AMSTRAD PC1512DD

Mus.Cat. NEWUC:2013.9 Mnfctr: AMSTRAD Plc Date: 1986 Ser. No: 5346814393 Model: 1512DD
Comp: Personal Computer Width: 385mm Depth: 373mm Height: 135mm Weight: 6Kg

 

The AMSTRAD PC1512DD was introduced in 1986 at price of £499. AMSTRAD is a sort of acronym for Alan Michael Sugar TRADing.


The base unit weighed 6Kg.

It was an IBM PC compatible computer and so could run MSDOS. (Microsoft Disk Operating System.)

 


The rear view shows the power cord going to the monitor; the power supply for the whole machine was in the monitor. In fullsize you can read the labels showing it was MADE IN KOREA.

On the rear of the base unit is an RS232 25 pin input socket and a 25pin parallel output socket. The RS232 was a serial port, the data was transferred 1 bit at a time and typically connected to a modem connected to a telephone line. The parallel port transferred 8 bits, a character, at a time and typically connected a printer. The serial port was slow but could connect over long distances. The parallel port was fast but could only connect a short distance.

 


Taking it apart reveals the components: base unit with motherboard at top middle; two 5 1/4" floppy disk drives bottom middle. Each stored 36KBytes.

 


A closer view of the mother board.

Just above the hole in the middle of the board is a 40 pin chip labelled: MBL8086-2. This is the 8MHz 16 bit Central Processing Unit. Above it is a 40 pin empty socket for a math coprocessor 8087 MCP.

Bottom left is 2 x 9 chips of 512Kbyte memory and another 2 x 9 sockets for memory expansion.

Scanning the fullsize image you can find
AMSTRAD 40040 MGA Memory Gate Array
Amstrad 40041 VGA
AMSTRAD 40045 VDU character ROM
AMSTRAD 40039 BGA BUS Gate Array
AMSTRAD 40043 SYSTEM ROM 16KB even address
AMSTRAD 40044 SYSTEM ROM 16KB odd address
NEC 8617X5 DMA Direct Memory Access
NEC 8610KD FDC Floppy Disk Controller?
NEC 8611P9 PIT
MBL8259A-2 PIC Peripheral Interface Controller?

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