The Epson PX-8 a.k.a. Geneva was a small laptop computer made by the

Epson Seiko Epson Corporation, or simply known as Epson, is a Japanese multinational electronics company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of computer printers and information- and imaging-related equipment. Headquartered in Suwa, Nagano ...

Corporation in the mid-1980s. It had a

Z80 The Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog as the startup company's first product. The Z80 was conceived by Federico Faggin in late 1974 and developed by him and his 11 employees starting in early 1975. The first working samples were ...

compatible microprocessor, and ran a customized version of the CP/M-80

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also i ...

as well as various applications from a pair of ROM cartridge slots which were treated as drives. For file storage, it had a built-in microcassette drive. The PX-8 did not have an internal disk drive, and instead allowed either memory to be partitioned into application memory and a RAM disk, or an external 60 KB or 120 KB intelligent RAM disk module to be attached (64K and 128K internally but some used for the processor). The intelligent RAM disk module had its own Z80 processor with a backup battery. The PX-8 had an 80 column by 8 line LCD display, which was monochromatic and non-backlit. It used an internal nickel-cadmium battery, and had a battery life in the range of 6–8 hours when using word-processing software. An additional battery provided backup for the internal RAM. There were a number of proprietary accessories available including a portable printer, bar code reader, and an early 3.5-inch diskette drive, the PF-10. The disk drives from the

HX-20 The Epson HX-20 (also known as the HC-20) was the first "true" laptop computer.Michael R. Peres''The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography'', page 306 Taylor & Francis It was invented in July 1980 by Yukio Yokozawa, who worked for Suwa Seikosha, a bra ...

could also be used. For the ROM cartridge slots a number of applications were available: Basic, CP/M utilities, Portable

WordStar WordStar is a word processor application for microcomputers. It was published by MicroPro International and originally written for the CP/M-80 operating system, and later written also for MS-DOS and other 16-bit PC OSes. Rob Barnaby was the so ...

, CalcStar, Scheduler, dBase II and Portable Cardbox-Plus. The PX-8 was not initially a commercial success, especially compared against the

TRS-80 Model 100 The TRS-80 Model 100 is a portable computer introduced in April 26th, 1983. It is one of the first notebook-style computers, featuring a keyboard and liquid crystal display, in a battery-powered package roughly the size and shape of a notepad or ...

portable computer but achieved some increased success after a large number were sold discounted in the United States through the

DAK Catalog The DAK Catalog was published by DAK Industries, a discount electronics importer in the United States, and was named after the initials of the company's owner, Drew Alan Kaplan. Founding DAK Industries was founded in 1966 and during the 1980s becam ...

. The PX-8 combined some of the features from its predecessors, the

being portable, battery operated and the QX-10 being CP/M compatible. In 1985, Epson introduced the PX-4, combining features from both the PX-8 and the

Reception

BYTE The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable uni ...

'' in February 1985 called the PX-8 "a good second computer, especially for people with CP/M systems" or WordStar users. The magazine approved of its documentation and tape storage, and described the display as "acceptable" but less legible than the Model 100's. ''BYTE'' concluded that "after the disappointment of the Epson HX-20, the Geneva PX-8 represents a giant improvement. It is, at this time, the most powerful 8-bit portable available".

References

External links

ByteCellar's 1984 PX-8 magazine review scans

Epson PX-8 used as Mac OS X dumb terminal

PX-8 info, documentation and software
even making ROMs
USA patent on the PX-8

Official Epson PX-8 Brochure
* {{microcompu-stub PX-8 Geneva