Atari Portfolio – the first portable computer

The Atari Portfolio is a PC-compatible palmtop computer, and was released by Atari Corporation in 1989, making it the world’s first palmtop computer.

The Portfolio uses an Intel 80C88 CPU running at 4.9152 MHz and ran “DIP Operating System 2.11” (DIP DOS), an operating system mostly compatible to MS-DOS 2.11 (Grand-grand father of Windows). It had 128 kB of RAM and 256 kB of ROM which contained the OS and built-in applications. The on-board RAM is divided between system memory and local storage (the C: drive). The LCD is monochrome without backlight and had 240×64 pixels or 40 characters x 8 lines.

There is an expansion port on the right side of the computer for parallel, serial, modem or MIDI expansion modules. It uses a BeeCard expansion port for removable memory, which is not compatible with PC card as it predated that standard. Expansion cards were available in sizes of 32, 64, and 128 kB initially, and later were available in capacities up to 4 MB. The expansion cards were backed up by a replaceable battery, which last approximately two years. Built-in applications include a text editor, spreadsheet (Lotus 1-2-3 compatible), phone book and time manager. Expansion cards contained programs such as a chess game, a file manager, and a finance manager. Most text-based MS-DOS applications can run on the Portfolio as long as they did not directly access the hardware and could fit into the small memory.

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Other expansion modules include a floppy drive, and a memory expansion unit. The memory expansion unit gives the Portfolio an additional 256 kB of RAM, which can be partitioned into several drives.

There was also a card reader available that connected to a desktop PC to read and write to the expansion cards.

A modem expansion module was available which converts the portfolio into a miniature computer terminal. The modem is powered from the portfolio and came with an acoustic coupler consisting of two round shells that could be mounted over both ends of a handset with the aid of velcro strips. A direct connection to a telephone with a standard telephone lead is also possible. The complete terminal and coupler are portable, weighing only a few hundred grammes.

The Portfolio still enjoys some popularity today. Many people value them for their strict simplicity and lack of unnecessary features. In addition, several hacks have been made for the Portfolio, including an accessory that allows the use of an electroluminescent backlight on the unit.

The Portfolio appears in the film Terminator 2: Judgment Day, where it is used by the young John Connor to bypass security on an ATM with a ribbon cable connecting the Portfolio’s parallel interface to a magstripe card. This setup also appears a second time in the movie, when John uses it in the Cyberdyne Systems lab to retrieve the key to the vault containing the arm and CPU of the first Terminator.

In 1989, when the device was released, its price without the adds was $ 3000, which was equivalent to half the price of a compact car in the U.S..

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