Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
One Per Desk
The One Per Desk, or OPD, was a British innovative hybrid personal computer and telecommunications terminal based on the hardware of the Sinclair QL. The One Per Desk was built by International Computers Limited (ICL) and launched in the United Kingdom in 1984. It was designed to run business-related software packages, not as a general-purpose computer.
Rebadged versions of the OPD were sold in the UK by British Telecom as the Merlin Tonto, and as the Computerphone by Telecom Australia and the New Zealand Post Office.
The OPD was the result of a collaborative project between ICL, Sinclair Research and British Telecom, begun in 1983, which had originally intended to incorporate Sinclair's flat-screen CRT technology.
From the QL, the OPD borrowed the 68008 CPU, ZX8301/8302 ULAs, 128 KB of RAM and dual Microdrives (re-engineered by ICL for greater reliability) but not the Intel 8049 Intelligent Peripheral Controller. Unique to the OPD was a telephony module incorporating an Intel 8051 microcontroller (which also controlled the keyboard), two PSTN lines and a V.21/V.23 modem, plus a built-in telephone handset and a Texas Instruments TMS5220 speech synthesiser (for automatic answering of incoming calls).
The OPD was supplied with either a 9-inch monochrome (white) monitor, priced at £1,195 plus VAT, or a 14-inch colour monitor at £1,625 plus VAT. The monitors also housed the power supply for the OPD itself.
Later, 3.5" floppy disk drives were also available from third-party vendors.
The OPD was intended for non-technical users carrying out business tasks; it was not a general-purpose computer. The core software was provided by ICL in read-only memory (ROM), and additional software packages could be accessed by plugging in "capsules" (a PROM chip on a small printed circuit board); there were options for two, four or six capsule slots.
The system firmware (BFS or "Basic Functional Software") was unrelated to the QL's Qdos operating system, although a subset of SuperBASIC was provided on Microdrive cartridge. The BFS provided application-switching, voice/data call management, call answering, phone number directories, Viewdata terminal emulation and a simple calculator.
Hub AI
One Per Desk AI simulator
(@One Per Desk_simulator)
One Per Desk
The One Per Desk, or OPD, was a British innovative hybrid personal computer and telecommunications terminal based on the hardware of the Sinclair QL. The One Per Desk was built by International Computers Limited (ICL) and launched in the United Kingdom in 1984. It was designed to run business-related software packages, not as a general-purpose computer.
Rebadged versions of the OPD were sold in the UK by British Telecom as the Merlin Tonto, and as the Computerphone by Telecom Australia and the New Zealand Post Office.
The OPD was the result of a collaborative project between ICL, Sinclair Research and British Telecom, begun in 1983, which had originally intended to incorporate Sinclair's flat-screen CRT technology.
From the QL, the OPD borrowed the 68008 CPU, ZX8301/8302 ULAs, 128 KB of RAM and dual Microdrives (re-engineered by ICL for greater reliability) but not the Intel 8049 Intelligent Peripheral Controller. Unique to the OPD was a telephony module incorporating an Intel 8051 microcontroller (which also controlled the keyboard), two PSTN lines and a V.21/V.23 modem, plus a built-in telephone handset and a Texas Instruments TMS5220 speech synthesiser (for automatic answering of incoming calls).
The OPD was supplied with either a 9-inch monochrome (white) monitor, priced at £1,195 plus VAT, or a 14-inch colour monitor at £1,625 plus VAT. The monitors also housed the power supply for the OPD itself.
Later, 3.5" floppy disk drives were also available from third-party vendors.
The OPD was intended for non-technical users carrying out business tasks; it was not a general-purpose computer. The core software was provided by ICL in read-only memory (ROM), and additional software packages could be accessed by plugging in "capsules" (a PROM chip on a small printed circuit board); there were options for two, four or six capsule slots.
The system firmware (BFS or "Basic Functional Software") was unrelated to the QL's Qdos operating system, although a subset of SuperBASIC was provided on Microdrive cartridge. The BFS provided application-switching, voice/data call management, call answering, phone number directories, Viewdata terminal emulation and a simple calculator.