PSI Comp 80

<h2 id="history-and-specifications">History and specifications</h2>
<p>In 1979, the British magazine <i><a href="/facts/Wireless_World/A89AALR5">Wireless World</a></i> published the technical details for a "Scientific Computer".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> Shortly afterward the British firm Powertran used this design for their implementation, which they called the PSI Comp 80.
</p><p>Ahead of its time, it incorporated a <a href="/facts/Coprocessor/WsVXzAGo">number crunching coprocessor</a> and a novel language embedded in EPROM called Basic Using Reverse Polish - BURP.
</p><p>The monochrome <a href="/facts/Video_display_controller/ISm9E6Nc">Video Display Controller</a> could simultaneously display combinations of 32 lines of 64 characters, and 128 x 64 resolution graphics by either displaying a normal character or a "<a href="/facts/Semigraphics/jdlprgPW">pseudo graphics</a>" character, with <a href="/facts/Pixel/UzwBvXBV">pixel</a> blocks in a 2x2 matrix. A technique similar to the one used in the <a href="/facts/TRS-80/zNfQKxnQ">TRS-80</a> - It could later be expanded to a higher resolution, although never to colour.
</p><p>Add-ons were developed for the system, including memory expansions, floppy and hard disk interfaces, various software packages and a disk <a href="/facts/Operating_system/8XTuvMh2">operating system</a>, SCIDOS, which was <a href="/facts/CP/M/n5rTgXdC">CP/M</a>-compatible but also included features - <a href="/facts/Directory_(computing)/VLtLcEXY">structured (pathed) disk folders</a>, etc. - now very familiar to modern-day PC users.
</p><p>During the mid-1980s, the designer of this system, John Adams <a href="/facts/Master_of_Science/5xKwvXjm">M.SC.</a>, published a new version of the Scientific Computer - the SC84 (Scientific Computer of 1984). It was based upon a <a href="/facts/Backplane/J6Hwe7Wl">backplane</a> and plug-in cards and modules and featuring a <a href="/facts/Hitachi/KeK38e82">Hitachi</a> <a href="/facts/HD64180/oz1nkp35">HD64180</a> processor, up to 512 kbytes of <a href="/facts/Random-access_memory/DuD4bxh6">RAM</a> and a high-resolution colour graphics system.
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<p>PSI 2020
</p><h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.zonadepruebas.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=788">a picture of the advertisement for the PSI Comp 80 in Wireless World</a></li>
<li><a href="https://vintagecomputers.sdfeu.org/comp80/">Links to Wireless World articles</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/22148/SC84/">SC84 article</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>J H Adams (1979-01-01). PSI Comp 80 from Wireless World 1979-80. <a href="https://archive.org/details/PSIComp80-WirelessWorld-1979-80" target="_blank">https://archive.org/details/PSIComp80-WirelessWorld-1979-80</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

PSI Comp 80 open-in-new

PSI Comp 80