website/content/museum/olivetti-m24.md

---
title: Olivetti M24
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Professional Computer
origins:
- Italy
years:
- '1984'
cpus:
- Intel 8086
params:
  name: M24
  image: /media/museum/photos/olivetti_m24_1.jpg
  company: /companies/olivetti
  company_name: Olivetti
  specs:
  - label: NAME
    value: M24
  - label: MANUFACTURER
    value: Olivetti
  - label: TYPE
    value: Professional Computer
  - label: ORIGIN
    value: Italy
  - label: YEAR
    value: '1984'
  - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
    value: MS-DOS and GW-Basic delivered on disks
  - label: KEYBOARD
    value: |-
      Separated full-stroke keyboard, 102 keys, numeric keypad, 18 function keys\
      A standard IBM keyboard (83 keys) was also proposed
  - label: CPU
    value: Intel 8086
  - label: SPEED
    value: 8 MHz
  - label: CO-PROCESSOR
    value: optional 8087 arithmetic co-processor, NEC 6845 video generator
  - label: RAM
    value: 128 Kb (up to 640 Kb)
  - label: VRAM
    value: 40 / 80 x 25
  - label: ROM
    value: 16 Kb
  - label: TEXT MODES
    value: 40 x 25, 80 x 25
  - label: GRAPHIC MODES
    value: 320 x 200 with 4 colors / 640 x 200 monochrom / 640 x 400 monochrom
  - label: COLORS
    value: '16'
  - label: SOUND
    value: Tone Generator
  - label: SIZE / WEIGHT
    value: 16 x 38 x 37 cm
  - label: I/O PORTS
    value: Centronics, RS232c, mouse, keyboard
  - label: BUILT IN MEDIA
    value: One or Two 5.25'' disk-drives (360k or 720k), optional 10 Mb hard-disks
  - label: OS
    value: MS DOS 2.1, Concurrent CP/M 86, UCSD-P, PCOS
  - label: POWER SUPPLY
    value: Built-in PSU, 135w
  - label: PERIPHERALS
    value: Hard-disk, IEEE 488, RS 422, RS 232, PC Net boards, IBM 3278 coaxial network board, mouse
  - label: PRICE
    value: |-
      2 disk-drives system : 3535 (France, 84)\
      color monitor, 10 Mb hard-disk : 8250 (France, 85)
  tabs:
  - photos
  - adverts
  photos:
  - title: M24 SP
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      The M24 SP is a "super" M24 system. Its 8086 CPU is running at 10 Mhz (instead of 8Mhz), it has 512k RAM and a 20Mb hard-disk.

      Note the front of the main case is slightly different.
    image: /media/museum/photos/olivetti_m24sp_1.jpg
  adverts:
  - title: US ADVERT, SEPTEMBER 1985
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/pubs/olivetti_m24_pub_s1.jpg
  - title: FRENCH ADVERT (1984)
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/pubs/olivetti_m24_pub_1.jpg
  - title: 'FRENCH ADVERT #2 (JUNE 1985)'
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/pubs/olivetti_pub_docile-compatibles_2.jpg
  comments:
  - author: TiBo (Denmark)
    date: Sunday 29th August 2021
    text: 'My introduction to Olivetti computers Back in 1985 my father bought me an Olivetti M24 with double floppy drives and a color monitor. I was already the proud owner of the Amstrad CPC 464 a 8 bit computer and was programming various different small applications with the buildin Basic languages on that one, storing them all on to the build-in tape drive. It had become clear to my father that I had the talent for making computer programs and he decided that it was time to introduce a “real� computer. He had the idea that I could make some programs on the PC that would help him run his business. I started on GW-Basic and within a short time I had made a program that could calculate the salaries for his employees. Soon there after I made a bookkeeping program. It soon became clear that GW-Basic just didn’t do the job so I moved over to Turbo Pascal. I was 17 turning 18 and had no one teaching me anything about computers or programming. It was all try and guess back then way before
      the internet arrived so your only "friend" at that time was the libary with a tiny $ion of old books. See more on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1h0q4N3CnHTeJO3u9SfSDA'
  - author: rich anderton (United Kingdom)
    date: Wednesday 20th January 2021
    text: I still have my dad''s old m24 and printer been under my stairs for years. Loafs of floppy disks. Was debating if to sell it or what not sure what it''s worth
  - author: Gerard (Ireland)
    date: Tuesday 12th January 2021
    text: There was also a portable version, the Olivetti M21. Pretty much exactly the same spec but in a ''luggable'' format very similar to the IBM Portable PC except with Olivetti styling panache. It had a 9" monochrome (amber) screen, but with colour output available to an external monitor. The keyboard was a weak point$ mine has several dodgy keys.
  - author: Vincenzo (Italy)
    date: Monday 21st September 2020
    text: |-
      Hello,\
      I''m a collector in Italy. I have around a hundred of M24 and its derivatives. I am searching the PE24. If Mr. Rob, from England is reading this message and would like to sell his PE24, I''m available. Please contact me at sa.cas@NOSPAMvirgilio.it (remove NOSPAM to get the right email address).

      Mrs. Nicole (UK). The Keyboard 2 had 18 function keys, not 19. And the replacement chip for the serial synchronous communication was the 8530. I''ve actually an M24 (for the german market) which is using the 8530 instead than the 8250. You cannot plug both chips. Either the 8250 (which was the standard option for the asynchronous communication) or the 8530 (available as an option) that allowed to have 2 synchronous serial ports, unfortunately, only one was available. The other was usable only through a special board connected to the motherboard but has been discontinued and never used anymore. If anybody has questions on the M24 and other Olivetti computers, ask to me. I''m the GURU of Olivetti computers.

      Regards, Vincenzo.
  - author: Emmanuel Mulaya Khazalwa (Kenya)
    date: Tuesday 30th October 2018
    text: |-
      Hello, I have an Olivetti M24 computer system unit and monitor in perfect working condition (lost the keyboard) for sale. if interested, please contact me.

      Mail to: emmanuelbahati235@gmail.com
  - author: Emmanuel Mulaya Khazalwa (Kenya)
    date: Tuesday 30th October 2018
    text: Hello, I have an Olivetti M24 computer system unit and monitor in perfect working condition (lost the keyboard) for sale. if interested, please contact me.
  - author: Rob (England)
    date: Monday 1st May 2017
    text: |-
      I have an Olivetti PE24 (which I was given in 1990), which is similar to a M24. The PE stands for Personal Engineering. I have had it stored in my garage for nearly 20 years, and yesterday I plugged it in and it started up perfectly.

      I have all the manuals that go with it. The Installation and Operations Guide says:

      "The Personal Engineering (PE) 24 is designed to meet, in full, the requirements of the CAD/CAM market. The system is based on the Olivetti M24 SP personal computer, with additional features to support the graphics environment.

      "The PE 24 uses an advanced graphics controller and a high resolution, colour video display and runs software specialized for the CAD/CAM environment.

      "The operating system used by the PE 24 is MS-DOS. The graphics primitives for the graphics controller can be written in the following compiler languages:\
      \* FORTRAN 77\
      \* C\
      \* PASCAL\
      \* BASIC

      I have looked for information online about the PE24, but can''t find any references to it. Maybe this is quite a rare old computer that I have.
  - author: James Medes (London, England)
    date: Tuesday 1st November 2016
    text: 'I have an old and working M24. Excellent machine. In working order (except for a sticking letter which needs remove and cleanning). Mail: james.medes@physics.org if you''''re still looking.'
  - author: Robert Ingram (England)
    date: Friday 16th September 2016
    text: |-
      Hi, does anyone know if I can purchase an M24 or comparable with the old style 5.25 floppy drive or for USA 5 1/4 inch floppy drive\
      Many Thanks
  - author: Aleksandar (Slovenia)
    date: Wednesday 6th July 2016
    text: The one I was using back then had an NEC V20 processor instead of the Intel 8086, and was more than 3x faster than the IBM PC XT. Also, Olivetti provided a special version of GWBASIC with the DOS that supported the 640x400 mode.
  - author: TheDude
    date: Thursday 3rd March 2016
    text: I sold my C64 to get this machine. My mother was skeptical because I already spent too much time and money for computers. My buddy told my mother "Don''t worry, with this computer he will have all he needs for years to come, no need to buy a new computer for a long time"
  - author: Patrick Ashbee (Canada)
    date: Friday 12th July 2013
    text: In 1996 I received one of these from my high school as they had no use for them. They got them through the Federal govt.''s Computers for schools program. They were previously used by our revenue $ taxation department. It was a pretty good PC, had two 360k floppy drives. U upgraded it with a 20mb MFM hard drive $ controller card as well as a 2400 bps Modem. The HDD had only 10 mb useable as it had some bad sectors. It ram MS-Dos 6.22 very well indeed. Used Word Perfect 5.1 on it $ of course terminal emulation to visit local bulletin board services. Those were the days!
  - author: IL (Finland)
    date: Saturday 15th September 2012
    text: In the late eighties the Finnish magazine Mikrobitti was benchmarking the IBM compatible machines they tested with a self-written benchmark utility. The 4mhz IBM PC was used as a baseline with a score of 1.00. I notice that in the December 1988 issue the Olivetti M24 is listed as the fastest tested computer up to that point with a score of 2,86! Next entries are Toshiba T1200, Amstrad PPC 640, another Amstrad, Microgem MIC-4, Schneider EuroPC, etc.
  - author: Nicole (UK)
    date: Wednesday 23rd May 2012
    text: |-
      The screen also was available with white phosphor and the monochrome versions were powered through the signal cable - no separate power cable.

      One feature, important at the time was that your could remove the top cover in the normal way to $ expansion cards. You could also remove the bottom cover which gave access to the mother, mounted "upside down" and connected to the separate expansion board backplane with a cable that passed through a slot in the metal separating the upper and lower compartments. This meant that motherboard upgrades did not require you to remove the expansion cards. I was never convinced of the utility of this and it was $ped after being used in the M28 (the 80286 successor to the M24).

      There was also a socket on the motherboard that accepted an 8250 (if I recall correctly) that allowed synchronous serial connections. I never ever saw it used.

      There were two models of keyboard. One conventionally had 10 function keys at the left-hand side. The other had nineteen across the top: used for proprietary applications such as OliWord.
  - author: Dombrosio (Italy)
    date: Thursday 23rd September 2010
    text: |-
      I have an M24 working in good condition.\
      Write me at 11mar79@gmail.com if you''re interested.
  - author: Joanne Perrier (Montreal Canada)
    date: Tuesday 8th June 2010
    text: |-
      I have a manual Olivetti 82 typewriter and would like to sell it to a collector or museum for $500.\
      Thank you. Joanne
  - author: Luigi Urbinati (Rome/Italy)
    date: Tuesday 2nd February 2010
    text: I''m selling an original Olivetti M24 for 400$, please contact me for payment and shipping. (luigiurbinati10@gmail.com)
  - author: Lars (Germany)
    date: Saturday 18th October 2008
    text: |-
      I still own the succeeding system, the Olivetti M240. It is very similar to the M24 but features a volume potentiometer instead of the sound on/of-switch and of course the incredibly fast 10 MHz-8086 processor. The original keyboard is a 102-key standard type and still works perfectly, even after 21 years, as well as the whole system except the clock and calendar (low battery). Unfortunately, this cannot be sait for the 12" monochrome monitor (b+w positive) which needs about a minute to heat up and constantly lacks brightness and sharpness.\
      As the bios is configurated by dip-switches instead of setup software, it is no problem to run the M240 with a low battery.
  - author: Dan Eaves (World)
    date: Monday 11th February 2008
    text: |-
      I'm surprised there's no mention of the kkkkkeybord problem. Dust would accumulate and letters would start repeating, just like you'd held the key down. This was largely random and hugely frustrating. The solution was to disassemble the keyboard, which had 5 or 6 pieces per key, including a loaded spring which had a tendency to launch itself to the other side of the room. You then cleaned and dried all the parts and put it back together. An afternoon's work. A friend of mine in charge of a number of M24s had a staff member who spent all his time taking keyboard keys apart and cleaning. (A special feature was that the colour of the escaping springs matched my carpet.

      Otherwiseeeeeee, a great machhhine.
  - author: Emanuel (Italy)
    date: Thursday 27th April 2006
    text: |-
      Please i have one Olivetti M24 but the machine turn on and then won't load the S.O. brcause don't recognize the drive and the hdd, what is the mode to enter in bios setting or the software to change the settings? The bios battery is low and the settings is losts! Thanks

      Emanuel
  - author: Mark Dodd (Australia)
    date: Wednesday 22nd June 2005
    text: Telecom Australia brought these PCs by the shipload. The colour screen was brilliant and the speed!!!! I think we got Nortons SI of 2.1!!! Pecking order was established as the power guys got the later M28 models and filtered thier obsolete boxes to the peasants.
  - author: PRINCE MATHEW (BANGALORE,INDIA)
    date: Friday 26th July 2002
    text: |-
      SIR,\
      we have got a pc of the make olivetti(M-24) & a keyboard\
      (101 -keys,ANK2462)for servicing.The machine is in working\
      condition but we are having problems with the hard disk and the\
      key board.the hard disk is a "SEGATE"-ST225(20MB),&the keyboard is\
      101 keys (ANK-2462).\
      It would have been a great help if u could sugest me or\
      send me the availibillity & details/servicing mannual/circuit\
      schematics of the above mentioned parts.

      yours sincierly\
      PRINCE MATHEW.

      mailto:prince_mathew2000@rediffmail.com
  oc_id: 535
  source:
    url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230610142244/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=535
    date: '2023-06-10'
---

This is a highly IBM PC compatible system. It means that it is truely hardware and sotfware compatible with the IBM PC of that time. Back then, all "PC compatible" systems were not exactly 100% compatible... so it was a real marketing argument for the Olivetti M24.\
There were two true tests to know if a system was really IBM PC compatible : Lotus 1-2-3 and Microsoft Flight Simulator, and the M-24 was running both with no problem.

But in addition to its good compatibility, the Olivetti M24 was offering more than the IBM PC itself : RS232c and Centronics interface built-in, more complete keyboard, better graphic possibilities (640 x 400) and 7 free expansion slots (instead of 3 for the IBM PC). Even the CPU (8086, real 16-bit) was faster than the 8088 (16-bit with an 8-bit bus) used by the IBM PC.

It runs under MS-DOS 2.11, CP/M 86, UCSD P-System and even PCOS, the Olivetti OS used on the M20.\
The 128k RAM can be expanded to 256k or 640k by adding memory directly onboard. It is also possible to connect two optional 10 Mb hard disks (one internal and one external).\
The Olivetti M24 was sold with a green or yellow phosphore 12" monochrome monitor, or with a color monitor (more expensive, of course). Two keyboards were available : one absolutly identical to the IBM PC's, and an Olivetti with more keys (102 instead of 83) including 18 functions keys and a complete editing keypad.

In September 85 appears a new model, the **M24 SP**. It is based on a M24 but its Intel 8086 is running at 10 Mhz, it has 512k RAM (still upgradable to 640k) and a 20Mb hard-disk.

Conclusion : the Olivetti M24 was the first computer to be fully compatible with the IBM PC and to offer more features than original PC, for a cheaper price !

The Olivetti M24 was also sold as the [Logabax 1600](/museum/logabax-persona-1600/) in France (Olivetti owned Logabax) and the [ATT PC-6300](/museum/att-pc-6300/)in the USA (Olivetti signed a distribution deal with ATT). As Olivetti was not entirely satisfied with the ATT deal, it also approached Xerox to distribute its computers in the USA.