• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Looking for info about existing models related to the GRiD 1660

Caleb Hansberry

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Messages
624
Location
Colorado Springs, CO
For some reason I'm interested in the generic laptops that were made by Matsushita for Tandy that were sometimes branded as GRiD. My first laptop was a GRiD 1660. Now I have both a 1660 and a 1660C (which I think is pretty elusive in it's own right) but I really need to get them running - the power supplies in them have a habit of going dead, as well as the floppy drive belts, which I found a replacement for but for whatever reason disks still failed to read.

The 1660 might have been the height of rebranding - it was a Panasonic CF-480 (which I really want to obtain by the way), a Tandy 3830SL, a GRiD 1660, a DECpc, and a Siemens-Nixdorf laptop. There is also a model called the 1680 that adds a PCMCIA port and 486 CPU - is there an equivalent Tandy model? And is a 1680C in existence?
 
I found that the Siemens-Nixdorf variant is PCD-3Nsl for the base model equal to the 1660, and PCD-4NCsl for the 1680C equivalent with color and a 486.

The PCD-4NCsl follows the "reference design" very closely. The PCD-3Nsl, on the other hand, is interesting - it's the only variant of them all that attempted to put it's own flair on the design. It's without a doubt the same base machine, but it adds an LCD screen for system status similar to the 1680 but in a different spot. Some of the plastic is molded slightly differently and rounder, and the keyboard layout has 86 keys instead of 84.

siemens-nixdorf.png
 
I have finally acquired a Panasonic CF-480! Still can't find an Ast version, or a DEC version of the 1680. I think I'm near the end of the existing models, though. I found that the German wikipedia contains info about the Siemens models: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siemens_PCD-Familie#PCD-3Nsl/3NCsl/4Nsl/4NCsl

Fascinatingly, the page makes reference to the capacitor issue:
"These devices replaced the PCD xN series. They were equipped with an 80386sl or 80486sl processor... Technically, these are Panasonic's in Japan manufactured devices CF-480 or CF-480C (PCD-3Nsl or PCD-3NCsl) as well as CF-580 or CF-580C (PCD-4Nsl or PCD-4NCsl), which only under a different brand and with gray instead of black housing were sold. Today, most of the surviving devices of this series cannot be started without repair due to the end of electrolytic capacitors."
Existing model table I made:
Screenshot 2023-07-14 111752.png

My current collection:
IMG_20230713_205430167_HDR.jpg
 
Back
Top