Toshiba T1000

The Toshiba T1000 was a laptop computer manufactured by the Toshiba Corporation in 1987. It had a similar specification to the IBM PC Convertible, with an 4.77 MHz 8OC88 processor, 512 KB of RAM, and a monochrome CGA-compatible LCD. Unlike the Convertible, it includes a standard serial port and parallel port, connectors for an external monitor, and a real-time clock.
Unusually for an IBM compatible PC, the T1000 contained a 256 KB ROM with a copy of MS-DOS 2.11. This acted as a small, read-only hard drive. Alternative operating systems could still be loaded from the floppy drive, or (if present) the ramdisk.
Along with the earlier T1100 and T1200 systems, the Toshiba T1000 was one of the early computers to feature a "laptop" form factor and battery-powered operation.
T1000 specification
Dimensions 12.2" W × 11.0" D × 2.05" H (310 × 280 × 52 mm)
Power 9 VDC, 1.1A (+ = core; - = barrel)
Weight 6.4 lbs (2.9 kg)
Video CGA card
Sound PC speaker
Battery Rechargeable NiCd pack (1300 mAh)
Media 1 - 720 3.5" floppy disk drive
Mouse None
Keyboard Selectable between PC or AT (101)

Timex Sinclair 1000

The Timex Sinclair 1000 (TS1000) was the first computer produced by Timex Sinclair, a joint-venture between Timex Corporation and Sinclair Research. It was launched in July 1982.
The TS1000 was a slightly modified Sinclair ZX81 with an NTSC RF modulator instead of a UK PAL (Units sold in Portugal have a PAL RF modulator) device and the onboard RAM doubled to 2 kB. The TS1000's casing had slightly more internal shielding but remained the same as Sinclair's, including the membrane keyboard. It had black and white graphics, and no sound. It was followed by an improved version, the Timex Sinclair 1500.
Like the Sinclair ZX81, the TS1000 used a form of BASIC as its primary interface and programming language. To make the membrane keyboard less cumbersome for program entry, the TS1000 used a shortcut system of one-letter "keywords" for most commands (i.e. pressing "P" while the cursor was in "keyword mode" would generate the keyword "PRINT"). Some keywords required a short sequence of keystrokes (e.g. SHIFT-ENTER S would generate the keyword "LPRINT"). The TS1000 clued the user in on what to expect by changing the cursor to reflect the current input mode.
The TS1000 sold for $99.95 in the US when it debuted, making it the cheapest home computer to date at the time of its launch (its advertising angle was "the first computer under $100".) This pricing initiated a price war with Commodore International, who quickly reduced the price of its VIC-20 to match and later announced a trade-in program offering $100 for any competing computer toward the purchase of a Commodore 64. Since the TS1000 was selling for $49 by this time, many customers bought them for the sole purpose of trading it in to Commodore.

Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100

The TRS-80 Model 100 was an early portable computer introduced in 1983. It was one of the first notebook-style computers, featuring a keyboard and LCD display, battery powered, in a package roughly the size and shape of notepad or large book.
It was made by Kyocera, and originally sold in Japan as the Kyotronic 85. Although a slow seller for Kyocera, the rights to the machine were purchased by Tandy Corporation, and the computer was sold through Radio Shack stores in the United States and Canada as well as affiliated dealers in other countries, becoming one of the company's most popular models, with over 6,000,000 units sold worldwide. The Olivetti M-10 and the NEC PC-8201 and PC-8300 were also built on the same Kyocera platform, with some design and hardware differences. It was originally marketed as a Micro Executive Work Station (MEWS), although the term did not catch on and was eventually dropped.

• Processor: 8-bit Intel 80C85, CMOS, 2.4 MHz
• Memory: 32 kB ROM, 8, 16, 24, or 32kB static RAM. Machines with less than 32 kB could be expanded in 8 kB increments of plug-in static RAM modules.
• Display: 8 lines, 40 characters LCD with 240 by 64 pixel addressable graphics. The screen was not backlit.
• Keyboard: 56 keys, 8 programmable function keys, and 4 dedicated command keys.
• Peripherals: The basic package included: Built-in 300 baud modem (North American versions), parallel printer port, serial communication port (shared by internal modem), bar-code reader input, cassette audio tape, real-time clock.
• Dimensions: 300 by 215 x 50 mm, weight about 1.4 kilograms (3.1 lb) with batteries

Macintosh Portable

The Macintosh Portable was Apple Inc.'s first attempt at making a battery-powered portable Macintosh personal computer that held the power of a desktop Macintosh. It was also the first commercial off-the-shelf portable computer used in space and the first to send an email from space, in 1991 aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-43.
Released on September 20, 1989, it was received with excitement from most critics but with very poor sales to consumers. Seemingly no expense was spared in the construction of the machine. It featured a black and white active-matrix LCD screen in a hinged cover that covered the keyboard when the machine was not in use. The mouse function was handled by a built-in trackball that could be removed and located on either side of the keyboard. It used expensive SRAM in an effort to maximize battery life and to provide an "instant on" low power sleep mode.
The machine was architecturally similar to the Macintosh SE, despite using the 68HC000, a low-power version of the Motorola 68000, running at 16 megahertz (MHz) on a 16 MHz bus. The Portable came with 1 megabyte (MB) of RAM soldered on the motherboard and was expandable to 5 MB using the single RAM expansion slot, or 9 MB using the single PDS expansion slot which, due to strict FCC regulations, was not developed for use with any other expansion cards such as the popular Ethernet card for the SE. It also had a single ROM expansion slot which would accommodate up to 4 MB, though the Portable itself used a 256 K ROM based on the SE's. Weighing in at 15.8 lb (7.2 kg), due in large part to the sealed lead-acid batteries used, the machine was widely considered more of a "luggable" than a portable. Compared to the PowerBook series introduced a few years later, the Portable lacked the ergonomic layout that set the trend for all future laptops.
Introductory price: $6,500

PalmPilot

The PalmPilot Personal and PalmPilot Professional are the second generation of Palm PDA devices produced by Palm Inc (then a subsidiary of U.S. Robotics). These devices were launched on March 10, 1997.
This generation of devices uses the Motorola 68328 processor at 16 MHz, and has 512 KB (Personal) or 1024 KB (Professional) built in memory.
This PDA has a plastic casing which is 4.7 x 3.1 x .7 inches and weighs 5.6 ounces (160 g). On the front of the device there is a 160x160 pixel monochrome touchscreen LCD, with a Graffiti input zone below it. Under this there is a green button for power and backlight control, four application buttons (Date Book, Address Book, To Do List, and Memo Pad) and two scroll buttons. On the left side of the device there is a contrast control, and on the top right side of the device, there is a stylus slot. On the back, there is a memory slot door, reset button, battery door (two Alkaline AAA batteries needed) and serial port (for use with the PalmPilot Cradle).
The memory is located in a memory slot under a plastic cover on the back of the PDA near the top. A 512 KB ROM chip contains the Palm OS 2.0 operating system and resident applications. The RAM is available in 512 KB, 1 MB or 2 MB sizes. The hardware limit is 12 MB of RAM and 4 MB of ROM.

IBM PC 5150

The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981. It was created by a team of engineers and designers under the direction of Don Estridge of the IBM Entry Systems Division in Boca Raton, Florida.
Alongside "microcomputer" and "home computer", the term "personal computer" was already in use before 1981. It was used as early as 1972 to characterize Xerox PARC's Alto. However, because of the success of the IBM Personal Computer, the term PC came to mean more specifically a microcomputer compatible with IBM's PC products.

Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982. Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US $ 595. Preceded by the Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore PET machines, the C64 features 64 kilobytes (65,536 bytes) of RAM, hence the name, and had favourable sound and graphical specifications when compared to well known contemporary systems such as the Apple II, particularly as the price was well below that demanded by Apple. It is commonly known as the C64 or C=64 (after the graphic logo on the case) and occasionally as the CBM 64 (for Commodore Business Machines), or VIC-64. It has also been nicknamed the "breadbox" and "bullnose" due to the shape and color of its initial casing.[citation needed]
During the C64's lifetime, sales totalled between 12.5 and 17 million units, making it the best-selling single personal computer model of all time. For a substantial period of time (1983–1986), the C64 dominated the market with between 30% and 40% share and 2 million units sold per year, outselling the IBM PC clones, Apple Inc. computers, and Atari 8-bit family computers. Sam Tramiel, a later Atari president and the son of Commodore's founder, said in a 1989 interview "When I was at Commodore we were building 400,000 C64s a month for a couple of years."
Part of its success was because it was sold in retail stores instead of electronics stores. Commodore produced many of its parts in-house to control supplies and cost. It is sometimes compared to the Ford Model-T automobile for its role in bringing a new technology to middle-class households via creative mass-production.
Approximately 10,000 commercial software titles were made for the Commodore 64 including development tools, office productivity applications, and games. C64 emulators allow anyone with a modern computer, or a compatible game console, to run these programs today. The C64 is also credited with popularizing the computer demo scene and is still used today by some computer hobbyists

ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum (the "Z" is pronounced "Zed" from its original British English branding) is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd. Referred to during development as the ZX81 Colour and ZX82, the machine was launched as the ZX Spectrum by Sinclair to highlight the machine's colour display, compared with the black-and-white of its predecessor, the Sinclair ZX81. The Spectrum was ultimately released as eight different models, ranging from the entry level model with 16 kB RAM released in 1982 to the ZX Spectrum +3 with 128 kB RAM and built in floppy disk drive in 1987; together they sold in excess of 5 million units worldwide (not counting clones, which were numerous).
The Spectrum was among the first mainstream audience home computers in the UK, similar in significance to the Commodore 64 in the USA. The introduction of the ZX Spectrum led to a boom in companies producing software and hardware for the machine,[6] the effects of which are still seen; some credit it as the machine which launched the UK IT industry. Licensing deals and clones followed, and earned Clive Sinclair a knighthood for "services to British industry".
The Commodore 64, BBC Microcomputer and later the Amstrad CPC range were major rivals to the Spectrum in the UK market during the early 1980s. Over 20,000 software titles have been released since the Spectrum's launch and new titles continue to be released, with over 90 new ones in 2010.

Amstrad CPC6128

The Amstrad CPC 6128 was the successor to the Amstrad CPC 664 which had a very short life. It had almost all the same features as the 664, except the memory. Like the 664, only 42 Kb could be accessed, the upper 64 Kb were used as a RAM disk or to store data. It was sold with quite a good quality monitor (monochrome green or color) and a built-in 3" floppy disk drive (2 x 180 KB).
It ran under Amsdos (the Amstrad Operating System) or under CP/M 2.2 or CP/M 3.0 (CP/M +). The CP/M 2.2 OS was bundled with DR Logo and CP/M+ with GSX (the graphic extension of CP/M). Like the CPC 664, the Amstrad CPC 6128 was almost fully compatible with the CPC 464.
The German version of the Amstrad (Schneider CPC 6128) had different "real" connectors instead of mainboard edge connectors. Norbert Unterberg reports that the main reason for this was that the original Amstrad did not pass the German "FCC" test because it was polluting its surroundings with electromagnetic waves, and the rules for that were much stricter in Germany. That's why the Schneider got real connectors and a metal housing inside.
However, after "Schneider Rundfunkwerke" stopped selling the Amstrad CPC series of home computers and the PCW series of word-processors, Amstrad continued to sell the CPC under the Amstrad brand name in Germany.
The ROM was identical for all brands of Amstrad: Schneider, Orion, Awa,...
Note that there is a way to find out all the brand names under which Amstrad distributed their CPC range.

Macintosh 128K (Apple)

The Macintosh 128K machine was the original Apple Macintosh personal computer. Its beige case contained a 9 in (23 cm) monitor and came with a keyboard and mouse. An indentation in the top of the case made it easier for the computer to be lifted and carried. It had a selling price of US$2,495. The Macintosh was introduced by the now famous US$1.5 million television commercial by Ridley Scott, "1984", that most notably aired on CBS during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984. The sales of the Macintosh were strong from its initial release and reached 70,000 on May 3, 1984;[6] afterwards, sales plummeted. After its successor, the Macintosh 512K, was introduced, it was rebadged as the Macintosh 128K.
The Macintosh was designed to achieve adequate graphics performance, which had previously required hardware costing over $10,000 US, at a price accessible to the middle class. This narrow goal resulted in an efficient design which traded off expandability but met or exceeded the baseline performance of its competitors.
The centerpiece of the machine was an 8 MHz Motorola 68000 microprocessor connected to a 128 KB DRAM by a 16-bit data bus. Lack of RAM proved to be a fatal constraint to much multimedia software, and although this baseline was similar to its competitors, it could not be upgraded. A 64 KB ROM chip boosted the effective memory to 192 KB, but this is offset by the display's 22 KB framebuffer, which is shared with the DMA video controller.

Atari ST

The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals. Due to its graphical user inferface, it was known as the “Jackintosh”, a reference to Jack Tramiel.
The Atari ST was part of the 16/32 bit generation of home computers, based on the Motorola 68000 CPU, with 512 KB of RAM or more, and 3½" double-sided double-density floppy disks as storage (nominally 720 KB). It was similar to other contemporary machines which used the Motorola 68000, the Apple Macintosh and the Commodore Amiga. Preceding the Amiga's commercial release by almost two months, the Atari ST was the first computer to come with a fully bit-mapped color GUI, using a version of Digital Research's GEM released that February.
The ST was primarily a competitor to the Apple Macintosh and the Commodore Amiga systems. This platform rivalry was often reflected by the owners and was most prominent in the Demo Scene. Where the Amiga had custom processors which gave it the edge in the games and video market, the ST was generally cheaper, had the CPU slightly faster clocked, and had a high-resolution monochrome display mode, ideal for business and CAD. In some markets, particularly Germany, the machine gained a strong foothold as a small business machine for CAD and Desktop publishing work. The Atari ST also enjoyed some market popularity in Canada.
The ST was also the first home computer with integrated MIDI support. Thanks to its built-in MIDI, it enjoyed success for running music-sequencer software and as a controller of musical instruments among amateurs and professionals alike, being used in concert by bands such as Madonna, Tangerine Dream, Fatboy Slim, and 1990s UK dance act 808 State, as well as naming German digital hardcore band Atari Teenage Riot.

Amiga 1000

The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities. The Amiga provided a significant upgrade from 8-bit computers, such as the Commodore 64, and the platform quickly grew in popularity among computer enthusiasts. The best selling model, the Amiga 500, was introduced in 1987 and became the leading home computer of the late 1980s and early 1990s in much of Western Europe. In North America success was more modest. The Amiga went on to sell approximately six million units. Second generation Amiga systems (A1200 and A4000) were released in 1992. However, poor marketing and failure to repeat the technological advances of the first systems meant that the Amiga quickly lost its market share to competing platforms, such as the fourth generation game consoles, Apple Macintosh and IBM PC compatibles.
Based on the Motorola 68000 series of microprocessors, the machine sports a custom chipset with graphics and sound capabilities that were unprecedented for the price, and a pre-emptive multitasking operating system called AmigaOS.
Although early Commodore advertisements attempted to cast the computer as an all-purpose business machine, the Amiga was most commercially successful as a home computer, with a wide range of games and creative software. It was also a less expensive alternative to the Apple Macintosh and IBM-PC as a general-purpose business or home computer. The platform became particularly popular for gaming and demoscene activities. It also found a prominent role in the desktop video, video production, and show control business, leading to affordable video editing systems such as the Video Toaster. The Amiga's native ability to simultaneously play back multiple digital sound samples made it a popular platform for early "tracker" music software. The relatively powerful processor and ability to access several megabytes of memory led to the development of several 3D rendering packages, including LightWave 3D and Aladdin 4D.
Since the demise of Commodore, various groups have marketed successors to the original Amiga line. Eyetech sold PowerPC based hardware under the AmigaOne brand from 2002 to 2005, and Acube sells the AmigaOS 3 compatible Minimig systems with a MC68000 compatible CPU and AmigaOS 4 compatible Sam440 and Sam460 systems with PowerPC processors.
The name Amiga was chosen by the developers specifically from the Spanish word for a female friend, and because it occurred before Apple and Atari alphabetically. It also gave the message that the Amiga computer line was 'user friendly' as a pun or play on words.

Amstrad CPC464

The Amstrad CPC (short for Colour Personal Computer) is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and the German-speaking parts of Europe.
The series spawned a total of six distinct models: The CPC464, CPC664, and CPC6128 were highly successful competitors in the European home computer market. The later plus models, 464plus and 6128plus, efforts to prolong the system's lifecycle with hardware updates, were considerably less successful, as was the attempt to repackage the plus hardware into a game console as the GX4000.
The CPC models' hardware is based on the Zilog Z80A CPU, complemented with either 64 or 128 kB of memory. Their computer-in-a-keyboard design prominently features an integrated storage device, either a compact cassette deck or 3" floppy disk drive. The main units were only sold bundled with a colour or monochrome monitor that doubles as the main unit's power supply. Additionally, a wide range of first and third party hardware extensions such as disk drives (for the CPC464), printers, and memory extensions, was available.
The CPC series was pitched against other home computers primarily used to play video games and enjoyed a strong supply of game software. The comparatively low price for a complete computer system with dedicated monitor, its high resolution monochrome text and graphic capabilities and the possibility to run CP/M software also rendered the system attractive for business users, which is reflected by a wide selection of application software.
During its lifetime, the CPC series sold approximately three million units.[2]