| The Ericsson Portable PC was a transportable IBM PC-compatible computer introduced in 1985 by the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson. It was designed as a professional mobile computer primarily for business and telecommunication use. The machine featured a compact and rugged design, earning it the nickname “the advent calendar” due to the numerous compartments, panels, and ports that could be opened on the device. The Portable PC was powered by an Intel 8088 processor running at 4.77 MHz and shipped with 256 KB of RAM, expandable to 512 KB. It used MS-DOS as its operating system, typically loaded from a 5.25″ floppy disk drive with a capacity of 360 KB. No internal hard drive was included. The system featured a monochrome gas-plasma display capable of showing 80 characters per line over 25 lines and supported a graphical resolution of 640×400 pixels, which was somewhat uncommon for IBM-compatible machines of the time. The orange-on-black display provided high contrast and readability, even in challenging lighting conditions. While it was labeled as portable, the device lacked a battery and could only be powered via its built-in 220V power supply, limiting true mobility. The Ericsson Portable PC reflects the transitional phase in computing where portability and business functionality were becoming increasingly important. Despite its limited commercial success, it stands as a unique example of Swedish innovation in the early era of mobile computing. |
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