Portal (computer)

Portal R2E CCMC was a portable microcomputer designed and marketed by the Réalisation et Etudes Electroniques department of the French firm R2E Micral,[1] and officially appeared in September 1980 at the Sicob show in Paris.[2][3] Osborne 1, the first commercially successful portable computer, was only released eight months later, on April 3, 1981.[4][5]

Portal
DeveloperFrançois Gernelle
ManufacturerR2E Micral
TypePortable computer
Release dateSeptember 1980 (1980-09)
Units soldHundreds
Operating systemPrologue, BAL (Basic Assembly Language)
CPUIntel 8085 @ 2 MHz
Memory64 kB RAM
Removable storageFloppy disk
Display32-character screen
Power220-volt
Dimensions45 × 45 × 15 cm
Mass12 kg

The machine was designed with payroll and accounting work in mind. Several hundred Portal computers were sold between 1980 and 1983.

Extremely rare, no museum has a Portal, and only two are in private collections.[6][7]

The company R2E Micral is also known to have designed "the earliest commercial, non-kit computer based on a microprocessor", the Micral N.[8] One of these machines was sold for 62,000 euros to Paul G. Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft (with Bill Gates), by the auctioneer Rouillac on June 11, 2017, for Allen's Seattle museum, Living Computer Museum + Labs.[9][10][7]

Specifications

The Portal was based on an Intel 8085 processor, 8-bit, clocked at 2 MHz.[1][11]

It was equipped with 64 kB of main RAM, a keyboard with 58 alphanumeric keys and 11 numeric keys (in separate blocks), a LED 32-character single line screen, a floppy disk (capacity - 140000 characters), a thermal printer (speed - 28 characters/second), an asynchronous channel, a synchronous channel, and a 220-volt power supply.[1][11]

It came with two operating systems: Prologue and BAL (Basic Assembly Language).[1]

Designed for an operating temperature of 15 °C to 35 °C, it weighed 12 kg and its dimensions were 45 × 45 × 15 cm.[1][11]

See also

References
  1. "Base de données - R2E Portal". System.cfg. 2018. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  2. "Portal au Sicob". blog.museeinformatique.fr. Archived from the original on 2017-08-16. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
  3. Lilen, Henri. la saga du micro-ordinateur.
  4. "Pièce comptable Portal". Archived from the original on 2017-08-16.
  5. Spector, Lincoln (May 31, 2010). "A History of Portable Computing". PC World. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
  6. ROUILLAC, Aymeric (2017-08-21). "Cet exemplaire en état de marche sera vendu aux enchères le 22 septembre 2017".
  7. "Vente aux enchères du Centre de Création Contemporaine Olivier Debré à Tours" (PDF). 21 August 2017.
  8. "R2E Micral N". www.system-cfg.com. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  9. "The Micral N, the First Microcomputer, to be Sold at Auction in June - Life in France". Life in France. 2017-05-13. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  10. "C'est maintenant officiel : Paul G.... - Aymeric Rouillac | Facebook".
  11. "Plaquette Portal". blog.museeinformatique.fr. Archived from the original on 2017-08-16. Retrieved 2017-07-13.

Bibliography

François Gernelle, Portal designer

Sources

This article is partially derived from the page of old-computers.com and feb-patrimoine.com.

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