website/content/museum/ibm-5100.md

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

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
IBM 5100	Computers	Professional Computer	U.S.A.	1975	IBM circuit module	name company company_name specs tabs photos adverts hardware links comments related oc_id source 5100 /companies/ibm IBM label value NAME 5100 label value MANUFACTURER IBM label value TYPE Professional Computer label value ORIGIN U.S.A. label value YEAR September 1975 label value END OF PRODUCTION 1978 label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE BASIC or APL or both label value KEYBOARD Full stroke 74 keys with numeric keypad and arrow keys label value CPU IBM circuit module label value SPEED 1.9 MHz. label value RAM 16 KB to 64 KB by 16 KB steps label value ROM 32 KB to 64 KB label value TEXT MODES 64 chars. x 16 lines label value GRAPHIC MODES None label value COLORS Monochrome label value SOUND No sound capabilities label value SIZE / WEIGHT 24 Kg. label value I/O PORTS 5103 printer and 5106 external tape drive unit label value BUILT IN MEDIA Built-in 204 KB DC600 tape drive label value OS APL or BASIC label value POWER SUPPLY Built-in power supply unit label value PRICE From $8975 (BASIC 16 KB) to $19,975 (BASIC+APL 64 KB) photos adverts hardware links title subtitle text image FRONT VIEW BASIC only model (no APL) with no tape drive. Thanks to redrum76 for this picture null title subtitle text image FRONT PANEL A close-up of the controls. **(1)** Brightness adjustment\ **(2)** Power switch\ **(3)** Display left 32 cols, all 64 cols, or right 32 cols\ **(4)** Process Check Led\ **(5)** In Progress Led\ **(6)** Display reverse switch\ **(7)** Tape cartridge door\ **(8)** Restart switch\ **(9)** Display Registers switch null title subtitle text image MEMORY DUMP Memory dump in hexadecimal form. null title subtitle text image DISPLAY CLOSE-UP Thanks to redrum76 for this picture null title subtitle text image DETAIL Thanks to redrum76 for this picture null title subtitle text image STRAPPING MAN! Advert said: A compact problem-solving add for engineers, statisticians, scientists and financial and business analysts. null title subtitle text image 5103 PRINTER 132-column bidirectional dot matrix printer with tractor feed. 80 characters per second. null title subtitle text image ESSENTIAL ACCESSORY #1 null title subtitle text image ESSENTIAL ACCESSORY #2 null title url text Eric's Eccentric Emporium of Egregiously Effervescent Effluvium, Etc - 5100 page http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/retrocomputing/ibm/5100/ Détailed page with interesting info title url text IBM 5110 page http://computermuseum.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/dev/ibm_5110/technik/en/ Very complete information here ! title url text oldcomputers.net http://oldcomputers.net/ibm5100.html Nice article with good pictures title url text Wikipedia - IBM 5100 article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_5100 Nice article author date text Larry (Indonesia) Wednesday 5th June 2019 In reference to ''John Titor'' and the 5100 - the "IBN 5100" had a leading role in the time travel anime series "Stein$s gate" where the 5100''s APL code was needed to translate the evil ''SERN''s time travel logs. Really good anime BTW. author date text Alvin Ginsburg (United States) Friday 4th September 2015 Last time I looked the Smithsonian had the development prototype of the 5100. It was called Scamp or Mercury, depending on the phase of development. The one at the Smithsonian was made of wood and had a nine inch screen. It was given to them by Dr. Paul Friedl, one of the early inventors at the IBM Scientific Center in Palo Alto, California. author date text Fliver (United States) Sunday 1st June 2014 This is the computer time traveler John Titor claimed to have retrieved in 1975 traveling back from his time in 2036 to help rebuild their world. author date text Alvin (usa) Tuesday 19th February 2013 Some asked about PALM. It stood for "program all logic in memory." I recall it as an 8 bit machine, though. author date text Vicki Davisson (Phoenix, Arizona) Wednesday 30th August 2006 Wow, I worked on one of these in 1982-83. It was unused at the time. It had been bought by the lumberyard where I worked when they were flush with cash after the snows of 1978-79 caused a garage building bonanza. I taught myself BASIC programming on this thing and wrote an inventory system. I never could get used to GW BASIC after using IBM's powerful code (GW BASIC was crap, as far as I was concerned). The original cost of the system: $17,000 in 1979 money, about $48,000 today. The machine had 32K of memory total, for both the BASIC program and my code, two 8" disk drives and a 132 column dot matrix printer. Amazing... author date text Marcus (Earth) Saturday 19th August 2006 a blast from the past. I used one of these to score a golf tournament, borrowed from the now defunkt IBM training centre in West London author date text Pharoah (United States) Thursday 24th November 2005 Wow, does the PALM mean that this is a 16 bit computer. It looks a little too primitive :) author date text Chuck Kaufman (Southern California) Thursday 11th November 2004 I remeber using a IBM 5100 at UCLA in 78. They had it set up in an office in the engineering building (Bolter Hall). Originally, the restricted for staff use only but no one in the engineering dept used it. By May 78 I was only a couple of us freshmen were using it. It was the only free computer on campus that support APL. I still have the tape I used, I wonder it is still any good. author date text Brian Bagnall (Winnipeg, Canada) Tuesday 22nd April 2003 There is an article titled "Welcome, IBM, to personal computing" in Byte Magazine, December 1975. This is very reminiscent of the "Welcome, IBM" full page ad taken out by Apple when the IBM PC was released. It probably would have been more appropriate for IBM to welcome Apple to the personal computer industry. author date text John Bajak (White Plains, New York) Tuesday 1st April 2003 I used a 5100 back in 1978 as part of a High School interneship (I was 16 years old) with IBM and now I am 40 and I really want and need a 5100 with APL to play with to reengage my old adolescent pubescent memories /museum/ibm-5120 795 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230405101343/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=795 2023-04-05

In September 1975, IBM announced its smallest and first portable computer (If you consider a 28 Kgs. computer portable, that is), the IBM 5100, no bigger than one of IBM's typewriters.

Developed in Rochester, it used the same operating system as IBM's /370 line of main frames. Thus it could accommodate the same APL interpreter, permitting the use of APL programs. A BASIC interpreter was also available, depending of the 5100 version chosen.

This was the first widely marketed and supported personal computer, and definitely the first useful all-in-one, portable computer system. However, it was a very primitive machine that was largely unsuccessful due to its high price tag (basic version costed $8,975) and limited expansion capabilities.

It had a built-in tape drive and a small 5" 64 character display. A special display mode allowed the user to select right or left bigger 32 chars. of each line.
The tape drive used a 1/4 inch DC300 tape cartridge and stored 204 KB of data.
The 5100 didn't feature a microprocessor chip, but a card called PALM (Put All Logic in Microcode) which acted as a 16-bit microprocessor.

Notice that the 5100 is the first serial number of IBM "Personal Computer" range that will later include the 5110, 5120, 5150 (IBM-PC) and 5160 (PC-XT).