---
title: DULMONT Magnum
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Portable
origins:
- Australia
years:
- '1984'
cpus:
- Intel 80186
params:
  name: Magnum
  company: /companies/dulmont
  company_name: DULMONT
  specs:
  - label: NAME
    value: Magnum
  - label: MANUFACTURER
    value: Dulmont
  - label: TYPE
    value: Portable
  - label: ORIGIN
    value: Australia
  - label: YEAR
    value: '1984'
  - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
    value: No language but a software package
  - label: KEYBOARD
    value: Full-stroke 76 keys with function and arrows keys
  - label: CPU
    value: Intel 80186
  - label: SPEED
    value: Unknown
  - label: RAM
    value: 96 KB up to 384 KB
  - label: ROM
    value: 128 KB up to 384 KB
  - label: TEXT MODES
    value: 40-80 characters x 8 lines
  - label: GRAPHIC MODES
    value: Unknown
  - label: COLORS
    value: Monochrome
  - label: SOUND
    value: Internal speaker
  - label: SIZE / WEIGHT
    value: 32(W) x 27,5(D) x 5,5(H) cm. / 4.8 Kg
  - label: I/O PORTS
    value: 2 x ROM cartridges, 2 x Serial, Parallel, Composite video, Expansion port
  - label: BUILT IN MEDIA
    value: C-MOS battery-backup RAM
  - label: OS
    value: MS-DOS
  - label: POWER SUPPLY
    value: External power supply unit, Ni-Cad battery
  - label: PERIPHERALS
    value: 2 x 5.25'' 360 KB F.D. unit
  - label: PRICE
    value: Unknown
  comments:
  - author: Alex paine (Australia)
    date: Tuesday 24th August 2021
    text: Together with Clive Mackness and Colin Morris we first conceived the idea that became the Dulmont Magnum in 1979 at which time I was the International Development Manager for Dulmison.
  - author: Ian (England, United Kingdom)
    date: Tuesday 29th November 2016
    text: This computer has just been featured as part of a working teardown on YouTube in Australia by a guy called Dave. https://youtu.be/st7H_vqSaQc
  - author: Yuri
    date: Thursday 31st March 2016
    text: |-
      Somebody have schematic diagram Dulmont Magnum?\
      Someone has a laptop in working condition?
  - author: David Payne (Melbourne, Australia)
    date: Monday 10th February 2014
    text: |-
      A friend I''ve lost contact with had a Time Office Kookaburra. I think they were renamed thus when Time Office Computing, (nothing to do with Henry Luce), bought Dulmont.

      NO WAY was this the first computer or even the tenth Microcomputer designed or built in Australia! Try CSIRAC $ perhaps the Automatic Totalisers long before that. The first Australian DESKTOP computer was probably the EDUC-8 c1973-4.
  - author: Leskovez (Russia)
    date: Saturday 18th January 2014
    text: If someone owns the laptop let me know. Laptop needed for the museum of computer technology. leskovezATmail.ru
  - author: Ivan Rozanoff (I am from Russia Tomilino village? under the Moskow )
    date: Monday 3rd January 2005
    text: |-
      HAPPY NEW YEAR!\
      I am the crazy lover off old computers and your site!
  oc_id: 764
  source:
    url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230329003534/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=764
    date: '2023-03-29'
---

Like the [HP-110](/museum/hewlett-packard-hp-110/) or the Sharp [PC-5000](/museum/sharp-pc-5000/), the Dulmont Magnum belongs to the first family of notebook computers with LCD screen (not yet back-lighted). Moreover, it was the first computer conceived and manufactured in Australia. It was also called **Kookaburra** (an Australian bird) for some export markets.

The Magnum was a PC-compatible system featuring an Intel 80186 processor, 96 KB of RAM, an 8 line LCD screen and several management software in ROM: word processor, spreadsheet, telecommunication, file manager, and appointment. Additional ROM software could be added thanks to two 128 KB cartridge slots. A rechargeable Ni-Cad battery pack allowed ten to twelve hours of continuous use, and a lithium battery kept the content of the RAM memory when the system was turned off.

Due to various RAM/ROM configurations in the system, the drive letters assignation was specific to the Dulmont: drive A corresponded to the software in ROM, drives B and C, to each optional ROM expansion, D to the internal C-MOS RAM, E and F to the external floppy disc drives.

---

**Chris Todter** adds:\
I was the engineering manager for this project. Most of the information is accurate, although it actually came out about 2 years earlier, and definitely pre-dated the [Sharp 5000](/museum/sharp-pc-5000/), and the [HP-110](/museum/hewlett-packard-hp-110/).\
The speed got up to 8MHz, and the display was up to 40 lines by the time the company folded. It also contained patented power saving features whereby it would put the processor to sleep between keystrokes.