This is a grab from a 1988 movie called Vampire's Kiss.
It has twin disk drives (5.25" from the looks) and what looks like a built-in printer?
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9I'm guessing it's a dedicated word processing system, rather than a generic computer.– Will HartungCommented Oct 10, 2021 at 3:42
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1There seems to be a manufacturer's logo on the front of the printer, but we need to see a close-up to make it out.– MickCommented Oct 10, 2021 at 3:43
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9How well can you actually read a 12" screen from like 4 feet away? That desk was definitely arranged by Hollywood.– 640KBCommented Oct 10, 2021 at 13:22
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2@640KB With binoculars!? In the 1980s, I worked on a remote sensing satellite system. "Control points" were distinctive points on the ground with known locations; small images (aerial photographs?) of control points could be registered to similar objects in the satellite imagery to provide more accurate geometric correction. Quality maps were put on a large digitizer board so as to precisely determine control point locations. Doug aligned/tuned the digitizer, but his VT100 terminal was about 30 feet away, so he used a pair of binoculars to see what coordinates the digitizer was reporting!– Alex MeasdayCommented Oct 11, 2021 at 14:55
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6@640KB has a point though. The ergonomics of that work station are appalling, and it's not just the placement of the monitor. Look at how she's reaching up to the keyboard, and how the keyboard is so close, it's practically touching her solar plexus.– Solomon SlowCommented Oct 11, 2021 at 15:17
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1 Answer
That's a Minolta PCW1 Word processor of Minolta Camera Co. Ltd
The "computer part" is in fact a PC with 512kBytes memory and a 80186 CPU running DOS 2.11 and proprietary word processing (or, rather: typewriter emulation) software written by a company named Carlisle Systems. The printer part apparently is a NEC daisy-wheel OEM module. The two modules came separately and can/must be bolted together.
It's relatively rare, as apparently only 10.000 units have been built.
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7IIRC MSDOS needed to be a special version to run on 80186 machines, since they were never truly IBM PC compatible due to the 80186 having built in peripherals that conflicted with the IBM PC memory map standard. Commented Oct 10, 2021 at 16:58
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6@rackandboneman Probably not a spacific DOS version, but certainly a specific BIOS to handle the on-board timer, interrupt and DMA controllers. DOS doesn't do much with them, but still, the Minolta DOS for the PCW1 apparently was a proprietary version.– tofroCommented Oct 10, 2021 at 18:09
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