The Gavilan SC is an early

laptop computer A laptop computer or notebook computer, also known as a laptop or notebook, is a small, portable personal computer (PC). Laptops typically have a Clamshell design, clamshell form factor (design), form factor with a flat-panel computer scree ...

first released by the Gavilan Computer Corporation in April 1984. The computer ran on an

Intel 8088 The Intel 8088 ("''eighty-eighty-eight''", also called iAPX 88) microprocessor is a variant of the Intel 8086. Introduced on June 1, 1979, the 8088 has an eight-bit external data bus instead of the 16-bit bus of the 8086. The 16-bit registers ...

microprocessor running at 5 MHz and sported a

touchpad A touchpad or trackpad is a type of pointing device. Its largest component is a tactile sensor: an electronic device with a flat surface, that detects the motion and position of a user's fingers, and translates them to 2D motion, to control a Cu ...

for a

pointing device A pointing device is a human interface device that allows a User (computing)#End-user, user to input Three-dimensional space, spatial (i.e., continuous and multi-dimensional) data to a computer. Graphical user interfaces (GUI) and Computer- ...

, one of the first computers to do so. The laptop was developed by Manuel "Manny" Fernandez, founder of the Gavilan Computer Corporation, and unveiled in May 1983.

History

The brainchild of Manuel "Manny" Fernandez, the Gavilan was unveiled at COMDEX/Spring '83 at the

Georgia World Congress Center The Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) is a convention center in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Enclosing some 3.9 million ft2 (360,000 m2) in exhibition space and hosting more than a million visitors each year, the GWCC is the world's largest LEED c ...

in late April 1983. It was unveiled a year after the

Grid Compass The Grid Compass is a family of laptop computers introduced in 1982 by the Grid Systems Corporation. The design for the Compass was rendered by Bill Moggridge. Owing to its clamshell design—the first in a portable computer—some historians ...

, with which it shared several pioneering details, notably a clamshell design, in which the screen folds shut over the keyboard. The Gavilan, however, was more affordable than the Compass, at a list price of around

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

4000. Unlike the Compass, it was equipped with a

floppy disk drive A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, a diskette, or a disk) is a type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined with a ...

and had a built-in battery. An internal 300-baud

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was standard. A compact printer that attached to the rear of the machine was an option. The Gavilan was originally planned to ship with a proprietary, GUI-based operating system, called the Gavilan Operating Environment (GOE) and preinstalled with a suite of productivity applications, branded Capsuleware. GOE was to be stored in the laptop's 48 KB of

ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...

and would have used a FORTH-like interpreter to generate very compact code. Both GOE and Capsuleware failed to come to fruition, however, and by November 1983 the company announced that they had switched to providing the laptop with

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

. The machine's included software was a terminal program, MS-DOS, and

MBasic MBASIC is the Microsoft BASIC, Microsoft BASIC implementation of BASIC for the CP/M operating system. MBASIC is a descendant of the original Altair BASIC interpreters that were among Microsoft's first products. MBASIC was one of the two versions o ...

(a version of the

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programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Programming languages are described in terms of their Syntax (programming languages), syntax (form) and semantics (computer science), semantics (meaning), usually def ...

). An Office Pack of four applications— Sorcim

SuperCalc SuperCalc is a spreadsheet published by Sorcim in 1980. History VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet program, but at first was not available for the CP/M operating system. SuperCalc was created to serve that market. Alongside WordStar, it wa ...

and SuperWriter, and pfs:File and pfs:Report—was optional. It was far smaller than competing

IBM compatible An IBM PC compatible is any personal computer that is hardware- and software-compatible with the IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC) and its subsequent models. Like the original IBM PC, an IBM PC–compatible computer uses an x86-based central pro ...

portables, such as the

Compaq Portable The Compaq Portable is an early portable computer which was one of the first IBM PC compatible systems. It was Compaq Computer Corporation's first product, to be followed by others in the Compaq Portable series and later Compaq Deskpro series. ...

, which were the size of a portable

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and weighed more than twice the Gavilan's 4 kg (9 lb), and unlike the Gavilan they could not run off batteries. Gavilan claimed the SC could run up to nine hours on its built-in nickel-cadmium batteries. Jack Hall, an award-winning industrial designer, was chosen to work out the

ergonomics Ergonomics, also known as human factors or human factors engineering (HFE), is the application of Psychology, psychological and Physiology, physiological principles to the engineering and design of products, processes, and systems. Primary goa ...

, mechanics and overall appearance of the Gavilan. An extremely compact printer module was the result of a collaboration between Hall Design and

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of Japan. Additionally, several patentable features such as the unique display hinge and printer attachment mechanism were embodied in the design. The Gavilan sported an

LCD A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers to display information. Liquid crystals do not em ...

display with an unusual resolution of 400×64

pixel In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a Raster graphics, raster image, or the smallest addressable element in a dot matrix display device. In most digital display devices, p ...

s (representing 8 lines by 80 columns of text). It included a pioneering

-like pointing device, installed on a panel above the keyboard. It used static CMOS memory, and came with 64

kilobytes The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. The International System of Units (SI) defines the prefix '' kilo'' as a multiplication factor of 1000 (103); therefore, one kilobyte is 1000 bytes.International Standar ...

standard. Memory was expandable through plug-in modules, for which there were four slots available (each 32 KB "CapsuleRam" module cost and included a backup battery); these slots could also be used for software ROM cartridges. With standards for microfloppy drives still emerging, Gavilan was designed to accommodate both a 3.0-inch 320 KB microfloppy drive as well as a 3.5-inch floppy drive. Gavilan originally planned to avoid the retail segment entirely, instead providing the laptop through corporate fleet sellers. In November 1983, however, the company pivoted to providing the laptop to individuals through retail outlets. Owing to a rigorous overhaul of the design of the laptop, the company missed its initial shipment deadline of December 1983, with the first several dozen units shipping instead in April 1984. Early units were fraught with technical issues, prompting more tweaks. Mass production and sales did not commence until June 1984. By this point, a major distributor of the Gavilan computer had filed for bankruptcy and was forced to pulled out of their deal with Gavilan. In late 1984, Gavilan Computer Corporation themselves declared

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

with

cash flow Cash flow, in general, refers to payments made into or out of a business, project, or financial product. It can also refer more specifically to a real or virtual movement of money. *Cash flow, in its narrow sense, is a payment (in a currency), es ...

problems. The company ceased operations in 1985, having only shipped a few thousand units of the Gavilan SC.

Reception

BYTE The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable un ...

'' in June 1983 called the Gavilan "a traveling professional's dream come true ... tpromises to set new industry standards, not only for truly portable computers, but also for integration of applications software".

References

External links

Oldcomputers.net:Gavilan SC

* ttp://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v10n1/38_14_notebook_computers_in_.php 1984 article reviewing various pocket and portable computers, including the Gavilan* {{Citation , url = http://vintage-laptops.com/?page_id=52&lang=en , contribution = Gavilan SC, 360 degree model , title = Vintage Laptop Museum , type = museum. Early laptops Computer-related introductions in 1984 IBM PC compatibles