One Per Desk
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V.21/V.23 modem |
The One Per Desk, or OPD, was an innovative hybrid
Rebadged versions of the OPD were sold in the United Kingdom as the Merlin Tonto[4] and as the Computerphone by Telecom Australia[5] and the New Zealand Post Office.[6] The initial orders placed for the One Per Desk were worth £4.5 million (for 1500 units) from British Telecom and £8 million from Telecom Australia, with ICL focusing on telecommunications providers as the means to reach small- and medium-sized businesses.[7] Sales of the OPD worth $42 million were reportedly made by ICL within the first nine months of the product becoming available, largely involving contracts with British Telecom and the telecommunications authorities of Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand.[8]
Hardware
From the QL, the OPD borrowed the
The OPD was supplied with either a 9-inch monochrome (white) monitor, priced at £1,195 plus VAT, or with a 14-inch colour monitor, priced at £1,625 plus VAT.[11] Both monitors also housed the power supply for the OPD itself.
Later, 3.5"
Software
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.
The
Other optional application software available on
An ICL supplied application was used to synchronise a national
Several UK ICL Mainframe (Series 39) customers, in Local Government and Ministry of Defence sectors, used statistics applications on OPD systems to view graphical representations of mainframe reports. Once again, the integral V.23 modem was used to download from the mainframe.
Merlin Tonto
A data communications adapter was introduced for the Tonto as a plug-in option or fitted on new units, providing a standard
Work on the Tonto influenced the design of a follow-on product by BT's Communications Terminal Products Group and Rathdown Industries known as the QWERTYphone,[15] this aiming to provide the telephony features of the Tonto at "a much lower cost and in a more user-friendly manner".[16]
ComputerPhone
Aimed at the "office automation" market and seeking to integrate computing and telecommunications technology, combining support for both voice and data, the One Per Desk product was perceived as the first of its kind designed to meet the needs of managers, who would be relying on old-fashioned paper-based practices to perform their "complex and heavy workloads" involving a variety of ongoing activities including meetings, telephone calls, research, administration and numerous other tasks. Such potential users of
MegaOPD
An enhanced version of the OPD was produced in small numbers for the United States market. This had a 68008FN CPU, 256 KB of RAM as standard, an RS-232 port and enhanced firmware.[19][20] The telephone answering function had a female voice, with a slight
Legacy
ICL were the preferred supplier for UK local government, and OPDs found their way onto desks of council officers. Due to the cost, they tended to be issued only to the most senior, who were often elderly, had no interest in computers, and had secretaries to handle their administrative work, so many devices were simply used as telephones.[citation needed]
References
- ^ The Register: Sinclair's FORGOTTEN Australia-only micro revealed!
- ^ Tebbutt, David (December 1984). "ICL OPD". Personal Computer World. pp. 120–124, 126. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
- ISSN 0262-401X. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
- ISSN 0262-401X. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
- ^ Tebbutt, David (January 1985). "ComputerPhone". Australian Personal Computer. pp. 14–16, 18, 23, 25–26. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
- ^ Bisman, Laurie (October 1985). "A 'phone' with the right connections". Bits & Bytes. pp. 30–40. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
- ^ "Where PC meets telecomms". Computer Business. February 1985. p. 18. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
- ^ "British Make a Big Push in Phone-Computers". Electronics. 23 December 1985. p. 24. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
- ^ "ICL OPD — One Per Desk". OLD-COMPUTERS.COM. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
- ^ a b "A full technical breakdown of the OPD by Murray McCabe". Binary Dinosaurs. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
- ^ a b "Microdrive storage mars OPD concept". Personal Computer News. November 1984. p. 4. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- ^ "Merlin Tonto". OLD-COMPUTERS.COM. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
- ^ "BT Merlin Tonto". computinghistory.org.uk. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
- ^ "Mainframe Access for Merlin Tonto". British Telecommunications Engineering. 4 (3): 183. October 1985.
- ^ "BT QWERTYPHONE". BOBS TELEPHONE FILE. 28 November 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
- ISSN 0262-401X. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
- ^ Pears, Beryl (October 1985). "Who would want ComputerPhone?". Bits & Bytes. pp. 43–44. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
- ^ "If you suffer from chronic disorganisationitus..." Bits & Bytes. November 1985. p. 37. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
- ^ "'Mega' OPD". www.SinclairComputers.com. Archived from the original on 18 June 2007. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
- ^ "MegaOPD unearthed". QUANTA. Archived from the original on 21 August 2008. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
External links
- "OPD page". SinclairComputers.com. Archived from the original on 2 December 2007.
- Description of Merlin Tonto from BT Engineering
- ICL One Per Desk page at rwapsoftware.co.uk including a floppy disk project