--- title: Regnecentralen RC 700 Piccolo categories: - Computers types: - Professional Computer origins: - Denmark years: - '1980' cpus: - Z80A params: name: RC 700 Piccolo company: /companies/regnecentralen company_name: Regnecentralen specs: - label: NAME value: RC 700 Piccolo - label: MANUFACTURER value: Regnecentralen - label: TYPE value: Professional Computer - label: ORIGIN value: Denmark - label: YEAR value: '1980' - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE value: None - label: KEYBOARD value: RC-721 full-stroke limited keyboard. An extended version with numeric keypad was also available - label: CPU value: Z80A - label: SPEED value: 4 Mhz - label: RAM value: 48 KB (expandable to 64 KB) - label: ROM value: 2 KB - label: TEXT MODES value: Unknown - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: A graphic expansion board could be installed (More info?) - label: COLORS value: Monochrome - label: SOUND value: Beeper - label: I/O PORTS value: Monitor output, Keyboard connector, Parallel connector, Terminal & Printer serial (V24) connectors, External disk drive connector, Fuse, Monitor power - label: BUILT IN MEDIA value: |- 5.25'' floppy disk drive\ Optional 8'' floppy disk drive - label: OS value: CP/M - label: POWER SUPPLY value: PSU Built-in - label: PERIPHERALS value: RC-602 or RC-603 dot matrix printer - label: PRICE value: About $3500 tabs: - photos - adverts - links photos: - title: REAR subtitle: '' text: |- From left to right: \- Video monitor output,\ \- Keyboard connector,\ \- Parallel port,\ \- Printer (serial) port,\ \- Terminal (serial) port,\ \- External disk drive (Model RC762) connector,\ \- (below:) Power output for monitor (Model RC752) image: null - title: MOTHER BOARD subtitle: '' text: Picture copyright [www.uptime1.dk](http://www.uptime1.dk) image: null - title: SYSTEM DIAGRAM subtitle: '' text: '' image: null adverts: - title: STICKER subtitle: '' text: This is a promotional adhesive sticker of the RC 700 Piccolo... What a visionary thought! image: null links: - title: DataMuseum.dk url: http://www.datamuseum.dk/site_dk/rc/ text: Some info about Regnecentralen and its computers comments: - author: toto date: Tuesday 20th April 2021 text: nice memories. Had even a 10MB winchester HD. And what about a daiswheel printer with a near 99dB noise level. But when the keyboard failed it was 2 months of tracking down the failing 10kB buffer memory :-(. With just a 10Mb osciloscoop Gave it away to some east-europeans. Never new if it was, as promised, for education or for all the gold used in these eary computer PCB''s. - author: Anonymous (Netherlands) date: Monday 16th May 2016 text: 'To enhance my comment on 9th September 2010: This computer was used for training purposes in The Netherlands to educate young adults, (which already had a degree), with a special half-year course, for acquiring a job in the IT business. It was in the year 1985. I remember the operating system installed was CP/M and we programmed in the COBOL language.' - author: Michael Ringgaard (Denmark) date: Friday 1st August 2014 text: |- Back in 1981, my school, Sofiendalskolen in Aalborg, had a few RC700 systems, and I used them for learning to program in Pascal and COMAL. While most of these were RC702 systems, we also had an RC701 system, which I believe is quite rare. It had an 8" floppy disk drive and used a TV monitor for display. I have made a website with more information about the RC700 computer from Regnecentralen. The site has a simulator for the RC700, which you can download, or you can try the web-based version of the simulator. There is also a number of disk images with software for the RC700 which can be used with the simulator. I am interested in finding more software for the RC700. If you have any software on 5 1/4" floppy disks (original or not) made for (or compatible with) the RC700, please let me know. I have made a PC that can be used for reading these and create .IMD disk image files. - author: Mark date: Friday 11th July 2014 text: This was my first computer experience. The Comal 80 book had a gold-colored cover. The computer was used for our school''s administration and had two 8" floppy drives. (No 5" drive) I believe the floppy could hold 1Mb of data, \~900Kb formatted. - author: Peter Haagerup (Denmark) date: Tuesday 6th August 2013 text: |- We have made the website http://rc700.dk dedicated to the RC759 PICCOLINE and RC750 Partner (maybe PICCOLO in the future). On this website, one can download manuals and disk images, and an emulator for the system is also available. New information is frequently added. We are very interested in getting more software and user manuals. If you have anything you think could contribute to the site, please let us know - we have the equipment to read floppy disks compatible with those systems, and try to rescue as much software as possible. See the Software section on the website for more information. - author: Anonymous date: Thursday 9th September 2010 text: I learned the basics of my current IT job on this machine. You could install the spreadsheet Multiplan, the predecessor of Excel from Microsoft and use Wordstar as a text application. Also the CRT was with amber or green characters. When reading the floppy it made a loud ticking noise. oc_id: 650 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230603123856/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=650 date: '2023-06-03' --- Regnecentralen was a governmental agency founded in 1955 in order to build and run DASK (the first Danish computer), and for doing research in the computer field. The RC 702 Piccolo (RC 700 was the series) was thus used by most schools in Denmark. It was equiped with a Z80A microprocessor, could be shipped with one or two built-in 5" floppy disc drive and ran CP/M. The system supported CP/M and UCSD PASCAL, but was usually shipped with RC COMAL-80, a programming language which was used extensively in Danish schools for many years. COMAL was quite popular as a teaching language, especially in Scotland. --- Pictures & info from Henrik Schmidt
We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system, please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.