Apricot Portable
Encyclopedia
The Apricot Portable was a portable computer
made by Apricot Computers
, first released in 1984. It had a 3.5" floppy drive, 4.77 MHz CPU and 256 KiB RAM
. It was the first computer to use an 80-column/25-line LCD and speech recognition
for input/output. The speech recognition software held 4096 words, with only 64 available at a given time. It had a wireless keyboard and optional wireless mouse, which communicated with the computer using an infrared
link; this was relatively new at the time. However, if an object blocked the infrared beam, communications would be cut off. The Apricot also featured a somewhat Mac
-like graphical interface. It was originally priced at £1965.
Portable computer
A portable computer is a computer that is designed to be moved from one place to another and includes a display and keyboard. Portable computers, by their nature, are generally microcomputers. Portable computers, because of their size, are also commonly known as 'Lunchbox' or 'Luggable' computers...
made by Apricot Computers
Apricot Computers
Apricot Computers is a British manufacturer of business personal computers, originally founded in 1965 as "Applied Computer Techniques" , changing its name to Apricot Computers, Ltd. in the 1980s...
, first released in 1984. It had a 3.5" floppy drive, 4.77 MHz CPU and 256 KiB RAM
Ram
-Animals:*Ram, an uncastrated male sheep*Ram cichlid, a species of freshwater fish endemic to Colombia and Venezuela-Military:*Battering ram*Ramming, a military tactic in which one vehicle runs into another...
. It was the first computer to use an 80-column/25-line LCD and speech recognition
Speech recognition
Speech recognition converts spoken words to text. The term "voice recognition" is sometimes used to refer to recognition systems that must be trained to a particular speaker—as is the case for most desktop recognition software...
for input/output. The speech recognition software held 4096 words, with only 64 available at a given time. It had a wireless keyboard and optional wireless mouse, which communicated with the computer using an infrared
Infrared
Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light, measured from the nominal edge of visible red light at 0.74 micrometres , and extending conventionally to 300 µm...
link; this was relatively new at the time. However, if an object blocked the infrared beam, communications would be cut off. The Apricot also featured a somewhat Mac
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
-like graphical interface. It was originally priced at £1965.