The BRD systems were probably among the first personal accounting systems. They featured a mass storage drive and a Teletype or 'intelligent' Olivetti typewriter as a data entry/printing device.
Three version of the BRD systems were available:
• The Small Fry, the smallest system in the family. It used tape catridges for data storage.
• The larger capacity Dolphin and Purpoise. Both had dual 8" floppy disk drive.
About the BRD systems family, Randy Larson reports that:
In 1975 when I started working in BRD they were selling a computer that looked like a typewriter, the Olivetti A5, then the Olivetti P603 connected to a 8" floppy disc drive.
The A5 and the P603 were sold to small cities to do water billing statements, we also sold them to accountants, grain elevators, mainly used for accounting purposes.
The A5 was a piece of junk It was more mechanical than it was electronic. It was so bad that BRD built a computer that emulated the A5 using a Diablo terminal printer and their disk drives.
We had good luck with this system and sold quite a few of them. Some people used them till the late 1980's and they were very dependable... I spent 3 years working on just 10 Olivetti A5. The P603 were more reliable, and did not provide as many problems.
We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system,
please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.
NAME
Dolphin
MANUFACTURER
brd
TYPE
Professional Computer
ORIGIN
U.S.A.
YEAR
1975
BUILT IN LANGUAGE
Olivetti A5 or P603 assembler and BAL
KEYBOARD
Typevriter keyboard with numeric keypad and function keys
