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Epson PX-4
The Epson PX-4 (HC-40 or HX-40) is a portable CP/M based computer introduced in 1985. The screen was 40×8 characters physical, but 80×25 or 40×50 virtual, making it almost compatible with the Epson PX-8 Geneva. It could be operated from a Nickel-Cadium battery pack (Epson RB 105), 4xAA batteries, or a 6V 600mA DC power supply. It was targeted as successor of the Epson HX-20 portable, which was very popular with field engineers. Another feature of the PX-4 was its high modularity. Inheriting the ROM capsules from the Epson PX-8 Geneva, it added a cartridge bay (similar but incompatible with the Epson HX-20), for which Epson offered several printers, micro-cassette drive, modem, EPROM writer, DMM (Digital Multimeter Module), RAM and ROM cartridges.PX-4 OPERATING MANUAL Third parties could make custom cartridges. The modem, EPROM writer and DMM needed user programs. The system allowed for BIOS extensions (User BIOS). Other features were the Serial ''and'' RS232 port, barcode reader ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seiko Epson
Seiko Epson Corporation, or simply known as Epson, is a Japanese multinational electronics company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of computer printers and information- and imaging-related equipment. Headquartered in Suwa, Nagano, Japan, the company has numerous subsidiaries worldwide and manufactures inkjet, dot matrix, thermal and laser printers for consumer, business and industrial use, scanners, laptop and desktop computers, video projectors, watches, point of sale systems, robots and industrial automation equipment, semiconductor devices, crystal oscillators, sensing systems and other associated electronic components. The company has developed as one of manufacturing and research & development companies (formerly known as Seikosha) of the former Seiko Group, a name traditionally known for manufacturing Seiko timepieces since its founding. Seiko Epson was one of the major companies in the Seiko Group, but is neither a subsidiary nor an affiliate of Seiko ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portable Computer
A portable computer is a computer designed to be easily moved from one place to another and included a display and keyboard together, with a single plug, much like later desktop computers called '' all-in-ones'' (AIO), that integrate the system's internal components into the same case as the display. The first commercially sold portable might be the MCM/70, released 1974. The next major portables were the IBM 5100 (1975), Osborne's CP/M-based Osborne 1 (1981) and Compaq's , advertised as 100% IBM PC compatible Compaq Portable (1983). These luggable computers still required a continuous connection to an external power source; this limitation was later overcome by the laptop. Laptops were followed by lighter models, so that in the 2000s mobile devices and by 2007 smartphones made the term almost meaningless. The 2010s introduced wearable computers such as smartwatches. Portable computers, by their nature, are generally microcomputers. Larger portable computers were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CP/M
CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initially confined to single-tasking on 8-bit processors and no more than 64 kilobytes of memory, later versions of CP/M added multi-user variations and were migrated to 16-bit processors. The combination of CP/M and S-100 bus computers became an early standard in the microcomputer industry. This computer platform was widely used in business through the late 1970s and into the mid-1980s. CP/M increased the market size for both hardware and software by greatly reducing the amount of programming required to install an application on a new manufacturer's computer. An important driver of software innovation was the advent of (comparatively) low-cost microcomputers running CP/M, as independent programmers and hackers bought them and shared their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zilog Z80
The Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog as the startup company's first product. The Z80 was conceived by Federico Faggin in late 1974 and developed by him and his 11 employees starting in early 1975. The first working samples were delivered in March 1976, and it was officially introduced on the market in July 1976. With the revenue from the Z80, the company built its own chip factories and grew to over a thousand employees over the following two years. The Zilog Z80 is a software-compatible extension and enhancement of the Intel 8080 and, like it, was mainly aimed at embedded systems. Although used in that role, the Z80 also became one of the most widely used CPUs in desktop computers and home computers from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. It was also common in military applications, musical equipment such as synthesizers (like the Roland Jupiter-8), and coin-operated arcade games of the late 1970s and early 1980s, including ''Pac-Man''. Zilog licensed th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microcassette
The Microcassette (often written generically as microcassette) is an audio storage medium, introduced by Olympus in 1969. It has the same width of magnetic tape as the Compact Cassette but in a cassette roughly one quarter the size. By using thinner tape and half or a quarter the tape speed, microcassettes can offer comparable recording time to the compact cassette but in a smaller package. History Microcassettes have mostly been used for recording voice. In particular, they are commonly used in dictation machines and answering machines. Microcassettes have also been used in computer data storage and to record music. For the latter purpose, devices for recording in stereo were produced in 1982 and, for higher fidelity, microcassettes using Type IV ("metal", i.e. coated with pure metal particles rather than oxide) tape were sold. This was an attempt by Olympus to cash in on the burgeoning Walkman market; one model, the Olympus SR-11, had a built-in radio and offered a stere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epson HX-20
The Epson HX-20 (also known as the HC-20) was the first "true" laptop computer.Michael R. Peres''The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography'', page 306 Taylor & Francis It was invented in July 1980 by Yukio Yokozawa, who worked for Suwa Seikosha, a branch of Japanese company Seiko (now Seiko Epson), receiving a patent for the invention. It was announced in 1981 as the HC-20 in Japan, and was introduced by Epson in North America as the HX-20 at the 1981 COMDEX computer show in Las Vegas, where it drew significant attention for its portability.Epson HX-20 Old Computers It had a mass-market release in July 1982, as the HC-20 in Japan and as the Epson HX-20 in North America. The size of an A4 |
Epson PX-8 Geneva
The Epson PX-8 a.k.a. Geneva was a small laptop computer made by the Epson Corporation in the mid-1980s. It had a Z80 compatible microprocessor, and ran a customized version of the CP/M-80 operating system as well as various applications from a pair of ROM cartridge slots which were treated as drives. For file storage, it had a built-in microcassette drive. The PX-8 did not have an internal disk drive, and instead allowed either memory to be partitioned into application memory and a RAM disk, or an external 60 KB or 120 KB intelligent RAM disk module to be attached (64K and 128K internally but some used for the processor). The intelligent RAM disk module had its own Z80 processor with a backup battery. The PX-8 had an 80 column by 8 line LCD display, which was monochromatic and non-backlit. It used an internal nickel-cadmium battery, and had a battery life in the range of 6–8 hours when using word-processing software. An additional battery provided backup for the internal RAM ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centronics Printer Port
IEEE 1284 is a standard that defines bi-directional parallel communications between computers and other devices. It was originally developed in the 1970s by Centronics, and was widely known as the Centronics port, both before and after its IEEE standardization. History In the 1970s, Centronics developed the now-familiar printer parallel port that soon became a ''de facto'' standard. Centronics had introduced the first successful low-cost seven-wire print head, which used a series of solenoids to pull the individual metal pins to strike a ribbon and the paper. A dot matrix print head consists of a series of metal pins arranged in a vertical row. Each pin is attached to some sort of actuator, a solenoid in the case of Centronics, which can pull the pin forward to strike a ribbon and the paper. The entire print head is moved horizontally in order to print a line of text, striking the paper several times to produce a matrix for each character. Character sets on early printer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epson PX-16
Seiko Epson Corporation, or simply known as Epson, is a Japanese multinational electronics company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of computer printers and information- and imaging-related equipment. Headquartered in Suwa, Nagano, Japan, the company has numerous subsidiaries worldwide and manufactures inkjet, dot matrix, thermal and laser printers for consumer, business and industrial use, scanners, laptop and desktop computers, video projectors, watches, point of sale systems, robots and industrial automation equipment, semiconductor devices, crystal oscillators, sensing systems and other associated electronic components. The company has developed as one of manufacturing and research & development companies (formerly known as Seikosha) of the former Seiko Group, a name traditionally known for manufacturing Seiko timepieces since its founding. Seiko Epson was one of the major companies in the Seiko Group, but is neither a subsidiary nor an affiliate of Seiko ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
