IBM PCjr
Encyclopedia
The IBM PCjr was IBM's first attempt to enter the home computer
market. The PCjr, IBM model number 4860, retained the IBM PC
's 8088
CPU and BIOS
interface for compatibility, but various design and implementation decisions led the PCjr to be a commercial failure.
of memory, priced at US$669 ($ in today's dollars); and the 4860-067, with 128 KB of memory and a 360 KB 5.25-inch floppy disk drive, priced at US$1269 ($ in today's dollars). It was manufactured for IBM in Lewisburg, Tennessee
by Teledyne
. Roughly 500,000 units were shipped. The PCjr promised a high degree of compatibility with the IBM PC
, which was already a popular business computer, in addition to offering built-in color graphics and 3 voice sound that were better than the standard PC speaker
sound and color graphics
of the standard IBM PC and compatibles of the day. The graphics were produced via a graphics chip known as the VGA—which stood for "Video Gate Array". This was an extension of CGA
and should not be confused with the later Video Graphics Array
standard that IBM released with the PS/2 line in 1987. The PCjr's sound was provided by a Texas Instruments
SN76489 which could produce three square waves of varying amplitude and frequency along with a noise channel powered by a shift register
. The PCjr was also the first PC compatible machine that supported page flipping for graphics operation. Since the PCjr used system RAM to store video content and the location of this storage area could be changed, the PCjr could perform flicker-free animation and other effects that were either difficult or impossible to produce on contemporary PC clones.
The PCjr's 4.77 MHz Intel 8088
CPU was faster than other computers aimed at the home market, though the PCjr did not run at the full rated 4.77 MHz because every 4th clock cycle of the 8088 CPU was designated to refresh
the PCjr's dynamic RAM
as it had no dedicated memory controller
; the computer's effective clockspeed was therefore 3.58MHz. The detached wireless infrared keyboard promised a degree of convenience none of its competitors had, eliciting visions of word-processing wirelessly from one's couch
with the computer connected to a TV set as a display. Two cartridge slots promised easy loading of games and other software.
and Amstrad IBM PC compatible
lines a few years later, the dual built-in joystick ports introduced by the PCjr never became standard on IBM PC compatibles, and have not been seen since. Also, in addition to the joystick ports having a different connector than used on the "game adapter" ISA card for PC compatibles, they required joysticks that had a different electrical resistance range in their X/Y axis controllers, necessitating the use of PCjr-specific joysticks (or generic joysticks that had a dual-mode switch).
Further reinforcing the "home-friendly" goal, the PCjr also introduced two ROM cartridge
slots on the front of the unit, meant to load software quickly and easily. The cartridge(s) would be plugged in from the front, prompting the computer to automatically reboot and run the software. This was more user-friendly than other home computer systems, which had to be powered off when a cartridge was removed or inserted and came with dire warnings about damage to the computer's main board if this requirement was ignored. Loading and saving data from cartridge software was possible via the floppy drive. The cartridge BASIC for the PCjr, in particular, gave programmers the advantage of a real programming language always ready without taking up system memory, as it was firmware, with its own address space. Being stored in ROM, the BASIC would load very quickly, not needing access to the floppy disk or other storage.
The two front cartridge slots were also used with third-party cartridges to update the system BIOS and other firmware. A number of patches from various vendors were included on a single "combo-cartridge", licensed and sold by PC Enterprises, to support add-on hardware, bypass certain limitations of design, and keep up with changing OS requirements.
Expansions (such as additional parallel ports, serial ports, memory, etc.) to the PCjr were provided via add-on "sidecars" that attached to the side of the PCjr. Multiple expansions were stacked together, increasing the width of the machine.
powered by AA batteries to provide infrared line-of-sight wireless communication. The "Freeboard" could also operate with a modular
telephone-style cable if so desired, eliminating battery usage. The PCjr was also shipped with a lightpen
port, which worked with a small number of applications designed for it. The light pen port was later used in combination with the serial port to supply voltage to a Mouse Systems optical mouse of the same design as Sun workstations
.
market, it had larger revenues than Apple, Compaq
, DEC
, HP
, and TI
combined. When it announced its first personal computer in August 1981, IBM did so to defend itself against the newly popular microcomputer. Within two years the IBM PC created a large new ecosystem of PC clones and software. Surprising even company executives, it became a market leader with 26% of all microcomputers sold in 1983, in second place to the much less-expensive Commodore
64
and three times the Apple II
's share. For a year before the PCjr's announcement the computer industry discussed rumors—which IBM repeatedly denied—of a home computer, code named "Peanut", that would repeat the PC's success. Customers waited for the rumored IBM product, crippling competitors' sales, and other companies' product plans and stocks reacted to the officially nonexistent computer.
IBM launched the PCjr at its New York City headquarters with an enormous amount of advance publicity, including live news-broadcast coverage of the product announcement. Ziff-Davis, publisher of the successful PC Magazine
, printed the first issue of PCjr Magazine even before the first units shipped; competitors included PCjr World, jr, and Compute! for the PC and PCjr. Time called its debut "D-Day
for the Home Computer"; observers predicted sales of one million or more in 1984, and expected the PCjr to change the home-computer market in a similar way to how the IBM PC had single-handedly changed the business-microcomputer market. They predicted that the PCjr would be "the last link in [IBM's] chain", with customers able to use the company's computers in the home and in the office.
Because of IBM's size, reputation, and history, many expected that the PCjr would stabilize the chaotic home-computer market, which had seen "cutthroat" competition between Commodore, Atari, and others; TI exited the market the same week as IBM's announcement, after losing $223 million in nine months by trying to compete with Commodore with its 99/4A computer. Observers expected that, by contrast, many software companies would write applications for the new computer without fear of it becoming orphaned
quickly like the 99/4A. George Morrow
was one of the few to be pessimistic, predicting that Commodore would "make mincemeat" of the "toylike" PCjr.
IBM—which likely timed its announcement to hurt competitors' sales during Christmas—reportedly spent $40 million on PCjr advertising, which used Charlie Chaplin
's iconic character "The Tramp
", already used in a successful campaign for the IBM PC, to link the two products together.
s in the late 1950s".
, while inferior to both and the Apple IIe
for games; its price was close to that of the Coleco Adam
, but the Adam also included a tape drive, a printer, and software. A basic package for playing games on a TV cost about $900, one for word processing with a thermal printer
cost twice that much, and other packages cost $3,000 or more. The Apple IIe was the PCjr's most direct competition. Although the $669 PCjr model compared favorably to a $1,400 Apple IIe also with 64 KB and no floppy drive, Apple cut the IIe's price, offered a 30% discount to the important education market, and in April 1984 responded with the IIc
, with 128 KB and a floppy drive.
and two programs often used to test PC clones' compatibility, Lotus 1-2-3
and Microsoft Flight Simulator
. Reasons included insufficient memory, IBM PC-specific copy-protection, and the PCjr's smaller keyboard.
Although sales improved due to the better keyboard and significant discounts to the new list price, they declined again when the discounts ended after Christmas, with sales decreasing from an estimated 50 per store in December to 2.4 in February. By this time three PCjr-specific magazines had ended publication. With the overall home-computer market in decline—even while IBM could not meet the demand for its new PC AT business microcomputer—and likely unable to make a sufficient profit when the PCjr was sufficiently discounted to increase sales, the company discontinued it in March 1985 and, reportedly with more than 100,000 leftover PCjrs, sold them at a large discount to its employees.
produced a clone of the PCjr, the Tandy 1000
. Since the PCjr was discontinued soon after the new computer was released in November 1984, Tandy had to hastily change its marketing strategy. However, the machine and its many successors ultimately proved much more enduring than the PCjr itself, partly because the Tandy 1000 was sold in ubiquitous Radio Shack
stores and partly because it was less costly, easier to expand, and almost-entirely compatible with the IBM PC. Ironically, the enhanced graphics and sound standards the PCjr pioneered ultimately became known as "Tandy-compatible", with the extended graphics modes eventually coined "TGA" (Tandy Graphics Adapter) graphics.
King's Quest
, a popular adventure game series, was originally developed for the PCjr, as IBM had commissioned Sierra On-Line for a game that would take advantage of the PCjr's expanded graphics and sound capabilities for the product's launch.
IBM returned to the home market in 1990 with its much more successful IBM PS/1
line. Unlike the PCjr's radical departure from the IBM PC, the PS/1 line concentrated on IBM brand-name compatibility and affordability.
"PCjr magazine" ran articles written by many of the legends of the computer industry from back in their early days. This comprises a collection of entry level PC articles, from such people as Peter Norton
, that could be considered mentionable.
Several upgrades for the PCjr were designed by IBM/Teledyne but never reached the store shelves before the IBM PCjr was canceled. These included a wireless joystick and various memory/drive upgrades.
PC Enterprises became the last of the major third party vendors to supply full service, parts, and add-ons, extending the functional life of the PCjr to about 10 years, often buying out inventory and rights for PCjr support.
IBM's later attempt to build a computer targeted at home users, the PS/2 Model 30 was also unsuccessful due to its similar use of nonstandard technologies that were less capable than alternatives already available from IBM's competitors.
Home computer
Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user...
market. The PCjr, IBM model number 4860, retained the IBM PC
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
's 8088
Intel 8088
The Intel 8088 microprocessor was a variant of the Intel 8086 and was introduced on July 1, 1979. It had an 8-bit external data bus instead of the 16-bit bus of the 8086. The 16-bit registers and the one megabyte address range were unchanged, however...
CPU and BIOS
BIOS
In IBM PC compatible computers, the basic input/output system , also known as the System BIOS or ROM BIOS , is a de facto standard defining a firmware interface....
interface for compatibility, but various design and implementation decisions led the PCjr to be a commercial failure.
Features
Announced November 1, 1983, and first shipped in late January 1984, the PCjr—nicknamed "Peanut" before its debut—came in two models: the 4860-004, with 64 KBKilobyte
The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
of memory, priced at US$669 ($ in today's dollars); and the 4860-067, with 128 KB of memory and a 360 KB 5.25-inch floppy disk drive, priced at US$1269 ($ in today's dollars). It was manufactured for IBM in Lewisburg, Tennessee
Lewisburg, Tennessee
Lewisburg is a city in Marshall County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 10,413 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Marshall County...
by Teledyne
Teledyne
Teledyne Technologies Incorporated is an industrial conglomerate primarily based in the United States but with global operations. It was founded in 1960, as Teledyne, Inc., by Henry Singleton and George Kozmetsky....
. Roughly 500,000 units were shipped. The PCjr promised a high degree of compatibility with the IBM PC
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
, which was already a popular business computer, in addition to offering built-in color graphics and 3 voice sound that were better than the standard PC speaker
PC speaker
A PC speaker is a loudspeaker, built into some IBM PC compatible computers. The first IBM Personal Computer, model 5150, employed a standard 2.25 inch magnetic driven speaker. More recent computers use a piezoelectric speaker instead. The speaker allows software and firmware to provide...
sound and color graphics
Color Graphics Adapter
The Color Graphics Adapter , originally also called the Color/Graphics Adapter or IBM Color/Graphics Monitor Adapter, introduced in 1981, was IBM's first color graphics card, and the first color computer display standard for the IBM PC....
of the standard IBM PC and compatibles of the day. The graphics were produced via a graphics chip known as the VGA—which stood for "Video Gate Array". This was an extension of CGA
Color Graphics Adapter
The Color Graphics Adapter , originally also called the Color/Graphics Adapter or IBM Color/Graphics Monitor Adapter, introduced in 1981, was IBM's first color graphics card, and the first color computer display standard for the IBM PC....
and should not be confused with the later Video Graphics Array
Video Graphics Array
Video Graphics Array refers specifically to the display hardware first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, but through its widespread adoption has also come to mean either an analog computer display standard, the 15-pin D-subminiature VGA connector or the 640×480 resolution...
standard that IBM released with the PS/2 line in 1987. The PCjr's sound was provided by a Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
SN76489 which could produce three square waves of varying amplitude and frequency along with a noise channel powered by a shift register
Shift register
In digital circuits, a shift register is a cascade of flip flops, sharing the same clock, which has the output of any one but the last flip-flop connected to the "data" input of the next one in the chain, resulting in a circuit that shifts by one position the one-dimensional "bit array" stored in...
. The PCjr was also the first PC compatible machine that supported page flipping for graphics operation. Since the PCjr used system RAM to store video content and the location of this storage area could be changed, the PCjr could perform flicker-free animation and other effects that were either difficult or impossible to produce on contemporary PC clones.
The PCjr's 4.77 MHz Intel 8088
Intel 8088
The Intel 8088 microprocessor was a variant of the Intel 8086 and was introduced on July 1, 1979. It had an 8-bit external data bus instead of the 16-bit bus of the 8086. The 16-bit registers and the one megabyte address range were unchanged, however...
CPU was faster than other computers aimed at the home market, though the PCjr did not run at the full rated 4.77 MHz because every 4th clock cycle of the 8088 CPU was designated to refresh
Memory refresh
Memory refresh is the process of periodically reading information from an area of computer memory, and immediately rewriting the read information to the same area with no modifications. Each memory refresh cycle refreshes a succeeding area of memory. Memory refresh is most often associated with...
the PCjr's dynamic RAM
Dynamic random access memory
Dynamic random-access memory is a type of random-access memory that stores each bit of data in a separate capacitor within an integrated circuit. The capacitor can be either charged or discharged; these two states are taken to represent the two values of a bit, conventionally called 0 and 1...
as it had no dedicated memory controller
Memory controller
The memory controller is a digital circuit which manages the flow of data going to and from the main memory. It can be a separate chip or integrated into another chip, such as on the die of a microprocessor...
; the computer's effective clockspeed was therefore 3.58MHz. The detached wireless infrared keyboard promised a degree of convenience none of its competitors had, eliciting visions of word-processing wirelessly from one's couch
Couch
A couch, also called a sofa, is an item of furniture designed to seat more than one person, and providing support for the back and arms. Typically, it will have an armrest on either side. In homes couches are normally found in the family room, living room, den or the lounge...
with the computer connected to a TV set as a display. Two cartridge slots promised easy loading of games and other software.
Differences from the IBM PC
Two joystick ports were built into the PCjr, evidence of IBM's goal for marketing the PCjr as a home-friendly machine. Other than the Tandy 1000Tandy 1000
The Tandy 1000 was the first in a line of more-or-less IBM PC compatible home computer systems produced by the Tandy Corporation for sale in its Radio Shack chain of stores.-Overview:...
and Amstrad IBM PC compatible
PC-1512
The Amstrad PC1512 was Amstrad's mostly IBM PC-compatible computer system, first manufactured in 1986. It was later succeeded by the PC1640.It launched for £499 and sold very well, as it was one of the first cheap PCs in Europe...
lines a few years later, the dual built-in joystick ports introduced by the PCjr never became standard on IBM PC compatibles, and have not been seen since. Also, in addition to the joystick ports having a different connector than used on the "game adapter" ISA card for PC compatibles, they required joysticks that had a different electrical resistance range in their X/Y axis controllers, necessitating the use of PCjr-specific joysticks (or generic joysticks that had a dual-mode switch).
Further reinforcing the "home-friendly" goal, the PCjr also introduced two ROM cartridge
ROM cartridge
A ROM cartridge, sometimes referred to as a cart, is a removable enclosure containing read-only memory devices designed to be connected to a computer or games console....
slots on the front of the unit, meant to load software quickly and easily. The cartridge(s) would be plugged in from the front, prompting the computer to automatically reboot and run the software. This was more user-friendly than other home computer systems, which had to be powered off when a cartridge was removed or inserted and came with dire warnings about damage to the computer's main board if this requirement was ignored. Loading and saving data from cartridge software was possible via the floppy drive. The cartridge BASIC for the PCjr, in particular, gave programmers the advantage of a real programming language always ready without taking up system memory, as it was firmware, with its own address space. Being stored in ROM, the BASIC would load very quickly, not needing access to the floppy disk or other storage.
The two front cartridge slots were also used with third-party cartridges to update the system BIOS and other firmware. A number of patches from various vendors were included on a single "combo-cartridge", licensed and sold by PC Enterprises, to support add-on hardware, bypass certain limitations of design, and keep up with changing OS requirements.
Expansions (such as additional parallel ports, serial ports, memory, etc.) to the PCjr were provided via add-on "sidecars" that attached to the side of the PCjr. Multiple expansions were stacked together, increasing the width of the machine.
Differences from other personal computers
The PCjr was shipped with a chiclet type keyboardChiclet keyboard
A chiclet keyboard or island-style keyboard is a computer keyboard built with an array of small, flat rectangular or lozenge-shaped rubber or plastic keys that look like erasers or "Chiclets", a brand of chewing gum manufactured in the shape of small squares with rounded corners...
powered by AA batteries to provide infrared line-of-sight wireless communication. The "Freeboard" could also operate with a modular
Modular connector
Modular connector is the name given to a family of electrical connectors originally used in telephone wiring and now used for many other purposes. Many applications that originally used a bulkier, more expensive connector have now migrated to modular connectors...
telephone-style cable if so desired, eliminating battery usage. The PCjr was also shipped with a lightpen
Light pen
A light pen is a computer input device in the form of a light-sensitive wand used in conjunction with a computer's CRT TV set or monitor. It allows the user to point to displayed objects, or draw on the screen, in a similar way to a touch screen but with greater positional accuracy...
port, which worked with a small number of applications designed for it. The light pen port was later used in combination with the serial port to supply voltage to a Mouse Systems optical mouse of the same design as Sun workstations
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
.
Birth
IBM in the early 1980s was the world's largest computer company. With 70% of the mainframeMainframe computer
Mainframes are powerful computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.The term originally referred to the...
market, it had larger revenues than Apple, Compaq
Compaq
Compaq Computer Corporation is a personal computer company founded in 1982. Once the largest supplier of personal computing systems in the world, Compaq existed as an independent corporation until 2002, when it was acquired for US$25 billion by Hewlett-Packard....
, DEC
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
, HP
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
, and TI
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
combined. When it announced its first personal computer in August 1981, IBM did so to defend itself against the newly popular microcomputer. Within two years the IBM PC created a large new ecosystem of PC clones and software. Surprising even company executives, it became a market leader with 26% of all microcomputers sold in 1983, in second place to the much less-expensive Commodore
Commodore International
Commodore is the commonly used name for Commodore Business Machines , the U.S.-based home computer manufacturer and electronics manufacturer headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, which also housed Commodore's corporate parent company, Commodore International Limited...
64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
and three times the Apple II
Apple II
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
's share. For a year before the PCjr's announcement the computer industry discussed rumors—which IBM repeatedly denied—of a home computer, code named "Peanut", that would repeat the PC's success. Customers waited for the rumored IBM product, crippling competitors' sales, and other companies' product plans and stocks reacted to the officially nonexistent computer.
IBM launched the PCjr at its New York City headquarters with an enormous amount of advance publicity, including live news-broadcast coverage of the product announcement. Ziff-Davis, publisher of the successful PC Magazine
PC Magazine
PC Magazine is a computer magazine published by Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009...
, printed the first issue of PCjr Magazine even before the first units shipped; competitors included PCjr World, jr, and Compute! for the PC and PCjr. Time called its debut "D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
for the Home Computer"; observers predicted sales of one million or more in 1984, and expected the PCjr to change the home-computer market in a similar way to how the IBM PC had single-handedly changed the business-microcomputer market. They predicted that the PCjr would be "the last link in [IBM's] chain", with customers able to use the company's computers in the home and in the office.
Because of IBM's size, reputation, and history, many expected that the PCjr would stabilize the chaotic home-computer market, which had seen "cutthroat" competition between Commodore, Atari, and others; TI exited the market the same week as IBM's announcement, after losing $223 million in nine months by trying to compete with Commodore with its 99/4A computer. Observers expected that, by contrast, many software companies would write applications for the new computer without fear of it becoming orphaned
Orphaned Technology
Orphaned technology is a descriptive term for computer products, programs, and platforms that have been abandoned by their original developers. Orphaned technology refers to software, such as abandonware and antique software, but also to hardware and practices...
quickly like the 99/4A. George Morrow
George Morrow (computers)
George Morrow was part of the early microcomputer industry in the United States. Morrow promoted and improved the S-100 bus used in many early microcomputers...
was one of the few to be pessimistic, predicting that Commodore would "make mincemeat" of the "toylike" PCjr.
IBM—which likely timed its announcement to hurt competitors' sales during Christmas—reportedly spent $40 million on PCjr advertising, which used Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
's iconic character "The Tramp
The Tramp
The Tramp, also known as The Little Tramp was Charlie Chaplin's most memorable on-screen character, a recognized icon of world cinema most dominant during the silent film era....
", already used in a successful campaign for the IBM PC, to link the two products together.
"One of the biggest flops in the history of computing"
At the PCjr's announcement, reporters "gasp[ed in] dismay" when they saw its chiclet keyboard, which had 62 keys versus the IBM PC's 83 and was "not suitable for serious long-term typing". IBM's choice of keyboard design shocked industry executives, and even IBM salespeople advised customers to buy a replacement keyboard. After missing the Christmas 1983 shopping period, sales were below expectations from the beginning, even with discounts; "Inventory is beginning to pile up", Time wrote in April 1984, in part due to the early 1984 launch of the "exciting" Apple Macintosh. By December it stated that the PCjr "looked like one of the biggest flops in the history of computing...[it] sold as sluggishly as EdselEdsel
The Edsel was an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company during the 1958, 1959, and 1960 model years. The Edsel never gained popularity with contemporary American car buyers and sold poorly. Consequently, the Ford Motor Company lost millions of dollars on the Edsel's development,...
s in the late 1950s".
Cost
The PCjr's cost was its biggest disadvantage, even more so than the keyboard. IBM did not say whether the target market was the home, schools, or executives working at home, confusing software developers, but likely made a mistake by targeting the $800-$1,600 price range, where demand was weaker than for computers that cost less—especially the Commodore 64—or more. The company was unfamiliar with the consumer market but hoped that customers would be willing to pay more for an IBM product. At $669 and up, however, the PCjr cost more than twice as much as the Commodore 64 and the Atari 8-bit familyAtari 8-bit family
The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers manufactured from 1979 to 1992. All are based on the MOS Technology 6502 CPU and were the first home computers designed with custom coprocessor chips...
, while inferior to both and the Apple IIe
Apple IIe
The Apple IIe is the third model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer. The e in the name stands for enhanced, referring to the fact that several popular features were now built-in that were only available as upgrades and add-ons in earlier models...
for games; its price was close to that of the Coleco Adam
Coleco Adam
The Coleco Adam is a home computer, an attempt in the early 1980s by American toy manufacturer Coleco to follow on the success of its ColecoVision game console...
, but the Adam also included a tape drive, a printer, and software. A basic package for playing games on a TV cost about $900, one for word processing with a thermal printer
Thermal printer
A thermal printer produces a printed image by selectively heating coated thermochromic paper, or thermal paper as it is commonly known, when the paper passes over the thermal print head. The coating turns black in the areas where it is heated, producing an image...
cost twice that much, and other packages cost $3,000 or more. The Apple IIe was the PCjr's most direct competition. Although the $669 PCjr model compared favorably to a $1,400 Apple IIe also with 64 KB and no floppy drive, Apple cut the IIe's price, offered a 30% discount to the important education market, and in April 1984 responded with the IIc
Apple IIc
The Apple IIc, the fourth model in the Apple II series of personal computers, was Apple Computer’s first endeavor to produce a portable computer. The end result was a notebook-sized version of the Apple II that could be transported from place to place...
, with 128 KB and a floppy drive.
Not fully PC compatible
Despite its price, many compared the PCjr unfavorably to the IBM PC rather than to other home computers, as IBM gave it "far less overall capability...to keep it from biting deeply into the costlier product's sales". The company expected most PCjr customers would be new to computers, but 75% were familiar with computers and wanted to run business software on it. While many potential customers believed that the smaller computer could run most IBM PC software and an important market for the PCjr was executives who took data home to work on, in practice it proved incompatible with about 60% of PC applications including WordStarWordStar
WordStar is a word processor application, published by MicroPro International, originally written for the CP/M operating system but later ported to DOS, that enjoyed a dominant market share during the early to mid-1980s. Although Seymour I...
and two programs often used to test PC clones' compatibility, Lotus 1-2-3
Lotus 1-2-3
Lotus 1-2-3 is a spreadsheet program from Lotus Software . It was the IBM PC's first "killer application"; its huge popularity in the mid-1980s contributed significantly to the success of the IBM PC in the corporate environment.-Beginnings:...
and Microsoft Flight Simulator
Microsoft Flight Simulator
Microsoft Flight Simulator is a series of flight simulator programs for the Microsoft Windows operating system, although it was marketed as a video game. It is one of the longest-running, best-known and most comprehensive home flight simulator series...
. Reasons included insufficient memory, IBM PC-specific copy-protection, and the PCjr's smaller keyboard.
Limited hardware expansion
Along with the lack of software, computer dealers quickly identified the PCjr's limited hardware expansion capability as a major disadvantage. It only had an internal slot for a modem and an external slot on the right side for "sidecar" peripherals. IBM published technical details publicly for the PCjr as it had done for the IBM PC to encourage third parties to develop accessories, but did not offer a second floppy drive, hard drive, or memory beyond 128 KB. Multiple sidecars proved very clumsy, and the computer required additional power supplies with a second floppy drive or several sidecars. The PCjr also lacked a DMA controller, so the 8088 CPU had to service standard system interrupts such as the serial port or the keyboard directly. The PCjr thus could not use modems faster than 2400 baud, and it would refuse to process keyboard input if its buffer was full.Death
In July 1984—by which time PCjr sales had declined to only a few thousand a month—IBM replaced the chiclet keyboard for free with a different wireless model, an unusually generous act for the company and the industry. The company had to replace only about 60,000 keyboards, compared to the 250,000 to 480,000 computers that experts had estimated IBM would sell during the first six months. IBM also reduced the PCjr's list price, offering a $999 package that was arguably superior to the comparably priced Apple IIe and IIc, while deemphasizing the PCjr's marketing as a home computer and emphasizing its ability to run IBM PC programs. Advertisements listed the new price, "new typewriter-style keyboard", standard 128 KB of memory with new IBM-made expansion options to 512 KB, a new cartridge-based version of Lotus 1-2-3, and the ability to "run over a thousand of the most popular programs written for the IBM PC."Although sales improved due to the better keyboard and significant discounts to the new list price, they declined again when the discounts ended after Christmas, with sales decreasing from an estimated 50 per store in December to 2.4 in February. By this time three PCjr-specific magazines had ended publication. With the overall home-computer market in decline—even while IBM could not meet the demand for its new PC AT business microcomputer—and likely unable to make a sufficient profit when the PCjr was sufficiently discounted to increase sales, the company discontinued it in March 1985 and, reportedly with more than 100,000 leftover PCjrs, sold them at a large discount to its employees.
Legacy
Tandy CorporationTandy Corporation
Tandy Corporation was a family-owned leather goods company based in Fort Worth, Texas. Tandy was founded in 1919 as a leather supply store, and acquired RadioShack in 1963. The Tandy name was dropped in May 2000, when RadioShack Corporation was made the official name.-History:Tandy began in 1919...
produced a clone of the PCjr, the Tandy 1000
Tandy 1000
The Tandy 1000 was the first in a line of more-or-less IBM PC compatible home computer systems produced by the Tandy Corporation for sale in its Radio Shack chain of stores.-Overview:...
. Since the PCjr was discontinued soon after the new computer was released in November 1984, Tandy had to hastily change its marketing strategy. However, the machine and its many successors ultimately proved much more enduring than the PCjr itself, partly because the Tandy 1000 was sold in ubiquitous Radio Shack
Radio shack
Radio shack is a slang term for a room or structure for housing radio equipment.-History:In the early days of radio, equipment was experimental and home-built. The first radio transmitters used a noisy spark to generate radio waves and were often housed in a garage or shed. When radio was first...
stores and partly because it was less costly, easier to expand, and almost-entirely compatible with the IBM PC. Ironically, the enhanced graphics and sound standards the PCjr pioneered ultimately became known as "Tandy-compatible", with the extended graphics modes eventually coined "TGA" (Tandy Graphics Adapter) graphics.
King's Quest
King's Quest
King's Quest is an adventure game series created by the American software company Sierra Entertainment. It is widely considered a classic series from the golden era of adventure games. Following the success of its first installment, the series was primarily responsible for building the reputation...
, a popular adventure game series, was originally developed for the PCjr, as IBM had commissioned Sierra On-Line for a game that would take advantage of the PCjr's expanded graphics and sound capabilities for the product's launch.
IBM returned to the home market in 1990 with its much more successful IBM PS/1
IBM PS/1
The IBM PS/1 was a brand for a line of personal computers and was IBM's return to the home market in 1990, five years after the IBM PCjr. It was replaced by the IBM Aptiva in September 1994.-Position in IBM's PC brands:...
line. Unlike the PCjr's radical departure from the IBM PC, the PS/1 line concentrated on IBM brand-name compatibility and affordability.
"PCjr magazine" ran articles written by many of the legends of the computer industry from back in their early days. This comprises a collection of entry level PC articles, from such people as Peter Norton
Peter Norton
Peter Norton is an American programmer, software publisher, author, and philanthropist. He is best known for the computer programs and books that bear his name. Norton sold his PC-Software business to Symantec Corporation in 1990....
, that could be considered mentionable.
Several upgrades for the PCjr were designed by IBM/Teledyne but never reached the store shelves before the IBM PCjr was canceled. These included a wireless joystick and various memory/drive upgrades.
PC Enterprises became the last of the major third party vendors to supply full service, parts, and add-ons, extending the functional life of the PCjr to about 10 years, often buying out inventory and rights for PCjr support.
IBM's later attempt to build a computer targeted at home users, the PS/2 Model 30 was also unsuccessful due to its similar use of nonstandard technologies that were less capable than alternatives already available from IBM's competitors.
Technical specifications
- CPU: Intel 8088Intel 8088The Intel 8088 microprocessor was a variant of the Intel 8086 and was introduced on July 1, 1979. It had an 8-bit external data bus instead of the 16-bit bus of the 8086. The 16-bit registers and the one megabyte address range were unchanged, however...
, 4.77 MHz - Memory: 64K on the motherboard expandable to 128K via a card in a dedicated slot. Further expansion via IBM sidecar adapters. Later third-party add-ons and modifications raised the limit to 736K.
- Operating system: IBM PC-DOSPC-DOSIBM PC DOS is a DOS system for the IBM Personal Computer and compatibles, manufactured and sold by IBM from the 1980s to the 2000s....
2.10, (Boots to Cassette BASIC without cartridge or DOS) - Input/Output: cassette port, light-pen port, two joystick ports, RGB monitor port, composite video port, television adapter output port, audio port, wired keyboard port, infrared keyboard sensor, serial port, two cartridge slots
- Expandability: 3 internal slots, dedicated to PCjr specific memory, modemModemA modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
(300 bits per second non-HayesHayes command setThe Hayes command set is a specific command-language originally developed for the Hayes Smartmodem 300 baud modem in 1981. The command set consists of a series of short text strings which combine together to produce complete commands for operations such as dialing, hanging up, and changing the...
-compatible modem available from IBM, although 2400 bit/s Hayes-compatible modems were available from third parties), and floppy controller cards. External sidecar connector capable of daisy-chaining multiple sidecars. - Video: MotorolaMotorolaMotorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
6845Motorola 6845The Motorola 6845 is a video address generator first introduced by Motorola and used among others in the Videx VideoTerm display cards for the Apple II computers, the MDA and CGA video adapters for the IBM PC, in the Amstrad CPC and the BBC Micro. Its functionality was duplicated and extended by...
, "CGAColor Graphics AdapterThe Color Graphics Adapter , originally also called the Color/Graphics Adapter or IBM Color/Graphics Monitor Adapter, introduced in 1981, was IBM's first color graphics card, and the first color computer display standard for the IBM PC....
Plus" This chip was officially called the VGA (Video Gate Array).- Text modes: 40×25, 80×25, 16 colors
- Graphics modes: 320×200×4, 640×200×2, 160×100×16, 160×200×16, 320×200×16, 640×200×4
- Video memory is shared with the first 128 KB of system memory, and can be as small as 2 KB and as large as 96 KB.
- Sound: Texas Instruments SN76496Texas Instruments SN76489The SN76489 Digital Complex Sound Generator is a TTL-compatible Programmable Sound Generator chip from Texas Instruments. It contains three square wave tone generators and one white noise generator, each of which can produce sounds at various frequencies and sixteen different volume levels...
; three voices, 16 independent volume levels per channel, white noise - Storage: Optional 5.25 inch diskette drive or cassette. Other storage options were provided by third parties.
- Keyboard: 62 key detached. Corded or infra-red operation. IBM supplied two different keyboards, the first being the maligned 'Chiclet' keyboard, so named for its square rubber keys that resembled ChicletsChicletsChiclets is a brand of candy coated chewing gum made by Cadbury Adams. The colors of chiclets are: yellow, green, orange, red, white, and pink. The product's name is derived from Nahuatl word tziktli, in English chicle, the substance from which chewing gum was traditionally made...
. Many third-party keyboards were also available.