website/content/museum/mcm-computers-mcm-70-700.md

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

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
MCM COMPUTERS MCM 70 / 700	Computers	Professional Computer	Canada	1974	Intel 8008	name image company company_name specs tabs photos links comments related oc_id source MCM 70 / 700 /media/museum/photos/mcm-computers_782apl_1.jpg /companies/mcm-computers MCM COMPUTERS label value NAME MCM 70 / 700 label value MANUFACTURER MCM Computers label value TYPE Professional Computer label value ORIGIN Canada label value YEAR 1974 label value END OF PRODUCTION Unknown label value BUILT IN LANGUAGE APL language label value KEYBOARD Full stroke keyboard, 46 keys label value CPU Intel 8008 label value SPEED 0.8 MHz (800 Khz) label value RAM 2, 4 or 8 KB depending models label value ROM 32 KB label value TEXT MODES Unknown, built-in alphanumeric plasma display (1 line) label value GRAPHIC MODES Unknown label value COLORS No label value SOUND Unknown label value SIZE / WEIGHT 9 Kg label value I/O PORTS expansion bus label value BUILT IN MEDIA 0, 1 or 2 x 100 KB cassette tape drives depending models label value POWER SUPPLY Unknown label value PERIPHERALS printer, floppy disk driven, plotter, card reader, RS232 interface label value PRICE MCM 720: Cnd $4950 (Canada, 1974)\ MCM 782: Cnd $9,800 (Canada, 1974) photos links title subtitle text image AN EARLY PRODUCTION MODEL OF THE MCM/70, 1974 This photograph, taken in the early 1974, was used liberally by Micro Computer Machines in its promotional brochures, manuals, and press articles Thanks to [York University Computer Museum](http://www.cse.yorku.ca/museum/v_tour/artifacts/artifacts.htm) for this picture /media/museum/photos/mcm_70_yucm_1.jpg title subtitle text image MCM/70 COMPUTER The MCM/70 computer, designed by Canadian company Micro Computer Machines (MCM) between 1972 and 1973, is possibly the earliest example of a microcomputer designed and manufactured specifically for personal use (Photograph by Z. Stachniak) Thanks to [York University Computer Museum](http://www.cse.yorku.ca/museum/v_tour/artifacts/artifacts.htm) for this picture /media/museum/photos/mcm_70_yucm_2.jpg title url text Wikipedia - MCM entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCM/70 info about MCM and its systems title url text York University Computer Museum http://www.cse.yorku.ca/museum/collections/MCM/MCM.htm detailed list of their impressive MCM collection author date text Achim Baqué Sunday 12th September 2021 Hi, I am a vintage computer collector. Please contact me (E-Mail via my website) if you have the MCM 70 to offer. author date text Alvin Ginsburg (United States) Friday 4th September 2015 I bought one of these at IBM in order to get funding for the IBM 5100. The management didn''t believe you could actually put a computer on a disk, and lo and behold, without a raised floor. So, I bought the HP 9830, a Wang 2200 and an MCM/70. When Dave Slattery a vice president of development told me you couldn''t put a Basic compiler into less than 128k I wheeled one of these machines into his office. I got the funding, a story for another day about politics and bureaucracy. author date text tOM Trottier (Ottawa, Canada) Monday 23rd March 2015 I programmed these in APL in the summer of 1974, mainly converting mainframe functions $ workspaces to the MCM/700 environment. I still have some stock certificates.... /museum/mcm-computers-mcm-800 346 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230528100340/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=346 2023-05-28

All the MCM machines were designed and built in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The company was originally called "Micro Computer Machines, Inc." (the term "micro computer" was all the rage in the early 70's) but sometime in the late 70's changed the name to simply "MCM Computers".

MCM was among the first companies to fully recognize and act upon microprocessor technology's immense potential for developing a new generation of cost-effective computing systems.

Their first machine was launched in 1974 as the "MCM/70". It was a small desktop microcomputer designed to provide the APL programming language environment for business, scientific, and educational use. Since personal computers were pretty much unheard of at the time and since the company didn't have much money the launch didn't get a lot of notice. It was re-launched in 1975 or 1976 as the "MCM/700" but this was purely a marketing game; the absolute sole difference between the 70 and the 700 was the additional zero on the model designation to the right of the plasma display.

The MCM 700 uses a full APL language interpreter and incorporates a battery backup system that automatically saves the user's workspace. It has an integrated plasma alphanumeric display, full 46 key input and a bus structure to allow interface to the other peripherals developed by MCM: Floppy Disk Drive, printer, plotter, card reader and a RS232 interface (called SCI 1200). At the time of release virtually the only external peripheral available (the plasma display and cassette tape drives were built in) was a Diablo daisy wheel printer. The additional peripherals were added over time.

In theory you could order models with zero, one or two cassette tape drives and with 2K, 4K or 8K of memory. In practice the 782 (8K, two drives) was the most common. There was no external operating system; when you pressed the ON button you went directly into the in-ROM APL which had all the facilities necessary to create programs and access all the peripherals, and allow virtual memory swapping on the two 100 KB built-in cassettes drives.

There were additional models released in due course:

- Model 800 (faster cpu, RAM up to 16K, nicer looking case, CRT option)
- Model 900 (faster again, RAM up to 24K, CRT built-in)
- Model 1000, aka "MCM Power" (repackaged 900, with optional HDS-10 external hard disk unit)

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Contributor: Cam Farnell who worked at MCM from 1973 until 1981, starting as a junior assembly language programmer and ending as the manager of research & development