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yann64andClaude Opus 5.5 b274874139 All machines linked to their forum thread (full comment import)
1,289 discussions, 9,527 archived comments; pages no longer carry the comments themselves.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01YDRjtmAiNpo5mK5N3d7QwZ
2026-10-13 17:26:43 +02:00

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Markdown

---
title: IBM 5120
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Professional Computer
origins:
- U.S.A.
years:
- '1980'
cpus:
- IBM
params:
name: '5120'
image: /media/museum/photos/ibm_5120_system_1.jpg
company: /companies/ibm
company_name: IBM
specs:
- label: NAME
value: '5120'
- label: MANUFACTURER
value: IBM
- label: TYPE
value: Professional Computer
- label: ORIGIN
value: U.S.A.
- label: YEAR
value: '1980'
- label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
value: APL, BASIC
- label: KEYBOARD
value: Full stroke 73 keys with numeric keypad
- label: CPU
value: IBM
- label: SPEED
value: Unknown
- label: RAM
value: 64 KB
- label: ROM
value: 64 KB
- label: TEXT MODES
value: 64 chars x 16 lines
- label: GRAPHIC MODES
value: None
- label: COLORS
value: Monochrome
- label: SOUND
value: Beeper
- label: SIZE / WEIGHT
value: 45 Kg.
- label: I/O PORTS
value: Parallel and Serial
- label: BUILT IN MEDIA
value: 2 x 8'' 1.2 MB floppy drives
- label: POWER SUPPLY
value: Built in power supply unit
- label: PRICE
value: $13500
tabs:
- photos
- hardware
- links
forum_thread: 775
photos:
- title: 5120 WITH PRINTER
subtitle: ''
text: Thanks to **Michael Lewis**
image: /media/museum/photos/ibm_5120_system_s2.jpg
- title: PROMOTIONAL PICTURE
subtitle: ''
text: ''
image: /media/museum/photos/ibm_5120_prm-pic_1.jpg
hardware:
- title: 5103 PRINTER
subtitle: ''
text: 132-column bidirectional dot matrix printer with tractor feed. 80 characters per second.
image: /media/museum/hardware/ibm_5120_printer5103_1.jpg
- title: PRINTER CONNECTOR
subtitle: ''
text: |-
The massive connector of the 5103 printer. Two parallel and one serial ports are used to transfer data's to the printer!
Why not make things really complicated!
image: /media/museum/hardware/ibm_5120_printer5103connect_1.jpg
links:
- title: Eric's IBM 5100 Portable Computer page
url: http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/retrocomputing/ibm/5100/
text: Detail information
- title: IBM 5110 page
url: http://computermuseum.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/dev/ibm_5110/technik/en/
text: Very complete information here !
related:
- /museum/ibm-5100
oc_id: 794
source:
url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230608091256/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=794
date: '2023-06-08'
---
The 5120 integrated system was the last evolution of the 5100 and 5110 portable series, and the last 'heavy desktop' computer made by IBM.
The 5120 was an intermediate system between the IBM mainframes and the future [5150 PC](/museum/ibm-pc-model-5150/). Actually, it was the first desktop Personal Computer made by IBM.
Basically, The 5120 technology remained the same as the 5100 model: same custom processor and same IBM typical hardware profile inspired by the mainframes technology.
The system featured a 9-inch monochrome moniteur (many 5100 users asked for a larger display) and two 8" floppy drives.
The system was sold with both APL and BASIC languages in ROM. APL allowed numerous business software written on IBM minicomputers to run on the 5120.
---
**Bruce Franklin** specifies:\
After the IBM 5120, IBM manufactured another computer in Rochester based on the Intel 8088 chip that was called the DataMaster.\
The computer's performance was poor compared to the 51XX computers, and IBM did not sell many of them.\
Most people attribute the "IBM Personal Computer" as the first of what we know as PC's today, however IBM's model number for the PC introduced in 1981 was the IBM 5150. It was merely a new model of the 51XX line of computers and the second model to use an Intel processor.