The Zenith MinisPort (styled as minisPORT) is a

subnotebook Subnotebook, also called ultraportable, superportable, or mini notebook, was a marketing term for laptop computers that are smaller and lighter than a typical notebook-sized laptop. Types and sizes As typical laptop sizes have decreased over t ...

based on an 80C88 CMOS

CPU A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, and ...

running at two software selectable speeds: 4.77

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

or 8 MHz. It was released in 1989 by

Zenith Data Systems Zenith Data Systems (ZDS) was a division of Zenith Electronics founded in 1979 after Zenith acquired the Heath Company, which had entered the personal computer market in 1977. Headquartered in Benton Harbor, Michigan, Zenith sold personal compu ...

(ZDS). It had 1 (model ZL-1) or 2 MB (model ZL-2) of RAM, ran

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

3.3 Plus from

ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * R ...

, had a 640×200

LCD A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but in ...

display and CGA and composite monochrome outputs. The MinisPort was one of the first actual

s, apart from a contemporary

NEC is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It prov ...

model.

Features

* Internal 2-inch "LT"

floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined w ...

drive (793 KB formatted, double-sided,

double-density Disk density is a capacity designation on magnetic storage, usually floppy disks. Each designation describes a set of characteristics that can affect the areal density of a disk or the efficiency of the encoded data. Such characteristics include ...

, 80 tracks, 245 tpi, media:

Fujifilm , trading as Fujifilm, or simply Fuji, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the realms of photography, optics, office and medical electronics, biotechnology, and chemicals. The offerings from th ...

LT-1). The floppy disks typically cost $80 for ten of them. The disks were not compatible with two-inch "VF"

video floppy A Video Floppy () is an analog recording storage medium in the form of a 2-inch magnetic floppy disk used to store still frames of composite analog video. A video floppy, also known as a VF disk, could store up to 25 frames either in the NTSC or P ...

diskettes. * An external standard 3.5-inch 720 KB double-density floppy drive was available as well. * Built-in ''FastLynx'' transfer software that could install itself on any other DOS computer over a serial cable without the need for any pre-existing software on the remote system. It relied on the user typing in a DOS mode command on the other computer, which transferred control of that computer's command line to the Zenith over the serial line. The software then copied itself across, and the user could then move files. This to some extent compensated for the fact that no other computer ever used the 2-inch floppy disks, thus rendering floppy transfers impractical. * The ability to set aside some of its upper memory (typically the 384 KB area between 640 KB and 1 MB) as a battery-backed

RAM disk Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * Ra ...

; this was relatively unique in DOS-based laptops (others, like the

Toshiba T1000 The Toshiba T1000 was a laptop computer manufactured by the Toshiba Corporation in 1987. It had a similar specification to the IBM PC Convertible, with a 4.77 MHz 80C88 processor, 512 KB of RAM, and a monochrome CGA-compatible LCD. Unlike the ...

also supported RAM disks). The RAM disk appeared as C: in DOS and enabled the computer to run with no spinning disks, extending battery life and increasing reliability. Contents were preserved with the power off, though using a minuscule amount of current from the main battery. * Later versions included an integral 20 MB

hard disk A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magnet ...

. This was enough to run WordPerfect and associated programs, including spell-checkers and diagnostic programs.

Dimensions

The MinisPort is 12.5-inch wide × 9.8-inch deep × 1.29-inch tall (318 mm × 249 mm × 33 mm), (lid closed), 7.75-inch (197 mm) tall (lid open). It weighs 5.9 lb (2.7 kg) with the battery.

References

{{reflist

External links

Full specification and photographs (in Spanish)

Newsletters on the Minisport Laptop Hacker (ZIP-file, documents in English)

Webpage maintained by the original author of the Minisport Laptop Hacker
including how to delete the hardware password. Subnotebooks