Philips P3500
The P3500 was a desktop computer which was manufactured by Philips in West Germany during the early 1980s. This computer was comprised of a closely connected network of 2-5 processors which communicated over a system bus.
Philips P3500
The P3500 was a desktop computer which was manufactured by Philips in West Germany during the early 1980s. This computer was comprised of a closely connected network of 2-5 processors which communicated over a system bus.
The system configuration of the P3500 allowed the possibility to connect 2-4 display stations to the computer. The Z80 processors all had a memory capacity of 64 kB per processor, which meant that the P3500, if maxed out, had 320 kB of memory. The standard configuration of the P3500 consisted of: a central unit (1 master processor and 2 slave processors), two display stations, two keyboards, a 640 kB floppy disk station, a 5 Mb hard disk and a printer (GP120 or GP300). It was also a possibility to expand the external memory to a maximum amount of 20 Mb. The maximum amount of workstations for the P3500 is 4.
In the central unit is located the I/O controllers that control the SASI peripheral bus. The central unit also had a battery that, in the case of a power failure, could automatically restart the system. The standard monitor for the P3500 had a screensize of 15" and had a frame rate of 50 Hz.
There were two types of processors to be found in the P3500: the master and the slaves. The lone master processor was responsible for carrying out the most important tasks of the system, including: file management, external memory management, datacommunication and control over printing. The slave processors were responsible for: application processing, display management and control over the terminalprinter.
The P3500 utilized the operating system TurboDOS, which was fully compatible with CP/M and MP/M. TurboDOS gave the user the possibility to use multiple programming languages, such as: Multi BASIC, COBOL and BASIC-80.
The P3500 was heavily marketed towards businesses and companies during its lifespan. These companies varied in size and industry. Several universal and industry specific application packages were sold for the P3500, including for: bookkeeping, crediting, inventory management, billing and scheduling. These packages were developed by MicroPro Int. Corp. and were made available for purchase and use on the P3500 in the Netherlands by Philips.
Besides the GP120 and GP300 printers, which were sold in multiple variations, it was also possible to use a daisywheelprinter or matrixprinter on the P3500.
