Olivetti computers

The Olivetti company, an Italian manufacturer of computers, tablets, smartphones, printers and other such business products as calculators and fax machines, was founded as a typewriter manufacturer by Camillo Olivetti in 1908 in the Turin commune of Ivrea, Italy. Olivetti was a pioneer in computer development, starting with the mainframe systems in the 1950s, and continuing into the 1990s with PC-compatible laptops and desktops.

History

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Perspective

1950–1960s

Between 1955 and 1964 Olivetti developed some of the first transistorized mainframe computer systems, such as the Elea 9003. Although 40 large commercial 9003 and over 100 smaller 6001 scientific machines were completed and leased to customers to 1964, low sales, loss of two key managers and financial instability caused Olivetti to withdraw from the field in 1964.

In 1965, Olivetti released the Programma 101, considered one of the first commercial desktop programmable calculators. It was saved from the sale of the computer division to GE thanks to an employee, Gastone Garziera, who spent successive nights changing the internal categorization of the product from "computer" to "calculator", so leaving the small team in Olivetti and creating some awkward situations in the office, since that space was now owned by GE.^[1]

1970s

In 1974, the firm released the TC800, an intelligent terminal designed to be attached to a mainframe and used in the finance sector. It was followed in 1977 by the TC1800.

1980s

Olivetti's first modern personal computer, the M20, featuring a Zilog Z8000 CPU, was released in 1982.^[2]

The M20 was followed in 1983 by the M24,^[3] a clone of the IBM PC using DOS and the Intel 8086 processor (at 8 MHz) instead of the Intel 8088 used by IBM (at 4.77 MHz). The M24 was sold in North America as the AT&T 6300. Olivetti also manufactured the AT&T 6300 Plus, which could run both DOS and Unix.^[4] The M24 was also sold as Xerox 6060 in the US, and as LogAbax PERSONA 1600 in France. The Olivetti M28 was the firm's first PC to have the Intel 80286 processor. It was sold in France as the LogAbax Persona 1800.^[5]^[6]

The same year Olivetti produced its M10 laptop computer,^[7] a 8085-based workalike of the successful Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100, which it marketed in Europe.^[8] These were the first laptops to sell in million-unit quantities, though the Olivetti M10 [it] itself only attained sales figures in the tens of thousands and went out of production within two years.

In 1985, the company acquired a controlling share in the British computer manufacturer Acorn Computers Ltd; a third partner was Thomson SA. Olivetti sold the Thomson MO6 and Acorn BBC Master Compact with brand names Olivetti Prodest PC128 and PC128S^[9] respectively.

In 1987, Olivetti introduced the LSX line of computers which was based on the Motorola 68000 series of processors. They could run either Olivetti's proprietary MOS or Olivetti's own Unix variant, X/OS.^[10] Intended to replace Olivetti's existing Linea Uno (L1) range of multiuser systems, introduced in 1981, the reported $250 million investment in the LSX line by Olivetti was seen as a necessary measure to update its range, bringing increased performance, offering an upgrade path to existing customers (with a promise that existing L1 systems could be upgraded with a new processor card), and preserving a degree of control over product designs that would not have been possible by merely selling or adapting products from AT&T, at that time a significant shareholder in the company. For the high-end LSX models, Olivetti employed technologies from Edge Computer, an Arizona-based company pursuing higher-performance processor designs offering a degree of compatibility with the Motorola 68000 architecture.^[11]

In 1988, Olivetti released the M380/C, part of the Pandora project - an experimental system for multimedia applications.^[12] They also released the PC1 Prodest and PC1 HD (XT clones, similar to the Schneider Euro PC).^[13]^[14]

In 1989, the Olivetti M290S was released, featuring an Intel 80286 at 12 MHz, 1 MB of RAM and a 30 MB hard drive.^[15] That same year, the company presented their 80486-based next generation of workstations, with Olivetti's CP486 (Computing Platform 486) model (with EISA bus) being shown at CeBit.^{[citation needed]} As part of a relaunch of the company's Open Systems Architecture (OSA) strategy in 1991, the CP486 was renamed to the LSX-5010, and an accompanying 33 MHz model was introduced as the LSX-5020, alongside the four-processor LSX-5030 and LSX-5040 systems. The CP486 provided sockets for a Weitek WTL4167 numeric co-processor and an Intel i860 RISC processor.^[16]

1990s

In 1990, Olivetti had its own distribution network in New Zealand through Essentially Software Ltd.^[17] (owned by Gary McNabb) located at Mt. Eden in Auckland and Wellington, where Olivetti M300-100 16 MHz PCs with 80386SX CPU were sold for NZ$7395 and used as graphical work station for design houses using Corel Draw as graphical program. The New Zealand distribution stopped in 1991 when Olivetti could not supply their PCs.

In 1991, Olivetti introduced the D33, a laptop in a carry case and the PCS 286S, a PC with VGA monitor and keyboard.^[18] Olivetti also sold quasi-portable 8086/8088-based PCs with an integrated keyboard and one or two integrated 3.5" floppy disk drives, running DOS 3.27, an Olivetti OEM version of PC DOS 3.20 with minor improvements like the M21 portable (based on M24) and the M15. Also later Olivetti produced interesting laptops like M111, M211, S20, D33, Philos and Echos series. A very interesting subnotebook was the Quaderno, about the same size as an A5 paper – it was the grandfather of the netbooks introduced 20 years later.

Although Olivetti had committed to a range of MIPS-based workstations running Windows NT, introducing the M700 series in 1992 with the M700-10 featuring a MIPS R4000PC processor,^[19] the company pursued a partnership with Digital Equipment Corporation in 1992, putting its MIPS-based offerings in doubt as the company announced its intention to eventually focus on only two product lines: one featuring Intel processors and the other Alpha processors.^[20] This partnership eventually led to the introduction of the LSX 7000 range of workstations and servers employing Digital's Alpha CPU in 1994.^[21] However, just as Olivetti had abandoned its development of products based on the MIPS architecture, discontinuing the M700 produced by its Japanese subsidiary, by 1993, the company had also narrowed its development focus "entirely" to systems based on Intel's Pentium, merely reselling "semi-finished" Digital products based on Alpha.^[22]

Olivetti did attempt to recover its position by introducing the Envision in 1995,^[23] a full multimedia PC, to be used in the living room; this project was a failure. Gateway also introduced a similar product in the U.S., called the Destination 2000, around the same period, to a similarly mixed commercial reception.^[24]^: 156

The company continued to develop personal computers until it sold its PC business in 1997.

Models

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Perspective

More information Name, Photo ...

Name	Year	Type	CPU	Created by	Design by	Notes
Elea	1957	Mainframe	Transistor based	Mario Tchou	Ettore Sottsass	Elea series (1957–64). Entirely Transistor based. The Elea 9003 (photo) is the first commercial model
P101 (Programma 101)	1964	Programmable calculator	Transistor based	Pier Giorgio Perotto	Mario Bellini (chassis)	In New York's MoMA . Golden Compass Award.^{[citation needed]}
P102	1965	Programmable calculator	Transistor based	Pier Giorgio Perotto	Mario Bellini	Version of Programma 101 with an RS-232 serial connector and ability to connect printer^[25]
P203	1967	Personal computer	Transistor based	Pier Giorgio Perotto	Mario Bellini^[26]	P101 with Tekne 3 and Editor 4. For business, printer included
P602	1971	Microcomputer	Integrated circuit			For technical or scientific usage
P603	1972	Microcomputer	Integrated circuit			P602 with Editor 4. For business.
P652	1973	Microcomputer			Mario Bellini^{[citation needed]}	For technical or scientific usage
TC800	1974^[27]	Mainframe				Banking terminal
TC1800	1978^[28]	Mainframe
P6060	1975^[29]	Personal computer	PUCE1/PUCE2 TTL	Pier Giorgio Perotto	Ettore Sottsass and G. Sowden	For technical or scientific usage
P6040	1975^[29]	Personal computer	Intel 8080	Pier Giorgio Perotto	Mario Bellini	First Olivetti computer to use a microprocessor. For technical or scientific usage. Three versions.^[30]
P6066	1975	Personal computer	Similar to P6060	Pier Giorgio Perotto
Olivetti BCS	1974–78	Mainframe	Business Computer Systems, from 1974–1978^[31]
M20	1982	Personal computer	Zilog Z8001 4 MHz	Enrico Pesatori, Enzo Torresi and project team^[32]^[33]	Ettore Sottsass Antonio Macchi Cassia George Sowden	First Olivetti personal computer in 1982. Own operating system: PCOS. Commercial Failure^[34]
M10	1983	Laptop	Intel 80C85 CMOS at 3 MHz		Antonio Macchi Cassia Perry A. King	First laptop. Present under different brand names: Kiotronic Kc-85, Tandy Trs-80, NEC PC-8201 and Olivetti M10. SMAU Industrial Design prize^[35]
M30	1983	Minicomputer	Zilog Z8001		George Sowden	Linea L1. Operating system COSMOS IV (MOS)
M40	1983	Minicomputer	Zilog Z8001		George Sowden	Linea L1. Operating system COSMOS IV (MOS)
M44	1983	Minicomputer	Zilog Z8001		George Sowden	Linea L1
M60	1984	Minicomputer	Zilog Z8001		George Sowden^[36]	Linea L1. Operating system COSMOS IV (MOS)
M24	1983	Personal computer desktop	Intel 8086 (16 bit) at 8 MHz – Optional coprocessor 8087	Luigi Mercurio, Sandro Graciotti^[32]	E. Sottsass	IBM PC compatible; First Olivetti MS-DOS compatible computer ^[37]
M21	1983	Laptop	Intel 8086 (16 bit) at 4 MHz – Optional coprocessor 8087			Portable version of the M24 with an integrated monitor.
M19	1986	Personal computer	AMD 8088 4.77MHz			Economical model
M28	1986	Personal computer	Intel 80286 8MHz			^[37]
M70	1986	Minicomputer	Zilog Z8001			Linea L1. Operating system COSMOS IV (MOS)
Prodest PC 128	1986	Home Computer	Motorola 6809e 1 MHz			Rebranded Thomson MO6, first on the Olivetti Prodest series.^[33]
M15	1987	Laptop	Intel 80C88 4.77MHz			Removable keyboard. First laptop.
Prodest PC 128s	1987	Home Computer	MOS 6512 2 MHz			Sold as the BBC Master Compact outside of Italy,^[38] second in the Olivetti Prodest series.^[33]
Prodest PC1	1988	Home Computer	NEC V40 4.77-8 MHz, XT clone			Third in the Olivetti Prodest series.^[33]
M200	1988	Personal computer	NEC V40 8 MHz			Parallel project to the ETV 2700 typewriter
M240	1984	Personal computer	Intel 8086 8 MHz
M280	1986	Personal computer	Intel 80286 12 MHz
M290	1984	Personal computer	Intel 80286 12 MHz			^[33]
M380-40	1991
M380/C	1988					proprietary "Pandora" OS^[33]
M380	1988	Personal Computer	Intel 80186			Model 380/C^[33]
	1988		Intel 80386DX 20 MHz			Model XP1 and XP5
	1989		Intel 80386DX 25 MHz			Model XP7 (tower)
	1990		Intel 80386SX 33 MHz			Model XP9 (tower) Operating system SCO Xenix
PE28	1988
M111	1989	Laptop	NEC V30 10 MHz		Mario Bellini Bruce Fifield^{[citation needed]}	Operating system DOS 3.30
M260s	1989	Personal computer	Intel 80286 12 MHz (16 bit)			Parallel project to the ETV 4000s typewriter
M290S	1989					^[33]
P500	1989
M386-25	1990
PCS 386SX	1991
PCS 86	1990	Personal computer	NEC V30 10 MHz
PCS 286	1991	Personal computer	Intel 80286 12.5 MHz			^[33]
M211	1989	Laptop	Intel 80286			Operating system Windows 3.0
M250	1989	Personal computer	Intel 80286 8 MHz			The 250-E model was clocked at 12 MHz
CP486	1989	Personal computer	Intel 80486DX 25 MHz			Tower, EISA, "Computing Platform"
P800	1990	Personal computer	Intel 80486DX 25 MHz			Tower. Olivetti MS-DOS 5.00, MS Windows 3.1
LSX	1987	Personal computer	Motorola 68k
LSX 3005	1987	Personal computer	Motorola 68k
LSX 3010	1987	Personal computer	Motorola 68k
LSX 3015		Personal computer	Motorola 68k
LSX 3018/BS		Personal computer
LSX 3020	1987	Personal computer	Motorola 68k
LSX 520	1989	Personal computer
LSX-5010	1991	Personal computer
LSX-5015	1991	Personal computer
LSX-5020		Personal computer
LSX-5030		Personal computer
PC PRO 486/33	1991
PC PRO 290SP
M400-40	1992
M6-460 Suprema	1994
M290-30	1988					^[39]^[40]
M480	1990	Personal computer	Intel 80486SX 20 MHz			Model M480-10 (EISA)
			Intel 80486SX 33 MHz			M480-20 (EISA)
			Intel 80486DX 33 MHz			M480-40/60 (EISA)
M316	1991	Laptop	Intel 80386SX 16 MHz
M300	1988	Personal computer	Intel 80386SX 20 MHz			Model M300-02
						Model M300-30
						Model M300-04
			Intel 80386SX 20 MHz			Model M300-10
			Intel 80486 25/50 MHz			Model M300-28
LSX-5030	1992	Personal computer	Intel 80486DX 33 MHz			Tower, EISA
S20	1991	Laptop	Intel 80386SX 16 MHz			Triumph-Adler Walkstadtion 386SX
D33	1991	Laptop	Intel 80386 33 MHz			Triumph-Adler Walkstadtion 386
Quaderno	1992	Netbook	NEC V30HL 16MHz		Mario Bellini^[41]	precursor to the netbooks^[42] 1992, 25th SMAU Industrial Design Prize (Italia) 1993, IF Auszeichnung fur gutes Design^{[citation needed]}
Philos	1993	Laptop			Michele De Lucchi and Hagai Shvadron^[43]^[44]	Models: 11, 22, 33, and 44.
Echos	1995	Laptop	Intel Pentium I 75MHz Socket 5		Michele De Lucchi^[44]	P75 and P100d
Envision	1995	Multimedia	Intel Pentium I 75MHz Socket 5		Michele De Lucchi	Model P75. Innovative product but a commercial failure. Proprietary multimedia OS^[33]
Modulo M4 [it]	1992	Personal computer	Intel 80486 SX 25 MHz			M4-M40
	1992		Pentium 75 MHz			M4-M464
	1995					M4-P75
	1996		Intel Pentium-S 75 MHz			M4-P75S
	1996		Intel Pentium 100 MHz			M4-P100
	1996		Intel Pentium 133 MHz			M4-P133
M8500	1999	Personal computer	Intel Pentium III 500 MHz			DT desktop, MT minitower

Peripherals

PR40, PR2, PR2-e, PR2+, PR2-10 Scanner Printer which was used in banking sectors
PG-series and PGL-series – black and white digital printers
d-Color p-series color digital printers
A3 and A4 series MFP

References

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