| M20 |
/media/museum/photos/olivetti_m20_system_1.jpg |
/companies/olivetti |
Olivetti |
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| label |
value |
| MANUFACTURER |
Olivetti |
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| label |
value |
| TYPE |
Professional Computer |
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| label |
value |
| YEAR |
March 1982 |
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| label |
value |
| BUILT IN LANGUAGE |
None |
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| label |
value |
| KEYBOARD |
Full-Stroke 120 keys with numeric keypad |
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| label |
value |
| CPU |
Zilog Z8001 |
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| label |
value |
| CO-PROCESSOR |
None |
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| label |
value |
| RAM |
128 KB expandable to 512 KB |
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| label |
value |
| ROM |
12 KB (BIOS) |
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value |
| TEXT MODES |
80 columns x 25 lines |
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value |
| GRAPHIC MODES |
512 x 256 pixels in 4 colours maximum |
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value |
| COLORS |
4 or 8 with RAM extension board |
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value |
| SIZE / WEIGHT |
42.5(W) x 51.4(D) x 15(H) cm. Weight: 10.5 Kg. |
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value |
| I/O PORTS |
1 x RS-232 port, 1 x RS-1232C enhanced serial port, 1 x custom monitor connector, 1 x Parallel printer port |
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value |
| BUILT IN MEDIA |
2 x 160, 320 or 640 KB 5.25'' F.D. drives\
or 1 x F.D. drive + 1 x 11.25 MB Hard disk |
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| label |
value |
| OS |
PCOS, CP/M8000, MS-DOS (with the APB 8086 card) |
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| label |
value |
| POWER SUPPLY |
Built-in power supply |
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| label |
value |
| PERIPHERALS |
128 KB memory card, Intel 8086 microprocessor card, IEEE-488 card |
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| label |
value |
| PRICE |
$5400 (2 x F.D. version) |
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| photos |
| adverts |
| links |
| docs |
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| title |
subtitle |
text |
image |
| NICE ITALIAN DESIGN |
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/media/museum/photos/olivetti_m20_system_2.jpg |
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subtitle |
text |
image |
| M-20 KEYBOARD |
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Keyboard and built-in F.D. drives close-up |
/media/museum/photos/olivetti_m20_keyboard_1.jpg |
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subtitle |
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| INSIDE M-20 |
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The M-20 was a well designed system. Each part of the computer can be removed and put back without any tool.
**(1)** 2 x Expansion board connectors. The optional 8086 board takes place here.\
**(2)** 3 x Expansion memory boards. Up to 3 x 128 KB boards can be inserted.\
**(3)** 128 KB on-board RAM memory chips (16 x 4164)\
**(4)** Zilog Z-8001 microprocessor\
**(5)** BIOS ROM chips\
**(6)** Power supply unit |
/media/museum/photos/olivetti_m20_inside_1.jpg |
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| UNCOVERED SYSTEM |
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/media/museum/photos/olivetti_m20_inside_2.jpg |
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image |
| U.S. AD #1 (1982) |
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Advert said:
We know your question: How could Olivetti have developped a better personal computer than the other giants?\
The answer is in a word: Experience. Olivetti introduced the world's first desktop computer in 1965. Since then, we've continued to market a variety of minicomputers and microcomputers to a wide range of users... |
/media/museum/pubs/olivetti_m20_pub_2.jpg |
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| U.S. AD #2 (1983) |
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Despite the M20 was neither software nor hardware compatible with any other computer, Olivetti had to prove that it had more computing power at a smaller pice than any competitor. |
/media/museum/pubs/olivetti_m20_pub_3.jpg |
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| U.S. AD. JUNE 1983 |
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/media/museum/pubs/olivetti_m20_pub_4.jpg |
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text |
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| GERMAN ADVERT |
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/media/museum/pubs/olivetti_m20_germanad_1.jpg |
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image |
| THE FIRST M20 VERSION |
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This Olivetti ancestor, also called M20, was born in 1920...\
To note the superb design all the young italian secretaries were in love of!
Thanks to Karl-Heinz - www.sharpmz.org |
/media/museum/pubs/olivetti_m20_typewriter_1.jpg |
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| author |
date |
text |
| PETER WALSH (USA) |
Thursday 19th May 2022 |
Does anyone know what a chord keyboard is? Peter Walsh |
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| author |
date |
text |
| Oliver (Germany) |
Wednesday 30th December 2020 |
Hi, I have a Memory Expansion for this machine für sell or Trade Cheers Oliver |
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date |
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| BoredBot |
Tuesday 29th November 2016 |
Olivetti M20: A bit of a cheese machine, easily blown away by an old standard XT. No style. |
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date |
text |
| Steve (Tennessee) |
Monday 25th July 2016 |
Hi, I''m still looking for an M-20 to buy. If I can''t find one I do have many old books\
and some old software on floppy for an M-20\
stecla1@gmail.com |
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| author |
date |
text |
| Edward Williams (United States) |
Tuesday 10th March 2015 |
Looking to buy am Olivetti M20 I had one years ago i lost in a fire i have my original source code,\
Thanks\
Edward1469@mac.com |
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| author |
date |
text |
| scott-m (USA) |
Thursday 11th December 2014 |
Hmmm. . .\
The equals sign in the youtube.com URL got changed to a dollars sign. Odd. Just search youtube.com for "Olivetti M20 artillery command game", and you will find it.\
-Scott M |
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| author |
date |
text |
| scott-m (USA) |
Thursday 11th December 2014 |
Dec 11, 2014 - My Dad shipped the Olivetti M20. The new owner said: I was able to unbox and set up the computer, and was even able to run some of my old BASIC programs and games I wrote 30 years ago. I made a youtube of one game I made, "Artillery Command". It''s a little blurry because my camera had a hard time focusing on the screen, but if you want to see what a 15 year old me did 30 years ago, here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v$xotIGWC02MU
Glad the M20 found a new home.\
-Scott M |
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date |
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| scott-m (USA) |
Saturday 15th November 2014 |
Nov 15, 2014 - My Dad has a Olivetti M20 in like-new condition with engineering software. He is the original owner and will sell it for just the cost of shipping. Tried to register on old-computers.com, but never got an activation email. old-computers.com generated this error message: The message could not be sent to the SMTP server. The transport error code was 0x80040217. I think outgoing email from this website is not working. Anyway, for that reason I am simply going to put my contact information in this message. Remove all letters ''x'' from the following email address: xxsxcoxtx.xmx.2x2x @ xaxtxsxgxaxtxex.xcxoxmxx If you are reading this after February 2015, the computer is most likely already gone. Thanks! -Scott M |
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| steve (USA) |
Saturday 9th August 2014 |
I''m still looking for an M20 to buy,\
But if not I have floppies and books for the M20 if someone wants to buy them. |
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date |
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| Steve (USA) |
Sunday 1st December 2013 |
I''m still interested in buying an M-20 or motherboard for one. I have box monitor and power supply and keyboard etc. but Dominique I''m still interested if you have one to sell. |
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date |
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| Vincenzo (Italy) |
Thursday 1st August 2013 |
hello,
I own 28 or 29 Olivetti M20s of different models. I''m searching the COLOR MONITOR and the GPIB board (GO220). It is missing to my collection. Anybody can sell it to me?
Regards, Vincenzo. |
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date |
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| Steve (USA) |
Saturday 4th August 2012 |
Dominique, I''m interested in your m20 |
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date |
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| Graham Reid (UK) |
Tuesday 14th February 2012 |
Hi Dominique, I''ve been transcribing the M20 schematics into Eagle so that I can create an equivalent. However, a real machine would be invaluable to correct the mistakes on the diagrams. How much would you want for your M20?\
(If anyone has a dead motherboard, I''m interested!)\
Regards, Graham |
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date |
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| Dominique Carton |
Monday 2nd January 2012 |
I have an Olivetti M20 computer with two floppy drives and programs and documentation, anything I needed to have when I used it. Would consider selling it. |
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| author |
date |
text |
| Dominique Carton |
Monday 2nd January 2012 |
I have an Olivetti M20 computer with two floppy drives and programs and documentation, anything I needed to have when I used it. Would consider selling it. |
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| author |
date |
text |
| Dominique Carton |
Monday 2nd January 2012 |
I have an Olivetti M20 computer with two floppy drives and programs and documentation, anything I needed to have when I used it. Would consider selling it. |
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| author |
date |
text |
| Dominique Carton |
Monday 2nd January 2012 |
I have an Olivetti M20 computer with two floppy drives and programs and documentation, anything I needed to have when I used it. Would consider selling it. |
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| author |
date |
text |
| Dominique Carton |
Monday 2nd January 2012 |
I have an Olivetti M20 computer with two floppy drives and programs and documentation, anything I needed to have when I used it. Would consider selling it. |
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| author |
date |
text |
| Steve (United States) |
Friday 11th March 2011 |
I have owned 2 M-20''s and learned to program on them.\
I still have 1/2 of one (missing the motherboard) and I''d love to have one again. I''m in the market if anyone wants to sell one to me. |
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date |
text |
| Roelof Beverdam (Enschede, Netherlands) |
Sunday 26th September 2010 |
Hello, I too have a dual floppy M20. I also have a wealth of documentation and software - both original and (sometimes) copied - including less mainstream items, so to speak. Anyone familiar with Eightbit, Trans816, GPIB-interfacing or programming Numerical Controlled devices - just to name a few? It''s all (t)here - at least the manuals. I am searching for a working M20 emulator$ there is an entry in the MESS system, but without any real driver code. Best regards, Roelof |
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| Davide Bucci (Italy) |
Thursday 5th May 2005 |
Hello, I have a M20 with several floppies, running PCOS. I have found user manuals on the Internet, but it would be cool to obtain more detailed informations regarding this computer. In particular, I am interested in how to access low level system calls in Basic, or developing small assembler routines.\
Best regards |
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date |
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| Alejandro Corral (Granada, Spain) |
Tuesday 26th November 2002 |
Hello, I have an M20 with a few floppies, with PCOS and some programs. I have a thermal printer from olivetti too...\
Because lack of documentation I know very little about PCOS and the computer itself. I'm searching any type of documentation about PCOS, programs for it and MS-DOS 2 version adapted for M20 hardware.
Best Regards |
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