Qi 600
Description
The Qi was a new generation of desktop PC that introduced a range of new technologies to place Apricot in the 'premium' manufacturer market.
IBM had introduced the 'Microchannel' architecture to try and recover its market dominance back by developing a new hardware standard to replace ISA - except this time, IBM would charge a licence fee to any manufacturer who wanted to use it. As a market manipulation strategy, Microchannel failed dismally, but a small number of manufacturers did build products using it and Apricot was one of the those few.
The Qi600 was released in mid 1988 and withdrawn in late 1992, being replaced by the Qi 486.
Models
The Qi 600 was launched in two main versions
- Qi 650 (1Mb RAM, 47Mb HD)
- Qi 660 (1Mb RAM, 118Mb HD)
- The 't' variants had 40Mb tape drives in the left-hand bay)
The Qi 600 also formed the basis for the VX1000M Server system
Technical Specification
CPU
Intel 80386DX-20 (650 Model)
Intel 80386DX-25 (660 Model)
RAM
1Mb to 16Mb onboard - Up to 4GB on expansion cards
Video
VGA Onboard
Storage
47Mb to 118Mb HD
Sony 3.5" 1.44Mb Floppy drive
Optional 44Mb Irwin Tape Drive
Networking
Ethernet onboard
Internal Expansion
2x 16-bit MCA Expansion slots
2x 32-bit MCA Expansion slots
Optional 80387 maths coprocessor
Optional external 5.15" floppy drive
External Ports
RS-232 Serial Port - DB25
Parallel Printer Port - Centronics
VGA Video Out
10BASE-T Ethernet socket
10BASE-2 Coax Ethernet socket
PS2 Mouse socket
PS2 Keyboard socket
Synchronous Comms port
Expansion
Four 16-bit MCA slots
Random Factoids
The Qi included a unique security system that used two-factor authentication in the form of a handheld infra-red transmitter that could be registered to the user's login details, and had to be pointed at the computer and activated to confirm the user's identify.