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yann64andClaude Opus 5.5 b274874139 All machines linked to their forum thread (full comment import)

1,289 discussions, 9,527 archived comments; pages no longer carry the comments themselves.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01YDRjtmAiNpo5mK5N3d7QwZ

2026-10-13 17:26:43 +02:00

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Raw Blame History

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

title

categories

types

origins

years

cpus

params

RAIR microcomputer Black Box

Computers

Home Computer

United Kingdom

1979

8085

name

image

company

company_name

specs

tabs

forum_thread

adverts

oc_id

source

Black Box

/media/museum/photos/rair_black-box_2s.jpg

/companies/rair-microcomputer

RAIR microcomputer

label	value
NAME	Black Box

label	value
MANUFACTURER	RAIR microcomputer

label	value
TYPE	Home Computer

label	value
ORIGIN	United Kingdom

label	value
YEAR	1979

label	value
BUILT IN LANGUAGE	None

label	value
KEYBOARD	Depends on the video terminal used

label	value
CPU	8085 (Later 8088)

label	value
SPEED	3 MHz then 5 MHz (8088: 5 MHz)

label	value
CO-PROCESSOR	Unknown

label	value
RAM	from 64 kb to 512 kb

label	value
VRAM	Unknown

label	value
ROM	Unknown

label	value
TEXT MODES	Commonly 80 chars. x 25 lines terminals

label	value
GRAPHIC MODES	Unknown

label	value
COLORS	Unknown

label	value
SOUND	Unknown

label	value
SIZE / WEIGHT	50.5 (W) x 40.5 (D) x 14 (H) cm.

label	value
I/O PORTS	from 2 to 8 serial ports (RS-232c / V24)

label	value
BUILT IN MEDIA	5''1/4 disk-drive (256 kb)\ 5 Mb ST-506 hard-disk, then 15 and 30 MB

label	value
OS	Mono-user : CP/M\ Multi-user : MP/M\ Multi-machine : MP/M Network

label	value
POWER SUPPLY	Built-in power supply unit

label	value
PRICE	64kb RAM and 2 x serial ports : 6097 (France, july 82)

adverts

449

title	subtitle	text	image
FRENCH ADVERT (JAN. 1982)			/media/museum/pubs/rair_black-box_pub_union_1.jpg

title	subtitle	text	image
FRENCH ADVERT (FEB. 1982)			/media/museum/pubs/rair_blackbox_pub_1.jpg

454

url	date
https://web.archive.org/web/20230331024435/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=454	2023-03-31

RAIR was a very early UK manufacturer of 8085-based systems and eventually licensed its designs to ICL.

This obscure system was sold with a hard-disk and a 5"1/4 disk-drive built-in. It was conceived to be used as a multi-user system.

The following languages were available : Basic, Cobol, Fortran, Pascal, PL/1.

More information about Black Box internal hardware in the ICL Personal computer page.

Pictured here is a model 3/30.

Douro says:
This machine uses a Seagate st506 hard drive; I am quite certain that it could use many different drives through the interface.

John Pettitt adds:
Later black boxes were 8088 based and used hard disks up to 15MB.
RAIR was the first company in Europe to ship a 5.25 HD and the second world wide.

Mark Sharples reports:
The boards on this model would sometimes come free from the mother board during transit. The engineer would arrive from Rair, wait for the client to leave the room, and then simply drop the computer from about two inches off the desk to re-install the system.

We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system, please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.

3.3 KiB Raw Blame History

3.3 KiB

Raw Blame History