machine to use, even boot-up took about a minute. You had to be very careful with the hard disk because it didn't have auto-parking heads. After it was switched off you had to wait about a minute to switch it on again.
According to K.-L. Butte,there were 3 different models of it marking the 3 major development steps: The first incarnation wit 8085 and MP/M, the second with 8088 and Concurrent CP/M and the third with 8086 and Concurrent CP/M.
主要参数编辑本段回目录
 |  |
| NAME | Personal computer |
| MANUFACTURER | ICL |
| TYPE | Professional Computer |
| ORIGIN | United Kingdom |
| YEAR | 1981 |
| BUILT IN LANGUAGE | None |
| KEYBOARD | Full-stroke 102 keys with function keys and numeric keypad |
| CPU | Intel or AMD 8085A |
| SPEED | 3 MHz |
| RAM | 64 KB up to 512 KB |
| VRAM | Depending on the video terminal used |
| TEXT MODES | 80 characters x 25 lines |
| GRAPHIC MODES | None |
| COLORS | Monochrome |
| SOUND | Beeper |
| SIZE / WEIGHT | 50.5(W) x 40.5(D) x 14(H) cm. |
| I/O PORTS | 2 x serial ports. Serial printer and keyboard on terminal |
| BUILT IN MEDIA | 2 x 5.25'' 256 KB Double sided / Double density FDD |
| OS | CP/M or MP/M |
| POWER SUPPLY | Built-in power supply |
| PRICE | From ?,800 |
参考文献编辑本段回目录
http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=752
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Computers_Limited
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Computers_Limited
