IBM PC–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 ...
portable computer
A portable computer is a computer designed to be easily moved from one place to another, as opposed to those designed to remain stationary at a single location such as desktops and workstations. These computers usually include a display a ...
s first released in 1984 by
Morrow Designs
Morrow may refer to:
Places in the United States and Canada United States
*Morrow, Arkansas
*Morrow, Georgia
*Morrow, Louisiana
*Morrow, Ohio
*Morrow County, Ohio
*Morrow County, Oregon
Canada
*Morrow Lake, Ontario
*Mount Morrow, Northwest Territ ...
, a company founded by George Morrow. It was the first lunchbox-style portable computer, with a vertically configured case that has a fold-down
keyboard
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Mus ...
. The only external component is a single
AC adapter
An AC adapter or AC/DC adapter (also called a wall charger, power adapter, power brick, or wall wart) is a type of external power supply, often enclosed in a case similar to an AC plug. AC adapters deliver electric power to devices that la ...
. It would have been a little top heavy except for the large camcorder-style battery loaded into its base. The Pivot was designed by Chikok Shing of Vadem Inc.
The IBM-compatible Pivot was Morrow's first non-Z80 machine. While modern laptops do not necessarily share its design, it was arguably the most practical machine until desktops embraced 3.5-inch floppies. Robert Dilworth left his position as General Manager of Morrow Designs to become CEO of
Zenith Data Systems
Zenith Data Systems Corporation (ZDS) was an American computer systems manufacturing company active from 1979 to 1996. It was originally a division of the Zenith Radio Company (later Zenith Electronics), after they had purchased the Heath Com ...
, a position he held for several years as part of Zenith's paying him to talk George Morrow into licensing the Pivot to them.
Specifications
The original model, retrospectively called the Pivot I, was unveiled at COMDEX/Spring '84 in May 1984 and released in November that year. The Pivot I has one 5.25-inch
floppy 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 ...
, 256 KB of
RAM
Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to:
* A male sheep
* Random-access memory, computer memory
* Ram Trucks, US, since 2009
** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans
** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks
Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...
, and 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 ...
capable of displaying bitmapped graphics at an abridged resolution of 480 by 128 pixels or text at 80 columns by 16 lines. Because these resolutions were smaller than standard CGA, a pop-up TSR utility built into
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
* ...
allows the user to scroll the screen in the four cardinal directions dynamically, while a program is running. Instead of sculpted plastic keys for the ten F-keys, these keys are located on a membrane keypad, with four additional photographic keys corresponding to different TSR utilities. These include the calculator button, which loads a
calculator app
An electronic calculator is typically a portable electronic device used to perform calculations, ranging from basic arithmetic to complex mathematics.
The first solid-state electronic calculator was created in the early 1960s. Pocket-sized ...
; a clock button, which loads a clock/calendar app; a phone button, which loads a modem utility for
terminal emulation
A terminal emulator, or terminal application, is a computer program that emulates a video terminal within some other display architecture. Though typically synonymous with a shell or text terminal, the term ''terminal'' covers all remote termi ...
; and a floppy icon, which either boots the floppy currently loaded into drive A or starts the aforementioned screen-scrolling utility.
The Pivot I had an original list price of US$2,995. In February 1985, Morrow revised the LCD to have an
electroluminescent
Electroluminescence (EL) is an optical and electrical phenomenon, in which a material emits light in response to the passage of an electric current or to a strong electric field. This is distinct from black body light emission resulting from ...
backlighting panel, allowing users to operate the computer in the dark. With this adjustment, the Morrow Pivot became the first battery-powered portable computer with a backlit display.
The Pivot II, introduced in May 1985, improved the LCD to support native CGA resolutions—that is, 320 by 200 pixels in graphics mode and 80 columns by 25 lines in text mode. The Pivot II was optioned with either one or two 5.25-inch floppy drives. In March 1986, Morrow introduced the Pivot XT, including an internal 3.5-inch, 10-MB
hard disk drive
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating hard disk drive platter, pla ...
in addition to two 5.25-inch floppy drives.
Clones
The Pivot II design was licensed to
Zenith Data Systems
Zenith Data Systems Corporation (ZDS) was an American computer systems manufacturing company active from 1979 to 1996. It was originally a division of the Zenith Radio Company (later Zenith Electronics), after they had purchased the Heath Com ...
in February 1985 for $1.5 million and sold as the Zenith Z-171. Zenith sold over US$27 million worth of ZFL-171s to the United States government, mainly to the
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...
—notably beating out
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...
and their
PC Convertible
The IBM PC Convertible (model 5140) is a laptop computer made by IBM, first sold in April 1986. The Convertible was IBM's first laptop-style computer, following the luggable IBM Portable, and introduced the 3½-inch floppy disk format to the IBM ...
clamshell laptop.
Osborne Computer Corporation
The Osborne Computer Corporation (OCC) was an American computer company and pioneering maker of portable computers. It was located in Hayward, California, part of San Francisco Bay Area in California.Sharp PC-7000, a later lunchbox portable PC, released in 1985 and also designed by Vadem