1984 жылғы Mindset жеке компьютері

1984 personal computer

The Mindset is an Intel 80186 based MS DOS personal computer. allowing it to update the screen 50 times as fast as an IBM standard color graphics adapter. The basic unit was priced at As president of Mindset Corporation, he brought a number of Atari engineers with him.

The Mindset was released on 2 May 1984. The base model with 64 KB RAM (32 KB user RAM, 32 KB VRAM) and no floppy disk drive sold for US$1,099, a 128 KB (user RAM) model with single disk was available for $1,798, and a 256 KB (user RAM) dual disk version cost $2,398. The disk less version of the machine was still usable, as the system also included two ROM cartridge ports on the front of the machine that could be used for the operating system and another program. The canonical cartridge is an extended version of GW BASIC. The machine is packaged in a unique enclosure designed by GVO of Menlo Park, visually separated into two sections with the ROM slots in the lower half and the optional diskettes on the upper half. It was sold complete with a custom nylon carrying case. Mindset's president said its graphics capabilities were unmatched except on US$50,000 workstations. At the time it garnered critical acclaim, with reviewers universally praising its graphics and overall performance which was much faster than contemporary PCs. although in many cases with the caveat that the market was rapidly standardizing.

By the summer of 1984, it was clear the system was not selling as expected, and the company re purposed it for the video production and graphics design markets. That was followed in August by a round of layoffs, and another in January 1985, this time half the employees were let go. The company filed for Chapter 11 protection on 28 August 1985, and never emerged. By 1985, when it was clear the system was not living up to its promise and Windows 1.0 was a flop in general, John J. Anderson published a review of the system decrying that the personal computer market was beginning to value compatibility over technology. He wrote:

The Base System Unit is referred to as Model M1001; later a "Mindset II" computer was released, a badge engineered version of the M1001, with an adhesive label designating "II" under the embossed name. Internally the Video Processor Board is a separate mini daughterboard. Its enhanced functionality is not totally understood – but from the "Mindset II Advanced Professional Videographics System" user's guide it makes mention of "Chaining" two Mindset's:

The Mindset II is referred to on the front of the user guide as Model# M1500, however other internal pages reference is an M1000 II and also make mention of Mindset Video Production Module Model# M1011. The system included 512 KB system RAM, 128 KB VRAM, and 40 KB ROM. The primary resolution was 640x400, 4 color, double buffered. Bill Gates became involved with development, assisting Mindset in emulating IBM character graphics without losing performance. Once Mindset officials determined that most of the desirable software was compatible, development was frozen and the OS burned to ROM, which locked out 20% of the PC software base, including Microsoft Flight Simulator. WordStar is one of the PC applications reported to run, and Mindset publicized a list of 60 applications that run unmodified. The software base was expected to increase dramatically once a final version of Windows was released. While released in 1984, models of the M1001 Mindset computer with BIOS ROM code 1.07 and earlier show a copyright notice of (c) 1983 Mindset Computer Corp.