Way back in 1992, Olivetti anounced the launch of some low cost business machines. the heavy duty model sporting an Intel 80486 at 25MHz. SX. That SX designation is important, as in Intel parlance this refers to a cut down version of their CPU. Back when the 80386 was the top CPU, the SX variant ran on a 16-bit data bus similar to the 80286, throttling performance for any data constrained task, as well as limiting the amount of RAM the CPU could address. The 80486 was different however, with all of the advantages of a full 32 bit bus and the new 8Kb of Level 1 cache and minus only the Floating Point Unit.

For many users in the early 1990’s, this was quite simply not an issue. For years up to this point, the FPU was an optional secondary processor purchased by those who knew they needed it. For most it was reasonable to assume that anything they could currently do, a 486 would do better. A 486 is faster than a 386 and the SX was very likely the best they could afford.

Nearly 30 years later, such machines are not so common. Later in the 1990’s, key applications came to rely upon the FPU quite heavily. For many that killer application was Quake. For me it was the mp3 format – which is incidentally when I first learned that this feature is what the 486 SX lacked. Either way, the rapid pace of development meant that processors with integrated FPUs were common place by the end of the decade. With many of these older machines simply being discarded at the end of their life, and the best in class 486 machines being kept for gaming, it is hard to get a true picture of what most people had back then.

The Olivetti PCS 44/C fits the general 1993 lower-mid-range specification to a ‘T’. At it’s heart is the aforementioned 80486 SX at 25MHz. 4MB of RAM meets the standard for the time, as does a 512KB Oak OTI-077 display adaptor. The 170MB Conner hard drive is on the generous side, but not excessively so.

I acquired this machine very recently and was not expecting it to be in a functional state, but aside from a dead battery it is in fact in superb condition. As clearly intended by Olivetti, this computer was indeed used by a small business with Microsoft Works being used for accounts, letters and flyers. Aside from these files, evidence of printer drivers and possibly a game – the configuration of the machine appears to be completely factory original. MS-DOS 6.0 and Windows 3.1 suggest that this computer was manufactured firmly in 1993.

The case shares a lot in common with previous Olivetti designs. Coincidentally, I have recently come across some YouTube videos from people showing just such machines.

RetroSpector78 has an interesting series on a PCS 286 that he has worked on. Although not an identical design, it shows many of the same design characteristics.

But the best comparision is with the M300-02, showcased by Casual Retro Gamer.

This machine is remarkably similar to my PCS 44/C in terms of its design, with the power button being the most striking external difference. Even there, I have seen a few examples of the PCS 44 having this design and the internals show that this was certainly an option.

The sliding switch makes sense if you have the stock monitor, which powers on directly from the computer and lacks any power button of its own. I have the monitor, but not the switch.

As you may be able to tell, the hard drive is missing. There is nothing wrong with the drive and I intend for things to stay that way. At present, it has been fully cloned and my intention is to fit a period correct, but slightly larger unit.

This though, is where my adventures begin. The BIOS for the machine, at least this revision of it, seems to at least partially reside on the hard drive. Despite running a raw copy, something is not translating when this is restored and the setup screen remains inaccessible. Of course, it may be that the copy is not at fault and rather, the drive is inaccessible.

What I did not get with the machine were any floppy disks that would allow setup to be completed in the event of hard disk failure. I have located some files for the PCS 46 uploaded to a forum, which will be tried out at a later point.

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So what are my plans for the computer? In some ways, very little. I have decided that I will boost the memory and after running through 45 SIMM modules, I found the one that would work. This boosts the machine to 12MB, a not excessive, but nonetheless pleasant amount. I am likely to add a larger hard drive unless the BIOS issue stumps me completely. And I will probably add a sound card. However, I do not want to mess with this machine too much, as I particularly want to keep it to a level that most mid-90’s users would have experienced it.

In a strange way, that is exactly what makes this particular computer so very exciting.