website/content/museum/gridlite.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
GridLite	Computers	Professional Computer	U.S.A.	1987	80C86	name image company company_name specs forum_thread oc_id source GridLite /media/museum/photos/grid_gridlite_system_s1.jpg /companies/grid Grid label value NAME GridLite label value MANUFACTURER Grid label value TYPE Professional Computer label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR 1987 label value END OF PRODUCTION Unknown label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE None label value KEYBOARD 71 keys including 12 function keys label value CPU 80C86, CMOS version of the 8086 label value SPEED 4.77 MHz label value RAM 128 KB up to 640 KB on board, up to 1 MB external EMS label value VRAM 16 KB label value ROM Up to 1 MB label value TEXT MODES 80 chars. x 25 lines label value GRAPHIC MODES 320 or 640 x 200 dots label value COLORS Monochrome label value SOUND Beeper label value SIZE / WEIGHT 34 (W) x 28.5 (D) x 7.1 (H) cm / 4.5 kg label value I/O PORTS RS-232C serial, Parallel, External 3.5'' FDD, RGB video, Modem jack label value BUILT IN MEDIA 3.5'' 720 KB DS/DD floppy disk drive. Optional second external FDD label value OS MS-DOC 3.2 label value POWER SUPPLY External AC adaptor or Ni-Cd battery (3 to 4 hours lifetime) label value PERIPHERALS 640 KB RAM expansion ($600)\ External 3.5'' FDD ($295)\ Ni-Cd battery ($175)\ 512 KB EMS RAM ($295), 1 MB EMS RAM ($395)\ Hayes compatible modem 1200-baud ($395), 2400-baud ($595) label value PRICE $1750 (128 KB version) 947 972 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230602192329/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=972 2023-06-02

The GridLite was less innovative than the earlier Grid versions and was comparable to many other laptops of the time. However, its 4.77 MHz clock rate clearly compromised its performance front of its main 7 MHz competitors, the Toshiba T-1100 Plus, and the Zenith Z-171.

One of its strong points was a new blue/yellow supertwist LCD screen which offered superior contrast and could be viewed from 45 degrees off to the side. The second original feature consisted in eight ROM sockets which allowed to put up to 1 MB of ROM software in the machine, including specific GridLite ROM cartridges.

One peculiarity of this ROM area was that both ROM software and 3.5" built-in floppy disk drive were called A:. This allowed, for example, the system to boot on the MS-DOS in ROM and automatically call the Autoexec.bat, Config.sys or any application file from the diskette.