 The M20 is one of the few computers based on a Zilog Z8000, 16 bits microprocessor and very close to the Z80 microprocessor. Like other early Pre IBM PC era computers, they had a very vast technical and software choices which made it incompatible with other machines CP/M machines. Olivetti was the first company to adopt 16bit CPU and testing started as early as 1979.
The M20 operating system, called PCOS (Professional Computer Operating System) was very particular and software was incompatible with other machines. Later with the introduction of MS-DOS V2.0, CP/M-86 and CP/M-80 this issue was sorted but you need to install an additional 8086 CPU motherboard adopted by Olivetti to make it compatible with such software.
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| Olivetti L1 M20 |
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$5400 with 2 Floppy Drives Included
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| Sticker Removed |
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| 1982 |
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| Zilog Z8001 operating at a frequency of 4Mhz. No CO-Processor is installed but Olivetti issued an 8086 Expansion Card to run MS-DOS Software. |
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| 2k standard, expandable up to 8k. 128k as standard + up to three 32k boards |
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| Medium Grey plastic body with 2 Floppy drives incorporated on top of the QWERTY Keyboard. A Beeper is incorporated in the case and the grid is positioned on the Left hand side of Floppy Disk 1. The monitor sits on top of the case and as a machine is quite heavy.As for the Keyboard is a full QWERTY type Full-Stroke 120 keys with numeric keypad on the right side. |
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16 x64 or 25 x 80 character display,
512 x 256 or 480 x 256 pixel graphics, black and white or colour |
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| Simple Beeper controlled by the CPU. |
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2 x 16 bit expansion slot for CPU and 3rd Party Peripherals
3x 8 bit expansion slot for Memory, Hard Disk Card and 3rd Party Peripherals
1x RS232 port
1x Parallel Port
1x Display Port
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| Internal Power Supply with Supply Voltages of +5V, -5V, +12V, -12V, +3.3V |
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| Dimensions 425mm x 514mm x 150mm (W x L x H) Weight Approx 10.5Kg. |
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| Not known exactly but rumors say around 150,000 units. |
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