The Apricot PC (originally called the ACT Apricot) is a personal computer produced by Apricot Computers, then still known as Applied Computer Techniques or ACT. Released in late 1983, it was ACT's first independently developed microcomputer, following on from the company's role of marketing and selling the ACT Sirius 1,[1] and was described as "the first 16-bit system to be Sirius-compatible, rather than IBM-compatible", indicating the influence that the Sirius 1 had in the United Kingdom at the time.[2]
It achieved success in the United Kingdom, with reviewers noting the system's high resolution 800 × 400 display (for its time) and its trackball cable (later models used IR).
It used an Intel 8086 processor running at 4.77 MHz. A 8087 math co-processor was optional. The amount of memory was 256 kB, expandable to 768 kB. It came with a CRT green-screen 9"[3] with text mode 80 × 25 or graphics 800 × 400 pixels and was equipped with two floppy discs and a keyboard with an integrated LCD display.[4]
The Apricot Xi was a similar computer released in 1984,[3] with a hard drive instead of a second floppy-drive.
Software
Due to an IBM PC incompatible BIOS, trying to run a software package like dBase III would result in a system crash.[3]
The manufacturer did not completely clone the IBM BIOS, so although it ran MS-DOS and CP/M-86, it was not IBM PC compatible as the underlying system BIOS and hardware was very different. An Intel 8089 I/O controller was used, instead of the Intel 8237 DMA chip used in IBM computers; the ROM was only a simple boot loader rather than a full BIOS; and there was no 640k barrier. The floppy disk format was "not quite compatible"; attempting to read an ordinary PC FAT floppy in an Apricot, or vice versa, would result in a scrambled directory listing with some files missing.
Apricot later offered the possibility of converting the computer into an IBM compatible PC by replacing the motherboard with one equipped with an Intel 80286 processor.
Mechanical Keyboard 101-key QWERTY, 8 function keys and 6 keys standard dynamic membrane with an LED to the left of each one to indicate they are active. An LCD with 40 × 2 characters is included, which can display the key assignment. Weighs 1.5 kg and can be attached to the frame underneath for easy transport.
Housing: 42 × 32 × 10 cm plastic cream weighing about 6.4kg The front half of the top shows a depression to bring the monitor. In the front two 3.5" floppy drives that can be protected with a shutter for transport. Under these, a carrying handle. At the rear two proprietary Apricot connector slots for expansion, parallel printer port of Centronics micro ribbon 36 pin connector type, serial port DB-25 connector, monitor connector and power supply with a switch.
Support for two internal 3,5" Sony floppy disk drives
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