M10

Specification

• Olivetti M10-F (serial 31070735)
  • 32KB RAM (upgraded)

Description

This is a true laptop computer from 1983, it's remarkably light and compact even for today's standards and has a better keyboard. Unlike modern laptops, the monochrome reflective LCD is perfectly readably in the brightest sunlight. It's a 1 bit graphic screen of 240x64 pixels allowing for 40 by 8 characters, which feels somewhat cramped nowadays (when mobile phones have 15 times more pixels).

Another interesting feature is that there are no moving parts. Mass storage is in RAM which remains powered. Also, batteries are simple AA cells.

In summary, it resembles a bit a large advanced programmable pocket calculator.

Origin

• Kindly donated in 2011 by Evarist Evrard, former director at Olivetti Belgium.

Condition

• Perfect working condition.

Use as terminal

File:P1020145b.JPG

The M10 has a built-in terminal application and a standard RS232 serial port. I tried using the M10 as a terminal connected to a linux box. The login sequence works fine, but then things start to get a bit rough. The terminal is only 40 columns wide, the character set is not entirely compatible (e.g. a dollar is a pound sign) It's obviously slow. There is no termcap. A typical prompt is some garbage escape characters taking almost all 40 columns. Full screen applications like vi don't work etc.

I guess that using a proper termcap would solve most of the issues.