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yann64andClaude Opus 5.5 b274874139 All machines linked to their forum thread (full comment import)
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title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params
title categories types origins years cpus params
Toshiba T 1200
Computers
Professional Computer
Japan
1987
Intel 80C86
name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos adverts links oc_id source
T 1200 /media/museum/photos/toshiba_t1200_system_1.jpg /companies/toshiba Toshiba
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NAME T 1200
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MANUFACTURER Toshiba
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TYPE Professional Computer
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ORIGIN Japan
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YEAR 1987
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END OF PRODUCTION 1992
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BUILT IN LANGUAGE None
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KEYBOARD Full Stroke 82 Keys with Numeric Keypad Overlay
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CPU Intel 80C86
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SPEED 4.77 MHz / 9.57 MHz
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RAM 1 MB (2 MB max.)
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VRAM 256 KB
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ROM 64 KB (Holds Memory Test and BIOS)
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TEXT MODES 40 or 80 Columns x 25 Lines
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GRAPHIC MODES 640 or 320 x 200 dots
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COLORS Monochrome backlit LCD display 16 Grayscales (Blue and Green) / CGA compatible through external display
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SOUND PC Speaker
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SIZE / WEIGHT 12.1 (W) x 12 (L) x 2.9 (H) Inches / 11.5 lb (With HD) or 10.6 lb (With 2 FDD’s)\ 309 x 305 x 73 mm / 5.2 kg (With HD) or 4.8 kg (With 2 FDD’s)
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I/O PORTS RGB color monitor port (9 Pin ), RS-232 serial port (9 pin), Composite video port, Numeric Keypad port, Centronics parallel port (25 Pin), External Floppy Drive, RJ-11 Phone Line Connector, HDD Power, 15V DC Laptop Power, Toshiba 8-bit expansion slot
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BUILT IN MEDIA T 1200FB : two 720 KB 3 ½ floppy drives\ T 1200HB : one 720 KB 3 ½ floppy drive + 20 MB Hard Drive
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OS MS-DOS 3.3 or PC-GEOS
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POWER SUPPLY Built-in rechargeable NiCad batteries / external 12v DC 2.2 amp power supply unit.
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PERIPHERALS Optegra Numeric Keyboard
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PRICE AU$7999 (1987) - AU$3995 (1991)
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T1000 Thanks to Toshiba Official Website /media/museum/photos/toshiba_t1000_from-toshiba_1.jpg
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T-1200 CLOSED /media/museum/photos/toshiba_t1200_closed_1.jpg
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T1200 - CONNECTORS SIDE **(1)**External monitor DB9 plug\ **(2)**Serial port\ **(3)**External composite video monitor chinch jack\ **(4)**Parallel port\ **(5)**External FDD unit connector\ **(6)**Expansion card housing\ **(7)**AC power jack. Second jack for external FDD unit power supply /media/museum/photos/toshiba_t1200_back_1.jpg
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T-1200 (DEC. 1987) Advert said: The industry said it couldn't be done. You can't put a hard disk in a portable PC, make it powerful and keep it under 11 lbs.\ Well, with this that challenge in mind, we immediately went to work to prove them wrong, presenting the result, the new T1200... /media/museum/pubs/toshiba_t1200_pub_1.jpg
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T-3100 (FEB. 1987) Advert says: Until now, working away from your office meant baving to settle for lesser computers or no computer at all.\ Toshiba ends that compromise. The T3100 delivers the power of an IBM PC AT in a lean, 15-pound computer that you can take with you. With a full-sized keyboard and advanced gas plasma display that give you equal comfort and clarity on your desk or on the road Don't let its size fool you.\ Though the T3100 is no bigger than many laptop computers, it offers the power of a full function IBM compatible desktop AT system. You get the speed and ease of a built-in hard disk, communications and expansion options, and more-including dual-voltage power that lets you plug in and go to work just about anywhere in the world. /media/museum/pubs/toshiba_t3100_pub_s1.jpg
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Toshiba T 3100 information from Toshiba http://www.toshiba-europe.com/bv/computers/products/notebooks/t3100/index.shtm
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T-Series official page (from Toshiba website) http://www.toshiba-europe.com/computers/products/notebooks/t1000/index.shtm All you need to know about this classic Toshiba notebook series
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url date
https://web.archive.org/web/20230609154441/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=917 2023-06-09

This page is dedicated to Toshiba range of PC compatible laptop computers. The T1200 is first described model. More models will come soon (see 'Read more' section).

T0SHIBA T-1200
The Toshiba T1200 was a very advanced laptop for it’s time, being able to run many powerful programs only a proper PC could use at the time. It has an 8 Inch screen that can only use scales of Green and Blue.

Another Feature was the first “Resume” Feature, kind of like suspend or Standby on today’s computers. This laptop was the first ever to use this feature.
It outclassed the other laptops, like the Datavue spark because of it’s competitive price and lower weight. The buyer could choose between a standard and backlit LCD Screen.

Their were 2 Main Models available at the time, 1 With two 720K 3 ½ Floppy Drives (T 1200FB) and the other one with 1 720K 3 ½ Floppy and a 20MB Hard Drive (T 1200HB). It came with an official MS-DOS 3.3 floppy disk or with MS-DOS loaded onto the hard drive for hard disc versions.

RAM above 640 KB can be used as a fast, battery-backed RAM disk drive (Toshiba Hard RAM) and / or expanded memory (LIM-EMS).

Another popular feature was that some models came with an internal 1200 Baud Modem, the first of its kind in most computers.


More information from Mal:
I had one of these when if first came out - without the hard drive, and used it as my main computer for several years. From a processor standpoint it was an 8086 PC XT.

It was one of the first, if not first machine with a back-lit supertwist LCD screen. This was a big improvement over the plasma screens - which were difficult to read in bright light environments. I was amazed at the quality of the LCD monitor - and I likened it to reading from paper when compared to using the fuzzy CRTs of the time. The supertwist technology also allowed you to read the screen without being directly lined up with it - not as good as todays LCD monitors - but revolutionary for its time. (Today my whole network contains LCD monitors because of my experiences as a student with this machine back in 1987)

While it is true that the system included MS DOS disks - they were mainly useful as a backup. This machine featured DOS on a ROM chip - so when the system booted it would load DOS and you would be at a command prompt. It also came with an early version of 'Microsoft Works' that you could use with a mouse to select menu items, manipulate scroll bars, and position the text curser etc - kind of an n-curses style window control. (My father-in-law had an Amiga - so I was already familiar with basic window controls and use of a mouse).

Another interesting thing about this model was it had a feature that allowed you to designate a certain amount of RAM as a ramdisk. The ramdisk was also not volatile when you turned off the power - as long as you kept your battery charged up. I would load WordPerfect and other utilities into a small ramdisk, and have them always at my fingertips as soon as I powered on the machine (I also carried a floppy disk that had a copy of the ramdisk on it, so I could re-initialize it if I ran out of battery 'juice' inadvertently).

The very best feature of this machine, in my opinion was the keyboard. The keys had a very springy and clicky tactile feel that made typing on it a breeze - actually better than the 'full size' keyboard I am using right now. The size is also a misnomer - because it was very close to being a full size keyboard - especially compared to some of the smaller laptop keyboards today. I took it to college and used it in class to take notes - this was when you rarely saw laptops at all. I was poor - but I had a very cool computing platform :)

This was a great machine, and I would buy a beefed up version of something like this today if it were offered on the market (the speed of having everything in RAM was phenomenal - launching apps faster than even my high-end machines do today). The achilles heel of this machine was the battery technology - the batteries degraded quickly and would not hold a charge after 1 year (or less) of use.