Overall System Description
The computer has been designed with an eye for aesthetics without sacrificing practicality. Each of the four major components is done in subtle tones of beige and eggshell white; these colors allow the system to blend into any environment.
The system unit, which houses the electronics and the diskette drives, is 16" deep, 20" wide, and 6" high. There is a bezel on the front which masks an otherwise boxy look. The edges are softly rounded and the top is perfectly flat to accommodate a display device. The on/off switch is large, red, and is located at the far rear edge on the right side, out of accidental reach. All cables connect to the rear of the unit. The detachable AC power cord plugs into a male receptacle on the left side (as viewed from the front). There is a female receptacle next to that which is intended as a power connection for a display device and which is controlled by the main power switch. Also on the left is an air vent through which air is exhausted from the power supply. On the right are the spaces through which connectors from the various controllers protrude. Space is provided for two single sided, double density, 5 1/4" diskette drives, each of 160,000 byte capacity.
The IBM Monochrome Display is the only display device available from IBM. It is 14" deep, 15" wide, and 11" tall. It is supplied with a power cable and a signal cable. The housing stands on four rubber feet, and its styling is reminiscent of the IBM 3101 ASCII terminal. Two controls, for brightness and contrast, are mounted near the lower right corner of the 11.5" diagonal CRT. The display uses a high persistence green phosphor and generates 7 x 9 dot characters in a 9 x 14 dot box. Upper and lower case letters can be displayed as well as foreign language characters, line drawing characters, block characters, and others; these contribute to a character set that includes over 240 displayable characters. Lower case descenders are provided. Display attributes supported are blink, reverse video, double intensity, non-display, and underline. However, this dry commentary doesn't do justice to the display, which is one of the sharpest, clearest, most attractive I have ever seen. The combination of the 7 x 9 characters and the high persistence phosphor creates characters in which the individual dots cannot be seen and the letters appear to be fully formed.
IBM scores another point for their keyboard, easily the best among personal computers. It is 20" long (matching the width of the system unit), 8" deep, and 2.5" high. This last figure is somewhat misleading. The keyboard can be adjusted to two angles. With its rear legs extended it is 2.5" high, but with the legs retracted it is not much more than one inch high. The keyboard is attached to the system unit with a 6 foot coiled cable. It has 83 keys and includes a numeric keypad which doubles as a cursor control pad. IBM chose to make the cursor control keys the default, but wisely added a number lock key which locks the keypad into numeric mode. A CAPS lock key makes the letter keys generate capitals. Ten programmable function keys are placed in two columns of five to the left of the main key area. Like most standard keyboards, the shift and control keys generate additional codes. However, the combination of shift and control is not provided. Instead, the ALT key provides a fourth code for each key. The "Typamatic" feature is included -- each key can be held down and will automatically repeat. Depressing the ALT-CTRL-DEL keys simultaneously causes the system to initiate its power on sequence.
The keyboard has an excellent feel. The rows of keys are angled and the keytops are mildly dished. The main keyboard is eggshell white while the control keys are beige. The keys make an audible click and provide good tactile feedback as well.
But the keyboard, nice as it is, is the source of my first disappointment and a terrible flaw. The disappointment is the ten function keys, which I think would be better placed in a single row across the top of the keyboard, especially because IBM has provided a "softkey" display option at the bottom of the display device. I could better accept the position they are in if there was room to fit a descriptive template around them. As I say, a mild disappointment. The flaw is the backslash key, which is placed between the left shift key and the Z key, right where the shift key is supposed to be! No kidding -- look at your typewriter or keyboard. I had an awful time shifting. When I meant to type "P..." I would invariably end up with "\p..." and have to retreat. I started asking everyone in sight what they thought and they all said they had quickly adapted to the arrangement. That's my point exactly: no adaptation should have been required. \oh well, \i guess \i'll adapt...
The only printer IBM offers with the Personal Computer is the Epson MX-80 in IBM colors. It is equipped with a standard Centronics parallel interface. I asked if I could attach an Epson MX-100 and the answer was yes. This printer should be well known to most of you by now (see Creative Computing, July 1981, page 66), so I'll only mention that it is the basic MX-80 without the graphics or F/T options, and that it does not print the entire character set that the display device can generate. The twelve "type styles" IBM refers to are various combinations of double strike, emphasis, and character spacing and are not different fonts.
Next: The System Unit