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The great in former times, IBM has retained the aura of past glory to this day. There were times when the word "computer" and the name of the company were considered almost synonymous. IBM is known to the world primarily for its large mainframes (“mainframes”). But one day, the corporation decided to try their hand at the nascent microcomputer industry. The fruit of this effort was the IBM Portable PC 5100 microcomputer, born in September 1975. The lyrical details then, first of all, are dry technical characteristics that can be said to a knowledgeable person.
"Baby" IBM Portable PC 5100 weighed nearly twenty-five pounds. The processor for it was developed by the corporation itself and its clock frequency was 1.9 megahertz, that is, slightly less than two megahertz.
RAM in the minimum configuration was 16 kilobytes, and a maximum of 64 kilobytes. Its five-inch monochrome monitor boasts a resolution of 16 x 16 pixels of textual information. Do you like modern video games? Used to the mighty graphics of the most advanced video systems and you find flaws even in them? Imagine, only a third of a century ago, even such a monitor made a strong impression.
The operating system was one of two programming languages: APL (serial number 10-13616) or BASIC (serial number 10-11503). The computer was equipped with a built-in drive for DC300 magnetic tape carriers that contained 200 kilobytes of information (analogue of audio cassettes, data cassettes). The user has the ports for the tape recorder and the printer. This high-tech masterpiece from the most brilliant brand of its era cost as much as 19 thousand 975 US dollars.
About pricing should talk more. Take a look at the plate. The first column is the amount of RAM in kilobytes. In the second column are prices for modifications of the IBM Portable PC 5100 running the APL programming language (depending on the amount of RAM). In the second column - modifications run by the good old BASIC (depending on the amount of RAM). In the third - the modifications controlled by both programming languages (depending on the amount of RAM). Thus, the “cheapest” configuration of the first self-contained computer cost its buyer 8 thousand 975 US dollars, which is also very expensive.
Before continuing our narration, some clarity should be introduced (or rather, more fog) to the question of what the IBM Portable PC 5100 really was. Some English-speaking network experts attribute it not to microcomputers, but to minicomputers. For a number of signs, both these points of view have the right to exist. And our plans for today do not include a discussion about the intricacies of the old classification of "computer-like". This topic involves an extensive discussion, clearly beyond the scope of a single article or even a single book. In any case, before the first tablet in the world, there were still fourteen long years.
Other experts believe the IBM 5100 is not only the first microcomputer of a glorious corporation, but also the first laptop computer on our planet covered with oceans. Since he weighed almost a quarter centner, the word "portable" does not look very appropriate in this context. English-speaking specialists in the history of high technology offer the term "self-contained" ("self-contained"). It does not sound very nice in Russian, but we consider it necessary to give here the maximum accurate translation of the English figure of speech, which, with some literary processing, can be translated into the word “self-sufficient” in Russian, which we will use with reference to the IBM Portable PC 5100.
Speech, as many of you have already guessed, is that the computer "out of the box" already contains everything you need for your work, namely: a keyboard; monitor and data collector. Today this will not surprise anyone, but then ...
Suffice it to say that the choice of computers in those days was small and those few machines on the market did not even come close to the IBM 5100 by their capabilities. But it cost even expensive in its times: almost twenty thousand dollars in the maximum configuration. They did it not for schoolchildren and amateurs to communicate in social networks (which did not exist then), but for professionals and scientists. It was not intended for enthusiasts, or for the needs of the business.
Depending on the version, it worked under the control of the programming language APL or BASIC or both. We will consider the programming language APL, at least today. We only note that this language was used exclusively on large electronic computers ("mainframes").
Therefore, “cramming” it into the tight framework of a microcomputer has proven to be a daunting task for IBM. But the mighty corporation decided to do it very elegantly: instead of creating a separate APL interpreter for the IBM 5100, it made an emulator version for the mainframe S / 360. Thus, acquiring the baby IBM 5100, the programmer had at his disposal a close resemblance to the most powerful IBM S / 360 mainframe computer.
Opening the case, the user found that access to all components was organized quite conveniently. In 1978, the idea of the IBM 5100 was developed and the IBM 5110 line came into being, which replaced the first self-contained computer in the history of human civilization.
Our today's high-tech chronicle page is nearing completion. It remains only to note some technical features that will certainly seem somewhat unusual and strange to the modern user. But let's not forget that we are talking about a completely different era.
Look at the bottom of the motherboard. See thousands of thin sharp wires? With their help, attached PCB. Some craftsmen even improved their computer on their own.
Pay attention to the printed circuit boards. Most of the integrated circuits are distinguished by an unusual proprietary “Aybiems” silver color.
The central processor was not a single detail (as is customary for us), but represented a kind of "set" of fifteen separate chips.
What makes the IBM 5110 so small and so powerful for its time? This he owes to the chip, which was called "the haystack in the eye of a needle," somewhat changing the well-known proverb about "a needle in a haystack." 48 thousand individual bits of information could fit in an needle-sized space. In those days, such comparisons have not ceased to impress.
Source: Oldcomputers.net
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