The GridCase was about the same size and featured the same robust magnesium case as Compass model, but Grid forwent the Compass's expensive and power-hungry electroluminescent display and bubble memory.
The GridCase series was composed of 4 models. The GridCase I featured a bottom-of-the-range LCD display, the GridCase II had an enhanced LCD "that more than one person can read" Grid said, the GridCase III offered a high-contrast gas-plasma display (photo), and the GridCase IV which used a full size yellow electoluminescent screen that was also offered on the high end earlier Grid Compass Computers.
The keyboard was the same as the IBM PCjr, not very convenient but with a good tactile feedback provided by a key click similar to that on the IBM PC. Two power modules were available, a rechargeable battery pack and an AC transformer. Both were the same size and fitted in a large socket on the rear panel. Each battery pack lasted 4 to 5 hours for the LCD models, and one hour with the plasma model.
All models came with eight sockets for ROM chips. Although only four of them could be accessed by the user, Grid offered programs such as MS-DOS, GW-BASIC or Lotus 1-2-3 on ROM chips.
Several peripherals were available, a base station battery charger and power source, a 5.25" and 3.5" floppy disk drive units and a 10 MB hard disk. They all were of the same size and could be stacked.
Some of these systems were made for military use and included a built-in hard drive. A big thick X was pressed into the case over the hard drive. The purpose of this was to show the user where to shoot in case the computer was in danger of falling into enemy hands.
GRiD Defence Systems produced the laptop computers used in the "Aliens" film in 1986. The scenes were cut from the theatrical release but subsequently added to the DVD release.
The GridCase systems were marketed in France by Sagem. There were a least the MTP16, MTP32 and MTP1550 models available. The MTP32 had a plasma display and a built-in hard disk and was powered 386 CPU. It could be the equivalent of the GridCase III. The MTP1550 had a LCD display and a kind of bar at the bottom of the keyboard which acted like a mouse/trackball... These systems were indeed quite sturdy and most of them were used for military applications.
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Contributors: David Griffith, Guy, Jérôme Ginestet
We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system,
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NAME
GridCase
MANUFACTURER
Grid
TYPE
Professional Computer
ORIGIN
U.S.A.
YEAR
1985
END OF PRODUCTION
Unknown
BUILT IN LANGUAGE
None
KEYBOARD
57-key IBM PCjr-compatible
CPU
80C86 - low-power version
SPEED
4.77 MHz
CO-PROCESSOR
Socket for an 8087 math corpocessor
RAM
128 KB up to 512 KB
VRAM
16 KB
ROM
Up to 512KB of user installable ROMs
TEXT MODES
80 characters x 25 lines
GRAPHIC MODES
640 x 200 pixels
COLORS
Monochrome
SOUND
Built-in speaker
SIZE / WEIGHT
28.5 (W) x 38 (D) x 5.7 (H) cm / 5.8 kg
I/O PORTS
External colour monitor, Serial and Parallel ports, RJ11 phone jack, external PC keyboard, 50-pin expansion bus
