Olivetti M24 and ATT 6300

Olivetti launched the M24 in 1983. This was based around the Intel 8086-2 which ran at a respectable 8 MHz.

On many levels the Olivetti computer was ahead of its time not only in the design but also in it's hardware.

Its graphics capability was to some extend at that time a bit odd, as it had an biuld-in enhanced CGA video card which in addition to the standard 320 x 200 also supported 640 x 400 x 2-colours. It did required a proprietary dual-sync monitor with a 25-pin D-sub connector.

The keyboard connector did also different from the IBM PC/XT, in that it used a 9-pin D-sub instead of a round DIN. But it was compatible with the later PS/2 pinouts. A Olivetti mouse could be plugged directly into the keyboard. The mouse could be configured to simulate the usage of the keyboard's arrow keys in DOS applications without mouse support. This is similar to how the Amstrad PC1512 mouse worked.

All M24s were bundled with MS-DOS 2.1 by Olivetti

Olivetti also licensed both Xerox and AT&T in US and Logabax in France to release the M24 under their respective brands, as the Xerox 6060, the AT&T PC 6300 and Persona 1600.

By 1986 the M24 was the #1 market leader in Europe, with approximately 300,000 M24s being sold that year. Due to this high level of sales, Olivetti was branded the third largest PC manufacturer in the world.

Fun facts


 * Internally the Olivetti M series was known as PC1050. A label you will see on all the motherboards and some of Olivetti's own expansion cards such as the CRT card
 * Having the Intel 8086-2 CPU running at 8/10 Mhz also made it the worlds first overclocked PC

Causes

 * RTC battery can leak and cause corrosive damage

Solutions

 * Remove battery and clean with baking soda

Causes

 * Pins soldered on the power supply board may be broken loose, especially for heavy parts like transformers or connectors like for the molex power cable.

Solutions

 * In a pinch, reflow the solder to reconnect it. But new solder should be added.
 * After reflowing parts could be glued down to help avoid it happening again

Power Supply
PCB is split but does not duplicate RefDes', C1050 AL191/1-B, COD 303603 P, P-P3, PSU Model 303219M