Exxon 510A word processor

UvA Computer Museum catalogue nr 02.23

exxon

In the late '70s the Exxon oil company decided to take an active share in the computer industry. They acquired the successful Zilog microprocessor manufacturer, and the Vydec word processing specialists *). Systems dedicated to word processing were in high demand for some time, until they were made obsolete by the IBM PC and similar general-purpose machines. For instance, IBM's DisplayWriter dedicated wordprocessor (1980) became replaced by the DisplayWrite software package running on a PC. In fact, when Exxon's product, the 500 range of word processors, appeared on the market in 1982 it was too late to be successful, and Exxon Information Systems was soon (1985) discontinued.

The Exxon 510A machine in our collection is built around the once famous Zilog Z80A 8-bit processor and has 128 kB of RAM. There is no hard disk. Background memory is provided by a pair of 5.25 inch floppy disks, each with a capacity of 600 kB. These disks aren't IBM-compatible, if only because they use at the time already old-fashioned hard sectoring (18 sectors). One of the floppies contains the EXOS operating system. We also have the optional CP/M system **). The accompanying daisywheel printer is branded Exxon, though actually it is a Qume product.

This machine, which is still in a perfect condition, has been used at the Academic Hospital Utrecht. In 1983, the price of the processor unit + monitor was Dfl 9600, keyboard Dfl 1500, floppy drive Dfl 8400, printer Dfl 7700, software Dfl 700, all prices excl 19% VAT.
The Exxon word processor was donated by Dr. J. van Gijn, Utrecht.
*) The Vydec system, with the addition of shielding to the printer cables, was able to meet the Tempest certification requirements. So it was deployed in most US embassies worldwide as a classified word processing platform. (Thanks to Peter Sandilands, Vanuatu for this piece of information).
**) Thanks to Dominic Bode.

rev May 31, 2017

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