| Apricot Portable |
/media/museum/photos/act_apricot-portable_r-side.jpg |
/companies/act |
ACT |
| label |
value |
| NAME |
Apricot Portable |
|
| label |
value |
| MANUFACTURER |
ACT |
|
| label |
value |
| TYPE |
Transportable |
|
| label |
value |
| ORIGIN |
United Kingdom |
|
|
|
| label |
value |
| BUILT IN LANGUAGE |
None |
|
| label |
value |
| KEYBOARD |
infrared membrane keyboard, 92 keys, 10 function keys and numeric keypad (same keyboard as the Apricot F1) |
|
| label |
value |
| CPU |
lntel 8086 |
|
|
|
| label |
value |
| RAM |
256k, up to 1024k |
|
| label |
value |
| VRAM |
128k with the color option |
|
|
|
| label |
value |
| TEXT MODES |
80 chars. x 25 lines (LCD screen) |
|
| label |
value |
| GRAPHIC MODES |
LCD screen : 640 x 200\
External monitor : 640 x 256 (8 colors simultaneously out of a palette of 16) |
|
| label |
value |
| COLORS |
LCD display : monochrome\
Color option : 8 colors simultaneously out of a palette of 16 |
|
| label |
value |
| SOUND |
Beeper, Key click |
|
| label |
value |
| SIZE / WEIGHT |
45 (W) x 20 (W) x 17.2 (H) cm / 5.8 kg |
|
| label |
value |
| I/O PORTS |
Centronics parallel, RS232 serial,RGB monitor, Apricot-compatible expansion slot |
|
| label |
value |
| BUILT IN MEDIA |
one Sony 3.5'' disk-drive, double-sided, 720k |
|
| label |
value |
| OS |
MS-DOS 2.11, Concurrent CP/M Version 3, CP/M 86 |
|
| label |
value |
| POWER SUPPLY |
Internal PSU |
|
| label |
value |
| PERIPHERALS |
ACT's modem card, memory expansion, 10Mb external hard-disk, infrared mouse/trackball |
|
| label |
value |
| PRICE |
256 Kb model : £1695 (UK, november 84) |
|
|
| photos |
| emulators |
| links |
| docs |
|
| title |
subtitle |
text |
image |
| APRICOT PORTABLE |
|
Next to it is the infra-red trackball. |
/media/museum/photos/act_apricot_portable_1.jpg |
|
| title |
subtitle |
text |
image |
| WHITE KEYBOARD |
|
This Apricot Portable had a white keyboard. This computer used the same keyboard as the Apricot F1 hence it's possible to find Apricot Portable systems with Apricot F1 keyboards mounted !
Notice that the trackball is also white instead of the black one normally sold with the Portable. Even the microphone clipped on right side of the LCD screen is white...
Picture courtesy of [Allard's Computer Museum](http://members.tripod.lycos.nl/computermuseum/). |
/media/museum/photos/act_apricot-portable_white-keyb.jpg |
|
| title |
subtitle |
text |
image |
| CLOSED |
|
|
/media/museum/photos/act_apricot_portable_closed.jpg |
|
| title |
subtitle |
text |
image |
| REAR |
|
|
/media/museum/photos/act_apricot_portable_rear.jpg |
|
| title |
subtitle |
text |
image |
| INSIDE EXPLAINED |
|
In spite of several original innovations (speech recognition, infra-red data transmissions), the internal design of the Apricot Portable remained very traditional for the time. No specialized components were used to simplify the two electronic boards, which were heavily loaded with traditional circuits. Like all ACT models, this portable computer had, however great proven reliability.
**(1)** Liquid crystal display which can be used in text and graphic modes.\
**(2)** The integrated microphone makes it possible to memorize 63 english commands which can be then used in software provided with the system.\
**(3)** The 256 KB RAM is made up of 32 x 4164 memory chips (64000 x 1 bit cells).\
**(4)** Motherboard using a great number of standard circuits.\
**(5)** Sony 720 KB double-sided, double-density 3.5" disk drive. ACT was one of the first manufacturers to use this disk format.\
**(6)** This interface board manages all inputs/outputs (Serial, Parallel, infra-red, keyboard, disk drive, interfaces).\
**(7)** These 2 ROMs hold the BIOS of the machine and basic routines for the MS-DOS and CP/M 86 operating systems.\
**(8)** INTEL 8086 CPU running at 5 MHz, a true 16 bit microprocessor. |
/media/museum/photos/s_apricot_port_inside.jpg |
|
|
|
|
| title |
url |
platform |
text |
| QDAE |
http://www.seasip.info/Unix/QDAE/ |
Multiplatform |
QDAE is a Quick and Dirty Apricot Emulator for Linux, Windows and MacOS X. This version emulates the Apricot F1; it may support other F-series Apricots as well. |
|
|
|
|
| author |
date |
text |
| Carl Plumer (United States) |
Tuesday 5th February 2019 |
I''m very interested in acquiring the beautiful Apricot PCs, manuals, after market books, etc., and peripherals. Means a lot to me and I will treat them all like fragile crystals of pure joy. Ping me at carlsplumer AT gmail DOT com if you want to chat about your Apricot stuff. Cheers! |
|
| author |
date |
text |
| james (australia) |
Tuesday 21st August 2018 |
I have an old manual for the apricot portable if anyone wants it . crick@ozemail.com.au |
|
| author |
date |
text |
| Matt |
Thursday 9th August 2018 |
My dad worked at apricot from the early 80’s until there demise, and I’ve inherited many portable apricots also many prototypes of most models endless amounts.\
I’m looking to move them on to an enthusiast that will appreciate them\
Thanks Matt |
|
| author |
date |
text |
| Sergio (Italia) |
Saturday 21st May 2016 |
Hello,
I''''m looking for the original Apricot mic for my act portable, if someone has one to sell please contact me. |
|
| author |
date |
text |
| Roy (United Kingdom, Kent) |
Friday 24th August 2012 |
Got the portable, in special case, mouse, manuals, discs etc. complete.\
Want an offer or what have you?\
Roy |
|
| author |
date |
text |
| Roy (United Kingdom, Kent) |
Friday 24th August 2012 |
Got the portable, in special case, mouse, manuals, discs etc. complete.\
Want an offer or what have you?\
Roy |
|
| author |
date |
text |
| Roy (United Kingdom, Kent) |
Friday 24th August 2012 |
Got the portable, in special case, mouse, manuals, discs etc. complete.\
Want an offer or what have you?\
Roy |
|
| author |
date |
text |
| John B (Canada) |
Sunday 11th December 2011 |
The Portable/FP was only ever available with an 8086 and strangely will not support the NEC V20 as a $-in speed upgrade. The systems originally selling with only 256kb of ram had the black finish and the better 512kb systems came in white. You also can not repopulate the system board (512kb units came with half their banks filled) with an additional 512kb of ram, thus maxing the machine out, and get the memory to immediately be detected by the BIOS. The service manual also does not state how exactly you get around this, so that nibble of info might be lost to time.\
The floppy drive (Sony OA-D32W) is a twin head drive unlike the OA-D32V and thus works with double-sided diskettes.\
The only truly awful design issues with the system was the glossy plastic over the LCD which makes for a near mirror finish (and incredible glare) and the absolutely dreadful IBM text mode emulation which all Apricots had up until the XEN 386. |
|
| author |
date |
text |
| wus |
Friday 18th November 2011 |
Didn''t the apricot portable use a 80186 cpu? |
|
| author |
date |
text |
| Dave J (Wales) |
Monday 28th February 2011 |
I still have mine and its in working order. It was a wonderfull machine and I learnt word processing and spread sheets on it. It was well ahead of its time and has to be one of the best of its time. |
|
| author |
date |
text |
| Nico (Netherlands) |
Sunday 8th August 2010 |
The specs on this page say it''s a 8086 processor. Mine has a Z80 processor. Also the Sony diskette drive was blocked. The grease used in those days turns into solid glue after so many years. Had to use solvent to make the thing move again. In the text at the top it says single sided 720k and in the specs at the bottom it says 720k double sided. It is 720k and 720k is always double sided as far as I know. To (dis)assemble the unit is a bit of a where to start and where to finish puzzle. Unfortunately have not been able to get it to work so far. No display and the diskette drive just starts the motors (spinning and head movement) and never stops. Any suggestions? |
|
| author |
date |
text |
| Johan Hjelvik (Norway) |
Monday 19th April 2010 |
This machine, released over 25 years ago, was very early on several new tecnologies$ LCD display, GUI, infrared connection and speech recognition. SuperWriter and Supercalc both worked very well. And, of course, I''ve still got mine, in perfect condition! |
|
| author |
date |
text |
| Peter Hurst (UK) |
Friday 21st March 2008 |
I also bought an Apricot portable from Dixons, although the Voice Recognition was almost useless the fact it came with SuperCalc 5 rescued it from being a complete waste. Although Apricot hardware was not 100% PC compatible it gave me a cheap (£500) PC when I wanted to move from ZX81's and Atari 400's and see what the real world was like.
I remember I quite liked the infra-red keyboard and it came with a fibre optic "light pipe" in case the sun was on the sensor or objects got in the way. Later I got hold of some PC emulatin software which allowed me to run Procomm on it and it became quite a usefull tool. |
|
| author |
date |
text |
| Daniel Garland (New Zealand) |
Thursday 28th September 2006 |
This computer is bizarre, fantastic, odd & brilliant all at the same time. Way ahead of its time, in more sense than one - and check that case design! I would love to own one of these one day, however the chances of that are highly remote :-( |
|
| author |
date |
text |
| Jozef Schildermans (Belgium) |
Tuesday 17th September 2002 |
I bought a second hand Apricot portable around 1985 or 1986 and wrote lots of articles on it. The screen was not very good, but the voice recognition and wireless keyboard were way ahead of its time. Sadly, I traded the unit in for an IBM compatible pc with more memory and a CRT screen, so I don't have it anymore. Haven't seen one since, except for on this excellent site. |
|
| author |
date |
text |
| George (Athens/Greece) |
Saturday 20th April 2002 |
Apricot Portable is the most beautifull portable PC I've ever seen. Way ahead of it's time in the mid 80's |
|
|
| /museum/act-apricot-f1 |
| /museum/act-apricot-f2-f10 |
| /museum/act-apricot-pc |
| /museum/act-apricot-xen |
| /museum/act-apricot-xi |
|
492 |
|
yann64andClaude Opus 5.5
c913d792c4