website/content/museum/columbia-data-products-mpc.md

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

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Columbia Data Products MPC	Computers	Professional Computer	U.S.A.	1982	Intel 8088	name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread adverts oc_id source MPC /media/museum/photos/columbia_pc_system_1.jpg /companies/columbia-data-products Columbia Data Products label value NAME MPC label value MANUFACTURER Columbia Data Products label value TYPE Professional Computer label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR June 1982 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE None label value KEYBOARD Full-stroke 86 keys with function keys & numeric keypad label value CPU Intel 8088 label value SPEED 4.77 Mhz. label value RAM 128 KB up to 1 MB label value ROM Unknown label value TEXT MODES 40 or 80 columns x 24 lines (MDA or CGA modes) label value GRAPHIC MODES 320 or 640 x 200 dots (CGA mode) label value COLORS 16 label value SOUND Beeper label value I/O PORTS 2 x Serial RS-232, 1 x Parallel Centronics, 8 x ISA slots label value BUILT IN MEDIA Dual 320 KB 5'' floppy disc drives label value OS MS-DOS, CP/M-86, MP/M-86, OASIS, XENIX label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in power supply unit label value PERIPHERALS all 8-bit PC expansion boards label value PRICE $3400 - 128k memory, 2 floppies and color CGA card\ 5 MB hard drive : $1700 adverts 619 title subtitle text image PREVIOUS SYSTEM Before manufacturing the MPC, Columbia tried to sell a massive multi-user, Z80 based system. /media/museum/pubs/columbia_pc_pub_1.jpg title subtitle text image U.S. AD #1 (1982) Better features, cheaper price, the PC price war has just started. /media/museum/pubs/columbia_pc_pub_2.jpg title subtitle text image U.S. AD #2 (1983) Advert said: The columbia MPC is shipped with fully suported software that will save you $3,000. Included is the entire self-teaching Perfect Software family: Perfect Writer, a word processor; Perfect Speller, a 50,000 word dictionnary; Perfect Filer, a data base manager; and Perfect Calc, a financial calculation system. In addition, you get MS-DOS, CP/M-86, Macro/86 assembler, BASICA, Asynchronous communication support, Diagnostics and the Columbia Tutor program... /media/museum/pubs/columbia_pc_pub_3.jpg 633 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230530114140/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=633 2023-05-30

The Columbia MPC (for Multi Personal Computer) was the first exact copy of the young IBM PC. This desktop clone version will be followed few months later by a portable version designed by the new Compaq company.

Technically, there is nothing to say about this computer which hardware features are exactly the same as those of the IBM 5150. However, for about $1500 less, the MPC offered standard features that were optional on the IBM: 128 KB of RAM, two Serial one parallel ports and 8 ISA slots (versus the IBM-PC's five). The MPC's disk controller was integrated into the motherboard.

As IBM didn't well protect the PC hardware and BIOS software copyrights, this first clone will be followed by many others, desktops and portables version, manufactured in numerous countries by hundreds of independant companies, all over the world.

The Columbia company was sold in 1986 to a company based in Florida which kept the name and still exists.

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Contributors: Joe Cassara.