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| The '''Multi-Personal Computer''' ('''MPC'''), |
The '''Multi-Personal Computer''' ('''MPC'''), better known as the '''MPC 1600''', is a line of ] ]s released by ] (CDP) starting in 1982. The original MPC, released in June 1982, was the first commercially released computer system that was ] with the ] (IBM PC).<ref name=busses>{{cite book | last=Buchanan | first=William | date=2000 | url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Computer_Busses/KhcEcNRkBHgC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22MPC%22+%22the+first%22+%22Columbia+Data+Products%22&pg=PA26&printsec=frontcover | title=Computer Busses | publisher=Elsevier Science | page=26 | isbn=9780340740767 | via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name=bandwagon>{{cite book | last=Rohlfs | first=Jeffrey H. | date=2003 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rmFag8P4CF8C | title=Bandwagon Effects in High-technology Industries | publisher=MIT Press | page=120–122 | isbn=9780262681384 | via=Google Books}}</ref>{{rp|122}} | ||
| ==Background and development== | ==Background and development== | ||
| ] (CDP) was a small computer systems manufacturer founded by William Diaz in the mid-1970s in ]. The company had been marketing ]s for over five years before releasing the MPC in 1982. Examples of the company's early systems included the Commander line of ]-based microcomputers.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Wise | first=Deborah | date=August 9, 1982 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NDAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA21 | title=IBM look-alikes: Columbia's MCP and Dynalogic's Hyperion | work=InfoWorld | publisher=IDG Publications | volume=4 | issue=31 | page=21 | via=Google Books}} ("MPC" is misspelled throughout as "MCP" in this article.)</ref><ref>{{cite book | date=1984 | edition=1985 | url=https://archive.org/details/bowkerscompletes0000unse/page/5/ | title=Bowker's Complete Sourcebook of Personal Computing | publisher=R. R. Booker Company | isbn=0835219313 | via=the Internet Archive | page=10}}</ref><ref name=piggybacks /> | ] (CDP) was a small computer systems manufacturer founded by William Diaz in the mid-1970s in ]. The company had been marketing ]s for over five years before releasing the MPC in 1982. Examples of the company's early systems included the Commander line of ]-based microcomputers.<ref name=lookalikes>{{cite journal | last=Wise | first=Deborah | date=August 9, 1982 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NDAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA21 | title=IBM look-alikes: Columbia's MCP and Dynalogic's Hyperion | work=InfoWorld | publisher=IDG Publications | volume=4 | issue=31 | page=21 | via=Google Books}} ("MPC" is misspelled throughout as "MCP" in this article.)</ref><ref>{{cite book | date=1984 | edition=1985 | url=https://archive.org/details/bowkerscompletes0000unse/page/5/ | title=Bowker's Complete Sourcebook of Personal Computing | publisher=R. R. Booker Company | isbn=0835219313 | via=the Internet Archive | page=10}}</ref><ref name=piggybacks /> | ||
| In August 1981, the computing giant ] released the ] (IBM PC), their first mass-market microcomputer, to intense commercial interest and industry speculation. It was notable for being an ] unlike anything IBM had released previously: it used ] hardware such as the ] microprocessor; ran an operating system (]) developed by a third-party company, ]; and had a ] (later dubbed ], or ISA) whose specification IBM made open to third-party hardware vendors who wanted to release ]s and other hardware.<ref name=bandwagon />{{rp|120–121}} Recognizing that this culture of openness might allow them to engineer a fully compatible clone of the IBM PC, Columbia Data Products set out to manufacture such a system "almost immediately" after the PC's August 1981 introduction.<ref name=aspects>{{cite journal | last=Montague | first=Charlie | author2=Dave Howse | author3=Bob Mikkelsen | author4=Don Rein | author5=Dick Mathews | date=November 1983 | url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Byte/80s/Byte-1983-11.pdf#page=249 | title=Technical Aspects of IBM PC Compatibility | work=Byte | publisher=McGraw-Hill | volume=8 | issue=11 | pages=247–252 | via=World Radio History}}</ref>{{rp|247}} CDP were deep into developing a competing microcomputer based on a different architecture but decided to cancel it in favor of developing a clone of the IBM PC.<ref name=piggybacks>{{cite journal | last=Brown | first=Warren | date=November 21, 1982 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1982/11/22/columbia-data-piggybacks-ibm-computer-to-the-market/ab870a13-6fd8-43b2-97da-65398f09508b/ | title=Columbia Data 'Piggybacks' IBM Computer to the Market | work=The Washington Post | volume=105 | page=WB1 | archiveurl=http://archive.today/2024.12.08-070809/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1982/11/22/columbia-data-piggybacks-ibm-computer-to-the-market/ab870a13-6fd8-43b2-97da-65398f09508b/ | archivedate=December 8, 2024}}</ref> | In August 1981, the computing giant ] released the ] (IBM PC), their first mass-market microcomputer, to intense commercial interest and industry speculation. It was notable for being an ] unlike anything IBM had released previously: it used ] hardware such as the ] microprocessor; ran an operating system (]) developed by a third-party company, ]; and had a ] (later dubbed ], or ISA) whose specification IBM made open to third-party hardware vendors who wanted to release ]s and other hardware.<ref name=bandwagon />{{rp|120–121}} Recognizing that this culture of openness might allow them to engineer a fully compatible clone of the IBM PC, Columbia Data Products set out to manufacture such a system "almost immediately" after the PC's August 1981 introduction.<ref name=aspects>{{cite journal | last=Montague | first=Charlie | author2=Dave Howse | author3=Bob Mikkelsen | author4=Don Rein | author5=Dick Mathews | date=November 1983 | url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Byte/80s/Byte-1983-11.pdf#page=249 | title=Technical Aspects of IBM PC Compatibility | work=Byte | publisher=McGraw-Hill | volume=8 | issue=11 | pages=247–252 | via=World Radio History}}</ref>{{rp|247}} CDP were deep into developing a competing microcomputer based on a different architecture but decided to cancel it in favor of developing a clone of the IBM PC.<ref name=piggybacks>{{cite journal | last=Brown | first=Warren | date=November 21, 1982 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1982/11/22/columbia-data-piggybacks-ibm-computer-to-the-market/ab870a13-6fd8-43b2-97da-65398f09508b/ | title=Columbia Data 'Piggybacks' IBM Computer to the Market | work=The Washington Post | volume=105 | page=WB1 | archiveurl=http://archive.today/2024.12.08-070809/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1982/11/22/columbia-data-piggybacks-ibm-computer-to-the-market/ab870a13-6fd8-43b2-97da-65398f09508b/ | archivedate=December 8, 2024}}</ref> | ||
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| While cloning the IBM PC's hardware was easy for CDP, mimicking the PC's ] ] required planning out a ] to avoid ] IBM's copyright on their BIOS and thus was more complex.<ref name=aspects />{{rp|248–249}}<ref>{{cite book | last=Szalay | first=Michael | date=2023 | url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Second_Lives/TdmsEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22clean+room%22+%22columbia+data+systems%22&pg=PA171&printsec=frontcover | title=Second Lives: Black-Market Melodramas and the Reinvention of Television | publisher=University of Chicago Press | pages=171–172 | isbn=9780226824802 | via=Google Books}}</ref> CDP had to pay careful attention to how their BIOS initialized its ] and ] in order to ensure functional equivalency with the IBM PC, the source of much trial and error and expense because of the numerous third-party expansion cards and software CDP had to test against.<ref name=aspects />{{rp|249–252}} On the other hand, providing a compatible operating system was significantly easier for CDP because IBM's contract with Microsoft allowed the latter to freely license their ] operating system, which was the basis of IBM PC DOS, to third-party companies.<ref name=aspects />{{rp|249}}<ref name=ibmpcis30>{{cite web | last=Smith | first=Tony | date=August 12, 2011 | url=https://www.theregister.com/2011/08/12/ibm_pc_30_anniversary/ | title=The IBM PC is 30 | work=The Register | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421113257/https://www.theregister.com/2011/08/12/ibm_pc_30_anniversary/ | archivedate=April 21, 2024}}</ref> CDP were able to secure a license to the source code for MS-DOS, incorporating the same ] while modifying it to recognize their computer's ], on which their clone of ] (renamed BASICA) resides, while adding ] to the computer's ] and redirecting textual ] ] data to the aformentioned serial port.<ref name=aspects />{{rp|249–250}} | While cloning the IBM PC's hardware was easy for CDP, mimicking the PC's ] ] required planning out a ] to avoid ] IBM's copyright on their BIOS and thus was more complex.<ref name=aspects />{{rp|248–249}}<ref>{{cite book | last=Szalay | first=Michael | date=2023 | url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Second_Lives/TdmsEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22clean+room%22+%22columbia+data+systems%22&pg=PA171&printsec=frontcover | title=Second Lives: Black-Market Melodramas and the Reinvention of Television | publisher=University of Chicago Press | pages=171–172 | isbn=9780226824802 | via=Google Books}}</ref> CDP had to pay careful attention to how their BIOS initialized its ] and ] in order to ensure functional equivalency with the IBM PC, the source of much trial and error and expense because of the numerous third-party expansion cards and software CDP had to test against.<ref name=aspects />{{rp|249–252}} On the other hand, providing a compatible operating system was significantly easier for CDP because IBM's contract with Microsoft allowed the latter to freely license their ] operating system, which was the basis of IBM PC DOS, to third-party companies.<ref name=aspects />{{rp|249}}<ref name=ibmpcis30>{{cite web | last=Smith | first=Tony | date=August 12, 2011 | url=https://www.theregister.com/2011/08/12/ibm_pc_30_anniversary/ | title=The IBM PC is 30 | work=The Register | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421113257/https://www.theregister.com/2011/08/12/ibm_pc_30_anniversary/ | archivedate=April 21, 2024}}</ref> CDP were able to secure a license to the source code for MS-DOS, incorporating the same ] while modifying it to recognize their computer's ], on which their clone of ] (renamed BASICA) resides, while adding ] to the computer's ] and redirecting textual ] ] data to the aformentioned serial port.<ref name=aspects />{{rp|249–250}} | ||
| While the IBM PC could be used as a ] machine, the vast majority of PCs were purchased by customers intending to use the PC as single-user machines, with IBM devoting the majority of their marketing efforts toward this demographic. CDP meanwhile sought to stress the multi-user capability of their clone and gave it the name Multi-Personal Computer (MPC).<ref name=hctc />{{rp|30}} To this end, the company offered the MPC with several multi-user operating systems, including ]'s ], Microsoft's ], and Phase One Systems's ], in addition the single-user MS-DOS as well as Digital Research's ].<ref name=yc>{{cite journal | last=Bell | first=Les | date=September 1982 | url=https://archive.org/details/yc198209/YourComputer198209_0-magazine/page/6/ | title=New IBM Clone | work=Your Computer | publisher=Eastern Suburbs Newspapers | volume=2 | issue=3 | page=6 | via=the Internet Archive}}</ref> | While the IBM PC could be used as a ] machine, the vast majority of PCs were purchased by customers intending to use the PC as single-user machines, with IBM devoting the majority of their marketing efforts toward this demographic. CDP meanwhile sought to stress the multi-user capability of their clone and thus gave it the name Multi-Personal Computer (MPC).<ref name=hctc />{{rp|30}} To this end, the company offered the MPC with several multi-user operating systems, including ]'s ], Microsoft's ], and Phase One Systems's ], in addition the single-user MS-DOS as well as Digital Research's ] that it shipped with.<ref name=yc>{{cite journal | last=Bell | first=Les | date=September 1982 | url=https://archive.org/details/yc198209/YourComputer198209_0-magazine/page/6/ | title=New IBM Clone | work=Your Computer | publisher=Eastern Suburbs Newspapers | volume=2 | issue=3 | page=6 | via=the Internet Archive}}</ref><ref name=aboard>{{cite journal | last=Machrone | first=Bill | date=June 1983 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=14Kfbrc6cbAC&pg=PA447 | title=Aboard the Columbia | work=PC Magazine | publisher=Ziff-Davis | volume=2 | issue=1 | pages=450–452 | via=Google Books}}</ref> | ||
| ==Specifications== | ==Specifications== | ||
| The Multi-Personal Computer intially came in three variants: the MPC 1600-1, featuring two 5.25-inch, ] floppy disk drives (FDDs) manufactured by ]; the MPC 1600-2, with one 5.25-inch FDD and one 5-MB ] (HDD); and the MPC 1600-3, with one 5.25-inch FDD and one 10-MB HDD.<ref name=lookalikes /> All models in the line came with 128 KB of RAM stock, expandable to 1 MB.<ref name=microbuyersguide>{{cite book | last=Webster | first=Tony | date=1983 | url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Microcomputer_Buyer_s_Guide/PAz0AAAAMAAJ | title=Microcomputer's Buyers Guide | publisher=McGraw-Hill | page=112 | isbn=9780070689596 | via=Google Books}}</ref> | |||
| ==Release and reception== | ==Release and reception== | ||
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 Columbia Data Products' MPC 1600, the first commercially released IBM PC clone, with an Amdek monitor and a Key Tronic keyboard | |
| Also known as | Multi Personal Computer |
|---|---|
| Developer | Columbia Data Products |
| Manufacturer | Columbia Data Products |
| Type | Personal computer (desktop) |
| Release date | June 1982; 42 years ago (1982-06) |
| Lifespan | 1982–1985 |
| Introductory price | US$2,995 |
| Discontinued | May 1985; 39 years ago (1985-05) |
| Operating system | MS-DOS, CP/M-86, MP/M-86, OASIS, Xenix |
| CPU | Intel 8088 at 4.77 MHz |
| Memory | 128 KB (1 MB max.) |
| Storage | Two 5.25-inch FDDs |
| Graphics | Color Graphics Adapter |
| Sound | PC speaker 1-channel square-wave/1-bit digital (PWM-capable) |
| Connectivity | RS-232, parallel, monitor, keyboard |
| Backward compatibility | IBM Personal Computer |
The Multi-Personal Computer (MPC), better known as the MPC 1600, is a line of desktop personal computers released by Columbia Data Products (CDP) starting in 1982. The original MPC, released in June 1982, was the first commercially released computer system that was fully compatible with the IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC).
Background and development
Columbia Data Products (CDP) was a small computer systems manufacturer founded by William Diaz in the mid-1970s in Columbia, Maryland. The company had been marketing microcomputers for over five years before releasing the MPC in 1982. Examples of the company's early systems included the Commander line of Z80-based microcomputers.
In August 1981, the computing giant IBM released the IBM Personal Computer (IBM PC), their first mass-market microcomputer, to intense commercial interest and industry speculation. It was notable for being an open standard unlike anything IBM had released previously: it used off-the-shelf hardware such as the Intel 8088 microprocessor; ran an operating system (IBM PC DOS) developed by a third-party company, Microsoft; and had a computer bus (later dubbed Industry Standard Architecture, or ISA) whose specification IBM made open to third-party hardware vendors who wanted to release expansion cards and other hardware. Recognizing that this culture of openness might allow them to engineer a fully compatible clone of the IBM PC, Columbia Data Products set out to manufacture such a system "almost immediately" after the PC's August 1981 introduction. CDP were deep into developing a competing microcomputer based on a different architecture but decided to cancel it in favor of developing a clone of the IBM PC.
CDP's IBM PC clone was engineered by a team headed by Charlie Montague, CDP's director of technical services; Dave Howse, the company's manager of hardware design; Bob Mikkelsen, the company's office manager of programming; Don Rein, the company's manager of software engineering; and Dick Mathews, CDP's VP of planning and development. The company borrowed the design of the IBM PC's motherboard largely wholesale, using the same ISA bus, Intel 8088 microprocessor, Intel 8288 bus controller, NEC μPD765 floppy-disk controller, and other off-the-shelf integrated circuits used by the IBM PC. CDP doubled the stock amount of RAM of the IBM PC to 128 KB while adding more expansion slots and offering dual 5.25-inch floppy disk drives for the base model. CDP sourced a cost-reduced clone of the original 83-key IBM PC keyboard from Key Tronic of Spokane, Washington; while featuring an identical layout, it lacked the tactility provided by the IBM PC keyboard's buckling spring design.
While cloning the IBM PC's hardware was easy for CDP, mimicking the PC's BIOS ROM required planning out a clean-room design to avoid infringing IBM's copyright on their BIOS and thus was more complex. CDP had to pay careful attention to how their BIOS initialized its memory map and interrupt table in order to ensure functional equivalency with the IBM PC, the source of much trial and error and expense because of the numerous third-party expansion cards and software CDP had to test against. On the other hand, providing a compatible operating system was significantly easier for CDP because IBM's contract with Microsoft allowed the latter to freely license their MS-DOS operating system, which was the basis of IBM PC DOS, to third-party companies. CDP were able to secure a license to the source code for MS-DOS, incorporating the same API while modifying it to recognize their computer's RAM disk, on which their clone of GW-BASIC (renamed BASICA) resides, while adding software flow control to the computer's number-0 RS-232 serial port and redirecting textual parallel printer data to the aformentioned serial port.
While the IBM PC could be used as a multi-user machine, the vast majority of PCs were purchased by customers intending to use the PC as single-user machines, with IBM devoting the majority of their marketing efforts toward this demographic. CDP meanwhile sought to stress the multi-user capability of their clone and thus gave it the name Multi-Personal Computer (MPC). To this end, the company offered the MPC with several multi-user operating systems, including Digital Research's MP/M-86, Microsoft's Xenix, and Phase One Systems's OASIS, in addition the single-user MS-DOS as well as Digital Research's CP/M-86 that it shipped with.
Specifications
The Multi-Personal Computer intially came in three variants: the MPC 1600-1, featuring two 5.25-inch, double-density floppy disk drives (FDDs) manufactured by Tandon; the MPC 1600-2, with one 5.25-inch FDD and one 5-MB hard disk drive (HDD); and the MPC 1600-3, with one 5.25-inch FDD and one 10-MB HDD. All models in the line came with 128 KB of RAM stock, expandable to 1 MB.
Release and reception
Legacy
References
- Buchanan, William (2000). Computer Busses. Elsevier Science. p. 26. ISBN 9780340740767 – via Google Books.
- ^ Rohlfs, Jeffrey H. (2003). Bandwagon Effects in High-technology Industries. MIT Press. p. 120–122. ISBN 9780262681384 – via Google Books.
- ^ Wise, Deborah (August 9, 1982). "IBM look-alikes: Columbia's MCP and Dynalogic's Hyperion". InfoWorld. 4 (31). IDG Publications: 21 – via Google Books. ("MPC" is misspelled throughout as "MCP" in this article.)
- Bowker's Complete Sourcebook of Personal Computing (1985 ed.). R. R. Booker Company. 1984. p. 10. ISBN 0835219313 – via the Internet Archive.
- ^ Brown, Warren (November 21, 1982). "Columbia Data 'Piggybacks' IBM Computer to the Market". The Washington Post. 105: WB1. Archived from the original on December 8, 2024.
- ^ Montague, Charlie; Dave Howse; Bob Mikkelsen; Don Rein; Dick Mathews (November 1983). "Technical Aspects of IBM PC Compatibility" (PDF). Byte. 8 (11). McGraw-Hill: 247–252 – via World Radio History.
- Editors (August 11, 2006). "The 25 Greatest PCs of All Time". PC World. IDG Publications. p. 7. Archived from the original on July 25, 2013.
- ^ Newrock, Melody (1984). Here Come the Clones!: The Complete Guide to IBM PC Compatible Computers. McGraw-Hill. pp. 27–44. ISBN 9780070464582 – via the Internet Archive.
- Szalay, Michael (2023). Second Lives: Black-Market Melodramas and the Reinvention of Television. University of Chicago Press. pp. 171–172. ISBN 9780226824802 – via Google Books.
- Smith, Tony (August 12, 2011). "The IBM PC is 30". The Register. Archived from the original on April 21, 2024.
- Bell, Les (September 1982). "New IBM Clone". Your Computer. 2 (3). Eastern Suburbs Newspapers: 6 – via the Internet Archive.
- Machrone, Bill (June 1983). "Aboard the Columbia". PC Magazine. 2 (1). Ziff-Davis: 450–452 – via Google Books.
- Webster, Tony (1983). Microcomputer's Buyers Guide. McGraw-Hill. p. 112. ISBN 9780070689596 – via Google Books.