website/content/museum/icl-personal-computer.md

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

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
ICL Personal computer	Computers	Professional Computer	United Kingdom	1981	Intel	name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos oc_id source Personal computer /media/museum/photos/icl_perscomp_system_1.jpg /companies/icl ICL label value NAME Personal computer label value MANUFACTURER ICL label value TYPE Professional Computer label value ORIGIN United Kingdom label value YEAR 1981 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE None label value KEYBOARD Full-stroke 102 keys with function keys and numeric keypad label value CPU Intel or AMD 8085A label value SPEED 3 MHz label value RAM 64 KB up to 512 KB label value VRAM Depending on the video terminal used label value TEXT MODES 80 characters x 25 lines label value GRAPHIC MODES None label value COLORS Monochrome label value SOUND Beeper label value SIZE / WEIGHT 50.5(W) x 40.5(D) x 14(H) cm. label value I/O PORTS 2 x serial ports. Serial printer and keyboard on terminal label value BUILT IN MEDIA 2 x 5.25'' 256 KB Double sided / Double density FDD label value OS CP/M or MP/M label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in power supply label value PRICE From £1,800 photos 735 title subtitle text image COMPLETE SYSTEM Complete running system with an ICL dot matrix printer, actually an Oki Microline 82, and a Maplin 300 baud modem. /media/museum/photos/icl_perscomp_compsystem_1.jpg title subtitle text image BACK **(1)** Keyboard connector\ **(2)** Parallel printer DB25 connector\ **(3)** Host/serial DB25 connector\ **(4)** 2 x serial port. The upper one is dedicated to the video terminal /media/museum/photos/icl_perscomp_back_1.jpg title subtitle text image INSIDE SYSTEM **(1)** The backplane features 8 connectors and uses a specific RAIR format\ **(2)** Serial board\ **(3)** 64 KB memory board. Uses 32 x 4116 RAM chips\ **(4)** Processor board\ **(5)** Floppy disk controller board\ **(6)** Switching power supply unit and large fan\ **(7)** 2 x 5.25" Tandon FDD. Double side, double density, 48TPI, 780 KB models. /media/museum/photos/icl_perscomp_inside_1.jpg title subtitle text image INSIDE VIDEO TERMINAL The video terminal features a complete computer board including a 8085 processor, ROM an RAM memory, and programmable I/O ports. /media/museum/photos/icl_perscomp_insideterm_1.jpg 752 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230607225818/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=752 2023-06-07

In the early 70s, the British government whished an English computer company could compete with the world major manufacturers. Some years later, the ICL company became one of the larger manufacturer of computers in Europe and did really compete with U.S. companies.

In 1980, before the ICL Personal Computer was born, the company met serious financial problems, the English government paid several million pounds and ICL asked the British RAIR CIE to provide the ICL-PC hardware.

This ICL Personal Computer is thus exactly the same machine as the RAIR Black Box system, a backplane 8085 based system using a serial video terminal as video display, and CP/M (single user) or MP/M (multi-user) operating systems.

Two series were released. The PC1 series is the model pictured here. The PC2 series was the same design case as the ICL PC Quattro. This used an Intel or AMD 8085AH-2 CPU at 5MHZ

The model numbers for the PC1 series were:
Model 10 (pictured here) - 64 KB RAM, 2 x 5.25" FDD, CP/M O.S.
Model 30 with a 5 MB hard disc, CP/M O.S.
Model 31 64 KB RAM, three users, 5 MB hard disc, MP/M O.S.
Model 32 256 KB RAM, three users, 10 MB hard disc, MP/M O.S.

Those of the PC2 series were:
Model 15 64 KB RAM, 2 x 5.25" FDD, CP/M O.S.
Model 25 with a 5 MB hard disc, CP/M O.S.
Model 26 64 KB RAM, three users, 5 MB hard disc, MP/M O.S.
Model 35 256 KB RAM, three users, 10 MB hard disc, MP/M O.S.

Agnus WR Gulliver reports us:
There were a few simple games written for it, mostly text based (what do you expect, it uses CP/M), but it's main use was of course as an office machine.
I recall it being a slow machine to use, even boot-up took about a minute. You had to be very careful with the hard disk because it didn't have auto-parking heads. After it was switched off you had to wait about a minute to switch it on again.

According to K.-L. Butte,there were 3 different models of it marking the 3 major development steps: The first incarnation wit 8085 and MP/M, the second with 8088 and Concurrent CP/M and the third with 8086 and Concurrent CP/M.