The NEC UltraLite was an

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 ...

-based laptop in a "notebook" size. It was introduced in October 1988 alongside the heavier and more-capable ProSpeed. PC Magazine featured the UltraLite on its cover in November 1988Front Cover:NEC's Incredible 4-Pound DOS Laptop
1988-11-15, Volume 7 Number 19, PC Magazine and shortly thereafter journalists began referring to the A4 sized computer as a "notebook" to distinguish it from the larger and heavier laptops of the time.

Specifications

* Storage: battery-backed storage memory (non-volatile RAM drive) ** PC-17-01 had 1 MB ** PC-17-02 had 2 MB * RS-232C port * ROM/RAM card slot (NEC proprietary interface) * optional accessories: ** external 3.5 inch floppy drive reader ** SRAM cards using proprietary interface ** ROM cards using proprietary interface ** parallel port adapter cable * internal software in 456 Kb integrated ROM **

3.3 ** Laplink 2 ** Microsoft DOS Manager Version 2.0

History

The product was originally developed by an NEC Japan telecommunications engineering team that was trying to make an inexpensive lightweight terminal for programming

PABX A business telephone system is a multiline telephone system typically used in business environments, encompassing systems ranging in technology from the key telephone system (KTS) to the private branch exchange (PBX). A business telephone syst ...

systems. In 1988, as

NEC is a Japanese 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 provides IT and network soluti ...

was trying to create products to update their best selling MultiSpeed, the NEC engineering team in charge of developing personal computers showed the UltraLite to a product management team from NEC Home Electronics USA. Tom Martin, the Vice President in charge of the group, asked, "Can you make this thing run MS-DOS"? When an affirmative response was received, the NEC team knew they had a hit product on their hands. The product was launched shortly before

COMDEX COMDEX (an abbreviation of COMputer Dealers' EXhibition) was a computer expo trade show held in the Las Vegas Valley of Nevada, United States, each November from 1979 to 2003. It was one of the largest computer trade shows in the world, usually ...

in October 1988 at a gala event in New York City. It was applauded by the media, who were dying to find a small lightweight computing platform that could be used for note-taking and article writing. Unfortunately the publicity surrounding the UltraLite did not reflect itself in consumer demand. This was due to the UltraLite's two

Achilles heel An Achilles' heel (or Achilles heel) is a weakness in spite of overall strength, which can lead to downfall. While the mythological origin refers to a physical vulnerability, idiomatic references to other attributes or qualities that can lead to ...

s ... the lack of a

hard drive 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 magne ...

which prevented storage of one's work (for more than a week or so without charging the internal RAM drive) and the use of a relatively slow

8086 The 8086 (also called iAPX 86) is a 16-bit microprocessor chip designed by Intel between early 1976 and June 8, 1978, when it was released. The Intel 8088, released July 1, 1979, is a slightly modified chip with an external 8-bit data bus (allowi ...

-compatible processor when the market was moving to the

80286 The Intel 80286 (also marketed as the iAPX 286 and often called Intel 286) is a 16-bit microprocessor that was introduced on February 1, 1982. It was the first 8086-based CPU with separate, non- multiplexed address and data buses and also the ...

class. The main downside to the Ultralite (which weighed only 4 pounds) was its price. It sold for between 4 and 5 thousand dollars which was significantly higher than other, albeit heavier, less innovative, computers of the time. Given its use of the ram drive boot times were actually faster than 80386 class computers. So although the UltraLite ushered in a new era in portable computing, its original design as a telecommunications maintenance terminal proved to be its commercial downfall. Commercial success in that product category was not achieved until

Compaq Compaq Computer Corporation (sometimes abbreviated to CQ prior to a 2007 rebranding) was an American information technology company founded in 1982 that developed, sold, and supported computers and related products and services. Compaq produced ...

launched its LTE brand nearly 12 months later.

Data storage

Data storage can be done by an optional external 720 kb (in fact it supported "Japanese" 1.2 Mb format but did not support more common 1.44 Mb) 3.5-inch floppy drive, by the internal non-volatile RAM drive (silicon hard drive), or by proprietary RAM and ROM cards. The internal ram drive is powered by an auxiliary battery inside the unit which needs to be recharged every week or so in order to keep the contents of the ram drive. The credit-card sized, battery-powered RAM cards come with capacity sizes of 256 kb or 512 Kb. Both RAM cards and ROM cards use a proprietary NEC interface because this laptop came out at a time when there were no standard portable computing interfaces. The PCMCIA standard did not exist until 1990. The RAM cards were powered by a replaceable 3 volt lithium coin battery and had a write-protect switch.

ROM cards

Software can be bought running from ROM cards. Examples include: *

Lotus 123 Lotus 1-2-3 is a discontinued spreadsheet program from Lotus Software (later part of IBM). It was the first killer application of the IBM PC, was hugely popular in the 1980s, and significantly contributed to the success of IBM PC-compatibles ...

* Lotus Agenda * Lotus Metro/Express * Wordperfect 5.0 *

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 ...

* Microsoft Works

Other models

There are other models in the NEC Ultralite series—for example, the Ultralite SX/20, which was released in 1991. The Ultralite SX/20 had a 80386 processor and runs Microsoft Windows 3.0 Others in the series include the NEC Ultralite 286F, 286V, and the NEC Ultralite Versa models.

References

External links

NEC Ultralite: Last of a Breed
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nec UltraLite History of computing hardware UltraLite