DEC PC (DECstation/Celebris/Venturis) to Olivetti PC series translations

[1ST1]

Hello, here in Europe DEC (Digital Equipement Corp, the one with the VAXses) sold Olivetti PCs under their name. They were exactly the same, just different branding. For example DECstation 320 seems to be the same as Olivetti M300-10. Only the front panel of the Celebris/Venturis machines was a bit different design.

Example here, what a beautiful machine... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGrYGX6hGwY

And under the name DECStation 3xx I find traces of many machines which could be Olivettis. DEC Celebris/Venturis PCs are models of the OIlivetti M4 and maybe M6 Modulo series. But which one is which Olivetti model?

Or, look at this Celebris 466 821WW https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...1ww-1982385156 and https://www.ebay.com/itm/23391457876...QAAOSwzypgPEj9 - the chassis is the same as Olivetti M24-New P75..166 and M4 Modulo P75...166S (S at the end is small formfactor), only slightly different plastics frontpanel design. But this is Celebtis 486 class - I don*t know which Olivetti in that chassis is 486, I only know the pentium class machines yet.

Look at this Celebris 590 https://picclick.com/Rare-Vintage-DI...779122477.html looking very similar to M4 Modulo Pxxx without the S (big desktop formfactor). There were also Venturis machines in midi tower formfactor made by Olivetti, no idea of their model names at the italian maker.

DECstation 210 and 220 are also definitve Olivetti 286 machines, but which one? The 2nd link says M250E, that is possible as the BA241 maniboard was used there and the chassis looks quite simiar https://wiki.hellsnet.lu/doku.php?id...:decstation210 and https://robs-old-computers.com/colle...ecstation-220/

I ask, because I found a website, where one can download the setup utility disks for many and drivers for DECstation and Celebris / Venturis PCs, so they also must work on many Olivetti machines. But which of the disks matches to which Olivetti model?

Having these disks is essential for many Olivetti PCs of that era because they did not have built in BIOS setup, but it was started from diskette. (means: if ctrl+alt+del+shift does not work, then you need the diskette). These diskettes also contain important drives and other system related essential tools. And there is no copy of historic Olivetti website or BBS with these important files.

Note, that of these DECstation, Celebris and Venturis also were later and earlier models which were not made by Olivetti. Also the DEC HiNote notebooks of the same time (later branded as Compaq Amada series) do not look like Olivetti made.

Can anybody help?

This is the website: http://declegacy.gomtuu.net/legacysu...epidmstr.html?

 

[6885P5H]

It seems clear to me that DECstation 220 is an Olivetti M250E. Notice how it has a PS/2 port for the keyboard. If I remember correctly the M250 did not have one, as it was their last PC to use a proprietary keyboard connector. 12MHz CPU is also an indicator that this is an M250E, M250 had an 8MHz one. If you look at the pocket service guide for the M250/M250E, you'll see that there are a lot of ways to tell their motherboards apart.

I'm not familiar with the later-style Olivettis, so Celebris/Venturis does not ring a bell. I do know that there were 486-class systems with this chassis.

I wrote this in 2016:

Below is what I found about the Olivetti-made DECs...

The DECpc 425i is an Olivetti M300-30
The DECstation 200 is an Olivetti M250
The DECstation 220 is an Olivetti M250E
The DECstation 300 is an Olivetti M300
The DECstation 325 is an Olivetti M386/25 (and possibly the "325C" as well?)
The DECstation 350 is an Olivetti M380 XP1

Then those ones I am not sure...

There might have been a "DECstation 210" that once existed...
The DECstation 320 is probably an Olivetti M300-10?
There might be a DEC-rebadged Olivetti M300-08 also known as a DECstation 300 or 320 (or both?)...
The DECstation 425 sounds like it was an Olivetti M486 (it could've been a CP486 as well or an LSX 50xx but an M486 is the most likely)...
The Digital Venturis systems (at least the majority of them) definitely have an Olivetti-like case but I do not know if they were actually manufactured by Olivetti... I also do not know if they were re-badges of Olivetti systems or if they simply used similar-looking cases and put unrelated motherboards inside of them.

There were also DEC re-badged Olivetti laptops like the DECpc 425SLE, which appears to be an Olivetti Philos laptop.

I found this list in 2019, I don't know how accurate or not it is.

• M250 - DS 220
• M250E - DS 222
• M300 - DS 300
• XP4 - DS 350
• M486 - DS 450
• XP2 - DS 325
• M300-05 - DS 316
• M300-10 - DS 320
• M290-20 - DECpc 222
• M380-40 - DECpc 333
• M300-08 - DECpc 320
• M300-15 - DECpc 325
• M300-30 - DECpc 425i
• M300-30/P - DECpc 425/DX2
• M400-10 - DECpc 425
• M400-40 - DECpc 433
• M6-420 - DECpc 425sx DT
• M6-440 - DECpc 433dx DT
• M6-460 - DECpc 466dx D2 DT
• PHILOS 44 - DECpc 450 SL
• PHILOS 44 Color - DECpc 450 SLC
• PHILOS 45 Color Plus - DECpc 450 SLC/E

"DS" stands for "DecStation"

 

[1ST1]

XP2 and XP4 are M380 XP2 and M380 XP4 ?

 

[1ST1]

double post

 

[6885P5H]

Yes, XP4 stands for M380 XP4. As for XP2, it should stand for M380 XP2 but that is really obscure. I've seen "XP2" mentioned a few times on the internet but I have never seen one. Maybe M380 XP2 is an old name for the M386/25. What makes me think that? This document mentions computers that Olivetti released in 1990. M486, P750 and the elusive "M380 XP2". They say that it is a 25MHz 386 system. What 386 computer did Olivetti release in 1990 that had a 25MHz clock cycle? The M386/25. And the list says that the XP2 was rebadged by Digital as the DECstation 325. What is the DECstation 325? An M386/25. So, while extremely odd it's possible that M380 XP2 was an older name for the M386/25.

 

[1ST1]

The 380/25 was also sold by Triumph Adler, there it*s name is P92, I have one of these rare machines. The TA P100 is the XP9, I also have this one.